The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-08-28

sells and legislation Of the country. III
While Wise policv would dictate a no
.-.l announcement of that pursuit upon
which all other industries are so largely
denendent-aud that too upon when the
wealth and prosperity of the whole country
mainly depends. Yet as says Mr.. DAVIS, oi
West Virginia in q speech before the oen-
ate in January last.
ut must be admitted that lhsteau - -
national legislation's doing anything 1or
the encouragement of agriculture Tue .en.
dencv and effect of the legislation have been
TO encourage other ind ustries and the build.
inc nm of towns and cities at the expense vi
the soil. the mine and commerce"
The duty on articles used by farmers av-
erape according to Mr.. Davis. Az W
'salmost all the internal revenue comes
saws he. s.from the tax on two items OIL aG-
ricultural products, one produced directly
and the other indirectly from the soil.
One of them. Tobacco" paid in 1873
$40, 900, 900, and liquors paid upwards OF
S61. 600. 600, the two summing up more
than $40. 600. and this enormous amount
Of taxation comes almost exclusively from
the Southern and Western States.
Now If our farmers would exert their le-
gitimate strength, they would not long bear
such UNEQUAL burdens. If we would give
our sons a liberal academic education, and
then let them enter upon a scientific system
of learning, it would not be long before ag-
riculture would take rank along with the
other learned professions, and be equally
remunerative.
Icannot better close this discourse than
by an extract from the conclusion Of tho
able speech, before mentioned, made by the
Hon. A. 8. Paddock, Senator from Nebras-
ka. and Chairman of the Committee on
Agriculture.
After q long and able argument to show
how entirely dependent are not only the
United States but the whole world upon
establishment of a National Academy Of
Agriculture on the same general plan as
that of the Military Academy at West Point
and that of the Normal Academy at An
napolis, he says, '.Veri.y the day that wit
nesses the failure of agriculture will
mark the date of the sure decadence
Of this people; and, Sir, if a
thousand million of dollars are required
to be expended, therefore to encourage its
advancement, in the employment of the
various instrumentalities and methods to
which l have called attention, and all 9TH
ers that may be useful, to the end that
agriculture may be extended to the fullest
extent our immense facilities may permit
duA z NC luIIS Ii u
alive, the investment would be the wisest,
the most prudent, the most conducive to
the prosperity and welfare of the whole
people that has ever yet been appropria-
ted.
l hope, MI. President, the day will come
when our Congaess will be made w more
largely from the agricultural class, for the
larger the percentage of representatives
here in the persons of those engaged in
practical agriculture, the more liberal will
be the policies of the government in res
pect to it.
say this, Mr.. President, with all due
respect to the three hundred lawyers. more
or less, who to-day occupy seats in the two
Houses of Congress. 1t is true, however.
that the record and all past experience do
not greatly encourage this hope, for history
discloses the fact that although those en-
gagged In practical agriculture since tho
existence any where Of organized society
have uniformly outnumbered those en-
ployed in all other avocations combined.
they have as a rule had the smallest partici.
patton of either in the direction of the af-
fairs Of governments. Undoubtedly farm
ers in our country occupy a higher plane
socially and politically than actual tillers
OF the soil have heretofore held anywhere.
Here, sir, the tiller of the soil is soyer-
eign. All things that are possible for any
one are possible for him, and yet his class
rarely has direct personal representation in
the great executive and legislative Offices
OF the government. This is a national
misfortune. The farmers of our country
who own and cultivate farms are of ali
others most patriotic; for ownership, occu-
patton, and use of the soil induce the
growth of patriotism everywhere. None so
SLOW as they to engage in civil strife, or to
consent to needless foreign wars; none more
conservative, more steadfast in their onno-
sitlon to tyranny, to communism to revoin-
tlonary movements of any kind against law
md order, against the rights Of life and
property. Therefore it is especially needful
In a country like this, where the Govern
Men' rests upon the consent and in the will
oi .ne people, that such q great, conserva-
tive, patriotic element should hold ita fnll
proportional representation, in the ner.on.I
direction of affairs. WHY Is # ;nv;HwN