60 JETHRO WOOD; 



Agriculture, that official should have remarked 

 with some bitterness that " Although Wood 

 was one of the greatest benefactors to mankind 

 by this admirable invention, he never received, 

 for all his thought, anxiety and expense, a 

 sum of money sufficient to defray the expenses 

 of his decent burial." The time long since 

 passed forever to seek pecuniary indemnity; 

 but a debt of gratitude never outlaws, and it 

 is due to the great inventor that his country- 

 men should gratefully cherish his memory. 

 Every year adds to the debt we all owe him. 

 As the area of cultivation widens, the obliga- 

 tion deepens. Already America is the fore- 

 most nation of all the earth in the production 

 of wheat and provisions, the latter being in 

 reality corn in meat form. In exchange for 

 our food supplies, the United States is draining 

 Europe of its gold at an enormous rate, and 

 the fundamental element in the production of 

 American wealth, is our great implement of 



