And State Papers 467 



endeavors to bring up his children so that they may 

 be at least as well off as, and if possible better off 

 than, he himself has been. There are, of course, 

 exceptions, but as a whole the standard of living 

 among the farmers of our country has risen from 

 generation to generation, and the wealth repre- 

 sented on the farms has steadily increased, while 

 the wages of labor have likewise risen, both as re- 

 gards the actual money paid and as regards the pur- 

 chasing power which that money represents. 



Side by side with this increase in the prosperity of 

 the wage-worker and the tiller of the soil has gone 

 on a great increase in prosperity among the busi- 

 ness men and among certain classes of professional 

 men ; and the prosperity of these men has been partly 

 the cause and partly the consequence of the pros- 

 perity of farmer and wage-worker. It can not be 

 too often repeated that in this country, in the long 

 run, we all of us tend to go up or go down to- 

 gether. If the average of well-being is high, it means 

 that the average wage-worker, the average farmer, 

 and the average business man are all alike well off. 

 If the average shrinks, there is not one of these 

 classes which will not feel the shrinkage. Of course 

 there are always some men who are not affected 

 by good times, just as there are some men who are 

 not affected by bad times. But speaking broadly, it 

 is true that if prosperity comes all of us tend to 

 share more or less therein, and that if adversity 

 comes each of us, to a greater or less extent, feels 

 the tension. Unfortunately, in this world the inno- 



