124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



tained by sound logic ; Init, as I say, that was no part of my 

 purpose. 



I would like to say one other thing in regard to statistics. 

 I made a long skip from 1850 to 1890. I did it for two or 

 three reasons. I did not intend to exhaust the subject. I. 

 cited the statistics which would contain the most suggestive 

 comparison. During the period from 1860 to 1870 every- 

 thing was measured on the ])asis of the incomparable paper 

 currency. From 1880 to 1890 there was a period of very 

 great prosperity. The periods varied, and I did not feel 

 that it was important to my purpose to indicate the vari- 

 ations, because they will occur in any business, and have 

 occurred in agriculture especially. My only point now is to 

 suggest to the gentlemen of the Board that I had no purpose 

 in taking one set of statistics rather than another. The 

 farmer has got to put brain against more material things, and 

 has got to make these material things the servant of his brain 

 and his intelligence, or else the farmer has got to be wiped 

 out of existence. I do not believe the New England farmer 

 is ready to go, — I do not l)elieve he ought to go. I believe 

 I have pointed out the direction in which he must go. He 

 must meet these competitions by the training of himself and 

 his children for a life of agriculture. He must get all the aid 

 he can in his life of agriculture, and he must plant that down 

 deep in his children's hearts. I want the farmer to look his 

 conditions as squarely as he can in the face. If legislation 

 is wrong, try to correct it. There is no power in our system 

 that can stand against the united intelligence of the farmers. 

 When they once make up their minds they are going to have 

 a remedy, they will have it. 



President H. H. Goodell (of Amherst). There is just 

 one thing that I want to emphasize that President Atherton 

 spoke about this afternoon. He read you that list df col- 

 leges, associations and asylums, all in the interests of agri- 

 culture. In Germany, in France, in Belgium, in Denmark, 

 — everywhere you find them. They commence with the 

 children in the primary grade and lead them up to the uni- 

 versity. It is only, if I may be pardoned, that the children 

 are ' ' dyed in the wool " at the very beginning and led up in 

 this wav that has made agriculture what it is. One thing 



