The Portland daily press., 1878-09-19

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snrpasses all other riches, and his prosperity
ministers to the welfare of all.
The Greek orator advised his people to seek
the welfare of the State rather than great
wealth. Nature and circumstances here COM
gel obedience to that advice, or rather render
it unnecessary. Here there is no alternative,
no antagonism between wealth-getting and the
| public good. Oar State dees not afford the ad-
vantages for the acquisition of great fortunes
| possessed by some of its sister States. 1t has
no vast stores of metals and minerals, no bound
| less reaches of fertile lands that need but the
| pillow and seed tr return abundant harvests, and
| it does not lie upon any great thoroughfare of
| traffic and migration. Nevertheless it is not
| altogether uncovered. Although it has no
| riches within easy grasp, it yet aboupds in nat
ura gifts and opportunities which yield COM
| fort and moderate wealth to enterprise, indus
| try and skill, and which promise future of
steady and growing prosperity. The virtues
that men must exercise to gain their bread,
the conditions 1t imposes, give character to
| the people which constitutes the best guaranty
| of the welfare of the State.
We should not look to the material advance
ment of oar State in any single direction. The
| true course lies in the use and symmetrical
development of all the resources and opportuni-
ties it presents. Maine cannot be classed as a
| commercial, q manufacturing, or an agricul-
tural State. 1t is better than ether-a comb :
nation of them all. Its situation, natural fea-
| bhIco duu ouOVW Wouts, lhVOE UuAt DIVERSITY OI
pursuits required by an intelligent and iugen-
ious people. which is Of itself an educating
| influence, and an assurance of stability and
prosperity. We justly boast of our noble
ocean frontage indented with safe and spacious
| harbors, and with bays that run far inland To
meet the waters of the lakes. We challenge
comparison with the magnitude of thu power
which Nature has given us in the streams and
rivers that are full fed among the forests aud
mountains and fall in swift flow to the sea
We have too, broad acres along our rivers and
on our hillsides, whose value, when their intrn
sic quality and the nearness Of the markets fol
their products are considered, will not fall be
low that of the distant fields which have beer
preferred to them, These advantages warran
hopeful outlook, Let any of them be turned
to more profitable account and the pursuits
applicable to all the rest feel the stimulus
By common consent agriculture is looked to a
the present juncture to lead OFT in the reviva
of industrial activity and of business which i
everywhere SO ardently longed for. 1t i
specially desirable 10 our State that Their
should be an increased occupation of the soil
ana greater attention to agricultural pursuits
because by them We may the most readily re
tain the greatest number of our people.
In addition to suffering in common wit
the whole country, and indeed with the who'll
civilized world, from the prostration OF bus
ness of all kinds, Maine suffers from tn
severe drain upon her population which ha
been going on for thirty years. and which ha
been induced by succession of causes, non
| of which, L am happy to believe, are attribu
table to the State itself in any way. Main
has not driven away her children. They hav
left her of their own free will, many of the.
| lured by the enckantment which the distai
the new and untried ever exercise upon 81