15 



ens the utterances of a free press, and liberty, if not slain, 

 becomes but a poor and Avounded semblance of its former 

 self. 



The surpassing danger to a free government of all ex- 

 amples or suggestions of internal violence, both reason and 

 the history of the past make manifest. The abiding 

 strength to such a government of a people free and peace- 

 ful and law abiding, by tradition and practice, engaged in 

 pushing side by side to their utmost development, agricul- 

 ture, manufactures and commerce, and possessing and ask- 

 ing for no conditions of success but freedom and law and 

 government, cannot be overestimated. In the activities 

 of such a people, intelligence becomes a controlling factor. 

 The ignorant farmer in Essex County with his limited 

 acres and reluctant soil, would be in sad plight in life. 

 The latest improvements in the machinery of the farm 

 must be his, he must be familiar with the latest thought in 

 agricultural science. The bonanza farmer of the West, 

 with boundless area and prodigal soil, looks for success to 

 conditions which are of chance. The drouth and wet, the 

 hot winds and the cyclone, he can neither make nor un- 

 make, and hardly modify. To speak of an ignorant manu- 

 facturer is a contradiction in terms. Invention follows 

 invention in ceaseless advance. The machine used to-day, 

 must be discarded to-morrow, or its owner is left behind in 

 the race. The changing market must be followed closely, 

 the caprice of fashion must be caught almost by intuition, 

 and in the sharp competition of the day, every detail of 

 the process of manufacture must be understood and 

 watched. The unlettered merchant to-day is not in the 

 race. Laborious days and nights will not alone carry him 

 forward. He must be familiar not alone with the great 

 movements and currents in the business, but also in the 

 political world. This intelligence must be not of the few, 

 but of the many, not of a class, but of all classes. The 

 subalterns must be well equipped mentally as well as the 

 leaders, or success will be lacking. The more free and in- 



