204 Wisconsin state agricultural society . 
powers should be heard the hum of the spindle, the chatter 
of the loom and the din of the more important machinery 
for the manufacture of useful articles. The woolen mills 
now in active operation in Wisconsin have long since proven 
the foolishness of exporting our wool and then importing the 
manufactured fabric, and with so great advantages, such cheapness 
of raw material and the already glorious results, we know of no 
reason wh}^ scores of such establishments should not furnish em¬ 
ployment for thousands of hands, and Wisconsin manufacture 
woolens enough to clothe the northwest. 
And yet our greatest need is manufacturing. Our commercial, 
mining and lumbering interests are growing in importance, but 
manufacturing is not keeping pace. Pennsylvania with her oil, 
coal and iron is fast becoming a wealthy state and shall we not in 
Wisconsin, with our vast amount of raw material, profit by her 
example ? 
New England, with her sterile soil, producing but a small pro¬ 
portion of the agricultural products needed for her use, is able by 
her manufacturing to buy our produce, transport our raw material 
and return to us the manufactured goods for consumption. This 
ought not to be, and the lack of manufacturing establishments is 
the only reason why it is so. Few if any of the states possess 
greater advantages than Wisconsin—a healthful climate, imparting 
vigor both to mind and body, its mines of ores of untold wealth, 
only awaiting development to make one of the greatest possible 
sources of wealth, its lumbering interests unsurpassed, and its 
water power of inexhaustible capacity. With these advantages, 
what can prevent her future greatness if only the machinery be 
set in operation ? If our young men will only direct their atten¬ 
tion to this honorable, useful and remunerative employment, it is 
to be hoped that neither the attractions of the learned professions 
nor the wealth of the merchant, will longer blind them to these, 
so important interests, which contribute so largely to the educa¬ 
tion, social culture and material wealth of this our adopted state. 
It would be interesting, had we the time and statistics to show, 
both in Wisconsin and other states, the importance of this branch 
of industry as compared with others, but I must content myself 
