374 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



travag'ant ones at the summer watering places, but whether 

 in them, or in sailing the l)road ocean in their magniti- 

 cent private steam yachts, or flying across the continent in 

 their own gilded trains, I do not believe they take a whit 

 more comfort or pleasure than does the average small farmer 

 among us. I doubt if any man has all he Avants in this 

 world, and these very rich men have real or imaginary un- 

 supplied wants commensurate with their wealth the same as 

 poorer persons do. The modest blue gentian flourishes to 

 perfection in damp and dark spaces by the roadside ; the 

 banyan of India, and the redwood of Yosemite require more 

 room. Wealth is not a guarantee ao:ainst trouble or mis- 

 fortune l)y any means. I have long since given up envying 

 any one's riches or happiness. 



Leaving individuals, let us look at manufacturers as a 

 body. We hear of the fortunate ones, of those who are 

 successful in securinG: a fortune, Init who takes note of those 

 who are not ? "With scores and hundreds of employees, with 

 l)rices of material and product daily fluctuating, with styles 

 ever changing, values depending more on fashion than on 

 real merit, upon the condition of the money market, and this 

 often hanging upon slight contingencies, upon the tariff", 

 u[)()n the foreign supply or demand, and, worst of all, the 

 liability of strikes, what a life, harassed by fear and uncer- 

 tainty, a manufacturer leads ! Now and then one. fastens on 

 to a good thing, something that pays well in profit ; every- 

 thing seems to go easily and about of itself ; but the OAvner 

 will tell you that eternal vigilance is the' price of it, and the 

 first thing he knows some morning when he opens his mail 

 his commission merchant, to Avhose mercy nearly all manu- 

 facturers are consigned, tells him that some other party is on 

 the market with the same or better goods at a lower figure. 

 Often Avhen everything seems at its best a fire or a flood wipes 

 everything out. If the manufacturers live such worried lives, 

 how fares it with the employees? Better, I admit, in many 

 instances ; but to work at prccisel}' the same kind of work 

 day after day, year after year, and perhaps through a life- 

 time, Avithout an hour's respite unless it is deducted from paid 

 time, has ahA^ays seemed to me little better than a mild form 

 of prison life. I wonder if our " Highland " and " Hillside " 



