Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-10-01

sophistry.
ten. Butler and agriculture.
An address By Gen. Butler on any topic
may be expected q priori to contain much
that is good and much tina: is new. The
misfortune is that in so many Of his perform
anees the good and the new are not identi'
cal. The general dearly likes TO startle the
friends Of truth by holding her over the abyss
of error. Yet he RECEIVERS his position so
adroitly that his very faults are plrdoned to
his admirable audacity lie never fails to
make subject interesting, and generally in
structive. As an agricultural orator the
general appears in a new character. But
he j. equal to the emergency, and We but
speak the voice of the whole press when we
saw that his address delivered at the Worces-
ter Mass. Agricultural Fair. is the best
thn.of the kind which the autumn festivals
have produced. 1t is fresh. practical and
pertinent.
The subject was Agricultural Legislation.
or what legislation has done for farmers,
The GENERAL ar.t discussed the relation Of
farm labor to other kinds Of industry. with
special regard to strikes" 1t was well
known fact that while combinations existed
among tie workmen in all other pursuits,
agriculture was exempt from them. Three
reasons were assigned for tie fact. First.
the great Improvement made in mauulactur-
in. by the introduction of labor saving ma
chimes had unsettled the old adjustments Dee
tween capitalists and la51rers, and LED the
latter to combine for the purpose Of securing
more equitable division of the profits
TEIs was not witnessed ina.ricllture because
machinery had there taken the place Of man
ual labor to a comparatively small extent
Secondly. the farm laborer receives his sub
sistence from his employer, and is therefore
undi,turbed hy the fucuation ia the price
of provisions. Tie mechanic. 90 the other
hand. is rendered uneasy by the variation IN
the cost of the nece--aries Of Tie. and soon
comes 10 demand that bis wages be raised to
correspond with the expenses Of his family.
Thirdly, the money employed in agriculture
is comparatively steady investment. The
amount of capital which can be applied TO
the improvement of a farm is practically
limited EARNING Is seldom carried On by
associations. there is no fuctuating stock.
no =. watering " of the capital. The returns
are reasonably regular, and there l. none OF
the greediness Of speculation and the uncer-
tainty Of profit, that tend to destroy the mu-
tual confidence which should subsist between
the employer and his employees.
After discussing the subject of " strikes ''
as related to farm labor, Gen. Butler pro-
ceeded to examine what legislation had done
for Agriculture in Massachusetts,. The fact
which he brought to light Il either creditable /
to the farmers Of the Bay state for needing .
so little help, OF discredimble TO her Lcgisla
ture for giving them 50 little. The last General .
Court-as .hey call the Legislature in Mass
achusetts-passed 4dG acts. Of this number
but three concerned agriculture. and two Of
these only indirectly Contrasted with these
are l62 concerning railways b upon banks
and banking. &c. Again in a total appropri-
alton Of over $1,000, GOO, that in behalf Of
agriculture was but 81 400 while one item
Of $ 600 was for the publication Of 81 His
tory Of the lnyertebate Animals Of Mass
achusetts Other facts are given by the
general justitying his complaint Of the small
amount Of assistance given by legislation to
agriculture, as compared with that extended
to other kinds of business.
Gen. Butler, however, referred to this sub
jet for another purpose. He would not have
more legislation for agriculture, but less for
other industries. Farmers need no special
legislation, and no business has a right to it.
The bane Of our legislation is special acts,
special appropriations, and special and pri-
vate resolves. OF the 400 acts passed by the
last Mass. Legislature, only 293 were of a
public nature, while l73 were Of purely
private character Some Of the latter the
speaker cited as specimens. lie then pro-
ceeded to discuss the evils of special legisla-
ton at considerable length. We have not
space to follow his reasoning, bur will give
several of the objections which he makes to
the practice. In the first place special legis-
latian was almost invariably in the interest of
capital. Capital associates under state au-
thori;y; the laborers' combinations wereout-
side Of law. This was not an accident, it is t
almost inevitable Labor asked for no state
assistance for itself, and any assistance ex-
tended to Its antagonist, capital, was an in
Justice. Again special legislation was IN
Just to the agricultural portion Of the peo-
pie. as it compelled them to help bear the ex-
penses of what was Of no benefit to them.
The evils of legislative Incorporation of
great manufacturing companies were many
and startling. 1t aided the requirement ofco-
! ,ssal fortunes by enabling the father to keep
his property in stocks and thereby debar bis
widow Of her share upon bis death it ena-
bies the stockholder to eyade the payment of
taxes by keeping his money in a form that
easily escapes the tax-gatherer's eye; it virtu-
ally re-establishes in an aggravated form, all
the iniquities Of entail and primogeniture.
One of the remedies which General Butler
proposed for this evil of private legislation,
is biennial or triennial sessions He would
have greater deliberation in the proceedings :
of the General Court, and shorter and less
frequent sessions. lie would have the
business of the Legislature confined to those
matters which concern the people at large,
and he would compel every interest, whether
manufacturing, agricultural or commercial,
to stand or fall by itself.
Mr.. Goodwin Smith says that the four great I
orators Of English history are Pym, Bolingbroke,
Chatham, and John Bright. A classification of
this kind is in general matter of opinion; and
Mr.. Smith is entitled to bis. But we doubt if
critics generally will agree with him Many