ADDKlLSS OF HON. J. Q. A. BRACKETT. Ill 



demanded to offset the forces Avhich are adverse to these 

 great objects and which unhappily are too prevalent in our 

 great centres of population. Jefferson once said, speaking 

 of the growth of cities, that " when we get piled upon one 

 another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become 

 corrupt, as in Europe." The history of municipal govern- 

 ment in our large cities, their business and social character- 

 istics, the fierce struggles for wealth and power, the pursuit 

 of these objects regardless of the means resorted to or of 

 their eflect upon the public, the vanities, frivolities and 

 shams which take all the heart out of social intercourse, the 

 corruption and chicanery in politics, — these afford startling 

 proofs of the truth of Jefferson's prediction. To aid in 

 counteracting the effect of these conditions upon our national 

 life and character we need the saving influences which 

 emanate from the farmers' homes of the country. John 

 Fiske, in his " American Political Ideas," puts this matter 

 pointedly when he says : "It will be long, I trust, before 

 the simple, earnest and independent type of character that has 

 been nurtured on the Blue Hills of Massachusetts and the 

 White Hills of New Hampshire shall cease to operate like a 

 powerful leaven upon the whole of American society." 

 [Applause. ] I see that you all endorse that sentiment. To 

 multiply the examples and extend the influence of that type 

 of character is one of the nation's needs to-day. The greater 

 the number of happy, thrifty farmers' homes Ave have in 

 Massachusetts the better it will be for Massachusetts. 

 Whatever can be done to increase their attractions and their 

 comforts, to make them more desirable, to prevent their 

 being abandoned, to cause them to be occupied not by a less 

 but by a greater number of people, ought to be done. 

 Every effort in that direction and for this purpose is deserv- 

 ing of the support and the encouragement of all public- 

 spirited men and women, of all who are concerned for the 

 welfare, the progress and the happiness of themselves and 

 their fellow-men. There is, unhappily, a tendency on the 

 part of the people, especially on the part of young people, 

 to desert these rural homes. This fact is often adverted to 

 and the cause and cure are common subjects for discussion. 

 The greater facilities aflTorded in our cities for the acquisition 



