ILLINOIS STATE D ^IRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. j 3 j 



the more we become dependent upon one another. The farmer, there- 

 fore, instead of trying to live apart and independent of the rest of the 

 world, should use every means within his reach to put himself in touch 

 with every other trade, calling, and industry, lie should utilize the 

 mails, the telephone, the railroad, the electric motor, and the press more 

 than he does. The farmer should not confine his efforts merely to the 

 production of food products, but he should study the markets of the 

 world and their requirements and develope co-operative methods of sup- 

 plying those markets to the very best advantage of producer and con- 

 sumer. 



The farmer has other duties besides those of providing for himself 

 .and family. He has responsibilities resting upon him as a citizen of this 

 great commonwealth. The farmers, more than any other class, represent 

 the home abiding, home loving, home protecting, law abiding, peace prin- 

 ciples of society. In the rapid and marvelous deveiopment of the re- 

 sources of this wonderful and beautiful land of ours, great wealth has 

 been produced, phenomenal wealth. There is wealth enough and food 

 enough produced annually in the United States to cloth and shelter and 

 feed every human being in the land, and to provide him with the comforts 

 and luxuries of life if the products of labor and earnings of capital were 

 unselfishly distributed. But we know that selfishness prevails; that the 

 tendency is for the rich to grow richer and the poor to grow poorer, and 

 that when either riches or poverty becomes conjested, then either cap- 

 ital or labor becomes violator of law and order, so that the whole social 

 fabric is shaken, life and property endangered, and the very principles 

 of republican government imperiled. To meet and solve this intricate 

 problem of capital and labor, of riches and poverty, will require the in- 

 telligent exercise of the elective franchise on the part of the people and 

 the highest order of statesmanship on the part of our legislators. 



In the solution of these vital questions, the farmer must ever play 

 ;an important part. Capital alone can not solve these social problems. 

 Labor is even more powerless than capital. The farmer represents the 

 balance of power and upon him and him alone rests the safety and per- 



