22 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY REPORT. 
pure food product, and the question of market values must be 
studied and influenced from an agricultural standpoint to such an 
extent that the agricultural producer shall not be a prey to the 
greed of the distributor. | 
The mistake, however, must not be made of thinking that the 
aid thus rendered by the State is for the benefit of the agricul- 
turist, that aid is primarily and purely in the interest of agriculture 
and whatever is in the interest of agriculture, is in the interest of 
the great consuming public, and the public being interested, it is 
justly and essentially a cause of the people and for the people and 
should not be neglected by the people. 
FEDERALSVAND UAT Ea Larabee ue 
W. O. THOMPSON. 
The modern practice of government shows a considerable de- 
parture from the early theories current among those who laid the 
foundation upon which we have built. For a long time after the 
Constitution of the Federal government was adopted there were 
those who in accordance with a theory of strict construction of the 
fundamental law resisted any attempt to engage the government 
in enterprises based upon a liberal construction of the “ general 
welfare ”’ clause of the Constitution. Nor is there to-day any large 
class of thoughtful men who would recklessly commit either Federal 
or State government to lavish expenditures for causes not sanc- 
tioned by the people or approved by a sound theory of the functions 
of the State. The departure from early theory has not been with- 
out reason and ample debate. ‘The Louisiana Purchase was a great 
strain upon the theories of men who had clear and well defined 
views upon the place of the United States among the nations, and 
upon the duties incumbent upon the young republic. A wise judg- 
ment upon the issues involved coupled with practical reasons of a 
substantial nature, set aside the theory to which men were devoted 
and opened the way for a national growth otherwise impossible. 
The evils avoided by this purchase were doubtless of as great im- 
portance as the positive advantages secured in the enlargement of 
territory. The universal approval now accorded to this departure 
from political theory demonstrates that our fears are often begotten 
of our fancies. The teaching of the publicist is not, however, to be 
