New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-04-26
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0FFjciAl JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
ADDRESS,
Delivered At the Opening of the Louisiana
Mechanical and Agricultural Fair,
April 25, 1872, by John H. Kennard
Of New Orleans.

Delivered 1t the Opening Of the Loufsfan
Mechanical and Agricultural Fail
April Is, 1872, by John H. Kennar,
Of New Orleans.
The city of New Orleans and the State O
Louisiana owe. debt Of gratitude to tn
Mechanical and Agricultural Fair Associa
ti0n," Of this city, in whose name to-da.
address you, which can only be estimates
properly by q canvass Of the difiicultie
overcome. and the effects which have fiowe'
from lte organization, together with TN
reasonable hopes in the future inspired BY
its efforts to awake new spirit among
a--iculturalists and mechanics.
The rise and progress OF agriculture, as
sclence, in the others States of this Union
il distinctly marked by the rise and pro
grees Of agricultural and mechanical asso
inevitable Outgrowth Of that aggressiv,
American spirit which is ever finding new
and better ways to achieve the ends theil
ancestors have aimed at. Their formation
marks new era in each State and ever,
country. Their success is inevitably q pre-
cursor Of q general improvement in til,
agricultural and mechanical interests. The
association of agriculture with mechanics
is an absolute necessity In this age of i'm
provement. They 20 hand in hand, eacl
sustaining the other-each stimulating tn.
other to new etertions and new develop
ments, acting and reacting each upon thu
other in beautiful harmony. The 'preiudicel
of the past, which clogged the wheels Of
progress in these departments, are things
Of the past.
TIE mechanic has now only to establish
the usefulness Of his invention to dispel the
objections of the most skeptical agricul.
tural fossil. This is wonderful step for.
ward in the worlds history.
The ancient author of some new thing,
whether in agriculture, mechanics, phi
lOsOphy or history, before exposing his
production to. the public gaze, was COM
PEELED to look well to the safety of his head.
The federation Of this age is something
new, and is the great emancipator of the
human race.
This particular association has encoun-
tered and overcome peculiar difficulties,
and has therefore special claims upon the
3cople of Louisiana for cOrdi9l support.
~ Incorporated in April, 1860, when our
city and State were rich and prosperous,
the war following its incorporation 60 soon
rs to prevent single exhibition, NO COM
plant could have been made if the associ-
alton had died, as many other noble enter
pfkses died, during those eventful years.
No discredit could have attached to the
original movers in the great enterprise if
the terrible experience and impoverishment
Of this State during the late wahhad driven
i
great work they had undertaken under Cir
cnmstances SO different. so much more pro-
piti0us.
Happily for us, for this city, State and
every adjacent State, the men who fret
put ''this ball in motion were made of
sterner stuff than would permit desertion in
times of peace, though baff1ed in war.
The same calm resolution that had wrested
from the whole civilized world during the
nd m fOr mr.
after the war everywhere in the land, and
especially. among these gentlemen when
turned to the arts of peace. Initiating the
noble example of that peerless leader of
our armies, whose memory is the most
priceless legacy of our misfOrtunes, the as
sociation, promptly on the conclusion of
peace in 1865, turned its attention to the
practical execution of the work designed
in April, 1860, when the act Of incorpora-
ton was passed.
So prompt and effective were their efforts
that on the twentieth Of November, 1866,
on these grounds, they formally inaugu-
rated the Mechanics and Agricultural Fair
Association, and met with success that
established it as permanent institution of
our city and State. Since that date they
have encountered new. unexpected, severe
disasters; the planter has repeatedly fallen
victim to water, to worms, to low prices
for his products, until spirit akin to de-
SPAR pervades the whole country. These
visitatiOns OF Providence, hard indeed, were
surpassed in cruelty by the merciless de-
mands of our rulers for more taxes.
Yet, despite all this, overriding and over
ruling it, all these gentlemen have gone
steadily on, until they offer at this, their
sixth exhibition, achievements that COM
pare most favOrably with those of any sim
lar association in the land.
Even the ravages Of fire, which SO lately
swept clean their grounds, are put at def |
ance by these beautiful buildings. There
fore it is that have said the city and State |
owe them q debt of gratitude.
Their names must, in the future, consti- |
tute '0ne of the trolls of honor" of New Or |
leans and Louisiana.
How can convey just idea, at this Pc
Rod of our history as q nation, of what we
owe to mechanical artsl How can the
agricu!turalist be made properly to appre-
ciate them?
Forty odd years ago Daniel Webster, adj
dressing the Boston Mechanics Institution,
said: THE slightest glance must con-
vince us that mechanical power and
skill, as now exhibited in Eu-
rope and America, mark, an epoch in human
history worthy of all admiration. Ma
chinery is made to perform what has for
merly been the toll Of human hands to an
extent that astonishes the most sanguine,
with degree Of power to which no number
OF human arms Is equal and with such pre-
cision as almost to suggest the notion of
reason and intelligence in the machines
Every natural agent is put I'M
relentingly to the task. The minds work, |
the waters work, the elasticity Of metals
works; gravity is solicited into thousand
new forms OF action; levers are multiplied
upon levers; wheels revolve upon the peri
pheries Of other Wheels the saw and the |
plane are tortured into an accommodation
to new uses, and. last Of all, with inimitable
power, and with "whirlwind sound" comes
The potent agency of steam. -
In comparison with the past what GEN.
uries of improvement has this single agent
comprised In the short compass of fifty
7ears! Everywhere practicable, everywhere
'ffcient, it has an arm thousand times
which human ingenuity is capable of fitting
) Thousand times as many hands as be-
0nged to Briareus. q
Less than a quarter of century has q
'assed since these utterances. Steam has | {
'ecome too slow even for the proverbially | I
onservative tiller of the soil. Tho won
erful invention of immortal Morse has 6
zen pressed into the service of agriculture.
ne comprehensive mind of Maury, which | Q
through the rocks, the shoals, the cyclones /
I the ocean, is now turned, with the aid of
oservations made practicable by the tele- '
rapn, to blazing the way OF the planter
!, farmer through the varying seasons, 80 | t
nat ne may avoid the shipwrecks caused by
cold, excessive heat, excessive q
ans, excessive drouths. commend c
= no9ie ann OF this illustriOus man, to
MS ana every agricultural society through O
ut the United States. Lend him all the b
10 IN your power to influence national n
eglslatlOn to the granting of the moor nit |