The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-03-04
VERMONT NEEDS
AS THEY APPEAR
TO Or. MEAD
Agricultural Resources Capable
of Greater Advancement
STATE FAR BEHIND LIMIT
Favors Greater Variety Of Farming
and Raising of More Sheep and
Swine

Springfield, Vt, March 3.-Dr John
A. Mead of Rutland, Lieutenant Gov
ernor of Vermont, was the principal
speaker at the annual banquet of the
Springfield Agricultural society held
here this evening. DR.. Mead's ad
dress was devoted to The Needs of
Vermont" and in reference to a great
err agricultural development he in
part said:
There are no associations, whose
meetings | enjoy more than those of
the farmers and of the meetings of
the members of the Grand Army.
They stand for more that pertains to
the welfare of our country and to the
facts which have made her history,
than any other associations They
are not given to show, or to mere
amusement their special purpose be-
ing to discuss the problems which in
ure greatly to the benefits of our
state or to the facts which relate to
the preservation of our union the re-
suits of which have given us a nation
of 100000 of people the most con
tented, the most prosperous and per
haps the most powerful at the pres
ent time of all of the nations of the
world.
Vermont was an independent re-
public for some fourteen years during
which time she was governed wholly
by the laws enacted by her own rep
resentatives, not being subject to the
dictation of any king or queen or to
that of any other national color. 1t
was during this period that the spirit
of freedom took deep root with the
inhabitants of our state, which re
suited in a conservatism that has
been characteristic of vermonters up
to the present time. This fact is
well illustrated in the political his
tory of Vermont the state not hav.
ing had since the organization of the
Republican party, a Democratic gov
ernOr, or Democratic representative
or Senator in congress. Among the
natural resources of Vermont are
marble, granite and slate Vermont
is by far the most prominent dairy
state in the union, having more cattle
than any other state in the union in
comparison with our size. We are
acquiring good roads under the direc-
ton of the present commissioner
Hon. c. W. Gates
am one of those proud citizens OF
Vermont who is willing to acknowl
edge that we have never reached
here the degree of agricultural pros
perity that our resources permit.
realize that every inducement for the
development Of a better agriculture
should be used. number of years
ago it was my privilege to visit the
Holy Land. Palestine is similar tC
our state in shape and size and like
our state. it is divided into two sec
tions by a range of highlands. Il
once had a population of 100000 pros
porous people and in the times of Da
vid and Solomon, it was one of The
wealthiest nations in the world. To
day it Is barren waste. sustaining
only few Arabs or robbers who's,
chief food is chickens and eggs Tn,
people Of this ancient country mad,
two great miatakes-the destruction
of the sacred groves aud the neglec
of agricultural products They spcn
most of their strength in war and d
verted their industry away from tn
soil. In En- ope, Spain is not unlilI
Palestine and stands as one OF tn
great European paupers. 1t had one
a great deal OF territory in Contra
America and South America and pal
more attention to her colonies tina
to life at homo dependent uuon agr
culture. The result of this is an i'm
poverished nation. Under simila
circumstances the result has bee
just the same throughout all tn
course of history.
Agriculture is the cornerstone {
Vermont prosperity and all prosperit
in our nation. AS a whole our agr
cultural products i'm this country al
appalling in their volume. For 1876
our corn crop was worth $50 million
of dollars, cur cotton crop was wort
675 millions of dollars and our whei
crop was worth 800 millions of dc
lars. We hear of the enormoi
wealth of the production of silv,
and gold, but If our statistics al
right, either one of the four agrcr
tural crops alone exceeds the tot
output of all tie gold and silv
mines of all the world
The grand total of our agricultur
crops for 1907 was nearly 1900 m
lions of dollars and for the last nil
years the farmers Of our count
have produced crops worth over s.
000,000,OO0 The farmers crops c
ported in 1906 was nearly one billie
Of dollars and 561s per cent of our
tai exports for that year were fro
our farms and only for the farmer
help along this line our count
would have shown a deficit of oy
$50O,O00,00O during that year alone
am in favor of greater variety
farm products here in Vermont VI
mont now exceeds all of the 9th