Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-01-08
dQurtester 9ailg Spg.
GOVERNOR BANKS'S
Annual Address to the Legislature,
DELIVERED JANUARY I, 1853.

| POSS
ance and support the interest of those we rep
resent, and the public service, may demand Of
legislative power. In thus opening another
political year, the evidences of public health
peace, and prosperity, which everywhere sur
! round us, prompt us not more to public re-
cognition of our dependence upon the mercies
| OF Divine Providence than to a silent and
grateful acknowledgment of the signal bless.
ings heretofore bestowed upon our people.
The seasons have been favorable to agricul
tural industry, and in every part of the Com
monwealth its labor has been generously re-
warded. The product has been more than q
tenth part larger than IN any preceding year
giving value, in staple crops and minor farm
products, upon careful inquiry and estimate, Of
tmrty-two million dollars against value Of
less than twenty-six million, returned by as
| SCISSORS in 1866. An unusual interest in this
| pursuit has been manifested, and the county
exhibitions have been attended by greater
numbers than heretofore. Nearly $4,000 has
| been paid from the treasury, to twenty-one So
cieties. Were it not for the general interest
and success exhibited by this department, it
would.seem to present somewhat defective
arrangement. Originally intended to embrace
large sections of the Commonwealth, each So
clety has been subdivided, until single coun-
| ~ numbers two or three rival organizations.
There are political and moral, as well as finan-
clal results, produced by expositions of indus
trial wealth. In periods of pending revolution
they have represented the power of the people
| against rulers; and when society is undisturb-
| ed they are unerring evidences of prosperity
and peace. Their full success demands how
ever, aggregation of product as well as varie-
| ty. What is done for this interest should be
done for the State, whose prosperity in all in
dustrlal pursuits represents and limits individ-
ual success. This consideration would justify
a less absolute reliance than that now existing
upon county agricultural socites
Festive occasions, like county exhibitions.
restricted in time and crowded with appoint
ments, do not allow extended opportunity for
intelligent comparison, or elementary and prac-
teal discussion. A more effective organization
might be formed, with the concurrence of that
now existing, which would afford very largely
increased advantages, with but slight addition
to the charge upon the treasury Town soce-
ties, formed for purposes of discussion, might
be assisted by agents representing the Board
OF Agriculture, as now educational agents rep
resent that department not merely by lee
lures, but ultimately by courses of practical
elementary and scientific discussion. To town
societies thus supported-the counties still
maintaining their annual local expostions-
should be added, in periods of three or five
dustry and offering opportunities for exhibit
ton, comparison, and discussion, now never
presented.
Notwithstanding the sterility of our SOIL and
the severity of our climate no civilized State
III the history of man ever presented more ele-
ments of prosperity, than the enterprisina and
hardy sons of Massachusetts have wrought
out of the simple elements of nature, upon a
iIIg frs possession, was but bare creation"
The first ,impses Of national wealth they found
in the limitless seas, that never fail to surrend
er their wealth to those who patiently seek it
and which pay no taxes, and know no charters
of possession or ownership, except those signed
and sealed by the hand Of hardy industry. A
territorial area as large as that now employed
for tilage and mowing,or covered by roads and
rivers, embracing some of the most fertile spots
of the Commonwealth has laid unproductive
and idle for two hundred years, and yet, young
men are going west after land markets. We
have coined wealth from commodities that we
export to warmer ATTITUDES, of which the very
rigors of the climate constitute principal part.
Were every known source of industrial wealth
annihilated, we could reclaim it from the seas,
and restocking our rivers with fish native to
their waters, re-create a source of prosperity,
the monopoly of which would afford an income
not realized in some of the most favored lands.
Has the legislature ever been called to witness
the aggregation of what our industry really is,
and what it promises to be? | have never
seen it. Assuming executive duties at the
opening OF the past year, l had thought an OPP
portunity was presented, which promised me
this pleasure. But of twenty-one exhibitions,
the principal part were in the same week two
agricultural exhibitions within seven miles of
each other, on the same day, in a county with
population of $4,000, and an estate valuation
of less than 000.000-that sufficiently IL
Illustrates our system. We spend no small
amount of time in discussions in which caprice
overthrows opinion, and an emotion is mis-
taken for principle, and thus lose the opportu-
nifty of presenting in substantial aggregates,
the accumulations Of industry, intelligence,
and liberty which never failed, and never can
fail, to impress the world with sense
of power whenever presented. THE STATE
is the unit of our industrial system, and
nothing should be dsregarded which enlarges
its resources, developes its wealth, or concen-
trates and controls its trade, in which lie the
secrets of its power and prosperity.
The manufacturing interest, so heavily Op-
pressed during the late financial crisis, and
which has failed to receive that direct recogni-
ton which every branch of American indus
try may justly demand, though paralyzed by
partial losses, is steadily advancing, and the
energy and skill which planted it upon soil so
far removed from the staple commodities
which it works, will, trust, at no distant day,
re-estabish something of its ancient prosperi-
! ty. l recommend to you favorable consider
ton of all measures which are designed to pro-
mote the interests of those who, by invest
sac ct aD III ag pb4G Be dG Ee asRsnaap
what improvement can be made in Legislation
relating TO other industrial interests.
The assessors valuation of estates, to which
your attention will be called in another con-
nection, exhibits reduction in the val
uation of one of the smaller maritime
counties, for the present year, compared
with last of four million three hundred
thousand dollars, and indicates cores
ponding depreciation, / regret to say, in
maritime pursuits and in navigation. With
this exception, / believe the industry of the
State presents no unfavorable aspect.
The munifcent charities of the Common
wealth have been faithfully administered. In.
creased attention has been given to those who
are recipients of its bounty, and the various
institutions exhibit satisfactory evidences Of
careful economy, patient energy, capacity and
success, on the part of those who have been
charged with duties of supervision. 1t has
been especially gratifying to witness improve
ments in the management of lunatic hospitals
Every evidence of force or violent restraint
has been removed. The prison-like stone
cells which were seen few years since, have
disappeared, and the same persons who were
then wearing away in solitude, life Of naked
misery, are now seen comfortably clad moving
quietly about through spacious and airy CORR
doris. That which restraint and force failed :,
accomplish, has been attained through othe
agencies, more directly affecting the mind 0
patients. Books and periodicals are of thi
class, and more recently it is found tina