The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-07-05

the world, where and when has the
tiller of the soil been looked upon as
personally an important element in the
social and political life of any country?
Never, aud nowhere, until Farmer
Washington and Farmer Jefferson and
Craftsman Franklin joined hands and
put their heads together to establish a
new nation, upon new continent,
where there was fair field and no OBJ
structions in the way to the founding
and upbuilding of society of wealth
producers who should, for the first
time in the history of civilization, enjoy
to the full extent all the fruits of their
labor.
THOSE great men, and their CO.
workers, did their work faithfully and
well; but this new freedom, the like of
which the world had never before seen,
produced many results which the
wisest were not able to forecast. Free
industry piled up wealth, in single
century, "beyond the dreams of ava
rice" as regards its acquisition. The
wisest of the founders of our republic
could not possibly have foretold, they
could not even have imagined, the
changes of the century following the
accomplishment of their labors.
HOWEVER, they realized the absolute
need for the education of free, self
governing people, and they did what
they could to promote it, Schools in
every village, academies in the young
cities, colleges wherever there was
wealth enough to sustain them--and
the log school house at the crossroads.
The best education was attainable only
by the few; and, although to know how
TO read, write and cipher was a blessing
unknown before to the laboring man,
they could not put him on an equality,
or anything like On equality, with those
possessing those superior advantages.
KNOWLEDGE and wealth rule the
world, aud must always rule it. The
artisan families in villages and cities
share to some extent the advantages of
education there; yet not effectively, as
regards the development of sufficient
knowledge and discipline to meet and
sustain itself against the encroachments
of corporate wealth. This is witnessed
to by the crude and mostly futile efforts
of the city workmen to assert and Sc
cure what they regard as right and JUS
tice. But the farmer, with his poor
little abe schools at the crossroads, is
far worse off, educationally, than the
workman of the town or city.
THE establishment of great corpora
tons has tended vastly to aggregate all
these evils of what is called modern
civilization" The concentration OF
wealth thus accomplished can easily
and pro6tably be used against the
rights and liberties of the people; and
it is being 80 used all over Amer
lea. The farmers and working men OF
every class are put under greater ant
greater disadvantages every year. Wher
the country was young and poor, these
) evils were little known, and could no
be anticipated by the people, though
they were foreseen and foretold by
some far.seeing statesmen and popula
leaders. They surround US on all side'
to-day.
, WISE and good men have put fortl
, some successful efforts to give ad
, vanced instruction to all classes o
, working men, through the establish
ment in every state of industrial school
for farmers and mechanics; but tn
, endowments for such schools have il
almost every case either been seizet
e upon by the literary colleges, or the,
have been Differed and manned b.
+ teachers from them. AS a rule, the
{ are doing very little to help the work
, ing men, though capable of savin
2 them in the end, if properly directed
Il is the interest he has felt in all thes
n matters, quite as much as any desire +
t promote the practical study of agricult
4 ure as a science and an art, which ha
n tempted the editor of this department
to give his time to a work of this sor
for so many years. He stills stands b
and will always continue while he live
> to maintain that interest; but he
> reaching the years when all men fee
. the necessity of reducing their cares
= and resting, at least to some exten
= from their labors. Yet he hopes, be
- fore he has to drop the pen entirely, t
see some young and earnest men ris