4 AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



and the softest seat at the feast, intelligence and moral recti- 

 tude will always be at a discount, while fraud and corruption 

 will bring a premium. In order that such conditions may exist, 

 some portions of the people must suffer. This becomes a self- 

 evident truth to all who will give the matter even the least con- 

 sideration. The possession of wealth may be assumed, as a 

 rule, to bring about the differences that are seen in society, 

 and, because of this, becomes the essential object for which a 

 large portion of our people are contending. 



It is evident that all cannot be rich, and it is also true that 

 none should be poor because of economic conditions. All 

 economists agree that labor is the sole producer of wealth. If 

 this proposition be true, it might be proper to ask : Why does 

 not the producer of this wealth possess it, after production ? 

 What intervening cause steps in between the producer and this 

 wealth, and prevents his owning and enjoying what his brain 

 and brawn have created ? No one seems to question the right 

 or justice of each individual enjoying the fruits of his own labor. 

 But the recognition of this right does not prevent the separation 

 of production and possession, nor does it indicate a remedy for 

 the evil. The idea of labor in production, at the present time, 

 is associated with only a portion of our people. It represents, 

 under the prevailing ideas of society, an undesirable condition, 

 from which all, or nearly all, seek to be freed. The man or 

 woman does not live who desires to labor every day in every 

 year of their whole sojourn upon earth. Such a desire would 

 be unnatural, a sin against the future, and a libel upon the past. 

 Nine-tenths of the labor performed at the present time is done 

 with the belief that this hard labor will bring about future ease 

 and comfort. But when these efforts are honestly and earnestly 

 continued for a series of years, and the anticipated reward does 

 not come, and the plain fact is demonstrated that labor brings 

 no reward, some give up in despair, while others determine to 

 ascertain the cause, if possible. 



It was to satisfy the American farmer that his calling had 

 either become obsolete, or his environment unnatural, that 

 agricultural organizations, for political or economic purposes, 

 were brought into existence. Up to 1860 the economic privi- 

 leges of the farmer .were somewhat near a parity with other 



