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darned, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." We re- 

 joice in the fact that we live under a republican form of government, 

 where all men are equal before the law, where the income of capital 

 is not wholly dominant, where social conditions are not fixed by he- 

 redity, and where the rank of men depends upon their own personal- 

 ly earned and individual merits. 



I should be unwilling to accept the language of Alfieri in regard to 

 the "man-plant born in Italy," as to me it appears that, "in no other 

 land is the man-plant born with more inherent vigor than in" America. 



I have been, therefore, most earnestly in favor of giving to this 

 "inherent vigor," so largely found in the active pursuits of our coun- 

 try, all the sound learning practically required to develop the intel- 

 lect and the general character of a great people. Science is always 

 progressive, and never tolerates a sham. The world- wide depression 

 in farming everywhere brings disaster upon the unskilful farmer ; 

 and in New England the utmost skill, as well as knowledge of the 

 principles and facts of agriculture, are absolutely necessary to suc- 

 cess. I am glad to believe, with Carroll D. Wright, one of Massa- 

 chusetts' distinguished citizens, "that laborers who are able to 

 employ nothing but muscle are decreasing, and the status of un- 

 skilled labor is likely to be much improved during the next genera- 

 tion." 



The Land-Grant Colleges are now more than equal in number to 

 the states of the Union, and light up some of the formerly destitute 

 portions of our country. In eight states where the land fund ap- 

 peared too limited for an independent institution, colleges have been 

 successfully grafted upon the healthy stock of some existing literary 

 institution, and in no instance has such a junction bred intestine and 

 internecine war. Most of the states have spontaneously aided the 

 colleges by furnishing necessary buildings, and also by very liberal 

 annual appropriations. Generous local bounties from towns and 

 from private individuals also, have often been received. With hard- 

 ly an exception these colleges are doing excellent educational work. 

 It is a gratification to find that the largest endowment in any state 

 has been husbanded most successfully, having fallen into very astute 

 and worthy hands, and has served, with other large bounties, to build 

 up the most complete and prosperous of all these institutions. I 

 must also add that Cornell University, to which of course I refer, 

 has been fortunate in her teachers as well as in her large-handed ben- 

 efactors, and, whenever any special want has been developed, some 



