ILLINOIS dairymen's ASSOCIATION. 79 



with stone and mineral deposits in abundance. He then selected a proper 

 number of able bodied people, and put them at a variety of pursuits, with a 

 wisely adjusted balance between that class which engaged in agriculture and 

 produced food and that class of consumers of food and producers of manu- 

 factured articles for wear and convenience in the mechanical pursuits. He 

 had the smallest possible number of middle men and agents to transact the 

 necessary business between the classes; made professional men, lawyers, 

 doctors, and preachers out of those who were physically disabled or too lazy 

 to work, and banished loafers and leeches. He then laid down a simple and 

 salutary code of laws for them, founded on the first principles of justice and 

 truth, and declared them a happy people. The experience of the centuries 

 will never depart from the prophetic wisdom of the ancient philosopher. 

 The prosperity and wealth of the nation depends upon a vigorous variety of 

 its industries, all valued, fostered and protected wherever necessary in health 

 and growth from arbitrary, dishonest or unnatural disturbances. This 

 variety of enterprise among a people, and that theory of political economy 

 which teaches it, only follows the laws of nature which she has plainly writ- 

 ten upon her productions everywhere. The shifting winds, the varying sea- 

 sons, the landscape diversified by mountain and valley, forest and plain, 

 river and lake, endless variety of vegetable and mineral forms and produc- 

 tions, nay, even the perpetual contrast of the human form and face and 

 character all teach the plain and unmistakable lessons of the true and 

 healthy construction of the business of the people of a country in a healthy 

 variety of forms. There are now and long have been those who differ with 

 the teaching of the ancient sage, and the simple philosophy of nature, and 

 who would allow unnatural, revolutionary and hostile causes to break down 

 some lines of our great industries, in order that the business might be con- 

 centrated into a few pursuits in which all people would be compelled to en- 

 gage. But it will be observed in the course of years that nature is older 

 and stronger and wiser than these revolutionists, and that so long as the 

 country is prosperous and happy she will stamp upon its business interest 

 her favorite cast of an infinite and pleasing variety of industrial pursuits. 



But gentlemen of the convention, your great success in the dairy business 

 is largely due to an observance of and compliance with another of the pri- 

 mary laws of success which I have already mentioned, viz: an intelligent 

 and systematic conduct of your business. This is plainly seen in your dairy 

 farms, your neat, comfortable and well arranged barns, your constant scien- 

 tific improvement of stock for dairy purposes, and your well organized man- 

 ner of preparing your product and carrying it to market. Order was God's 

 first law. It was the first force to assert itself in triumph over chaotic mat- 

 ter, and it is now, and ever will be the first power to be called into the uncer- 

 tainties of man's purposes, if success is achieved. Its power is just as much 

 but no more necessary in marking the courses of the stars and controlling 

 the revolutions of countless worlds as it is in the gro^yth and symmetry of a 

 blade of grass. It is just as much but no more necessary in successfully 

 managing the business of Nations and States as it is in man sging the small- 

 est or largest dairy farm in northern Illinois. Its presence everywhere is 

 joy and peace. Its power in business brings wealth and comfort. Its touch 

 is that of the magic wand which brings symmetry and beauty. In a recent 



