ufacturing. Money has been borrowed from the East for the purchase of farms and for building railroads, and high interest and taxes must be paid in consequence. And convenient water-power is not abundant. While New England with factories already established, with wealth and abundant water power, has every advantage over western competition. These are some of the reasons why we cannot expect to see the manufacturing interests of the West grow rapidly. They will doubtless increase, but it is upon a wise system of agriculture that our great dependence lies.

It behooves us, then, to look about us with scrutinizing eye, that we may see where the sources of the evil of our present system lie, and to give every cause its due weight in the production of that evil. Whenever any given course is recognized to be opposed to success, it will soon enough be abandoned. But the relations of cause and effect are often intricate, and the danger lies in the difficulty there is in tracing out these relations.

As I have before shown, the independence of the farmer has been taken away. He is now like a manufacturer, the producer of a certain class of commodities, not for his own use, but for sale in the markets of the world, that, with the means so obtained, he may purchase the supplies needed by himself and family. He is thus brought into competition with other producers, and needs to familiarize himself with the fundamental laws that govern commerce. He cannot safely ignore these laws and satisfy himself by decrying political economy. If he shuts his eyes to the wants of the world and plants a hundred thousand acres of hops, he will live to regret his unfortunate blindness, as doubtless many present to-day can testify. But how many western wheat-growers have ever asked themselves, "Where shall a market be found for the surplus produce of my farm, and what will be the demands of that market?" Have they not grown wheat because ten years ago it found a ready sale at a high price, instead of studying the present and prospective demands for that article? a course for which they are now paying the penalty.

Like every other class of producers, farmers are brought into contact with the world through the exchange of their products. If they fail to inform themselves upon those commercial questions that are of especial importance to them in buying and selling, they

in so doing neglect their own welfare and others will benefit by their ignorance.

Again, the farmer of to-day differs from the farmer of half a century ago in another important particular. Then farm-machinery, as it now exists, was unknown. Now the western states have one dollar invested in machinery for every twenty-eight dollars in farms. It requires some intimate knowledge of machinery to keep in repair and manage these improved farm-implements economically and successfully. So that in addition to his knowledge of the principles of tillage, the farmer must be something of a machinist, and in so far as he masters his implements, he is a wiser man than were his ancestors.

The cloud that overhangs the western farmer's firmament, to which I have alluded, is well recognized by them. They have endeavored to ward off the threatening storm by organization for advice, for improvement and for mutual protection. This is certainly a most worthy movement. There is nothing better adapted to advance the welfare of any class of society having the same interests at stake, than wise and judicious association. All hail then to the rapid growth of those organizations through which so many thousands are seeking aid. But that they may be the source of good that they can, and should be throughout the land, they must be most wisely and carefully managed. The end for which they were created must never be lost sight of. To gain this end will require good judgment, careful, honest and deliberate action, intelligent and passionless discussion, a recognition of the equal rights of property however invested and a broad comprehension of all the causes at work for, as well as against the farmers' true interest. These are rather words of caution than accusation; yet you cannot fail to have recognized during the past two years, a somewhat monotonous cry against railroads and commission men, while scarcely a word of counsel or advice, so far as my reading has extended, has been uttered to prevent the constant violation of the law of supply and demand that has been undermining the foundations of a prosperous agriculture.

As we are gathered here then, after reaping the year's harvest, it behooves us as rational men to take our bearings anew, and to change our course if there are dangers ahead, rather than blindly close our eyes while the wind and the tide are carrying us on to certain

destruction. What is the outlook to-day for the farmers of the western states? What are the dangers they need to avoid and what means are necessary to shun them?

I have endeavored to point out one great reason why farmers are not now enjoying as great prosperity as they were ten years ago. Besides over-production, there are other causes more or less remote. and among these I may mention the unfortunate condition of our currency and the extremely rapid settlement of a wide extent of territory. For, paradoxical as it may seem, this rapidity of settlement has been a hinderance to its own prosperity, by keeping the West overwhelmed with debt and weighed down by exorbitant taxes for buildings, improvements and railroads; in short for much. of that which is at the same time the cause of the rapid development, and the thing itself.

For the many hardships that are now oppressing the farmers of the West, no one class of men is wholly responsible. But, unless Congress is held accountable for them, because the public lands were sold so cheaply, or given to the actual seller, farmers must themselvs bear the burden of the blame.

But the case is not a hopeless one. When one is lost in the wilderness, it is wiser to look for a way out, than to waste time in attempting to find the man who directed him in. The way out of the present trouble, is for farmers to make themselves masters of the situation. This mastery can only be gained by an intelligent knowledge, not only of the daily routine of their business, but also of all their relations in life as producers and citizens. I have often thought that of all professions the farmer's is the one in which there is most need of that thorough mental training which gives a man the most vigorous use of all his faculties. His calling stands upon a broader foundation than any other. He not only has to deal with the laws of trade in his commercial transactions, but he has also to contend with the manifold uncertainties of soil and climate. To look in all these different ways and correctly comprehend the situation, that advantage may be taken of every favorable opportunity. requires the judgment of a carefully trained and well-balanced mind. Such an education is out of the reach of this generation of farmers, but there are many ways by which knowledge may be gained by them if it is sought after, for like everything possessing value, it can only be had by paying the price.

Next to the agricultural press, farmers' clubs and granges should be the most active sources for the dissemination of knowledge. It is your right to expect them to fulfil their mission, and your duty to aid them in doing it. But do not forget that they are farmers' organizations, and that consequently the most of their discussion should be of the farmers' business. There is greater hope of the man who asks how he can best improve his stock, than of the one who offers a resolution condemning the patent laws. Those laws may want amending, but the first thing for every one to do is to pluck the mote of unsuccessful cultivation out of his own eye. When he has done this, the beam of monopoly by patent, will appear to him of smaller size. Let your own immediate interests receive the first attention. Let it not for one moment be forgotten that you are farmers, working together to advance the farmer's calling.

Again, it will be well for you to remember that the history of "Unions" shows them to have been as often sources of evil as of good, to those for whose special advantage they were created. Let it not be so in the farmers' Unions that have so wide a field of usefulness before them. Be jealous of your rights as farmers and as men. Guard them well; but let no hasty or ill-considered action, no passionate judgment, no selfish desire of aspiring ambition betray you into showing that you have not equally high regard for the rights of others. Let these organizations bear steadily, manfully forward, toward the "mark of the prize of their high calling," and their career shall be a great and grand one for the good they shall accomplish.

Finally, I would say that intelligent farming has always been a profitable occupation. It is to-day, and it will always be so. By their fruits you shall know who are the intelligent farmers. They are successful, not because they work harder than other men, nor because their lands are more fertile, nor because wool grows finer upon their sheep, nor because their milk makes more butter and cheese, but because their labor is more wisely directed.

The best general is not necessarily the one who is most fearless in leading a charge upon the enemy's work. But he is the one who, remembering there are blows to take, as well as to give, carefully surveys his situation and skillfully attacks the enemy at their weakest point. In the farmer's battle of life there are forces at work

both for and against him. He will be the most successful who most skillfully combines to overcome opposing forces. We must not be satisfied with saying that farmers to-day are more intelligent than were those of fifty years ago. Every man may measure his intelligence in his business, by his success, and just in the proportion in which his intelligence increases, will his success increase.

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE.

BY GOVERNOR W. R. TAYLOR.

FELLOW CITIZENS:-It is with more than ordinary pleasure that I have responded to the invitation of this society and am here today to exchange congratulations with you on this interesting occasion, and to greet the friends of industrial progress with whom I have labored so pleasantly these many years.

We look from here with pride upon a beautiful and growing metropolis, with steadily increasing population, commerce and manufacturing industries, the largest primary wheat market in the world, in quantity and quality, and the center of a grand system of railway enterprise, reaching in its influence beyond the boundaries of our state-causes surely destined to give her a prosperity in the future which she has not hitherto anticipated.

Reflecting upon all this, and upon the condition of this city and state and people, when our society was founded, and looking upon these grounds thronged with the enterprising representatives and choice productions of every section of this grand commonwealth, I have been forcibly reminded of the small beginnings from which all these results have sprung. Twenty-one times in twenty-four years of its corporate existence, this society has brought together the various products of Wisconsin industry and sought to make the lessons taught by these occasions fruitful to new progress and of large attainments on the part of our industrial population.

Those of you here present, who were either workers or spectators at the exhibition in 1851, will need no reminder of the contrast between the first and twenty-first.

About one-fifth of the whole intervening period felt the drain