EXHIBITION OF 1872—ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 147 
tion. Some ef the duties devolved upon you will be found very 
onerous; others, especially those of the awarding committees, are 
delicate and oft-times perplexing; all are responsible, and chal¬ 
lenge the earnest endeavor of each to perform them in a thoroughly 
faithful manner. 
I now formally pronounce the Nineteenth Annual Exhibiton 
of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, open to the public 
inspection. I trust that its opportunities, furnished at so great a 
cost in labor and money, will be highly appreciated and duly im¬ 
proved by the people of all portions of the state. 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 
Delivered on the Fair Grounds, September 26, 1872, by Hon. 
Geo. B. Smith, Governor C. C. Washburn, J. H. Twombly, D. D., 
President of the University of Wisconsin, and W. W. Field, 
'Secretary of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
LABOR AND CAPITAL. 
BY HON. GEO. B. SMITH. 
Mr. President and Fellow Citizens: 
Whoever, by the inspiration of genius, shall discover some plan, 
some principle, by which labor shall receive a just proportion of 
what it produces, will be the most distinguished benefactor of his 
race. It has been said of Adam Smith, that by the publication 
of his “Wealth of Nations,” he contributed more towards the 
happiness of man than has been effected by the united abilities of 
all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has preserved 
an authentic account. The great discovery that he made and 
illustrated, was simply that gold and silver were not wealth, but 
merely the representatives of wealth, and that wealth consisted 
solely of the value which skill and labor can add to the raw ma¬ 
terial—that money is of no possible use to a nation or a people, 
except to measure and calculate their riches. 
