274 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
can do our part, and in my opinion the time is not far distant when 
the agricultural interests of our nation will be represented by so¬ 
cieties like this, from Maine to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to 
Pacific shores ; when the voice of the farmer will be heard in the 
councils of our government, and his influence felt in shaping its 
politics ; when his energies will not be paralyzed for want of pro¬ 
tection, nor his vocation scorned by the educated mind. Then, 
and not till then, will this odious term, “he’s nothing but a farmer ” 
cease to apply, and it will be said of the man who has given the 
American people the best government the sun ever shone upon, 
that “ he is a farmer.” 
