32 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
whole body of the people. Anything like antagonism is inju¬ 
rious to both. The people should know and feel that their 
own individual success, as well as the prosperity of the com¬ 
monwealth, is directly affected by the status of commerce; and 
commercial communities should realize that they can only 
prosper in proportion as the productive industries are healthy, 
prosperous and favorably disposed towards the most natural 
commercial centers. 
It is a painful fact in the history of Wisconsin that this 
manifest principle has not invariably found recognition in the 
past. If they who have erred in this respect are not already 
conscious of their blunders, it is hardly possible that any fur¬ 
ther reference thereto in this place would insure their correc¬ 
tion. 
But be the faults of individuals and communities what they 
may, the state should keep its eye steadily fixed on the growth 
and future greatness of the commonwealth. In commerce let 
the motto of our people be, “The commerce of Wisconsin.” 
INVESTIGATION OF HIDDEN RESOURCES. 
Ho enterprising state will rest satisfied with barely what is 
most palpable in the way of natural resources. Of these 
it will of course first avail itself, though mindful the while of 
such as may be brought to light with little or much effort. 
The small expenditure which leads to the discovery of a 
mountain of iron, a deposit of lead, a vein of silver, a bed of 
kaolin, or a quarry of valuable building stone pays a larger in¬ 
terest than any other moderate material investment the state 
could make. 
If some of our attempts at a systematic and complete geolo- 
ical exploration of Wisconsin have partially fa led th s fact 
constitutes no sufficient reason why all future like attempts 
should also prove failures. Failure is certainly not inherent 
in and inevitable to a policy the intelligent practice of which 
by so many states and nations has led to such important re¬ 
sults. The fault has been in the methods we have adopted, 
