



is very rampant and it keeps steady })ace with advancing civilization. I do 

 not i)ropose to discuss this question. We believe, however, that never were 

 there more prominent criminals in our land than to-day, who have less reason 

 to be violators of law. Now the State demands, and when I say the State I 

 mean also high heaven, which ordained the State that all crime should receive 

 its proper penalty. Punishment is as much a part of law as precept. Law 

 loses its i)ower when it ceases to punish; nay, there can be no law without pen- 

 alty. In its final analysis punishment issimply the upholding of justice against 

 disobedience. But how often is this justice withheld from many high in the 

 social and financial world? What intrigues, also, are often resorted to. and by 

 professedly honorable men to exculpate the known criminal, and frequently 

 under what is called professional counsel! There is a poor man. and to keep 

 his feet from being bitten by an arctic frost, is forced (shall I say) to steal a 

 pair of boots to cover them ; and there is a man, with whom he may have depos- 

 ited his scanty savings, and now through some chicaneiy has olosed his doors, 

 consuming in that suspension, with unnumbered others, the small earnings of 

 his bootless brother. The one is immediately imprisoned — while often the 

 freedom of the other is no more interfered with than though he belonged to the 

 elect. How few raise their voice against such injustice! The little thief is 

 handcuffed and delivered to the jailer — the great thief is still welcomed — 

 recognized, dined and wined. It is thus that genuine rascality is made respect- 

 able; and they make roguery respectable who are indiiferent to the punish- 

 ment of crime. All knavery, by whomsoever and w^heresoever committed, 

 should be promptly denounced. 



The same desire should be exhibited for the punishment of him who wears 

 fine linen and fares sumptuously every day as fur the thief who enters the home 

 at night, or for the way-layer who seeks his prey at day. 



If God intended that justice should prevail, he also intended that punishment 

 be a duty. Punishment is not the will of man, nor is it born of caprice; it is 

 the will and decree of heaven; and that man is most like God, in his relations 

 to the State, who is the lover of justice as well as its defender: and justice 

 m.eans equal rights to all of whatever character or color, be it in the form of 

 gilded rewards or dire and lasting punishments. 



And now I need hardly say that you, gentlemen and members of this Agri- 

 cultural Society constitute no insignificant part of the State. The very last 

 class as a class that the State can overlook or do without, are its farmers. You 

 stand at its strategic points and in no mean sense are its master. Xo general, 

 whatever may be his skill, nor batallion howsoever well drilled, can ever con- 

 duct a successful w^arfare without proper supplies. Farmers furnish supplies. 

 The State can only exist ia theory where its acres remain unploughed and un- 

 sown. Since the State then leans upon you. and your industries foster and 

 develope new life, watch with a jealous eye her interests, nor allow anything to 

 harm its healthiness or prevent its true and logical development. Farmers pos- 

 sess more true, honest sense than any class in the community ; and it is well 

 known that their educational attainments are in advance of others who claim 

 to be important personages. They read, they listen, they talk and they think; 

 and many of the best in the varied vocations of life are recruited from their 

 ranks. The great cities in our land would have but little progress, nor would 

 we read of such worthy leaders w^ere it not for the cottages and the farms which 

 dot our beautiful hills and verdant valleys. 



There never has been a time when your honored profession has not called out 

 the best thoughts and energies of the race, and given the world evidence of its 

 true value. Many of the historic worthies of Jewish history, patriarchs, leaders, 

 kings, seers and prophets, who have left behind them the most stimulating ex- 

 amples of faith, as well as some of the sublimest teachings that have ever dropped 

 from human lips, were cultivators of the soil; and for years were identified 

 with its beneficent products. The Mosaic law by its wise enactments and 

 thoughtful requirements not only promoted but protected agriculture. What 

 preserved the unity of the sacred race during their Egyptian experiences, and 

 later kept them from that consuming idolatry with 'which the commercial 

 nations became enamored save the pastoral life? It in no way affected the char- 

 acter of a High Priest that he was reared among the fields, mingled among 



