The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-07

American navy has department, with Score
tary. who Is styled q constitutional adviser of
the President. This whole navy, which costs
annually SIS, 900 900 to 500 900 OO0 is not worth
country $32 900, 900 to $40. 00O 900 annually to
support the War Department, which has charge
of about $4,000 men, hundreds of whom have
nothing to do but 60 on dress parade and draw
their pay. When agriculturists visit Washing
ton they win search in vain for the Department
Of Agriculture. Agriculture has no real ccnsid-
Grafton in Washington. When the President
calls around him his constitutional advisers to
wrestle with some great or small problem of
statecraft, agriculture is not represented. This
condition is to be attributed chiefly to the leth-
arty of agriculturists. With twelve farmers In
Congress, agriculture will never have any real
consideration. The Indiana General Assembly
appropriated s., 500 for the publication of 1000
copies of the State Board of Agricultures re-
port Does that look as though agriculture had
warm, devoted and influential friends in Indianai
Agriculturists themselves are responsible for
this humiliating condition of things
Agriculture is an occupation pre- eminently
suited for study. 1t is an occupation distin-
guished for integrity and independence, content
ment and happiness. anticipate period. not
remote, when young men will esteem it an honor
to be known as NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. tllers
OF the soil-and when agricultursts, by their
learning, their abilities and their influence will
compel the acknowledgment that agriculture, by
the vastness of its investments and untold con-
tributions to the wealth of the country, is emit
tied to distinguished recognition in the affairs of
the government.
j. M. Osborne Of Toledo, O., read paper of
considerable length, entitled Comparisons of
the Various Classes" He reviewed the manner
in which the various classes comprising the pop
ulation of the United States improve their OPP
portunities or neglect them. He regarded agri
culture as the basis of all employments and
enjoyments, but conceded to the manu-
facturer much of the credit for the
improvement in the methods of conducting the
varied interests outside of his own pursuit. By
furnishing cheap houses to the laborng class,
the manufacturers and employers have improved
their condition and done much to- lessen the
nomadic habit and propensity of the poor and
discontinued.
Hon. J; R. A sieg Of Harrison county, ad,
addressed the board on 1.-THE Labor Question"
I'm the improvement of the condition of the
laboring men in this country they have" Mr..
Sieg said, kept fully apace with the man of
means. In the United States all classes are on
an equal footing in the matter of educational
life begins, Pluck and energy determine the
contest The wage worker'5boy, by energy and
industry. may in few years become the en-
ployer, and the son of the man of means may
become the wage-worker. The advantages
in life's contest cannot be attained by sitting in
the rear of some saloon, throwing cards to see
who shall pay for the drinks, or by engaging in
abuse of those who have made success possible
old idea that wealth alone should determine the
social standing of the classes is being happily
obliterated. 1t is generally claimed by the
laboring classes that they are at the mercy of
the mon of wealth. This is entirely mistake.
If the laborer manages to intelligently place his
labor the market, capital becomes just as
dependent On labor as labor is on capital. By
their disinterested expenditure of money in
building school-houses and providing teachers
for all they have raised the poor upon level
"a uno md nnI1 Se 1lx- Ia
pendent upon the other for success in life. You
may say to me, What have you, as farmers. in
farmers convention, got to do with all thisp
The farmer ls equally interested with labor and
capital in the problems of life Our interests
demand that we should strive to maintain har-
mony In our ranks, and In our endeavors we
should not attempt to build up our own indi-
vidual interests at the expense or destruction
OF those of others with whom we have such init
mate relations, or upon whom we are SO d.
rectly dependent for our well-being and pros
perity. We should not attempt to control
others who meet with US in competition in the
battle Of life. Neither should we allow others
to dictate to us our line of action. 1t is the
right of the laboring class to yozganze
for its protection the same as the man
ufacturers do. AS farmer, however,
should allow no other farmer to
dictate to me what should do, or try to control
me in the management of my affairs. The
price that shall pay for my labor is matter to
be agreed upon between myself and the men
that employ-it is matter of negotiation,
wherein our intelligence is brought into play.
When we agree upon TERMS no outside person
has any legal or social right to interfere with the
contract The thing for laboring men to do is
to free themselves from the control of those who
are seeking to attain positions of ease and lux
ury at their expense build for themselves pleas
ant homes, demand justice, and grant the same"
The session of the board concludes to-day.
The programme includes an address by Prof j.
L. Campbell. chief of the United States geodet-
ic survey. on Drainage" and by Maurice
Thompson, State Geologist, on 1.-THE Song birds
of Indiana" The officers for the next year will
ho alocfad fhic off