Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1878-10-03

am confident that a new era Of pro-
gress and development awaits you,
with which the past will
sink into Insignificant proportions.
At least | see no reason why the
and results obtained in
the southern half of the State may
not be duplicated here as attention
is more and more given to the cult
walton of the soil. The grand pos
sibilities Of central and northern
Wisconsin have never been com
passed or estimated and their devel
opment is hardly yet commenced.
In years past | have fattered my
self that [ had very correct idea
concerning the progress and deyel
opment of our State. l have read
as you doubtless have, the figures OF
population and production as they
have been from time to time pub
Iished. | have not failed to note
the marvellous increase OF assessed
valuations.
From time to time, too, have
noted that men whom [ once knew
as day-laborers, CIR farmers in a small
way-perchance on lands Of another,
clerks perhaps, or struggling school
teachers spending the sometimes
scant aud always hard earnings Of a
term as teacher, in paying the ex-
peNses OF another term as pupils.
These and such as these | have seen
become fore-handed farmers, pro-
gressive and independent agricul-
turists, successful merchants, promi-
nent manufacturers, solvent and re-
spected bankers, and yet in some
way have failed to grasp and re-
tain an adequate conception Of what
Wisconsin is,-that it has been pos
sible, in one generation, TO make a
prosperous, wealthy and civilized
state, where was only the unbroken
wilderness and the trackless prairie,
and yet this is only the truth, if any
thing less than the whole truth.
A kind Providence guiding them,
our pioneers discovered and build
ed better than they expected. Not
withstanding experience, that wisest
of Schoolmasters, had taught them,
as it has taught us, again and again,
the lesson, that there is no surer or
better foundation than enlightened
and progressive agriculture, upon
which to build for permanent pros
perity and self-perpetuating civi!iza-
ton, yet our pioneers of the early
day, blind to the possibilities of the
Northwest as an agricultural region,
were so certain that mining was to
be the chief industry and corner
stone of future prosperity, that the
first great seal of Wisconsin Terrific
ry, procured by Hon. J. S. Horner,
Secretary Of the Territory,
upon consultation with his Excel
lency Governor Dodge, bears upon
it for device, the representation of
a miners arm grasping a pick, and
holding it suspended over pile Of
lead ore, ''emblematical,'' as the
record now III the Executive Office
reads, of the mineral resources of the
Territory.
The near obscures the remote.
The fly upon the window pane will
often conceal the larger object in
the field, as the moon may eclipse
the sun. Forty-two years ago the
deposits of lead ore were thought to
be of more Importance than all our
fertile acres and magnificent forests,
Just as perhaps, you of Wood Coun-
ty have suffered the Immediate pos
sibilities of other interests to OBJ
scure and belittle the agricultural
of your soil.
Eliminate from Wisconsin her ag-
ricultural products and the industries
connected Herewith and dependent
thereon and she would make but a
poor showing as compared with the
actual record.
Deprive Wood County of the
farms which are represented here TO-
day and Of those which may be rep
resented at succeeding exhibitions,
and you take away that without
which she cannot prosper. In like
manner Danish from our State her
mines and miners, her merchants,
manufacturers, mechanics, schools
and professions, or even the some
times much slandered capitalists and
bankers, and the resulting damage
direct and indirect would be we'll
nigh incalculable. 1t has been a
fortunate circumstance for Wiscon-
sin that all industries and all profess
sions have developed here from the
beginning, side by side. 1t has CIV
Ell us at all stages Of our growth a
full and complete civilization. 1t
has made every year a year of pro-
gress, and more and better than that,
it has made of our population cos
mopolitan people-all activity and
all possibility receiving harmonious
and symmetrical development. And
yet the voice of the demagogue is
sometimes heard in the land seeking
to array class against class, race
against race, the farmer against the
merchant, the producer against the
non-producer, SO called, or his pres
ent role, the poor against the rich.
1t becomes me to speak as believe,
and believing that whoever seeks to
array one portion of our citizens
against another is in fact common
enemy-many times perhaps earnest
and honest in his convictions that by
so doing he is serving both God and
his fellowman-but believing as I do