506 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



an elegant mansion replete with every luxury. At the 

 end of the thirty years men called him a millionaire ; 

 and having occasion about that time to make an inven- 

 tory of his possessions, he found that he was the master 

 of the handsome fortune of two millions of dollars, in- 

 vested in various forms. Apart from the cost of main- 

 taining his family, his wealth represented an average 

 gain of nearly $67,000 for every year of his working 

 career. As he stood by the grave of his farmer brother, 

 to whom he was deeply attached, and to whom he had 

 often lent a helping hand, he inwardly thanked Heaven 

 that he had chosen at the first to abandon the farm and 

 adopt a mercantile life ; and he was very clearly of the 

 opinion that his brother David, whom men called for- 

 tunate, had received a very imperfect return for the 

 capital and intelligent labor he had expended upon his 

 calling. 



And if this was his opinion, as a shrewd, practical 

 man of business, of one who had been really fortunate 

 in his pursuits, what must he have thought of the re- 

 compense of the vast army of farmers who are doomed 

 to perpetual servitude in order that others not of their 

 blood may grow fat upon their exertions? 



It would be an interesting, if a very saddening jour- 

 ney of inspection, for one to visit the counting-houses 

 of the fat, sleek dealers in grain, the forwarders and 

 middle-men of our great cities, where every evidence of 

 wealth and prosperity is visible, and where the huge 

 ledgers contain the summary of the gains which have 

 flowed into the house from the results of its sales and 

 speculations in grain. It would be interesting to talk 

 with the heads of the houses, the well-fed, well-clothed, 

 soft-handed and portly members of the Produce Ex- 



