MR. BRAMAN S ADDRESS. 27 



which presents much higher attractions to those who are actuat- 

 ed by aspiring views, than belong to the more simple and rural 

 exercises. The young man who enters upon such a line of 

 life feels himself above the rustic laborer ; as much superior in 

 some of the finer attributes of humanity, to him who delves 

 in the ground, as the instruments with which he works, surpass 

 in their exquisite and delicate structure, the heavy plough ; 

 and the gold and silver which are wrought into forms of con- 

 venience and beauty by his hand, exceed the coarse earth be- 

 neath his feet. 



There is no country on the earth where this ambition to rise 

 to higher grades in life, real or imaginary, is more strong than 

 in ours. The people seem to have the same convictions res- 

 pecting their own properties that Moloch expressed of his com- 

 peers in Pandemonium, that "in their proper motion ascend." 



Every man feels that he is equal to every other, and that 

 nature has provided for him some high position which it is the 

 great mission of his life to find, and that no American has 

 found his right place, as long as there is another individual a- 

 bove him. Agriculture pays the penalty of this universal and 

 boundless competition. A great amount of ingenuity, activity 

 and enterprise, which ought to bestow their benefits upon the 

 soil, are forced into other channels of industry which promise 

 higher rewards to the impatient aspirations oi the American 

 mind. 



7. Another reason for the slow progress of agriculture, in 

 this country particularly, is the immense quantity of uncultiva- 

 ted and fertile lands which have held out constant invitation to 

 emigrants from the older settlements. This cause has been 

 more or less in operation in every region since the world be- 

 gan. For when the human race commenced its existence on 

 the earth it was as large as it is now. They were a few indi- 

 viduals amidst a boundless expanse of territory, from which 

 they were free to select places for location and culture, in any 

 accessible quarter. When the native riches of the soil were 

 exhausted by this simple husbandry in one spot, there were 

 contiguous grounds with their fresh and unworn mould, and 

 yielding their almost spontaneous products to the new colony, 



