No. 129.] 225 



How and why is it that America is so rapidly advancing not 

 only in population but in the mechanic arts? It is owing to the 

 institutions of our country, the breaking down of all restrictions, 

 allowing every man to pursue such trade or occupation as he 

 pleases, the political equality of all our citizens, the universality 

 of common school education, the knowledge that each man has 

 that it depends solely on his own exertions and talents as to what 

 station he occupies in the community. Here there are no privi- 

 leged classes in society. The man who labors for his living is 

 not despised and degraded as in the old world. In this country 

 the rule is changed, it is only the lazy drone who meets with the 

 contempt of his fellow men. 



This stimulates men to exertion, some in one branch and some 

 in another. What is it that constitutes the real wealth of a coun- 

 try but the labor of its manufacturers, mechanics and operatives ? 

 Without this what would America have been ? where would have 

 been her canals, railroads and steamships ? The idle rich man 

 has his wealth, but what does he add to the wealth of the coun- 

 try 1 Nothing. Not as much as the industrious but humble op- 

 erative. The tilling of the land and making it produce an hun- 

 dred-fold, the manufacturing of the raw cotton, iron ore, and 

 other substances, by bestowing labor on them, increasing their 

 value and usefulness an hundred or thousand fold, it is that 

 which enriches and benefits a community, and our thanks are 

 due to our mechanics and laboring men for their aid in the pro- 

 gress made by America, and we hope that they will ever be ac- 

 tive and industrious, making our fairs and exhibitions every year 

 more and more varied, and worthy of the patronage of the public. 



No where on the face of the earth is the divine command, " in 



the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return unto 



he ground," so fully kept as in these United States, and no where 



are the people so well supplied with the comforts and necessaries 



of life. 



In other lands the nobility and aristocracy endeavor to alter 

 the command and live by the sweat of the face of those they 

 hold in bondage. They consider that the labor which they are 

 commanded to perform by the Allwise Providence is a degrada- 

 tion. 



[Assembly. No. 129] 15 



