ADDRESS BEFORE THE Washington County Agricultural Society. 1894. ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE TWENTIETH ANNUAL FAIR OF THE Washington County Agricultural Society. September i2Th, 1894, BY ROWLAND HAZARD, 1^- President of the Society. >'\A WAKEFIELD, R. I.: D. GILLIES' SONS, TIMES PRINT, 1894. ADDRESS. Members of the Washington County Agricultural Society, Ladies and Gentlemen : — When it was announced in the early days of this Society that the President would deliver an annual address, it was also suggested that he should compare one year with another. The comparison this year with last is so flattering to our pride that I am almost afraid to dwell upon it. We have 3943 entries this year against 3022 entries last year, a gain of 921, or 30 per cent.* This gain is in almost every department, but is particu- larly notable in sheep and swine, and in fruits and vegetables. In sheep we have an excess of nearly one-quarter and swine are very nearly double. In fruit the display is wonderful, in quantity and quality. There is a gain in apples of over one-quarter in the number of entries, and a gain in pears of over one-half Vegetables overflow the space assigned them and cover the floor. The Old South County has outdone herself and I congratulate you gentle- men of the Society on this great success. The number of entries is always a sign of the interest taken by the community in our Fair. We have this pleasant proof of appreciation in full measure this year. The unfailing work and co-operation of the ladies is manifest as it always is. Their department shows more entries and great excellence. It is the pride of our Fair that we represent the house- hold. You see especially in the ladies' department, exhibits' from the homes of our people. ♦These figures are corrected to correspond with the final result. The report as first published contained an error. The entries in full in all the departments are printed as an appendix. To our excellent secretary, and to the superintendent of the Fair and to the committees under them great praise is due for most successful management. The secretary has this year pubhshed in the Narragansett Times of last week the entries of this year in comparison with last. To be able to do this so promptly shows how well he has attended to his onerous duties. The figures well deserve attention and I hope we may have them every year. They will aid us to make the comparison from year to year. By such comparison we can learn whither our ways are tending. Are we progressing ? are we improving ? or are we going backward ? These are questions we must answer, and I ask you to look well about you to-day with the fixed purpose of seeing not only what improvement has been made in the past, but also of seeing and discovering methods which shall make possible even greater improvements in the future. This is the only scientific attitude of mind. With this end in view, I last year asked Professor Wheeler to give an account of the important experiments which he had been conducting at the farm of the Agricultural College. These experi- ments have been continued with some variations, and Professor Wheeler has consented to again explain them. The results are beyond question very valuable. One of them is easily compre- hended. The fact is conclusively demonstrated that certain soils are greatly benefitted by the use of Hme in connection with other manures. But a single fact like this is not all. What the managers of the Agricultural College hope for, is, that farmers will visit the institu- tion, study its experiments and its methods, and get suggestions by which they will be able to direct their own practical operations so as to secure better results. There are some men who "know it all" now. They are to be pitied, not envied. The hope of the world is with those whose minds are open, who are wiUing to learn, who are eager after truth. It is the endeavor after something better which makes progress possible. I shall have the pleasure of introducing Professor Wheeler to you presently, and he will give you in detail an account of his experi- ments, and of his methods in conducting them. The methods are educational, and I know that Professor Wheeler will at once enforce, and exemplify, the necessity and advantage of a sound education to the successful pursuit of agriculture. For myself, following the idea of comparing the year which is past with the years which have gone before, I desire in reviewing the important events of the year, to make some suggestions as to the place which education must fill in our modern civilization, if that civilization is to advance, and not recede. And first I wish to congratulate the Rhode Island Agricultural College, to congratulate Brown University, to congratulate this community, and to congratulate the entire State, because the unhappy differences which at one time existed between the College and the University have been finally, absolutely, and equitably settled. The munificent revenue provided by the general govern- ment is steadily flowing into the treasury of the Agricultural College. It is well fitted for the work it is to do. With a corps of able teachers and professors, with the study of books combined with manual training, with the opportunity and appliances for testing theory by practice, a future of great usefulness is opening before this young and vigorous institution. Brown University has her own sphere, a somewhat different sphere, but venerable with years, yet ever putting forth new growth, she fills a place in the history of our State, of which all Rhode Islanders may well be proud. From positions of trust and honor in every quarter of our land, her sons rise up and call her blessed. Between her and the Agricultural College there can be no jealousy. Both are striving to give a good education to the rising generation. Both recognize that in the great work before them there is ample room for the best efforts of both. Brown University and the Agricultural College are not rivals, they are natural allies. Each occupies its own post in the great educa- tional army. In the battle against ignorance each can aid the other. There is a solidarity which unites by a common bond all men of letters, all students and seekers after truth. Now that all disturbing pecuniary questions are settled and taken away, I look to see this bond of a common aim grow stronger and stronger. The two institutions in complete harmony and sympathy will move onward side by side, each giving the instruction for which it is best fitted, and each aiding in the great work of true education. In so far as in us Hes, let us help onward this result. In reviewing the past year, it is impossible, in the limited time at my disposal, to follow in detail all the important events. A selection must be made, and in the briefest manner I propose to refer to : ist — The silver question ; 2nd — The tariff question ; 3rd — The strikes which so nearly culminated in civil war at Chicago. Last year I pointed out to you that the effort to maintain the relation of silver to gold by law, at a fixed ratio, is a vain effort. The controlling forces which determine the relative value of gold and silver are the conditions of ease with which the metals can be produced, and the relative demand for their consumption. Against these potent forces law has no power. During the past year Congress has repealed the act under which the United States was seeking to raise the price of silver, by cre- ating an artificial demand. Under this act an immense quantity of silver was purchased and stored in vaults so as to effectually take it out of the market. But the supply continued to pour into the market, and the price did not rise. The government purchases acted as a stimulus to production, because even at the low price there was still a profit to the silver miner, coupled with an assured market. It became apparent that the government was guilty of a great folly in thus making a market for a single product of industry, and the act was repealed. This is a step in the right direction ; but the question is not yet settled. Discussion is going on, and must go on until the true principles are discovered and adopted. In a recent article professor Henry W. Farnam of Yale has made a very valuable contribution to this discussion. He lays down this distinct and concise proposition, " No force that influences merely the demand for the metals can effectually regulate their value. It should also be able to control the supply." This is a very impor- tant principle, and I thmk entirely within the comprehension of anyone who will look at it. Suppose that a law is passed, fixing the ratio of silver to gold, and making both metals legal tender. If this ratio makes silver the cheaper metal, there will, of course, be an increased demand for it for the purpose of paying debts at as low a rate as possible. But, at the same time, this increased de- mand will stimulate production, and if the mines in consequence put out more silver than they did before, the price of silver in rela- tion to gold will not rise, but may even fall, and consequently the effect of the increased demand which was made by law, will be neutralized. It is, therefore, certain that law cannot fix the ratio between gold and silver, unless that ratio happens to coincide with the actual conditions of supply and demand. During the past year the bimetaUists have changed their ground. Under the able lead of Francis A. Walker, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they now claim that the concurrent circulation of the two metals at a fixed ratio is not a necessary part of bimetallism. They say if a legal ratio is fixed, there may be an alternating standard. It may be gold at one time, and silver at another ; and they concede that that metal will be used as the standard, which at the time is the cheapest. This is the exact position which has been taken heretofore by monometal- lists, and it is difficult to conceive how a system can be called "bimetaUic," when at any given time only one metal is used as a standard. Certainly our ideas of the definition of bimetallism must be changed. But we must now inquire if this system of an alterna- ing standard can be called an excellent system ? Notice that under 8 this system a change of standard will take place whenever the metal not used as standard becomes cheaper than the metal which up to that time has been used. Thus, suppose gold is the standard, and the legal ratio to silver is i:i6. If now j//z'^r becomes cheaper, so one ounce of gold will buy seventeen ounces of silver, no one will pay debts in gold; they will pay in silver, and silver will become the standard. If in time gold becomes cheaper, and fifteen ounces of silver will buy one of gold, then gold will again become the standard, but observe that in this change a debt of sixteen ounces of silver will be paid by fifteen ounces, or its equivalent, one ounce of gold. It is claimed for this system that it benefits those who owe money. They will always have the privilege of paying their debts in the cheapest metal. This is true, but it is a doubtful good. To give one class always the advantage, outrages the sense of natural justice. In order to balance the scale, it is claimed that debtors are weak, and need protection from rapacious creditors. But this is far from the truth. So many people are both debtor and creditor that it is difficult to form classes composed wholly of debtors, or wholly of creditors. Working-men are creditors because of the large sums deposited in savings bank, which are the accumulations of working people. In this case the working-men who own these deposits are the real creditors, and those who borrow them from the banks, and use them in business, are the real debtors. Any change in standard which enables these debtors to pay off their debt in currency of a less value than that which they borrowed, is a direct injury to the working-man. But labor has another and a far larger interest in maintaining the absolute stability of the standard of value. Consider for a moment the sum that is due for wages earned. This sum cannot be less than ten miUion dollars per day ; that is to say, the workers of this nation have coming due to them in wages, not less than sixty millions of dollars each week. The contracts under which these wages are earned are generally for long time. They run from six months to a year, or longer. The wages are paid not oftener than once a week, and in a great many instances, only once a month. It follows that in a single half year there is the enormous sum of fifteen hundred and sixty miUions of dollars, for which the laboring population of the country is the creditor. Any variation of the standard of value, which occurs during a six months, will affect the comforts which can be purchased by this great army of laborers, with this vast sum of money. If the standard is so arranged that the debtor, who in this case is the hirer of labor, can always pay in the least valuable metal, there is a direct injury to the whole body of those who receive wages. Now, it seems to me, that if any class should be favored in the adjustment of the standard of value, it is this very class of laborers. From the nature of the case, they are continually making contracts for their labor in advancCj and they should be paid at the end of the time in a currency which is the same as that'which existed at the time of the contract. To change this currency for one less valuable is a wrong against which this laboring class, which is, as you see, the creditor class, can have no redress. Demagogues have raised the ignorant cry, that the masses want cheap money. This is entirely untrue. The working-men of the nation want to be paid in the dearest money, not the cheapest, because the dearest money will buy more comforts than the cheapest. History affords many examples of sharp men who have over-reached themselves, but there is no more instructive example than this of the bimetaUists. They are trying in the assumed inter- est of the poor, to pay off debts in a cheaper money than that in which they were contracted, and are thus urging the adoption of a system which confessedly results in depriving the laborer of a por- tion of his hire. With every change in the standard of value which the system contemplates, there is a step down to a lower level of value, and a sHce is taken off from the working-man's wages. The second topic which I mentioned was the tariff. I will not lO dwell long upon this. You remember that ten years ago, standing on this platform, I advocated strongly that the duty should be taken off of wool, and lowered upon manufacturing goods. I maintained that such action on the part of the government would be beneficial to the wool grower, as well as to the wool manufacturer, and that the whole nation would share in the benefit. 'After ten years of struggle, a tariff" has been enacted which places wool upon the free list, and reduces the duty on manufactured goods. Other fea- tures of the tariff have been changed. Some of them will not bear scrutiny. The tariff as a whole has not been framed on any con- sistent plan. It is not a truly reform, tariff, but it does contain this one feature which is certainly a step in the right direction. Farmers are particularly interested in the price of wool, and if this tariff is allowed to remain you will see the manufacturing industry flourish ; this will increase the purchasing power of your market, and you will see better prices for your wool than were obtainable under the McKinley bill. I look forward to an era of prosperity. You will remember that when the tariff of '67 was passed, increasing the duties upon wool, prices fell, and sheep were slaughtered. More than half of the sheep east of the Mississippi river were killed during the two years following the adoption of that tariff. It will take time for the country to adapt itself to the new conditions, but I am very confident that no such disastrous results will follow the enactment of the present tariff as those which followed the enact- ment of the tariff of 1867. The last point to which I wish to direct attention, concerns, as I have stated, the strikes which have occurred in various parts of the country during the past year, and particularly the outbreak at Chicago, which came near resulting in civil war. I will not weary you with a history of strikes. It is not my pur- pose to inquire into the grievances which are alleged to have caused the strikes. There may, or may not, have been real grievances, but the proposition which I wish to state is, that tw grievance grow- 1 1 ing out of the adjustment of wages, can justify the overthrow of law. The right to cease to labor for wages which are unsatisfactory, is the inalienable right of every man. The right to combine and organize a peaceful strike cannot be gainsaid. All that can be urged against such a course is that it is unwise. In the great majority of instances strikes fail to increase wages. Statistics show that the losses they intlict on the workers vastly exceed the gains. But the right to strike exists, just as the right of revolution exists. It is the last resort when further endurance of wrong has ceased to be a virtue. But this right to strike must not bring violence to its aid. It must not overthrow the law which protects life and property. If violence is permitted the whole framework of society is broken down. The law of right is abandoned for the law of might. We step backward toward the reign of the strongest, when rights had to be fought for, when murder and rapine were part of the regular order of affairs, and civilization, as we now understand it, was impossible. And further the right to strike must not inter- fere with the rights of others to work. There is no more atrocious tyranny than that by which one man, or set of men, prevents a man from working who is willing and anxious to work. , Much has been said about the rights of organized labor. It is high time that the rights of unorganized labor were considered. Every individual man, without reference to any organized body, has the right to work or not to work ; he has the right to decide for himself at what wages and under what conditions he will work ; and no one has a right to hinder him by force, or by the use of oppro- brious epithets. Our whole political system is founded upon the hberty of the individual. Liberty regulated by law is our funda- mental principle. We have declared to the world that all men "are endowed by their creator with certain unaHenable rights ; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The limit of this liberty, and this pursuit of happiness, is that no man 12 shall infringe on the rights of his neighbor. If now we permit a man to be deprived of this liberty by a body of organized labor, or by any other tyrant, we are false to the principles upon which our government is founded ; we are permitting the introduction of destructive forces which will inevitably cause the whole fabric to fall in ruin. Now what has happened at Chicago ? An organization was form- ed called the American Railway Protective Union. A man named Debs was the president and chief mover in the organization. To this man, Debs, was given the despotic power of the General of an army. He aimed to command the entire laboring force of all the railroads of the country. He boasted that he had control of all the roads which center in Chicago. This boast was not absolutely true, for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, men necessarily of education, self reliance and courage, refused to join Debs' union. All honor to them for that refusal. But Debs did succeed in enroll- ing under his command a large number of the switchmen, freight handlers and laborers employed by the railroads. These men had no quarrel with their employers. It was not claimed that the wages paid them were too low. It was well known that the roads had been passing through a season of great depression. Earnings had fallen off, and the share of profits received by capital had been enor- mously decreased. There was no ground to claim that the laborers were underpaid, and there was actually no such pretence. Under these circumstances President Debs took up the quarrel of the employees of a car-building company. These employees were dissatisfied with a reduction in their wages, and refused to accept it. Whether they were justified in this refusal, I do not know. An investigation is now in progress under the able direction of Carroll D. Wright, the United States Commissioner of Labor, which will probably throw hght on this matter. But whether they were jus- tified or not, the course which Debs pursued is certainly unjustifia- ble. He appointed himself judge and jury in the case. He could 13 have had only very imperfect knowledge of the matter, but he de- cided that Pullman must pay higher wages, and he then decreed that railroad trains should not run Pullman cars, and that railroad companies should violate their contracts to haul Pullman cars. He said that if the railroad companies persisted in trying to fulfill their contracts, no trains should run out of Chicago. In effect. Debs said to the people of the United States : You shall not travel ; you shall not send mails or freight ; your whole business shall stand still unless you compel Pullman to pay higher wages than he says his business will permit. The Robber Barons of the Middle Ages were in the habit of seizing the strategic points commanding the roads by which merchants and traders were forced to pass. They then extorted money on pain of stopping commerce. Debs proceeded on this precise principle. He beUeved that with the threat of destroying commerce, and so inflicting enormous loss on the whole people of the United States, he could force the people to force Pullman to pay out more money. Debs actually attempted to inaugurate the Robber Baron business on an enormous scale. Please note that the Pullman strike was not a necessary part of Debs' scheme. It was only an incident which Debs seized upon because he thought it gave him a good opening to try his plan. His scheme was a far-reaching one. He aimed to obtain control of all the railroads in the country. He argued that with this control he could tie them all up at a moment's notice, and thus stop the entire business of the country. Rather than submit to the loss of such stoppage, he thought the railroads would pay whatever he demanded. He believed that after he had demonstrated his power, merely the threat of a tie-up would extort money. The formation of a scheme like this gives evidence of two things : I St — A lack of moral sense; 2nd — A lack of educated common sense. A scheme to extort money by inflicting an injury, or by threat- H ening to inflict an injury, cannot be defended as honest. But the essence of the Debs scheme, however disguised, comes in the last analysis to this, give us more wages, or we will do you an injury ; or worse yet, we will do the whole innocent community an injury, and we will charge it to you, unless you pay more. Violence is not a necessary part of this injury. The aim at first may be only to cause inconvenience and loss, by stopping trade, but is it surprising that with such teaching, ignorant and passionate men go further than their teachers ? If it is right to inflict loss in one way, why not in another ? They may even reason that if there is to be war, the sharper the conflict, the surer their victory, and the sooner the advent of peace. Hence cars are burned ; freight, the property of unknown and innocent persons, is destroyed ; trains are thrown from the track; and passengers, who have no connec- tion with the matter in dispute, are killed. All this follows from the principle that it is right to try to extort money by inflicting, or threatening to inflict, an injury. It is an immoral principle. It offends against the law of God, written not only on the tables of stone, but written also in the human heart. An honest man, look- ing Godward, seeking to find the truth, will know that he cannot rightfully seek to better himself by injuring his neighbor. Such a proposal is an outrage to the moral sense. 2nd. Now look at the common-sense side of the question. Railroads are great tools used by armies of laborers to transport the products of farms and factories to their proper markets. These great tools are useless unless operated by labor. If they stop, the productive power of the country is lessened. There is less value created, less money earned, there is less ability to pay labor than there would be if the railroads continued to work. A tie-up of the railroads means a diminution of the general fund from which labor is paid. The organizers of a great strike are attempting to get more by actually diminishing the source of their supply. But further, the laborers on strike give up the whole of their wages for the time 15 being, and thus submit to a positive loss which is wholly out of proportion to any possible gain. If the accumulated savings of trade unions, which have been wasted in trying to support unsuc- cessful strikes, had been saved and invested, an enormous fund would to-day exist. The uses of such a fund would be many and various. Its very existence would be a safeguard and an insurance of fair treatment to labor. But vast sums have been thrown away in unavaiUng strife. Not only has labor expended its accumulations, but strikers have added to their burdens by destroying property. The loss by destruction at Chicago is estimated by millions. Who pays this loss? Cook county must pay it. The bills are now being made out and proved ; and Cook county must get the money to pay for this destroyed property by taxes on all the inhabitants. Laborers are apt to feel that they have little interest in taxes, if they have no property to go on the tax hst. But it is a great mis- take to assume that the method of levying taxes, and the mode of spending them, concerns only those who pay them into the treasury. Nothing can be more untrue than to suppose the laborer who has no visible property has no interest in the matter. Taxes can only be paid out of productive industry. Capital merely acts as a tax- gatherer. It pays over to the State a portion of what it yearly gathers from the producers. Capital cannot continue to pay taxes, if industry does not supply the means. The fact is that capital and labor are both supported out of the product of industry. Each gets its share; but before a division is made taxes must be deducted. If taxes are excessive there will be less to divide, and the share of each will be lessened. In this way labor necessarily suffers from heavy taxation. When, therefore, taxes are increased by the neces- sity of supplying such a loss as that at Chicago, there is a direct pressure on industry. Laborers must feel it. Wages may be reduced, or men discharged to effect an economy. It is certain that industry will feel the tax in some way. The men . who i6 destroyed the property will be compelled to help to pay for it. The position, then, of those who seek to better their condition by injuring others, is like that of the man in the old picture books, who is sitting on the branch of a tree, and is diligently engaged in sawing it off, between himself and the trunk. If he succeeds in his injury to the tree, he is certain to fall himself His action, like the strikers', shows a lack of educated common sense. And this brings me back to the thought with which I b(?gan, and which I wish to leave with you in conclusion. The three topics to which I have directed your attention, the money question, the tariff question, and the question of strikes, are perhaps the most impor- tant questions which are now before the country. They are ahke in this, they require the careful study of educated men to unravel their complications, and to decide what action will produce the best results. We need such education as is furnished by Brown Univer- sity, such education as is furnished by the Agricultural College, and, perhaps more important than all, we need such education as is furnished by the common schools all over our land, to help us work out these problems. It is a very trite remark that the safety of our nation lies in the education of her citizens. I repeat it, to emphasize the fact that the remark is only true, if we understand the word " education " in its largest sense. We must draw out, and strengthen, not only the intellectual powers, but also the moral force. Intellect alone, seek- ing solely its own good, makes a monster, prone to strife and enmity. Intellect, guided by the developed moral nature, makes neighbors to dwell together in plenty, and in peace and love. The foundation upon which we have builded, was laid by our Puritan ancestors here in New England. Dr. Leonard Bacon gives us the picture in that grand hymn which he wrote : "Oh God, beneath thy guiding hand, Our exiled fathers crossed the sea. And when they trod the wintry strand. With prayer and psalm they worshipped thee." I? The recognition of God, the seeking after him, the endeavor to obey his commandments, the perception of duty, the love of right, the abhorrence of wrong, — these were the things that our exiled fathers brought with them, and planted on these western shores. These are the things from which have sprung our nation's strength and prosperity. We must hold fast to them in this our day of peril. We cannot shut our eyes to the facts of failure. There have been ignorance and venahty in high places and in low places. There has been violence which has almost overthrown the supremacy of law. Warned by these failures, let us now apply the only remedy. Education is necessary to dispel ignorance, but the only real safeguard is to be found in the principles of Christianity. Our moral natures must be educated ; we must feel the pressure of duty ; we must listen to the voice of conscience. We must recognize the force of that solemn word "ought," and we must do with all our might those things which we ought to do. We must, in fact, educate not the intellect only, but the whole man. Then, education and religion will go forward hand in hand, and our people under the influence of a true development, will rise to higher, and yet higher, levels. I am encouraged and strengthened in this view by a book which has recently appeared, "Kidd's Social Evolution." This book, written on modern lines of thought, granting the truth of the doctrine of evolution as applied to creation, recognizes that the moral and religious part of man's nature is a distinct force in the evolution of society. The author points out, that the nations which have the highest moral and religious development, which most truly worship God, have flourished best, and stand highest in the social scale. The contrast with nations which stumble on, without God in the world, is striking and wonderful. The appearance of this book, with its clear recognition of the spiritual and religious element of man's nature, must be regarded as a cheering sign in i8 these troublous times. The more we study the subject, the more clearly we can see that the words of the Wise Man, recorded in the Book of Books, are as true to-day as they were when they were uttered three thousand years ago, "Righteousness exalteth a people." 19 Comparative Statement of the Entries at the Fairs of the Washington County Agricultural Society IN 1893 and 1894. NO OF NO. OF NAME. ENTRIES. ENTRIES 1893. 1894. Thoroughbred 72 96 Grade Cattle 107 126 Native 33 27 Herds and Milch Cows 27 25 • Oxen in pairs 30 49 Fat Cattle 12 8 StaUions 25 27 Geldings, Fillies and Single Horses 76 96 Sheep 117 156 Swine 27 56 Poultry 423 432 Grain and Vegetables. 358 547 Apples 300 47 1 Pears 126 218 Small Fruits, Grapes, etc 90 99 Plants and Flowers 118 222 Butter and Cheese 7 7 Bread and Pies 126 118 Cake 137 159 Canned Fruits, JelHes and Pickles 174 214 Honey and Wax 19 14 Domestic Manufactures 142 191 Needle and Fancy Work 311 357 Children's Department. . 59 79 Fine Arts, Painting, etc 70 105 Natural History 36 44 Totals .3.022 3,943 An increase of 921 entries, or over 30 per cent. In connection with Prof. Wheeler's experiments, referred to in the address, a pamphlet was distributed to all interested containing about thirty pages of photographs of the various crops experimented upon. These photographs were selected by permission from the forthcoming report of the Experiment Station. They excited much interest. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS