The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-11-19
ed ut its birth by the warmth Of your

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1t is best that I should remind you
Of these things. I do it without NAL
ice, for am somewhat Of q farmer
myself, and in this most friendly 1Dm-
mum ication it is best that we sLegin
with the frank understanding on all
sides that in spite Of your great intel
ligence, events hive proven that, like
the rest Of mankind, you are likely to
err. We don't always recognize u
good thing at first sight.
You have changed your opinion
about many things because you did
not at first understand their value.
Observation, argument and experience
have helped you out Of many an error
and 1 am sure you will pardon me it i
suggest that you have never yet learn
ed the value Of a good road; for upon
this subject you have had neither OBJ
sersation nor experience, and without
these argument is sure to 60 astray.
Let me remind you by one or. two: H.
lustrations taken from your own per-
sonal history.
The scythe and the fail are no longer
the best tools of your trade, and you
long since ceased to shoot crows with
the old flint-lock. A few years ago
one of your ventnresome neighbors
went to the State Fair and brought
home patent reaper. A little later
an enterprisiug drummer sold him a
thresher and tanning mill. lie was
brainy neighbor, with plenty of nerve
and u confidence in his own Judgment,
and you profted by his experience.
You looked over the fence while he
was ut work and became satisfied that
the old way Of doing things involved
an extravagant waste of tine and labor,
and you soon found that the money
spent for farming machinery was well
invested. Then they ran line of
railroad up through your country, and
after while you discovered that it
was cheaper and vastly quicker to ride
on the cars than to take long journeys
by the common road; and you have
been OF tolerahly good terms with
that railroad ever since.
Each of these splendid improvements
has filled a want. Providing first its
usefulness and then its necessity, it
has found a market. You cannot half
succeed without it. Did you ever
think how it was that all these labor
saving things were first brought to
your attention? They were not born
in public institution nor invented by
"public 'tiiccr-not one If them; they
were not put in use by the vote of a
town meeting nor by proclamation of
the Governor; they are rot part Of the
public business, and in brstowing their
benefits they have been careful to
AVOID the sluggish turn of the public
mill. It ali ciImo about in quite a
different way. Do you remember how
you FIRST came 10 buy a mower? A
wide-awake Yankee told you that lie
had lnachiue for cutting grass by
horsepower; that this machine would
do better aud cleaner work than your
scythr, and, that too, ut the rate of an
acre an hour. You said "nonsense.
lie took his mower down into your
meadow. and in good natured way
pr we'd to you that you could save
money in buying that machine; that
you had been paying too much for
hir> d help and boarding too many ex-
ira hands in harvest time. You
bought that mower, and though you
paid what seemed Il round figure, you
now know that it bas paid for itself
many times over.
And so you see at the outset, that
the mower was rather forced upon you,
as were the horse-rake and the reaper
and all the rest Of the good things in
the category Of farming machinery.
You have taxed yourself to pay for
these improvements. There is no phil
antl,rophy in trade, and you have paid
cost and profit to the manufacturer till
lie has grown rich in the business; but
on the other side of the account it Nd
pears that the millions Of money spent
by the farmers of the United States
for improved machines have been re-
paid to them hundred fold by the
saving of time, labor and money which
the old methods would have entailed.
You have shared benefits and divided
profits with the manufacturer. and
your money has gone unbewailed to
pay for splendid thing. Your tax
has turned out to be an investment,
and in the year 1880 you had over four
hundred millions Of dollars invested
in farm implements and machinery.
But began with the intention OF
writing to you about roads-the com
mon road that leads from your door,
yard to the nearest market. Did it
ever occur to you that it is part of the
machinery of agriculture? That your
farm wagon is machine, pure and
simple, and that the road bears the
same relation to your wagon that the
steel rail bears to the railway carr 1t
will do you no harm to think of this a
moment, and to remember that every
great improvement is the child Of
thought. The head will ever lead the
hand, and every splendid thing you
ever did was born and bred in your
brain. When the people think the
nation moves; and q government of
s'uggards is next door to q govern
ment of slaves.
If could be sure that your strong
sense would be put to work in the set -
thing of this question of better roads,
my letter to you might stop right here;
but know that your thoughts are
every day directed in the channel
where flows the tide of your personal
AFFAIRS and in thaao fionoa ~ A.oo