No. 4.] FAEMERS' NATIONAL CONGRESS. 117 



and the vast force of labor of shipping house and factory, 

 all handling or reworking the raw material gathered from 



the forest and the field, and from which the world must be 

 clothed, warmed and fed. 



"The natural products of the soil, aided by intelligence 

 and well-directed labor, are the great creative force, the 

 only source from which wealth may be obtained to meet all 

 obligations. 



"The street-car fare, interest on bonds, dividends on 

 stocks, the pension of the soldier, the fees of the profes- 

 sions, the dry goods and grocery bills, as well as the cost 

 of conducting all the intricate machinery of the government, 

 must be paid by the revenues of the soil. The product of 

 the gold and silver mines is only valuable because of the 

 commerce and wealth created from the farms. 



"President Harrison, in his message to the Congress of 

 the United States, intimated that the establishment of the 

 department of agriculture, with its secretary as a cabinet 

 officer, was at the enlightened demand of a worthy class of 

 people, and he congratulated the people on the great results 

 accomplished by it. In a subsequent message to the same 

 body he referred to the marvellous growth of the farming in- 

 terests. He said: 'Its growth has been from $1,363,000,- 

 000, in 1860, to $4,500,000,000, in 181)1,— an increase of 

 230 per cent. The entire exports for the fisc.al year ending 

 June 1, 1892, reached the unparalleled amount of $1,030,- 

 000,000 ; 70 per cent, or, in round numbers, $800,000,000, 

 of which were agricultural products, and exceeded the pre- 

 vious year by $150,000,000.' 



"At the assembling of the second session of the fifty- 

 third Congress, Dec. 4, 1893, President Cleveland cor- 

 roborated the statement of his predecessor, as to the year 

 referred to ; but his message disclosed the fact that at the 

 close of the fiscal year ending June 1, 1893, there had been 

 a shrinkage in our exportations of nearly $20,000,000, 

 which was on agricultural products. This could not be on 

 account of short crops, as the President in his august 

 message to Congress that year referred to the plenteous 

 crops, with remunerative production and manufactory. 



