St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-09-10

was Minnie r. and the other fast ones, of
whom quite q number arrived yesterday.
Com. Kittson's car for his horses is palace
one, and is at the Omaha depot
About 2 o'clock the Saltwater brass band
came on the fair grounds playing a lively
air, and it was then seen that the opening of
the fair was about to begin. The officers of
the society soon afterwards mounted the
judges stand, and w. Fowler, president of
the society, called the assem- blage to order.
THE ADDRESS.
The Hon. John B. Brisbin, of st. Paul,
was to have been the orator of the day, but
finding he could not attend, he sent the fol-
lowing address which was clearly and ac-
ceptably read by the Hon. f. w. Durant:
ST. PAUL, Sept. 8, 1884.
President of the Washington County Agri-
cultural Association:
Permit me to express my great disappoint-
ment at my inability to address the Wash
ington County Agricultural society at its an
nual festival exhibition
Among my earliest and most valued
friends in this state are the citizens of Wash
ington county, especially the people of Still
water, and the opportunity to speak to them.
on any occasion, always affords me uncom-
mon pleasure. The fault is not with me that
am compelled to decline. Early in June
last an esteemed and ever partial friend of
mine from Saltwater, at casual inter
view in this city Informed me that nv name
had been spoken of with others, in connec-
ton with the annual address, asking me at
the same time if | would accept in the event
of an invitation. / at once replied that |
would cheerfully do so. Nothing more was
heard by me on the subject until last Friday
evening, when l was informed that you Sc
lected me to speak on the 9th inst This
was hearsay from a gentleman in this city.
l at once wrote to Isaac Staples, Esq, ex-
pressing my surprise. On Saturday even
ing 1 received a telegram from Newton Nc
Kusick, Esq, informing me that 1 was ex-
pected.
could not be there at the time indicated
without deserving an important professional
engagement in the probate court that had
been partially disposed of, and once post
poned for my accom- IN odation.
With this obstacle out of the way l should
still decline. | have not reached the pre-
eminent audacity of Gen. Butler and the like
who is delivering political sophistries through
the state under the pseudonym of agricul-
tural addresses, and would not impose upon
your farmers a mere speech.
You have some of the best farmers, and
the most experienced farmers in the state
You are literally as King David said, in ''the
fat valley.''
Farming is no longer a strictly manuals
tic occupation. 1t is among the skilled in
dustries, and lawyer might, with equal
propriety, lecture upon the ''bi-nomial the
Orism" without preparation, as to address an
audience of farmers without thorough study
Agriculture is at once the most ancient
and the most useful of all the social arts II
began with the world in Paradise, when man
possessed the treasure of primitive inno-
eence. God placed him in that delightful
garden ''to dress it and keep it, not indeed
with painful labor, but with easy care, fur
nishing both occupation and amusement,
and giving him occasion to witness and ad-
mire the boundless glory and benefactions
Of his maker.
The beautiful order which God had estab-
lished was disturbed by evil, what was or
dained as an amusement became chastise-
ment, the earth became rebellious and man
was compelled to earn his bread ''by the
sweat of his brow.'
Nevertheless agriculture is the noblest and
most benefcent of all earthly pursuits 1t is
the cheapest and only assured support of the
human race.
Mines of gold and silver may be ex-
hausted; diamond and pearls may remain
hidden in the recesses of the earth, or at the
bottom of the sea; the various arts which
comfort and embellish life may disappear
and become ''lost arts;'' commerce may de-
cline, still the pregnant and fruitful earth,
Il, r4n1 ~ I,1,
TO supply the necessary wants of man.
Agriculture was practiced as an art from
the beginning, before the deluge, and re-
sumed Immediately thereafter by Noah and
by him transmitted to his descendants.
After the dispersion of men which was oc-
casioned by the confusion of language, the
precious art was soon revived. After this
event the people of Mesopotamia, Palestine,
and Egypt, applied themselves to agricul-
ture.
So with the Caananites and Phenicians,
it dates back to primeval times We read
that Isaac sowed in the land of Palestine,
and reaped an hundred fold. Abraham,
during year of scarcity, went to Egypt to
prepare against famine, and Jacob sent his
sons there to buy wheat. 1t travelled from
Egypt to Greece, and the Romans received it
from Africa and Greece.
The great wheat countries of antiquity,
were Palestine, Egypt, Sicily, Northern
Africa, Sardinia and Thrace. We learn from
the orations of Dcmosthenes that Athens i'm
ported yearly from one Thracian city ., 4OO.-
600 bushels of wheat. Sicily was denomi-
mated the granary and storehouse of Rome
But | am going back to the origin, aud be-
ginning the history of an art, which to fol-
low and trace down through the ages to its
present supreme perfection, opens too wide
scope for the limits of a hasty and eXtempore
letter.
How interesting literature would be such
a retrospectpOinting out as we went along
the moral of the age, and making its appli-
cation to the needs of the present We might
argue, for example, against allodial tenures
from the Mozaie law; the advantages of
small farms, from the laws of Lycurgus OF
Sparta. At each step of such delightful
progress we would find matter of deep and
profitable instruction. These limits forbid
The connection between agriculture and
law is intimate. The civil laws owe their
origin in no small degree to agriculture.
Most of the other useful arts derive from it
their origin and expediency, such as ma
chinery, the fabrication of wood and metal
lie implements for its needs, and following
these, geometry, surveying, geography and
Agriculture necessitates commerce, COM
meree forces navigation, and navigation the
handmade and slave of commerce has civil
lied the world When a state produces more
than it can use, it seeks a market other
where's, and navigation carries it to market
bringing back the golden feece'' OF ex-
changed commodities.
Here, were disposed to invade forbidden
ground, might advert to-possibly expose
one of the conspicuous fallacies OF Gen. But
Ter. He says, oracularly, at Minneapolis,
and Cover its own sweet note the cock dove
broods,'D he repeats at Northfcld, ''the
trouble is not over productOn but Under