420 WISCONSIN State Aorigultural society. 
ance present themselves to the congress. And lastly, it may prop¬ 
erly consider questions of legislation, as these affect agriculture; 
not in any partisan spirit; not to seek any legislation in the special 
interest of agriculturists as a class—for as the farmers should op_ 
pose legislation in the special interest of any other class, they 
should equally oppose that which is offered as advancing their own 
special interests rather than for the good of all classes—but to con¬ 
sider and present the opinion of farmers on many questions in which 
they are vitally interested. 
For the improvement of agriculture in its relations to the indi¬ 
vidual and to the class, we need two things — more information 
and more interest. To know more about it and to take more inter¬ 
est in it, that we may the better make use of the knowledge we 
have and that we may acquire. In the effort to gain information, 
the congress should consider all the topics named in a broad, na¬ 
tional way. We should remember that the steam car and the tele¬ 
graph, that improved means of communication and transportation, 
have largely abolished the isolation of farmers. It is no longer true 
that those of any one section can feel themselves independent of 
or uninterested in the condition of those of other sections. It is a 
serious misfortune that there should be, on the part of so many con¬ 
nected with agriculture, so strong a tendency to narrow-minded¬ 
ness. The cono:ress should seek to know both the actual and rela- 
ative importance of subjects brought before it. Its sessions should 
be no place for the riding of the hobbies of narrow-minded men, to 
whom all the world seems to revolve around their little plans, in¬ 
terests or localities. It should seek to learn all that can be learned 
of the resources of all sections. The study of our agriculture by 
states or sections, as has been the custom in the past, is unsatisfac¬ 
tory, tending to produce this narrow-mindedness and imperfect 
conception of important and wide-reaching questions. The con¬ 
gress may furnish a common meeting ground for the actual farmer, 
for the editor, the teacher, the scientist, the leader of societies con¬ 
nected with agriculture, and I hope it may be ever said of it, that 
it is will’ng and anxious to hear the other side of all questions; that 
its members are not so much advocates as they are seekers after 
the truth. 
In the development of increased interest in agriculture, for which 
there is surely much need, the members of this association may do 
