ANNUAL REPORT—MISCELLANEOUS. 
45 
The principal persons in which the power of a government is 
invested are the owners of the land, in all other countries but the 
United States, and here the reverse is true. While I do not de¬ 
sire to see an aristocracy built up in any country, much less here, 
I do desire to see the owners and cultivators of the soil unite to¬ 
gether for their common benefit and protection. I would not have 
them assume an aggressive policy, invading the realms of other 
departments of trade or industry, but I would have them assume 
a defensive attitude and endeavor to rectify some of the evils 
which exist, the tendency of which is to reduce the profits of their 
labor and build up oppressive and ruinous monopolies. Agri¬ 
culture is greater than all other interests combined, in this state 
and in the Union, and in my judgment it is not only a right and 
a privilege which farmers have of shaping and guiding the desti¬ 
nies of the country, but it is their imperative duty so to do; but 
in so doing, they should take no narrow and prejudicial view of 
the situation. Power is accompanied by grave and important re¬ 
sponsibilities, and should be exercised with intelligence, wisdom 
and caution. 
Farmers should remember—and I believe the large majority 
do—that other great industrial and legitimate interests demand 
recognition and protection in their just rights, and that no man is 
a fit representative of a people who sees, knows or cares for no 
other interest than that in which he is engaged, but that he only 
is a true representative who is just to his own interest and gener¬ 
ous and fair towards all others, and who has sufficient intelligence, 
moral honesty and integrity to be able to see clearly the just rela¬ 
tions which these varied interests bear to each other and to the 
state. 
A word as to which of these organizations farmers should join. 
One says that the grange “ is a secret organization; that truth 
seeks the light and fears not investigation; that she throws the 
doors of investigation wide open and challenges examination.” 
Another says, “ I cannot be reconciled to this female element of 
its organization; that women had better remain at home, attend 
to the children, mend stockings and look after general domestic 
matters.” To those farmers who believe in organizations of any 
kind for the advancement of their calling, I would say that this 
