Exhibition—Opening Address. 
9 1 
fort, not for the purpose of making war upon other legitimate in¬ 
dustries, but to prevent these from making direct or indirect war 
upon us, and to secure a fair and open field in the race of indus¬ 
trial life. Whatever mistakes may be made or mischief be 
wrought through the influence of misguided or designing men, the 
legitimate end and aim of the present movement must remain 
what I have just stated, and good will come of it, if it results 
only in securing among farmers a closer union. This is needed, 
if for no other purpose than as an educating agency. The indus¬ 
trial world is moving, and the farmer must move with it, unless 
he be content to plod behind and do menial service. He must 
not only be educated to a correct knowledge of the details of his 
business—of its needs and capabilities—but also to a proper un¬ 
derstanding of its relationship to every other industry with which 
it comes in contact. This is the only road to an effectual and per¬ 
manent cure for the ills which the farmer has thus far been made 
to suffer. The signs of the times are not without promise. If I 
mistake not, agriculture has entered upon a new field of progress 
and development. The farmer of to-day is beginning to appreci¬ 
ate the importance of brain-work, and of the intelligent applica¬ 
tion of science to agriculture. He is led to this, in part, by the 
force of circumstances, by the growing scarcity of labor, and the 
consequent necessity of substituting mind for muscle. But 
the chief incentives are of a higher order. They are the re¬ 
sults already secured, and the wonderful possibilities revealed 
by the scientific investigation of earnest men. 
The growing spirit of enterprise and inquiry is seen in the 
increased patronage of agricultural papers—in the rapid multi¬ 
plication of town, county, district and state organizations of 
farmers, and in the establishment of agricultural schools and col¬ 
leges throughout the country. The practical result yet reached 
through these agencies may not be such as we would desire, yet 
the enterprise which prompts and sustains them is the surest 
possible guarantee of success in the future. When a few of 
the best men of any industry set themselves intelligently and 
earnestly to work to secure its improvement, by turning natural 
and mechanical agencies to its profitable use, or in any other 
way perfecting its processes, the most gratifying results are sure 
