Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-09-21

y ork are otherwise, and are the un.
ealthy civilizations Of this volatile and
dense society, on which they in turn
condense their unwholcsome Influence
Address of Horace Greeley at the
Hennepin County Fair.
Agriculture, the first of arts, thrivcs
only in the vicinage and by the COOPER
alton Of other departments Of PRODUCE
tive Industry. A clcar-cycd political
economist has justly observed that FAM
inc hns really if ever scourgcd and de-
cimated any other than a people who
derive their subsistence almost wholly
from the cultivation OF the earth. AS
1T is not good for man to be alone"
so a nation exclusively agricultural is
necessarily poor nation, in spite Of the
fact that no other pursuit is nobler, or,
in the avaragc, better rewarded than
that Of the farmer. So great is the
average bulk and weight othis products,
and so perishablc arc most Of them:
that they must be readily exchanged or
they have little or no value, save to the
extent that they are required for the
satisfaction Of his own and his family $
personal wants. They must be ex-
chanveablc on fair terms fer other de-
sirablc products, or he must sink into
rude ignorance, discomfort, and virtual
barbarism.
That the farmer needs to be surroun-
dcd by producers who are not farmers
who will buy and consume his pro-
ducts, and thus minister to his needs
many things which he cannot advan-
tageousIy produce-I have often argued
as l hope to do again and again Than
the farmer, I hold no other producer
more deeply Interested in. more sign"lIy
proiitcd by. that bcri@nant policy which
stcadiast|y seeks to diversity our nation
al industry by fostering and building
up. all over the country, every kind Of
manufacturing, mechanical, and mineral
production. And to those who argue
that the farmer is lest favored by CIV
ing him his choice Of two markets, the
home and the foreign, l say. "Therc is
Canada. stretching all along our nor
thcrn and northeastern frontier, whose
farmers enjoy the blessings of that very
policy you commend, yet who not only
sell their products much cheaper, with
their two markets, than our farmers,
close beside them, do theirs in what
you would represent as their one mar
ket, but who gladly sell their farms.
when any one can be pursuaded t" buy
them, for prices far below those OF just
such farms situated near them on our
side of the line, heavily taxed and vir-
tually mortgagrd for the payment of
our vast national debt. And three
Canadian farmers sell out and make
thoir homes in the States for every one
who removes from our side to farm in
Canada beg you to weigh well
these manifest, significant facts.
But l propose on this occasion to
discuss another department Of the same
general thcme-the relation ofour farm
crs to the carriers Of their produce, and
especially to those who construct and
control our railroads. For, while the
farmers best customers are those pro-
duccrs Of cloths and wares, Of nipple
mcnts, fabrics, &C., who arc practically
his noighbors, those also arc often nee
cssary to and justly valued by him who
live far away, yet to whom his products
may be sent at cost less than ruinous.
TO have ample markets of consumption
close at hand is best for him ; but,
these failing, he may we'll be glad to
avail himself Of others, and to prize the
means whereby he is enabled "dvan-
tagcously to reach and supply them
The furnace or factory which creates an
ample market in his own country IS
his best friend in default Of that, the
river, canal or railroad, that bears his
products cheaply to remote consumers,
is to be priced and blest.
Railroads have contributed immense
ly to the rapid development Of our
country Suppose we have in this
country fifty thousand miles ot'railway,
one third of it doublc-track ed, costing
in the average $4,000 per mile, or
two billions in all. Add to this anoth-
or billion for the amounts dishonesty
added to their cost by knavcs intrusted
with their construction or management,
and call their real cost to the people
three billions. Vast as is this amount
we could not afford to dispense with
them for twice the money. Thousands
Of square miles, now p"pulous and
thrifty, would have remained to this
day a savage solitude, and would still
be such for at least a generation, III the
absence of railroads. Aud all the fraud
cxtortion. ra?ac ity: cvinccd in their
construction cannot induce us to wish
them non-cxistcnt, but only to wish
they had been more ccomic;illy con-
structol. and were managed with a
wiser and less short-sigh sc'tshAcss,
than is now too often manifested.
| fully realize that those who have
put money into railroads have just as
good wight to fair and cvc~ liberal
compensation for their investment and
the risk as though they had invested
their capital in nurseries or saw mills
| believe the policy Of granting halt
the unoccupicd lands for a moderate
distance on either side of projected
railway, in aid of that railways cen
struction and equipment, is. though
liable to abuse, essentially judicious and
bcncficent You tell me Of the public
lands given away to monopolists; |
challenge your statement, and insist
that the nation has more lands, not less,
than if it had never granted an acre to
build railroad. For you cannot fairl y
measure lands by their superficial area
alone. saw millions of acres when I
crossed the continent to California
twelve years ago, that would have been
very dear at five cents per acre before
the Central Pacific railroad was built ;
since which, they are worth thirty times
their value in 1850 Then you could
not have supported an average family
on 900 acres Of sayc-bush desert that
could now be made to subsst forty just
such families TO talk Of this road as
having, in any practical srnse, sub
trac(cd or distracted anything from the
nationoI domain. is to defy reason and
;,,,,]t common CONGO r. and tho