* 6 



guiding hand of man is needed, but with the aid of this falling 

 water he draws out a thousand threads as he could but one bj his 

 unaided strength. That wheel through which the water plunges 

 bj its own weight, as it rushes on to find its ocean level, multiplies 

 the labor of all who work above it a hundred fold. It took time 

 and hard labor and skill indeed to dam up the floods, to lead them 

 along in canals and to fashion all the wheels and shafting by which 

 their power is transmitted from room to room and from machine 

 to machine, but all of this labor is but a fraction to the multiplied 

 power which they give before worn out by their own revolutions. 



The forest trees and beds of coal are so much garnered 

 strength ; strength to be set free by fire, that, by expanding 

 steam, moves Titanic wheels and levers obedient to the Avill of 

 man. Not a single force is now in operation, not a single force or 

 agency has been in operation in all geologic time, that man can- 

 not in some way, even now, make minister to his comfort or mul- 

 tiply his power. Every year he enters more fully into this great 

 inheritance. Every year he compels the forces of nature to 

 lighten manual labor. Every year does he gain greater mastery 

 over these unwearied and exhaustless agencies, and thus realizes 

 more nearly his likeness to his divine Creator. 



But all this utilization of labor, though apparent in the mechanic 

 arts, has little bearing upon agriculture, you are ready to say. It 

 has far less indeed than it ought. For Avhen dominion was given 

 to man, it was that he might till the earth and subdue it. He 

 will eat his bread by the sweat of his face, and agriculture must, 

 from the nature of the case, ever demand long-continued manual 

 labor. And because this is so, every advantage should be seized 

 upon to utilize the labor. And to secure this end, the need must 

 be felt and there must be intelligence to direct. Unfortunately 

 for us, the need of utilizing agricultural labor has never pressed 

 upon us as a nation. A broad territory, unsurpassed in fertility 

 and almost boundless in extent, is even now waiting for man to 

 scatter his seed and gather the luxuriant harvests. 



The great productiveness of the American soil has given a 

 rich return to the rudest forms of husbandry, and when one plan- 

 tation has been impoverished an abundance of virgin soil is ever 

 waiting for the plough. The cultivators of the earth have been 



