36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The American citizen must keep the windows of his mind 

 open on the whole circle of the horizon and fearlessly enter 

 into the discussion of politics ; for discussion not only in- 

 cites to intelligence, but has incentives to progress peculiar 

 to itself. Woe to the land where all men think alike, and 

 woe to the land where every man has come to the conclu- 

 sion that his own opinion is final ! It is well to bear in 

 mind the remark of Hamlet, made to his friend, in the 

 play : — 



There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 

 Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 



That lowly virtue, humility, is a state of mind friendly to 

 the truth, to progress, to patriotism, and to good citizen- 

 ship. 



But it may be said this is all well enough for small 

 States, but it will never do for a great empire like ours. 

 All history shows that great empires can be held together 

 only by military force, and when that fails anarchy is the 

 last result. This is very true in regard to all the empires 

 of which history gives an account, and it will, without any 

 doubt, be the fate of some of the great empires of to-day. 

 But size does not seem to have been the cause of their ruin, 

 for smaller States have shared the same fate. They were 

 all trying to make the social pyramid stand on its apex 

 rather than on its base. The control of things in the re- 

 motest corner of the Roman Empire emanated from Rome, 

 and this is the difference between the Roman Empire and 

 the American Republic ; no such power emanates from 

 Washington to any town in the land. We have an institu- 

 tion bequeathed to us by our Teutonic ancestors which was 

 developed to some extent in England and has been given 

 a free chance to grow in America. It is a principle so com- 

 mon among us that it seems ridiculous to speak of it as any- 

 thing important or wonderful ; 1 mean the principle of local 

 government for local purposes and a general government 

 for general purposes. It was truly said by the late John 

 Fiske that " the town-meeting principle lies at the bottom 

 of the political life of the United States." Here, in the 



