Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-09-12
SENATOR BLAINE.
Conclusion of His Speech at the
Minnesota Stale Fair Sept. 3.

1 am addressing an agricultural com
munity. During all the depression o.
trade and commerce and manufacture
prevailing for these past five years, you
have steadily progressed In comfort, in.
dependence and wealth. While tbous.
ands elsewhere have lacked employ
ment, and many / fear have lacked
bread, no ablsbodied man in Minnesots
has been without remunerative labor
and no one has gone to bed hungry,
Your pursuits and their results form
the basis Of the ideal epublic-hsppily
indeed realiZed}within your own bOrd.
er. The tendency of all your industry
Is toward the accumulation of indepen.
dent competency, and does not favor
the upbuil,iing of colossal fortunes
You are dealing daily with the essential
things Of life, and are not warped in
your judgment nor detected from
your course by speculative and illusory
schemes of advancement land gain
You are landowners, free-hOlders, q
proud title that comes to us with
centuries of civilization and strength
title that every man in this country
should make it his object to acquire
anu W IAOhOIs OCAi
the owners of the soil in America is an
instinct, and where that ownership is
in instinct, and where that ownership
as widely distributed, good govern
ment is the rule. Whatever disturb.
ances, therefore, many threaten the
peace and order of society, whatever
wild theories, transplanted from other
climes, may seek fOothOld here, the
Republic of the United States rests
securely on that basis of agriculture
where the trainers of the Revolution
and the farmers of the Constitution
placed it. The man who possesses
broad acres which he has earned by
the sweat Of his own brow is not apt to
fall in with the doctrine of the Com
munist, that no one has right to own
ership in the soil; the man who has
the product of his labor in wheat and
in corn, in pork and in beef, In hides
and In wOOl-cOmmanding gold and
silver as they always have and al ways
will in the markets of the worlds
not to be led astray with theories of
fiat paper and absolute money, but in
stinctively consigns such wild vagaries
to the appropriate domain OF fiat folly
and absolute nonsense.
The farmers of the Republic will
control its destiny. Agriculture, COM
merce, and manufactures are the three
pursuits that enrich q nation-but
the greatest of these is agriculture; for
without its products the spindle can.
not turn and the ship will not sail.
Agriculture furnishes the conservative
element in society, and in the end is
the guiding, restraining, controlling
force in government. Against storms
of popular fury; against frenzied mad
ness that Seeks concus4iOn sWith the
established order; against theories of
administration that have drenched
other lands lin blood; against the spirit
of anarchy that would sweep away the
landmarks and safeguards of Christian
society and republican government,
the farmers of the United States will
stand rs the shield and the bulwark-
themselves the willing subjects of law,
and therefore its safest and strongest
administrators.
Gradually the Government of the
Republic Is passing under the control
of the farmers of the Mississippi valley.
Indeed it is practically there to-day.
The swelling and on'rushing tide of
population is toward the broad plains
and the rich acres that lie between the
two mountain ranges of the continent.
The soil is fertile, the land so inviting,
the area is so broad, that no man may
dare calculate the possibilities of this
great region either as respects produc.
tiOn or population. Your own State,
peOpl9d no more densely than New
York, would have population of g.
900. 600; peopled as densely as Msssa-
you would have 6 population
of 16,000,000. With the transfer OF
political control from the old States to
the new, there is also transferred vast
weight of responsibility. 1t is yours
to-day; it will be yours still tomorrow.
Take it; use it wisely and we'll for the
of the whole-for the
honor of all. The patriotic traditions
of the "Old thirteen" that fought the
battles OF the Revolution, formed the
Union of the States, and planted liberty
in tn organic law, will be your safest
hig hest inspiration. Many
OF you to-day mingle with your love
for Minnesota your earlier affection for
the old home and the old State far to
the East, where an honored ancestry
lie buried, and where the tenderest
memories cluster around the familiar
scenes of days long past. 1t is this
of blood, these ties of relations
ship, that make US indeed one people
the East and the West, the
North and the South, in the indis-
soluble bonds of common, and trust
always benefcent Government.
A Texas Boy.