Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
36S 
consideration. Limited premiums to all classes of machines in ac¬ 
tual operation would, it is believed, stimulate rivalry and largely 
augment the receipts of the society. 
There is no good reason why the show of labor-saving machinery 
at our annual fairs should not equal if not excel that of any other 
of the states, since Wisconsin is the great focal center for all kinds 
of productive machinery; besides, many manufacturing centers are 
springing into life and usefulness in various parts of the state, and 
these should receive our encouragement. Our citizen inventors and 
mechanics, after expending years of toil and large sums of money in 
developing labor-saving machinery and operating the same for the 
benefit and gratification of all who attend our fairs, ought to 
receive greater encouragement at the hands of our society. 
To find that a pound of butter, a cheese, a bushel of beans, a 
bushel of pease, an ear of corn, a bunch of flowers and hundreds of 
other articles which might be mentioned, that cost no genius and 
but a few shillings, leave the fair grounds covered with blue ribbons, 
and the owners pockets filled with prize money, while the creators 
of labor-saving articles, leave it with possibly an honorable mention 
in the report of some committee, never to be read, and finds in many 
instances that his invention is practically but' the cat’s-paw to pull 
some one’s else chestnuts out of the fire. 
Premiums, though small, would entail more than a cash value to 
those who receive them, and would be contended for with spirit. 
Contest or strife, is the touch-stone of human energy. Strife and 
rivalry on which some valuable thing depends, begets their kind, 
and contending forces augment as waves before the gale. You ad¬ 
vertize a trotting match or race without a horse or judge to decide 
upon and proclaim the victor, and you might as Avell sow your 
track to thistles. Without a contest of elements, nature hereself is 
dull; without strife between human minds, mens’ actions become in¬ 
sipid and spiritless. The best results will come from stimulating a 
fair rivalry in all departments. 
I therefore recommend that the society offer a liberal list of pre¬ 
miums in this, department of our fair, not only because I believe it 
will redound to its financial benefit, but because I believe no invid¬ 
ious distinction ought to exist between equally meritorious classes. 
Confident that these points merit serious attention of the society, 
l respectfully urge them on the earliest attention of the Executive 
