No. 4.] ADDKESS OF GOVERNOR BATES. 161 



the boot and shoe industry. And so the industry wliich we 

 call agricultural sup})]ics the material at the foundation of 

 many industries, and also the necessities of life for those 

 engaged in them. It Avas in recognition of these facts that, 

 in the time of the Persians, the monarch would leave his 

 throne once a year and go down and eat with the husband- 

 men. The ancient kings of India used to have a formal 

 ceremony once each year, in the spring time, when they 

 would go out and open the ground. And the emperor of 

 China, down to the present da}^ orders the husbandman 

 who has had the greatest success during the year to be 

 brought before him, in order that he may be created a noble 

 of high rank. AVhen men have dreamed of a better civili- 

 zation, and have tried to describe the ideal conditions of 

 life, they have had something of the same fascination lead- 

 ing them on as seems to have taken possession of Dr. 

 Palmer. He, not having been born a son of a farmer, hopes 

 he may die a farmer ; and I suppose every business man 

 who is enclosed between the walls of the great cities is look- 

 ing forward to a time when he shall have accumulated 

 enough so he can go out on a farm and enjoy some of its 

 pleasures. Moore, Avhen he wrote about Uto})ia, described 

 the people of Utopia as a i)e()ple all of whom understood the 

 art of farming, and knew how to raise products. The art 

 Avas taught in the schools in the land he described, — a 

 land where everybody was happy, and all the best condi- 

 tions prevailed. 



And there was another who wrote about a city of the 

 gods, the City of the Sun. He described the condition of a 

 people given to agriculture, and all instructed in the science 

 of it. Then he told how they would go out in processions, 

 with flags and with banners, and Avitli trumpets sounding, 

 in order that they might plow the ground, indicating the 

 dependence of humanity on the coming of the crops, and 

 also the faith of Imnuinity that the crops were sure to come, 

 if man did but do his j)art. 



Massachusetts has rccogni/cd the impoi'tance of this indus- 

 try in many ways. AVc have made some progress during 

 the last two years. During the last year we have estab- 



