tioiis that can not be readily brought from a distance ; and it is 

 further, even if it be not fully, counterbalanced by other 

 advantages of nearness to market. Moreover, the farmers at 

 the West are themselves now feeling the pressure, and are 

 underpaid for their work. Their difficulty, as they think, is in 

 want of cheap transportation to the seaboard. They are partly 

 right, and so far there can and ought to be in that respect a 

 remedy. But the distance and the cost of removal, from those 

 great wheat and corn fields to the Western and still more to 

 the Eastern shores of the Atlantic, will always be considerable ; 

 and these farmers of the Mississippi will find the most thor- 

 ough cure for their troubles not when they can slip easily to 

 those far off markets, but when they have drawn the markets 

 themselves to their doors. 



But for the present state of things there is a simpler and 

 more adequate interpretation. The agricultural interest is 

 slightly depressed, temporarily, throughout the country. The 

 reason is, as I think, chiefly that it is to some extent and 

 temporarily overdone. It has been pushed, by the opening of 

 these vast Western fields, more rapidly than other branches of 

 industry, and yields in consequence smaller pay in comparison. 

 It is only the great law of equalization in supply and demand 

 bearing slightly and for a little time against us. But there is 

 no occasion either for violent measures or for discouragement. 

 The natural remedy will soon come. Few, perhaps none, will 

 need to leave the business. Some temporary check will be put 

 upon the bringing of new lands under culture. The trades and 

 handicrafts will fill up, the country will grow, and there will 

 be a demand for the fruits of the earth that will repay again 

 the labors of the hu8l)andman. The ship may be rolling a little 

 upon one side now, but she will have her turn of rolling the 

 other way ; or if her trim is not quite right, the sailing master 

 will shift only a few bales and will not throw over the whole 

 cargo. At all events we need not jump overboard ourselves. 



Besides, even while we make this allowance that the farmer 

 is at present relatively underpaid, it will not follow that the busi- 

 ness is a poor one. It has its compensations of various sorts. 



