20 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETr. 



who are far better informed than I am upon fruit culture. I shall 

 leave that subject main!}- in the hands of the members of the Maine 

 State Pomological Society and other practical fruit growers, who 

 are amply able to entertain this meeting upon all matters laid down 

 in your programme. 



It is always in order nowadays (no matter what may be the imme- 

 diate subject under consideration) for the American orator or speaker 

 to roam at his will and speak upon such topics as he ma}' choose. 

 Availing myself of this license, I hope you will not consider it inap- 

 propriate in me if I spend the few minutes at my command in speak- 

 ing of the past and present of Maine, as seen from the standpoint 

 of one who has been cognizant of and, in a humble way, identified 

 with the people of this State in their struggle for a better inheritance, 

 industrially and sociality, during the last four decades. Forty years 

 ago the State of Maine was emphatically poor, meaning, of course, 

 the people of the State. The farmers were poor, the mechanics were 

 poor and the great mass of the people were poor. There was ver^' 

 little money in circulation, and the most of the business was carried 

 on b}' barter or exchange, and always on credit of six months or a 

 year, and then perhaps a long note with high interest. There were 

 no markets in the State worthy the name. There were no railroads, 

 no telegraph and no daily papers. There was no labor-saving ma- 

 chinery on the farm, in the shop or in the house. There were but very 

 few industries in the State. There were no savings banks in the State 

 simpl}^ because the people had no savings. And it was not known or 

 believed that there were any resources on the earth, or in it, except 

 such as might be developed in the line of agriculture. A large pro- 

 portion of the farms were under mortgage at ten or twelve per cent 

 interest. 



Our young men, who should have been the strength and glory of 

 the State as soon as they became of age, and oftentimes before, 

 turned their backs upon us, impelled by some indefinable belief that 

 somewhere beyond the present confines there must be a "land 

 flowing with milk and honey " Our young women also left us to go 

 into the mills and factories of other States, and into the families of 

 the rich in the great cities, to earn mone}' to clothe themselves with 

 and to send to the poor ones at home. This is a dark picture, yet 

 it is as true as dark. But the indomitable spirit of the "'old stock" 

 held their faces to the grindstone and endured. And now, without 

 going into the processes and struggles of the people up out of that 

 low estate, let us look at the other side of this picture. 



