The record-union., 1897-09-01
Annual Meeting of the Farmers
National Congress.
Was Only a Small Gathering at the Open
Ing Session.
President Clayton Delivers His An
nuaI Address-The Farm the
Foundation of Wealth and the
Main Source of National and
State Prosperity.

State Prosperity.
ST. PAUL, Aug. 31.-The seventeenth
meeting of the Farmers National Con
gress of the United States was called
to order at the Capitol by President b.
+. Clayton of IndianOla, Ia, this morn
ing. The opening session was not large
ly attended compared with what IS
expected tomorrow. But Secretary
Stahls advices warrant the prediction
that the congress viii be very we'll at
tended when the high-water mark IS
reached. The delegate representation IN
the congress does not, at it's maximum,
exceed 500.
Following an invocation by Archbish-
op Ireland. the congress was greeted on
behalf of the city of St. Paul by Mayor
Doran: on behalf Of the State Agricult-
ural Society, by President Weaver OF
that organization: on behalf of the
State. by Governor Clough, and to these
addresses. respectively, responses on
behalf of the congress We're made by
John NJ. Stahl of Illinois, Secretary OF
the congress, and Hon. b. f. Clayton
of Iowa, President.
annual address Of President Clayton
In part. he said:
Gentlemen and LADIES' extend to
you a cordial welcome to the seven
teenth annual session of your organiza-
ton. and I assure you that I fully ap-
preciate the fact that few men have the
honor of Presidency over an organiza-
ton so distinguished in its composition
and in its representation.
"As a nation of progressive people,
proud of our achievements and with q
destiny of splendor, position and power,
which can only be portrayed by a mas
ter hand or a gifted tongue, we must
acknowledge the husbandman and the
tdIler Of the soil as the prime influence
eievaung US TO that end: and whether
in peace or in war the farmer must be
considered the first factor in the wealth
and stability of the land.
From the crude method of sowing the
seed IN the slime deposited by the over
flow of the Nile and having it tramnled
in by the swine. when all agricultural
labor was performed by the lowest me-
niaI and the common slave, we have
advanced to a point where agriculture
is one Of the finest sciences.
and The main source of national and
State prosperity; but to the due and
adequate success of the farm and the
farmers there are issues pregnant with
profound thought In your delibera-
tions, I am sure that important econ
nomic question can and will be resolved
to the advantage of agriculture.
Changes in the laws of common car
s;s,rI IN,
and equitable Interpretation of such
laws, are not only demanded as due
TO the common rights Of the people, but
is of vital and substantial concern in
making for your labor and the prod
ucts of your labor a market and a cor
responding reward.
TT is doubtful if there is a proper
appreciation of the vocation of farming.
only within a few years has agriculture
taken its place on a. par with other pro-
fessions. although like Atlas. it bears
the world upon its shoulders. Our
fathers looked upon the profession with
pride and pleasure, and most of the
great men of the past generation were
farmers or sons of farmers. The argu-
nent generally advanced against it is,
labor, but no counting-rom or man
ufactory is free from this badge of the
greatest blessing in the world. The la
bor of the farm does not suffer from
comparison with that of other voca-
tions. 1t may be harder at times but
not so unintermitting. 1t is more
varied, and the results are surer. No
panic invades it to scatter the gains of
half n lifetime NO strikes silence its
machines or paralyZe the arms of its
laborers. No fabrics of warehouses
show so beautiful results as spring
from the farmers hand. Fields white
and yellow with their more than silver
and golden harvests and orchards
bending under their weight of fruit 1t
is not a business in which great for
tunes can be made and riches quickly
and easily accumulated, but the maN
1ority of the farmers are better off than
the army of employees in factories or
mines.
whether or not the different classes
have moved forward equally in intel
lectual, physical or financial develop
ment. this fact is true: The farmer of
this generation is confronted by prob
lens more serious and requiring more
trained mind to solve. than were pre-
sented to the generation which cut of
the primeval forests and planted the
virgin soil, but he holds in his hands a
key to these problems, and the power to
redress his wrongs. He should there
fore educate himself to a fun under
standing of his grievances and to a
sufficient knowledge of the principles
which should be employed to remedy
them.
The farmer reads little and IS often
doubtful that he is the better from that
little; from it ne learns more things to
brood over without finding a remedy.
The little glimpses he obtains of the
world in what he reads intensifies his
prejudices and does not prepare him to
cope with apparent ills.
He brushes so little against a world
of which he is so important a part. that
the world practically ignores his exist
ence. He is enumerated in the tables Of
population but expunged from statisti-
cal lists Of the nations representatives.
He IS enrolled on the tax list, but can
celled in the catalogue of those who
levy taxes. He is registered IN the poll
book, but disfranchised Of the privi-
1eges and immunities of a citizen
Whether the farmers of America
Will assert their sovereignty. remains
70 ha N-n III