The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-10-22
A Beautiful Tribute TO AgricuI.
fHm0

/
ture.
At the opening of the Atlanta
! lnternationalaC Cotton Exposition, on
| the Sth inst, the Hon. 3. w. Voor.
Ehes, United States Senator from
Indiana, delivered the Opening ad
dress. The address which is a very
lengthy, but grand one, Contains the
following deserved and beautiful
tribute to Agriculture.
"The progress of civilization has
been measured at every stage by
the production of the earth. The
history of the human race, for good
or for evil, has been written in the
cultivation of the soil. The stamp
of superiority is upon those com
munities and Nations wherein agri-
culture has been pushed to its high
est excellence, while those who
have disdained the tillage of the
fields, or negligently performed that
great primary duty, have loitered in
the rear, and been overtaken by
Calamity and degradation. Where
ever the plowshare. has been allow
ed to rust and the pruning hook has
been idle, there the historian has
written of degeneraey,, decay and
barbarisms The sword may lend
It's heroic CLEAN to Nations his
tory, but without the patient ener-
gies of productive labor it will have
no permanent strength or glory. A
thousand clements. of a Nations
greatness and power may be point
ed out by the pen of the historian
IN the career of a Government, but
they all rest immediately and di--
rectly upon the toll of those who
clear away the forests, enclose the
fields, and pillow and plant, and sow
and reap. Other pursuits are more
ostentations, and make more noise
in the world than that of agrieul-
ture, but, like the vain and richly
dressed son of plain father, they
are all dependent Upon more useful
virtues than their own. Majestic
cities, with their proud display and
their hum and roar of trade, have
been the theme of history and elo-
quence from the earliest annals Of
the human race to the present hour,
and yet they are but the perishable
blossoms on that great tfee of life
whose roots are in the ground. I'll
the labor of the husbandman should
cease or the earth refuse its susten-
ance, the palaces of cities would be-
come the habitations of the bats.
their market places would he silent. |
and grass would grow in their
streets. The commerce of the civ
ilized world is to- day floating on the |
ocean, lake and river, and crowding |
the sheltered bays and harbors Of |
all the four quarters of the globe. |
Its ships go down to every sea
amidst the applause and wonder of
the world, and yet if the arm of in
1ustly should be paralyzed in the
field, and corn and cotton should
.ail, they would drift tenantless on
he waters or rot in idleness along
side of rotting and abandoned
varves. The traffic, the support.
hewealth, the progress of the whole
human family, all begin with the
urrow in the ground. The mer-
liant prince in the city of New
DIRK who rides behind four blood
Il horses in Central Park in the
vening, is useless factor in human
Hairs compared to the farmer of
he Northwest who produces food
or the world, or to the planter of
he South who supplies mankind
With clothing. Nearly one hundred
thousand (1oo,ooo) miles of rail ,
Dads have drawn their lines across
he face of this country, and in
wealth and power many of the
reat railroad corporations do not
brink from a trial of strength and !
1tuence with the Government it E
elf. But every rail of iron and |
tee, and every locomotive and car q
'hich speeds over the track is paid +
or, sustained: and made profitable a
y the production of the farm. The c
abroad President, in his sunptuous v
ar, entertaining his directors, is of \
n less Importance to the stock +
elders of his corporation, and to o
IS fellow beings generally, than he n
no handles the corn planter, the il
neat drill, or the cotton -cultivator. e
III this is in accordance with the g
,perlence of ages as we'll as the "
achlngs of Divine wisdom. 1t n
as decreed in the beginning that "
an should have dominion over the n
nth, and that this dominion should
achieved and maintained by la
'r. But IN this estimate of the
lue of productive industry there =,
an implied element without which :.
can not extort the gifts, the wealth I
d bounties of nature nor assume al
e mastery in human affairs which or
is designed to hold. That ele j.
ent is knowledge in its broadest
nse. Ignorant industry is sad u
ectacle, but it has filed the world be
past ages, and in certain portions W
the earth it continues to do so. ST,
e are accustomed to hear supe
rity claimed for some of the most
ointment nations of antiquity over NJ,
civilization of modern times. ~,
e claim is uufounded. Their la na
was not guided BY the intelli an
nee and the vast discoveries of ~
present. The physical sciences he