MARKET DAYS. 339 



work-people, and imless tliej happen to offer themselves at liis 

 door, he must suffer for want of them. Now at the opening of 

 the spring work, at haying and at harvesting, if the farmer 

 could be sure of meeting at the fair in his neighborhood, a 

 large number of men in want of work, of whom he could take 

 his pick, it would assuredly be no small convenience both to 

 himself and to the persons hired. From this arrangement, a 

 scale of prices, which would be highly desirable, would soon be 

 fixed for the different kinds of laborers, and as a consequence 

 there would be more uniformity of wages paid by our farmers. 

 And if it were deemed expedient, a registry might be opened 

 for the names of the persons thus seeking employment, and of 

 the place where they last worked. 



But it would be difficult to specify in detail, all the benefits 

 which might be expected to be derived from establishing regu- 

 lar fairs or market days throughout the State. We have 

 endeavored to enumerate but a few of them ; sufficient, how- 

 ever, to give some definite, and it is to be hoped, favorable 

 views in regard to them. Doubtless here, as in other new 

 enterprises, many of the advantages would far exceed the most 

 sanguine expectations, whilst others would in time spring up 

 that were entirely unlooked for. Take for illustration our 

 railroads. Many of us can remember with what distrust they 

 were regarded by a large part of the community, when they 

 were first proposed for consideration. The stage-coach compa- 

 nies thougiit that they should be ruined ; and the farmers 

 reasoned very naturally that the general introduction of the 

 iron horse, as a means of transportation, would diminish, if not 

 destroy, the demand for hay and other provender. But how has 

 it turned out ? The stage companies have become the proprie- 

 tors of the omnibuses running from the various stopping places 

 of the rail cars. And for the use of those omnibuses, and for 

 drays, coaches and private vehicles, and more recently for horse 

 railroads, the number of horses in the State, and their price 

 too, has probably doubled or trebled since the first rail was laid 

 here, and the consumption of hay and oats has increased in a 

 corresponding ration. Other interesting particulars will readily 

 suggest themselves, illustrative of the incidental benefits of 

 railroads, equally unforseen by their projectors and the commu- 

 nity at large. 



