21 
our esculent plants, our fruits, and above, all our cereal grains; can they 
be surpassed in their excellent qualities in any part of our country? We 
think not; and these do not onl}? - bear their own evidence of the value of 
our sod and the industry of our producers, but they speak volumes in 
favor of the Institution of which we are proud to be members. 
In the mechanical department, and in works of the liberal arts, we 
have an excellent display ; in all the latest improvements in agricultural 
implements, and labor saving machinery, Wisconsin may well compete 
with her sister States, not only in their manufacture but also in their 
use. In fine, we may congratulate the Officers and Members of the So¬ 
ciety that their efforts have hitherto been rewarded with every reasonable 
measure of success; long may such results continue, as the best stimu¬ 
lants to future exertions. 
One word as to ourselves, as citizens of Wisconsin. We boast of our 
land, of its beauty, of its salubrity, of its fertility; we point out to the 
stranger who visits us, our infant State already chequered with railroads, 
and traversed with the wires of the telegraph; but above all, we proudly 
designate as the most distinguishing feature in our social and political sys¬ 
tem of government, our noble and magnificently endowed school system— 
a system of public education which if conducted and practised upon, in 
the true spirit and meaning of its design, will ever continue to be the 
foundation of the correct moral conduct of our future citizens, the source 
of their intellectual happiness, and the safeguard of their liberties as 
freemen. In the old world, the laborer and the schoolmaster are almost 
strangers to each other; such is the hard condition of poverty! With 
us, how different is the case with the rising generation, in every class and 
condition of life! the means of education are in the reach of all! For¬ 
ever cherished, forever honored be the educational system of Wisconsin; 
ever protected, ever respected be the industrious tillers of its soil, and the 
active producers of its wealth. 
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