ADDRESS OF HON. J. Q. A. BRACKETT. 115 



the prodigal and thoughtless commons had imprudently 

 alienated, not only the use but inheritance of power, to wit, 

 their own homesteads and free life, they sank into a vile and 

 wretched populace. 



The man who owns his homestead not only enjoys a 

 higher social position and has a greater opportunity for 

 sharing in the good things of life, but he has an additional 

 incentive for being a good citizen. He realizes more clearly 

 that he has an interest in the country, that he is a more impor- 

 tant factor in the body politic. His position as a tax-payer, 

 while it imposes a burden, adds to his sense of dignity and 

 self-respect. He feels more keenly the necessity for good 

 government, for economy in public expenditures, for the 

 preservation of law and order. " Only those who have 

 nothing to lose ever revolt," says Holyoke. A man who 

 has something to lose through disorder and tumult is 

 under the strongest of bonds to keep the peace. There- 

 fore, to promote home ownership on the part of the 

 people, especially on the part of the agricultural people of 

 the State, is in every way an object which those who have 

 the welfare of the State at heart ought to seek to promote in 

 every possible way. Our laws provide that a homestead 

 shall be exempt, to a certain amount, from attachment or 

 levy on execution. I believe it would be well if they also 

 provided for their exemption, to a certain amount, from tax- 

 ation — [applause] — in order thereby to encourage more of 

 the citizens of Massachusetts to become owners of the soil 

 of Massachusetts, and in that way to promote the stability of 

 the government and the good order of society. Whatever 

 the Legislature can do in that direction, and whatever this 

 Board of Agriculture can do towards promoting the owner- 

 ship of homes in Maassachusetts, will in the his'hest desrree 

 contribute to the material, the moral, the social, the intellec- 

 tual and political development and welfare of the Common- 

 wealth which we all love so much, and the well-beino: and 

 happiness of all the people whose good fortune it is to dwell 

 within its borders. [Loud applause.] 



