Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-09-08

tions already considered. The rents which
the land tenants of other nations have con-
tributed to the luxury of landlords, our far.
mers have accumulated for themselves. Thus
they have become able to be liberal purchasers,
and have focused the thought OF Inventors
and manufacturers on the necessities Of the
farm and the amelioration of their labor. No
other land possesses implements in aid of hus-
bandry comparable to ours in extent and val
ne. The agricultural operations of the old
world have been mainly conducted by the la
boring hand OF man. The farm laborer and
the OK have plodded in the yoke, day by day,
together. The old methods, the old tools, in
the rude simplicity of generations long gone,
still remain in the hands of the peasantry
there. We read occasionally, indeed, Of some
noble lord or rich landhOlder who has pleased
his leisure by introducing some new invented
implement to his fields. Among the toiling
masses labor-saving machinery is little known.
In truth, it is only where institutions of liber-
ty develop and uplift the individual to intelli-
gence and ability to demand aid for himself
that such ameliOratiOn comes. 1t Is rarely
furnished to the general by the consideration
of the higher few.
1t has been the enterprise of our manufac-
lures. which has shown the startled labOrer
on European field, that ingenious mechanism
which sweeps down the waving grain by
acres, binding it in constant sheayes, while
the ruler of the harvest rules triumphant over
the scene. This honor truly belongs to the
American farmer. He
BEGOT THE AMERICAN MANUFACTURER.
1t is, in real fact, his moving influence and
power which have put on the fields of Russia
and the plains of Australia the harvester and
the mower of America,
In this country the progress of the last
generation has revolutionized the whole bust
mes Of orrion I hoe IOfr
forms and processes with new implements, land
vastly enlarged the scope and extent of the
present. Recall to mind the farmer Of fifty or
sixty years ago. Behold him in his harvest
season. He hurries through the neigh
borhood to collect labor for the task.
His forces gathered, each weaponed with the
crooked sickle, they attack the field OF but
few acres as the great undertaking of the year.
The lark is startled by their early call, who
must save every hour of light. They gather
in the hand the berry-laden stalks, then sever
them with the knife ard tenderly lay them
down. Inch by inch they crawl slowly on.
Day after day the backbreaking toll advances
before the field is won. Then the heavy vain,
urged by the patient oxen, creeps painfully to
the barn, where the sheaves are laid at rest.
Bye and bye, amid winter winds, for weary
days, the farmer filings the heavy fail, to fill
the moderate bin. Seize such an one in your
fancy, advar c. the years and sudden turn him
to look upon on your broad, waving fields,
rich with the worlds SUPPLY Invite him to a
ride on your harvester, while you toss off by
the acre the well-bound bundles! Then with
him to the thresher, whose devouring mouth
swallows the sheaves as the big stack
falls, while at the spout the rapid stream of
golden berries runs! Could he believe you to
be the child of his own loins, not in league
with some genius of the fairy world? Or bid
him drop the hoe in the old cornfelds hung
with strings and streamers and guarded by
the bogus sentry against the crows, and by
sudden transformation, seat him on the sulky
corn pillow, to stir the earth with rapid step
on your broad acres Would he not laugh to
hear you call that working in the corn? Such
and SO many are the devices which have re-
lieved the man and woman from the drudgery
of the farm that the Imagination can hardly
pause in the forecast of the future. They be-
gin with the farmers ploughing, they attend
him in seed time, in cultivation, in the gather
ing of crops, in the storage, their reduction,
even to the hour of marketing. They have
lifted the husbandman beyond the level of
mere toll. The
FARM IS ALREADY MANUFACTORI.
Its labor is applied with thorough ingeni-
GUS mechanism, with intelligent skill. Its
laborers are mechanics. Its operations hum
with the music of civilization. The OK and
the ass have lost their character as beasts of
burden. Steam has expelled them from the
fields and work in the farmers yoke. Who
forbids that electricity shall next become a
farm servant, and leave the noble horses but
for the enjoyment of the highway and the
track?
But the enormous producing power which
these implements of husbandry have developed
would have been no blessing, perhaps curse,
had invention ceased with them. The mill
wheel cannot run unless the tail race delivers
the flood which grants it power. It were folly
| to multiply production, if the product de but
accumulate in hand. Goals are little worth to
Newcastle for use or wheat to Minnesota So
Heaven filled the inventors brain with other
| cunning to meet the farmers need. The won
| derful highway of iron was bestowed in time.
1t is, also, the farmers debtor, at least devel-
| oped by his demands. Without him, it would
be of comparatively small extent and value.
| Without its aid, where would be the farmer OF
| the West?
| Before railroads were devised, there was no
l extensive freight communication but by
water. And that was valueless unless con-
veniently accessible. From this, the agricul-
| ture of past ages gathered around the seas and
! lakes, or lined the rivers margin. It grit the
| Mediterranean and made famous the valley of
| the Nile. The unwatered world of the int
| rior was left to the wandering nomad or the
| forest barbarian. It was the unknown re-
| geon full of mysterious terrors. The
| great Hercynian wood was the
home of beasts, brute and human,
the latter ever the impending peril, and finally
| the destroyer of the civilization of the world.
| The reserve corps Of barbarism lay back on
| the plains of Russia and Tartary, which nOur-
ished the fierce savages who could live on
equine flesh and carouse on the milk of mares.
| So, too, water communication was slow and
tedious, even when accessible. That is true,
especially of inland navigation. 1t is weeks
| by water from st. Paul to New York, though
the aid~of water be invoked and in northern
chimes navigation is available for but half the
year. Your magnificent wheat fields would
mostly be unbroken, farmers of Minnesota,
had not the invention and enterprise of other
men, stimulated by your demands, laid the
double lined highway by which the freight car
bears your precious berry to the sea, and the
Indian would still be master of the territories
of the West. Your lands derive their value,
your industry it's reward, your homes the lux
uries and many of the comforts they exhibit,
from the ms 0E
WELL ABUSED RAILROADS OF THE CONTINENT.
In the beautiful language of that noble lover
of human liberty, once the prids and orna-
ment of Wisconsin's supreme bench,
the lamented Byron Paine, Railroads
are 5ue STedt puuiIC highways VI oue WORTH,
along which the gigantic currents of trade
and travel continuously pour-highways COM
pared with which the most magnificent high
ways of antiquity dwindle into insignifcance
They are the most marvellous inventions of
modern times. They have done more to de-
velop the wealth and resources, to stimulate
the industry, reward the labor and promote
the general comfort and prosperity of the
country any than other, and perhaps than all
other mere physical causes combined. There is
probably not man, woman or child whose
interest or comfort has not been in some de-
gree subserved by them. They bring to our
doors the productions of the earth. They en-
able us to anticipate and protract the seasons
They enable the Inhabitants of each cline to
enjoy the pleasures and luxuries of all. They
scatter the productions of the press and lit
erature broadcast through the country with
amazing rapidity. There is scarcely want,