FOR BKTTia: vlKtl'S 157 



to 5.50 bushels in 1859, to 7.45 bushels in 1869, and to 10 bushels 

 per person in 1891. In 1900 the per capita production of wheat 

 decreased to seven bushels, but increased to nine bushels in 1W9. 

 Surprising as these statements are, they tell only half the 

 story. From the 97 per cent of people on the farm in 18(XJ, the 

 number decreased to 80 per cent in 1859, and in 19(X) to 3.3 per 

 cent; the farms to-day, therefore, with less than one-third of the 

 labor of the country, are producing sulHcient not only to feed 

 the people upon them, but also the 67 per cent that live in the 

 cities, and export a considerable tonnage of food supplies. This 

 showing is most marvelous, and has been made possible only by 

 the genius of the American inventor, and the intelligence and 

 energy of the American farmer. In all the history of the world 

 this achievement stands out beyond comparison. Much, of 

 course, has been due to the fertile soil of the great plains and 

 valleys in which we live; much to the beneficent government 

 that has given security to property and by its patent system has 

 encouraged invention; much to the great railroads which have 

 transported our products across the continent; but more is due 

 to that body of inventors who recognized the necessity of 

 improved methods on the farm, and who have provided that 

 intelligent, progressive, and energetic body — the farmers of 

 America — with machines which have enabled them to produce 

 food-stuffs more cheaply than in any other land under the sun, 

 thereby enabling them to sell their products in the markets of 

 the world in competition with the penny-a-day laborers of India 

 and China. 



Advancement in Agricultural Methods — Wonderful as has 

 been the progress made in other fields of effort during the last 

 half century, the greatest forward, strides have been made in 

 agriculture — and this unprecedented development is due almost 

 wholly to the numerous ingenious improvements made in agri- 

 cultural implements and machines since the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. We all know how important a part modern 

 farm machines played in the industrial progress of the United 

 States, but many are prone to accept it in too much of a matter- 

 of-fact way — prone to forget the many years of unremitting 

 toil required to build the foundation upon which we now rest 

 so securely. 



Industrial Emancipation — The nineteenth century was as 

 conspicuous for its industrial as for its political emancipation. 

 Its history cannot be adequately written without taking note of 

 its industrial progress, the abolishment of many of the more 

 burdensome forms of toil, and the multiplication of the effective- 

 ness of labor by supplying mechanical servants to replace human 

 bondsmen. 



The struggle for deliverance from the tyranny of despotic 



