MISCELLANEOUS ADDRESSES. 
271 
saddle his boj upon some profession to which he was wholly un¬ 
suited, there to drudge and drag out a miserable existence, end¬ 
ing in disappointment, battling against nature’s God—when, if left 
to follow the bent of his nature, something to which he was 
adapted, he might have been a benefactor of his race. 
Now, these are the facts as they exist around us, or at least as 
they exist in my humble opinion; and if so, there is some cause 
or reason for their existence. And again, if this be true, it is 
equally true that there must be a remedy. What is the cause 
and what is the remdy ? Let me tell you what is the cause, and 
then let as all go to work and hunt out and apply the remedy; 
or let me tell you what I think is the cause, then I will try briefly 
to point out the remedy. The cause is, “ want of energy and 
union among farmers.” 
Let us examine the workings of the whole system. Every 
other calling, trade and profession, from the bootblack on the cor¬ 
ner, all the way up to the .politician, machinist, mechanic, mer¬ 
chant, lawyer, physician, minister and the educator, all have their 
union societies for the protection of their interests, thus enabling 
them to prey upon our energies and industries, and to keep those 
whom God intended as his noblest works and masters of the earth, 
beneath the lowest of the low. 
The next question is the remedy. Is there any ? I answer, 
there is. It may take years to successfully apply it, but let us 
begin—the sooner the better ; let the farmers unite and work for 
the general good. Let them be watchful of their interests. Edu¬ 
cate yourselves and your children equal to any in the land, no 
matter what you may design them to follow. Let all, both old 
and young, sleep less, work and study more; then will the farmer 
be the respected and controlling element in the land. 
If the farmers in every neighborhood and county in the United 
States were properly organized, with means of sure and reliable 
communication with each other, with agricultural organs and pe¬ 
riodicals devoted to their interest, sustained by their patronage, 
the present system of crop reports so damaging to the farming 
interest would be effectually stopped. But as it is, the bulls and 
bears of the grain market have some goggle-eyed specimen of cor¬ 
rupt humanity traversing the grain regions at all seasons, ready to 
