6 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



body required at a given moment. The farmer's work is in 

 the open air, while most artisans are confined to shops, mines, 

 or mills. If farm wages are less than wages in other pursuits 

 requiring no more physical or mental power, then ftirm wages 

 are too low, and the movement from the farms to the cities 

 and towns is a healthful one. Yoii need not be disturbed, 

 gentlemen, by the scarcity of laborers, or even by a reduc- 

 tion in the hours of labor. Your condition will be entirely 

 satisfactory if only other farmers whose products come into 

 competition with yours arc subject to the same charges and 

 deductions. This rule applies equally to manufacturers and 

 producers of every kind. Farmers, producers and manufact- 

 urers may, without anxiety, see the rates of wages advance 

 and the hours of labor diminish, if only similar changes take 

 place at the same time over the whole field of competition. 

 The increased cost, if the cost shall be increased, will be 

 charged over to the consumers. 



Finally, upon this point I venture the statement that fiirm- 

 ing offers more attractions than any other pursuit to laboring 

 men of moderate means, provided always that they understand 

 the business. If my view in regard to debt is accepted, a 

 small capital will secure the possession and permanent conti'ol 

 of a farm without financial danger or loss, while trade, com- 

 merce, and manufacturing require large investments with large 

 risks. In these pursuits only a few persons can occupy the 

 position of managers ; the greater number — a hundred to one — 

 are subordinates. Land is so cheap with us that its possession 

 is not now an object of ambition ; but the time is not distant 

 when we shall clothe the possessor of land with something of 

 the dignity that has been accorded to him in older countries, 

 from Judea to Great Britain. 



I turn for a moment to a topic familiar to us all, — scientific 

 ao;ricultural education. There is a strusfSfle between intellect 

 and money. In Europe, the struggle for centuries has been 

 between money and mere numbers. For the most part, wealth 

 has gained the mastery. Wealth gives position. Position is 

 power. Intellect, too, — especially in this country, — gives po- 

 sition, and intellectual position is a greater power. Mere num- 

 bers will not give the body of American farmers permanently 

 either power or position. They should be intellectual men, 



