except as thej may mcicTentalTy aid to vcmke the procTucing' labor of 

 others more efficient and powerftil, and from this they lansi be sup- 

 ported. 



Agrfculttire is actnowledged to be chief among onr great produc- 

 ing industries. Labor in this department is fundamental, in that 

 its products are a new creation of indispensable and valuable mate- 

 rial, out of that which previously was valueless. Nor is this all. 

 So indispensable are its products of raw material that farmers have 

 absolute control of all other industries. So imperative are the 

 wants for his food products, and so unchanged is this demand by 

 trade fluctuations, by whim, caprice or fashion, that the last farth- 

 ing, if not the rery life of all other classes, are at his disposal. 

 Therefore it is to be presumed that farming pays ; and if it does 

 not, it must be the fault of those who pursue it. If a pursuit which 

 is fundamental to everything else, whose products under any cir- 

 cumstances cannot be dispensed with, does not give fair remunera- 

 tion for the labor expended upon it, a great wrong exists some- 

 where, let that pursuit be what it may. As ah*eady stated, the 

 great aggregate of the nation's wealth is but the result of private 

 prosperity and gain. Therefore, a wise and parental government 

 especially aids, encourages and protects thf>se classes of its citizens 

 whose labor as individuals tends primarily to this result. Our ques- 

 tion should therefore be examined and answered from two stand- 

 points : First, does farming pay the nation ? Second, does farming 

 pay the individual ? For it is possible that, owing to adverse cir- 

 cumstances, or to some improper system in the distribution of the 

 products of labor, the nation may be growing rich, while the great 

 mass of laborers are growing poor, or do not obtain just compensa- 

 tion for their toil. And first, does farming pay as a national indus- 

 try ? I answer yes. No other industry creates ahsoJntely so much 

 useful material and wealth as farming. This is most conclusively 

 proved by the statistics collected by the different departments of 

 the National government in the census of 1870. The retm-ns show 

 that we have 406,735,041 acres of actual farm lands, improved and 

 unimproved, exclusive of lands in cities and villages. Allow that 

 this land was worth to the government one dollar and twenty-five 

 cents per acre before its value was enhanced by agricultural labor, 

 and the aggregate amount would be $509,668,801. Now their 

 actual cash value, as returned by the assessors of that year (and it 

 is a low estimate) was $9,262,803,861. In other words, farm labor 



