290 Wisconsin state agricultural society . 
particular departments of industry, but he has desires to acquire 
and enjoy the fruits of a thousand departments. The very 
existence of this state of things practically enforces division of 
labor, and makes exchange necessary. But we are apt to lose 
sight of the extent to which this division is, or ought to be carried, 
of the benefits which flow from it, and of the extent to which pre¬ 
judice sometimes creeps in at this point to disturb correct think¬ 
ing and acting. 
Some A of you, no doubt, have seen that pictorial sheet, in the 
center of which stands a farmer, while around him on the margin 
are representatives of different trades and professions. The 
merchant says, “I trade for all”—the railroad manager, “I 
carry for all ”—the lawyer, “ I plead for all ”—the physeian, “ I 
prescribe for all”—and the clergyman, “I pray for all”—while 
the farmer is made to say, in characters of double size, “ I pay for 
all.” Now there seems to be, practically at the present time, an 
element of truth in this portrayal. But theoretically considered, 
it is wholly unsound, and we are nearer a remedy when we 
recognize its theoretic untruthfulness than when we ignore it. 
The farmer of this country, and especially of the West, through a 
combination of circumstances, is made to pay out of due propor¬ 
tion for the benefits which he receives, but the injustice can never 
be righted by any course of procedure which does not recognize 
the different parties in production. 
What is it to produce, and who are producers? In the broadest 
sense of the term, one who renders a service for which something 
may be demanded and received in return, is a producer. The 
service rendered is the product, and the act of rendering it is pro¬ 
duction. The earth, with her resources, and nature with her 
agents, animate and inanimate, stand ready to minister to the 
wants of man. But labor is necessary to appropriate these re¬ 
sources, and to understand and control aright the helps at our 
command. The difference between the physical condition of civ¬ 
ilized man to-day, and his condition two or twenty centuries ago, 
is due to little else than a better understanding of the properties 
and relations of things about him, and to his increased ability to 
harness into his service the gratuitous forces of nature. The ac¬ 
cumulated wealth of the world is but the result of the application 
i 
