1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 323 



to the uses of modern life, and presenting it as an anachronism 

 upon the face of our institutions." Until these demands are 

 gratified, until the tenure of land in England is reformed, 

 until the tenant is relieved, and the farm-laborer is lifted 

 above starvation, — the advice of the English economist will 

 be of little value, his condemnation of our land system will 

 be of no effect, and his prognostications will have no terrors 

 for us. 



The general distribution of land, to which I have referred, 

 the independence of land-holders, the absence of severe legal 

 restrictions, the freedom from restraint, and the social 

 equality which characterizes this country and gives every 

 man his opportunity, and clothes him with unusual obliga- 

 tions, — all conspire to stimulate agricultural investigation, 

 and to rouse the popular mind to great activity and constant 

 inquiry into all problems relating to this industry. By 

 associations innumerable, by colleges, by competition at 

 fairs, by the explorations of science, every branch of farming 

 is explored, and all the results of experience are formulated 

 and arranged for the guidance of the learner and the 

 encouragement of the expert. The readiness with which the 

 American farmer apprehends a successful application of his 

 labor to the land, and his keenness in avoiding unprofitable 

 speculations and doubtful operations, have secured to him a 

 degree of general prosperity hardly found elsewhere. There 

 is no doubt that his business is attended with more success 

 than is that of his fellow-laborers on the land in any other 

 quarter of the globe. From the market gardens around our 

 large cities to the broad fields which supply the staples for 

 commerce, — cotton, corn, wheat, beef, pork and products 

 of the dairy, — there may be found, as I have already said, 

 a successful agricultural enterprise in the hands of an in- 

 dustrious and sagacious people. Understanding well the 

 varieties of climate in which they live and the varieties of 

 soil on which they labor, recognizing the demands of the 

 markets they are to supply, they seldom fail to adopt that 

 branch of their business which promises the largest return. 

 Blessed with a div^ersity of soil and climate and a breadth of 

 territory unknown to any other people, they are free to 

 make their choice, and are never compelled to force upon 



