9 



farmer and his family increased by social obligations and the 

 natural demands of a free and responsible people, we have 

 been able to compete in the grain market of the world with 

 those who, in some instances, are furnished with land free of 

 rent and taxation, and whose necessities of life are so small, 

 and whose duties are so low, that the former seem intolerable 

 and the latter seem insignificant and trivial. The skill of the 

 American farmer, supplied as he is, with the most ingenious 

 and graceful and effective machinery, has become an object of 

 admiration and imitation. The well-organized home of the 

 American farmer is looked upon as a model. The place filled 

 in the community by the American farmer is considered so 

 important and honorable that other nations inquire how it has- 

 been attained. The crops of the American farmer are looked 

 upon as so sure that all anxiety with regard to the supply of 

 food for people less favored has passed away. Besides feeding 

 nearly fifty millions of people, the agriculture of our country 

 has supplied our commerce with a large proportion of our 

 exports to foreign countries. Of the aggregate amount of our 

 exports for eleven months, ending May 31, 1879, valued at 

 $685,042,078 — the agricultural industry furnished about 

 1532,813,179. The value of the cattle exported during that 

 period was $2,897,846 ; of corn, $43,610,441 ; of wheat, 

 $90,700,598 ; of flour, $23,000,854 ; of cotton, $173,629,022 ; 

 of beef, $7,120,000; of cheese, $11,737,928; of lard, $28,- 

 068,490 ; of pork, $4,620,000 ; of grass seed, $2,000,000 ; of 

 tobacco, $23,440,000. 



The effect of this contribution to our export trade is incal- 

 culable ; and it has done so much toward restoring us to that 

 financial Btability and prosperity and honor of which as a 

 people we ought to be proud, and for which every prosperous 



