184 Gov. Wrighfs Address. [Oct., 



feet condition of our agriculture, can we hope that an exchisive 

 domestic market is possible, to furnish a demand for its mature 

 abundance? In this view of this great and glowing interest, can 

 we see a limit to the period, when the United States will present, 

 in the commercial markets of the world, large surpluses of all the 

 varieties of breadstuffs, of beef, pork, butter, cheese, cotton, to- 

 bacco, and rice, beyond the consumption of our own country? 

 And who, with the experience of the last few years before him, 

 can doubt that the time is now at hand, when the two great 

 staples of wool and hemp will be added to the list of our exporta- 

 tions? 



These considerations, and others of a kindred character, which 

 time will not permit me to detail, seem to me, with unfeigned de-- 

 ference, to prove that the agriculture of the United States, for an 

 indefinite period yet to come, must continue to yield annual sup- 

 plies of our principal staples, far beyond any possible demand of 

 the domestic market, and must therefore remain, as it now is and 

 has ever been, an exporting interest. As such, it must have a 

 direct concern in the foreign trade and commerce of the country, 

 and in all the regulations of our own and of foreign governments 

 which affect eithei-, equal to its interest in a stable and adequate 

 market. 



If this conclusion be sound, then our farmers must surrender the 

 idea of a domestic market to furnish the demand, and measure the 

 value of their productions, and must prepare themselves to meet 

 the competition of the commercial world in the markets of the com- 

 mercial world, in the sale of the fruits of their labor. The marts 

 of commerce must be their market, and the demand and supply 

 which meet in those marts must govern their prices. The demand 

 for home consumption, as an element in that market, must directly 

 and deeply interest them, and should be carefully cultivated and 

 encouraged, while all the other elements acting with it, and con- 

 stituting together the demand of the market, should be studied 

 with equal care, and so far as may be in their power, and consist- 

 ent with other and paramount duties, should be cherished with 

 equal care. 



Does any one believe, that for generations yet to come, the 

 agricultural operations of the UnitedStates are to be circumscribed 

 within narrower comparative limits than the present; or that the 

 agricultural productions of the country are to bear a less ratio to 

 our population and consumption than they now do? I cannot 

 suppose that any citizen who has given his attention to the con- 

 siderations which have been suggested, finds himself able to adopt 

 either of these opinions. On the contrary, I think a fair examina- 

 tion must satisfy every mind that our agricultural surplus, for 

 an indefinite future period, must increase much more rapidly than 



