Year: 1877

To The Editor Of the ~ y. Times:


As you were good enough to publish
my previous communication unde
the above heading, in which 1 main
tained that the road to a revival o
our national prosperity lay in the de
velOpment OF our agricultural resOur
ces, | venture to resume the subject
| do not think that in this matter We
will be allowed choice, for i'm the
near future labor and capital will b.
driven to the soil. 1t is no longer the
question with our young men how to
| get rich, but how to get a living
There is at the present time no trade
| profession, or business that is no
overcroWded. In all our country vii
lages there are more storekeepers,
blaeksmiths, shoemakers, doctors,
and elergymen than can possibly OBJ
tain a decent living, and we see
| trades.people and work people roam
ing from place to place, leaving one
OvercroWded locality for another, in
the vain hope of finding a vacancy
/ somewhere. How it is in our cities
need not tell you. The only occupa.
ton which is not OverdOne, which
never was and never will be, is farm
| ing. The force OF the whole argu.
ment is condensed in this picture
On the one hand, every avenue closed,
and on the other, abundant room for
all. Under these circumstances things
must eventually adjust themselves
and it would be needless to recon-
mend what must perfOrce happen,
were it not that by recognizing the
fact in advance of its forced accent
ance, the proper equilibrium may be
established easily, instead of through
a crisis.


We are somewhat peculiarly situ-
ated as regards farming, for the two
classes by whom this occupation is
mainly carried on in other countries
are wholly wanting in our own. We
have no peasantry, and no farming
tenantry at least the latter do not
exist with us as a class. BY peasant
ry, l mean that class OF cOntentedIy
ignorant tillers of the soil to be found
in Europe, having no aspiration be-
yOnd earning a meagre livelihood on
the spot where they were born and
by tehantTy, that class found mainly
az "AAO IuClE Cdll~
under the protection and encourage
ment Of wealthy landlords. While,
therefore, it is very profitable to study
the conditions of agricultural life in
foreign countries, we shall fail to find
examples admitting Of our direct imi-
tation. AT present our mental re-
quirements are too great and our phys
ical requirements too small to aff0rd
us happy country life. The remedy
probably lies partly in q return TO
simpler aud healthier aims. | do not
think IL wise to attempt the inven-
tiOn OF any system by which farm life
might be made agreeable. Such in
ventiOns never work well. We
should simply recognize the necessity
Of large number Of our people en-
bracing the occupation, and LET the
question of its agreeableness work it.
self out. IL it does not contain with
in itself the elements OF a cheerful,
contehted life, they cannot be inject
ed into it il it does contain such ele-
ments, they will sooner or later make
themselves felt. In either event,
they cannot be controlled or com:
msnded by any device of the POLITICAL
cCuuOLlllSls


The main safety of an agricultural
life is this The means OF living are
always secure. The farmer may not
be.able in given year TO sell his sur
plus crops at remunerative price,
but, short Of a general famine, his
food and shelter are sure. He Is GER
tain Of the prime essential of life
food, for he makes it himself, and is
not obliged to earn money to buy it.
He grappleS, hand to hand, with the
elements of human life, and makes
them his own, and by fulfilling his
part OF the great contract which man.
kind holds with nature, binds her to
his support. / speak now OF the
small farmer, who only aims at
comfortable competence without en-
deayOring to amass wealth, In the
case OF larger agricultural operations,
undertaken With the view to fortune
making, and partaking, therefore, OF
the character of aSspecuiatiye Yen-
ture, success is, OF course, less certain,
but 1t is easy to show that such enter
prises rest on a surer basis, and are
more benefeent in their results than
the msiority OF speculative achemes.


Ct.