American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-11-06
farm, Gardtu 4 household
A Nations wealth Depends on
it's Farmers and Mechanics.

1tb - Ga hAkA0 ~&AAS< 49, :
What is wealth ? Tt is those things
which are convenient and necessary to
use, and which administer to our wants
and comforts. Money cannot there
fore be considered as wealth, because
if the articles or thing above alluded
to are not to be had, or are not in
existence, man would be poor indeed
though he were loaded with gold or
silver. If he were hungry an / there
was no bread TO be had If he were
shivering with cold and there were
no garments for sale, his gold woald
avail him but littie. 1t is true man
kind by common consent have
agreed that gold and silver should
be the sign or evidence ofwealtb,, or
in other words the measure Of proper
ty; and he who has certain amounot
has so much wealth, and he can ex-
change it for the very things or ar
ticles be wants. Thus a man who has
q hundred dollars in his pocket has
the ticket, as it were, to 'entitle him
to one hundred bushles of corn, or a
hundred yards Of cloth or yoke Of
oxen, or q horse and wagon, as the
case may be; but if these things do
not exist and he needs them, his
ticket is of no use to him-not a
mite more than q piece ofblank paste.
board. The elements therefore of
wealth, consists in natural produc-
tions, brought together; changed and
modified by the skill and labor of
man, Of the, farmer and mec echanlc,-
Commerce, though necessary, and
honorable is nothing more than othe
moving and changing of mere p;oe
ductions from land to land. 1t has
always appeared Singular to me that
the merchants should consider them
selvs above the farmer, yet very
many do, when in fact they are the
servants offarmers, standlDgqs mid,
die men ; and let farmers withhold
their patronage from them for six
months and where. will they be gone ?
Why cup the espout, =" If weare cor
rect in the assumption that wealth
consists in its patural productions
changed and wrought'up by men, it
follows that the country which pos.
sosses the most of these elements or
materials to,work on, such good soil,
abundance Of good water-power, for
ests of timber, quarries of stone,
mines of different kinds of minerals,
&C., must have the most wealth. 1t
then only requirs the hand ofindustry
to put these materials into shape to
form real substantial wealth.
This is the duty of the farmer and
mechanic they arc the second crea-
tors Of wealth; they take the raw
material as it comes from the hand of
the Almighty, and change it by their
labors into ten thousand different
forms that render it so useful to man.
The more Industrious and skiliful the
farmer and mechanic, the wealthier
will that country become. We rights
Iy consider tho e.facts ? Aare We not
too apt to think ourselves as mere
plodders and servants rather than
the Great First Cause, in the produc-
tion and increase of wealth This
standard appears to be tdIeness and
a fine coat and consequently the
more idle a man can be and the finer
dressed, the more of gentleman"
Not so. Responsibility should con>
sist in an improved mind, and skillful
and industrious hands. That is the
man for me and he will do moro for
society than a thousand starched-up
dandtes, who are public loss and
pnblic nuisance, and society should ac-
cord the need of honor to the toiling
sons of the soil and the skillful labor
of the couhtry.- Germantoeen 1ele-
graph. ... IH-a.as'n..a