THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



573 



of the plow, in apprehension of reproval and 

 witlidrawal of — whom ? of whom does the read- 

 er suppose? Why, of the a^riciiUiirhts them- 

 selves ! — such agriculturists as may be likened, 

 not to the fabled Centaur — half horse, half man 

 — but to the tadpole in his transition state, with 

 two frog's legs to his body, being one-third farm- 

 er and two-thirds partisan. Can any thing pre- 

 sent a stronger proof of infatuation or blindness 

 on the part of the agricultural community, than 

 tills very apprehension of their taking offence 

 at the exposure of the impositions with which 

 they are saddled ? We, too, design to keep our 

 skirts clear, perfectly clear, of the mud and the 

 mii-e oi party strife. Never shall the Farmers' 

 Library mingle in the fray for mere party as- 

 cendency, or scuffle for the picked bones dis- 

 pensed to their followers by those who fatten on 

 party spoils ; but that resolution shall not blind 

 us to the wrongs which parasitical classes are 

 ever on tlie watch to inflict on the great, all- 

 producing agricultural industrj' of the country ; 

 and in this we respectfully invoke the aid of our 

 associates of the agricultural press; for with an- 

 tagonistical, partial and vicious legislation, how 

 can Agriculture ever prosper ? T 



As is so forcibly set forth in the preceding 

 letter, if it be pretended that all the appropria- 

 tions for the " warlike machinery " of the Gov- 

 ernment be in truth so much dedicated indirectly 

 to Agriculture, by protecting her hand-maid. 

 Commerce — why not give some of it directly to 

 Agriculture, that great producer for all ? Why 

 dress out and provide so much more sumptuously 

 for the maids than the mistress 7 Does it not al- 

 ways and justly give rise to injurious gospicioas ? 

 Some contend, and we do not say untruly, that 

 the bauds of Congress are tied — that Agricul- 

 ture is the only concern of the people left un- 

 pro\'ided for and unprotected by the Constitu- 

 tion. Well, if so, why pretend by an under- 

 hand, stealthy, and altogether unworthy and 

 inadequate device, (and as a set-off against the 

 $140,000 annually to the Military Academy,) to 

 make provision for the diffusion of agricultural 

 information by giving a pittance for the publi- 

 catiou of the Patent Office Annual ! Yes, this 

 Annual is the great boon which Uncle Sam has 

 the meanness to print and the impudence to of- 

 fer as a set-off against the hundreds of thousands 

 expended in the publication of military memoirs, 

 and surveys, and maps, and books; and, after 

 all, at whose expense are these government pe- 

 riodicals issued ? Who is their Editor ? Out of 

 what fund are they printed? Where are the 

 materials procured, and how andj^to whom at 

 last distributed ? 



A short answer to these questions tells the 

 whole story : 



The materials have been heretofore cabbaged, 

 in larse proportion, and that, in many cases, 

 ^123 ■ 



without acknowledgement, from the works of 

 individuals who give all their time to the collec- 

 tion of the knowledge and the facts, and look to 

 their publication for support. Nay, more ; in 

 this conte.st of individuals against fearful odds, 

 this great old Uncle Sam has the meanness not 

 only to plunder without acknowledgment, but 

 to pick the pockets of poor inventors to pay the 

 expenses of printing ! The least that he should 

 be required to do, in common decency, when 

 he comes forth with his annual, to rival and 

 cut off subscription from the quarterlies and 

 the monthlies and the weeklies of individual ri- 

 vals, who publish on their own hook and pay 

 their own expenses, would be to give to his pe- 

 riodical not only the Government imprint, but 

 a fair and honest title-page, as thus : 



UNCLE SAM'S ANNUAL 



OF 



STRANGE MECHANICAL AND AGRICULTURAL 



DISCOVERIES ; 

 Interlarded and mixed up with all sorts of Ag- 

 ricultural Curiosities and Humbugs ; compiled 

 by Uncle Sam from the studies and labors of 

 individuals, Editors and Publishers who fol- 

 low the business for a livelihood, and printed 

 and paid for out of a tax on poor Inventors — 

 which is not generally understood — at an ex- 

 pense not exactly all told or easily ascertained, 

 and distributed by Members of Congress, un- 

 der their frank, nominally, but really by a tax 

 for transportation to come out of the Treasury 

 — and that not to curious agricultural inquirers, 

 too poor to subscribe even for the cheap agri- 

 cultural papers, but to penurious men of for- 

 tune who are too stingy to do so, or to politi- 

 cians on whom the distributors can best reckon 

 for that support which shall enable them to 

 put it in the power of Uncle Sam to play off 

 the same piece of injustice and humbnggery 

 from year to year; printed at Uncle Sam's 

 Press, but chiefly at the co.st of the Planters 

 and Farmers generally — though they do n't 

 suspect it, nor is it intended that they .should ; 

 yet the money for it is raised by impost du- 

 ties on all the commodities they consume, 

 making a verj- large proportion of all the in. 

 come of the Government. All Editors are ex- 

 pected to puff this Annual, agricultural Edit- 

 ors especially. 

 Such is the title we propose for Uncle Sam's 

 Annual. When Government or public institu- 

 tions publish their own periodicals, or adopt 

 others, and give them exclusively the benefit of 

 their funds, countenance, or facilities, they ought 

 at least to avow it honestly and aboveboard. 



For ourselves, we here put on paper what we 

 have elsewhere and otherwise offered : 



1^^ To ALL I.VVENTORS OF USEFUL, NOT 



HUMBUG, Agricultural Machisert— Greet- 



