208 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
By Ex-Gov. JOSEPH A. WEIGHT, of Indiana, 
The*Annual Address, by Gov.,Wright, on the “ Relations of Labor to Gov¬ 
ernment,” was one of the ablest and most effective ever delivered before the 
Society. For an hour and a half he held the vast audience that crowded 
about the speaker’s stand literally enchained by the logic, pathos, and per¬ 
suasive eloquence of his masterly oration. Unhappily it was entirely ex¬ 
temporaneous, and before it became convenient for the author to prepare 
notes of it for publication, he received an appointment from President Lincoln 
as minister to the Prussian Government and departed for his mission without 
having forwarded the manuscript. In the month of June 1867, while yet at 
his post, and in the prime of a noble and useful life, he was called by death 
from his labors to his reward. 
Under^these circumstances we are grateful to the editors of the Janesville 
Gazette for a copy of their paper of Oct. 3, 1864, from which is copied the 
following very fair synopsis of the Address : 
“ The speaker commenced by contrasting the victories of war with the tri¬ 
umphs of peace. To-day we have met to celebrate the conquests of peaceful 
industry. Glorious, indeed, is the sight before us of these noble products of 
agriculture and the mechanic acts—the result of intelligent industry. Our 
fields serve us, but we must render service in return. In the contemplation 
of the wise cultivator of the soil, rapid progress is not the only object. We 
have no right to barter our fields for present profit—the soil is the gift of the 
Almighty, and the worst of all robberies is that perpetrated upon mother 
earth, when we take much from her bosom and give nothing back. The farm¬ 
er should take advantage of everything to preserve this gift and keep it good 
for himself and his posterity. Not to make improvements is a crime, while 
it is a duty to keep unimpaired that which we have received from the Creator. 
“ What is the great object of assemblages of this kind ? It is to educate 
the public mind, and especially the rising generation. All the institutions 
of this country are educating the people—the management of this fair will 
educate—railroads, courts and banks are educators in order and system. In 
the State of Indiana there is a railroad which is a model of regularity, so 
much so that an old gentleman of the speaker’s acquaintance, through whose 
farm the road passes, relies upon its trains to give him the hour of the day. 
The trains were always on time, and it thereby taught punctuality to its em- 
