GENERAL REPORT. 
69 
The suggestion is also made as to whether the commercial 
and general prosperity of the State would not be further pro¬ 
moted by the organization, in all our large cities, of boards of 
trade, with a view to the promotion of just and equitable prin¬ 
ciples in trade, and to concert of action in the support of such, 
regulations and measures as would be calculated to advance 
the welfare of their respective communities. Such organiza¬ 
tions are capable of being made important centres of power 
and influence for the public good, independent of mere ques¬ 
tions of trade, which, of themselves, afford sufficient reason 
for their establishment, 
STATE AGENCIES. 
As already suggested, there are certain kinds of work re¬ 
quired to be done by the State itself directly, as being so gen¬ 
eral in their results as not to furnish a sufficient stimulus to 
individuals or societies to perform them, or requiring such 
powers and resources as neither individuals nor societies 
possess. 
Of this nature are boards of agriculture, bureaus of statistics, 
bureaus of immigration and special commissions. 
So long as individual citizens, from motives of professional 
and state pride, are induced to sacrifice time, strength and 
money to the industrial welfare of the whole State, and even to 
risk their reputation on fortuitous circumstances, and are made 
the depositories of sufficient power to do all that the public 
interests demand, a state agricultural society composed of 
such individuals will serve an excellent purpose. But after 
all, the general duties performed by such a society more strictly 
belong to the State government; and in every State there is 
likely to come a time—in several of the States it has already 
come—when the public interests will requre that it should as¬ 
sume and perform them. 
The importance of a Statistical Bureau, or Commission, has 
been already suggested, and it, or its equivalent, strongly 
urged in the introductory portion of this Report; the difficulties 
