An Address by Abraham Lincoln
Before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859
Members of the Agricultural Society and Citizens of Wisconsin:
Agricultural fairs are becoming an institution of the country. They are
useful in more ways than one. They bring us together, and thereby make
us better acquainted and better friends than we otherwise would be. From
the first appearance of man upon the earth down to very recent times,
the words, "stranger" and "enemy" were quite or almost
synonymous. Long after civilized nations had defined robbery and murder
as high crimes, and had affixed severe punishments to them, when practiced
among and upon their own people respectively, it was deemed no offense,
but even meritorious, to rob and murder and enslave strangers, whether
as nations or as individuals. Even yet, this has not totally disappeared.
The man of the highest moral cultivation, in spite of all which abstract
principle can do, likes him whom he does know. To correct the evils, great
and small, which spring from want of sympathy and from positive enmity
among strangers, as nations or as individuals, is one of the highest functions
of civilization. To this end our agricultural fairs contribute in no small
degree. They render more pleasant, and more strong and more durable the
bond of social and political union among us. Again, if, as Pope declares,
"happiness is our being's end and aim," our fairs contribute
much to that end and aim, as occasions of recreation, as holidays. Constituted
as man is, he has positive need of occasional recreation, and whatever
can give him this associated with virtue and advantage, and free from
vice and disadvantage, is a positive good. Such recreation our fairs afford.
They are a present pleasure, to be followed by no pain as a consequence:
they are a present pleasure, making the future more pleasant.
But the chief use of agricultural fairs is to aid in improving the great
calling of agriculture in all its departments and minute divisions; to
make mutual exchange of agricultural discovery, information, and knowledge;
so that, at the end, all may know everything which may have been known
to but one or to but few, at the beginning; to bring together especially
all which is supposed to be not generally known because of recent discovery
or invention.
And not only to bring together and to impart all which has been accidentally
discovered and invented upon ordinary motive, but by exciting emulation
for premiums, and for the pride and honor of success, of triumph, in some
sort, to stimulate that discovery and invention into extraordinary activity.
In this these fairs are kindred to the patent clause in the Constitution
of the United States, and to the department and practical system based
upon that clause.
One feature, I believe, of every fair, is a regular address. The Agricultural
Society of the young, prosperous, and soon to be great State of Wisconsin
has done me the high honor of selecting me to make that address upon this
occasion-an honor for which I make my profound and grateful acknowledgment.
I presume I am not expected to employ the time assigned me in the mere
flattery of the farmers as a class. My opinion of them is that, in proportion
to numbers, they are neither better nor worse than other people. In the
nature of things they are more numerous than any other class; and I believe
there really are more attempts at flattering them than any other, the
reason of which I cannot perceive, unless it be that they can cast more
votes than any other. On reflection, I am not quite sure that there is
not cause of suspicion against you in selecting me, in some sort a politician
and in no sort farmer, to address you.
But farmers being the most numerous class, it follows that their interest
is the largest interest. It also follows that interest is most worthy
of all to be cherished and cultivated- that if there be inevitable conflict
between that interest and any other, that other should yield.
Again, I suppose it is not expected of me to impart to you much specific
information on agriculture, You have no reason to believe and, do not
believe, that I possess it; if that were what you seek in this address,
any one of your own number or class would be more able to furnish it.
You, perhaps, do expect me to give some general interest to the occasion,
and to make some general suggestions on practical matters, I shall attempt
nothing more.
My first suggestion is an inquiry as to the effect of greater thoroughness
in all the departments of agriculture than now prevails in the Northwest-perhaps
I might say in America. To speak entirely within bounds, it is known that
fifty bushels of wheat, or one hundred bushels of Indian corn, can be
produced from an acre. Less than a year ago I saw it stated that a man,
by extraordinary care and labor, had produced of wheat what was equal
to two hundred bushels from an acre. But take fifty of wheat, and one
hundred of corn, to be the possibility, and compare it with the actual
crops of the country. Many years ago I saw it stated, in a patent-office
report, that eighteen bushels was the average crop throughout the United
States; and this year an intelligent framer of Illinois assured me that
he did not believe the land harvested in that State this season had yielded
more than an average of eight bushels to the acre; much was cut, and then
abandoned as not worth threshing, and much was abandoned as not worth
cutting. As to Indian corn, and indeed, most other crops, the case has
not been much better. For the last four years I do not believe the ground
planted with corn in Illinois has produced an average of twenty bushels
to the acre, It is true that heretofore we have had better crops with
not better cultivation, but I believe it is also true that the soil has
never been pushed up to one-half of its capacity.
What would be the effect upon the farming interest to push the soil up
to something near its full capacity? Unquestionably it will take more
labor to produce fifty bushels from an acre than it will to produce ten
bushels from the same acre; but will it take more labor to produce fifty
bushels from one acre than that from five? Unquestionably thorough cultivation
will require more labor to the acre; but will it require more to the bushel?
If it should require just as much to the bushel, there are some probable
it would develop those unknown causes which of late years have cut down
our crops below their former average. It is almost certain, I think, that
by deeper plowing, analysis of the soils, experiments with manures and
varieties of seeds, observance of seasons, and the like, these causes
would be discovered and remedied. It is certain that thorough cultivation
would be got from half, or from less than half, the quantity of land.
This proposition is self-evident, and can be made no plainer by repetition
or illustrations, the cost of land is a great item, even in new countries,
and constantly grows greater and greater, in comparison with other items,
as the country grows older.
It also would spare the making and maintaining of inclosures for the
same, whether these inclosures should be hedges, ditches, or fences. This
again is a heavy item-heavy at first, and heavy in its continual demand
for repairs. I remember once being greatly astonished by an apparently
authentic exhibition of the proportion the cost of an inclosure bears
to all the other expenses of the farmer, though I cannot remember exactly
what that proportion was. Any farmer, if he will, can ascertain it in
his own case for himself.
Again, a great amount of locomotion is spared by thorough cultivation.
Take fifty bushels of wheat ready for harvest, standing upon a single
acre, and it can be harvested in any of the known ways with less than
half the labor which would be required if it were spread over five acres.
This would be true if cut by the old hand-sickle; true, to a greater extent,
if by the scythe and cradle; and to still greater extent, if by the machines
now in use. These machines are chiefly valuable as a means of substituting
animal-power for the power of men in this branch of farm-work. In the
highest degree of perfection yet reached in applying the horse-power to
harvesting, full nine-tenths of the power is expended by the animal in
carrying himself and dragging the machine over the field, leaving certainly
not more than one/tenth to be applied directly to the only end of the
whole operation-the gathering in of the grain, and clipping of the straw.
When grain is very thin on the ground, it is always more or less intermingled
with weeds, chess, and the like, and a large part of the power is expended
in cutting these. It is plain that when the crop is very thick upon the
ground, a larger portion of the power is directly applied to gathering
in and cutting it: and the smaller to that which is totally useless as
an end. And what I have said harvesting is true in a greater or less degree
of mowing, plowing, gathering in of crops generally, and indeed of almost
all farm work.
The effect of thorough cultivation upon the farmer's own mind, and in
reaction through his mind back upon his business, is perhaps quite equal
to any other of its effects. Every man is proud of what he does well,
and no man is proud of that he does not well. With the former his heart
is in his work, and he will do twice as much of it with less fatigue;
the latter he performs a little imperfectly, looks at it in disgust, turns
from it, and imagines himself exceedingly tired-the little he has done
comes to nothing for want of finishing.
The man who produces a good full crop will scarcely ever let any part
of it go to waste; he will keep up the inclosure about it, and allow neither
man nor beast to trespass upon it; he will gather it in due season, and
store it in perfect security, Thus he labors with satisfaction, and saves
himself the whole fruit of his labor. The other, starting with no purpose
for a full crop, labors less, and with less satisfaction, allows his fences
to fall, and cattle to trespass, gathers not in due season, or not at
all. Thus the labor he has performed is wasted away, little by little,
till in the end he derives scarcely anything from it.
The ambition for broad acres leads to poor farming, even with men of
energy. I scarcely ever knew a mammoth farm to sustain itself, much less
to return a profit upon the outlay. I have more than once known a man
to spend a respectable fortune upon one, fail, and leave it, and then
some man of modest aims get a small fraction of the ground, and make a
good living upon it. Mammoth farms are like tools or weapons which are
too heavy to be handled; erelong they are thrown aside at a great loss.
The successful application of steam power to farm-work is a desideratum-especially
a steam plow. It is not enough that a machine operated by steam will really
plow. To be successful, it must, all things considered, plow better than
can be done with animal-power. It must do all the work as well, and cheaper,
or more rapidly, so as to get through more perfectly in season; or in
some way afford an advantage over plowing with animals, else it is no
success. I have never seen a machine intended for a steam-plow. Much praise
and admiration are bestowed upon some of them, and they may be, for aught
I know, already successful; but I have not perceived the demonstration
of it. I have thought a good deal, in an abstract way, about a steam-plow.
That one which shall be so contrived as to apply the larger proportion
of its power to the cutting and turning the soil, and the smallest, to
the moving itself over the field, will be the best one. Avery small stationary-engine
would draw a large gang of plows through the groung from a short distance
to itself; but when it is not stationary, but has to move along like a
horse, dragging the plows after it, it must have additional power to carry
itself; and the difficulty grows by what is intended to overcome it; for
what adds power also adds size and weight to the machine, thus increasing
again the demand for power. Suppose you construct the machine so as to
cut a succession of short furrows, say a rod in length, traversal to the
course the machine is locomoting, something like the shuttle in weaving.
In such case the whole machine would move north only the width of a furrow,
while in length the furrow would be a rod from east to west. In such case
a very large proportion of the power would be applied to the actual plowing.
But in this, too, there would be difficulty, which would be the getting
of the plow into and out of the ground, at the end of all these short
furrows.
I believe, however, ingenious men will, if they have not already, overcome
the difficulty I have suggested. But there is still another, about which
I am less sanguine, It is the supply of fuel and especially water, to
make steam. Such supply is clearly practicable; but can the expense of
it be borne? Steamboats live upon the water, and find their fuel at stated
places. Steam-mills and other stationary steam-machinery have their stationary
supplies of fuel and water. Railroad/locomotives have their regular wood
and water stations. But the steam-plow is less fortunate. It does not
live upon the water, and if it be once at a water-station, it will work
away from it, and when it gets away cannot return without leaving its
work, at a great expense of its time and strength. It will occur that
a wagon-and-horse team might be employed to supply it with fuel and water;
but this, too, is expensive; and the question recurs, "Can the expense
be borne?" When this is added to all other expenses, will not plowing
cost more that in the old way?
It is to be hoped that the steam-plow will be finally successful, and
if it shall be, "thorough cultivation"-putting the soil to the
top of its capacity, producing the largest crop possible from a given
quantity of ground-will be most favorable for it. Doing a large amount
of work upon a small quantity of aground, it will be as nearly as possible
stationary while working, and as free as possible from locomotion, thus
expending its strength as much as possible upon its work, and as little
as possible in traveling. Our thanks, and something more substantial than
thanks, are die to every man engaged in the effort to produce a successful
steam-plow. Even the unsuccessful will bring something to light which,
in the hands of others, will contribute to the final success. I have not
pointed out difficulties in order to discourage, but in order that being
seen, they may be the more readily over come.
The world is agreed that labor is the source from which human wants are
mainly supplied. There is no dispute upon this point. From this point,
however, men immediately diverge. Much disputation is maintained as to
the best way of applying and controlling the labor element. By some it
is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital --
that nobody labors, unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow, by
the use of that capital, induces him to do it. Having assumed this, they
proceed to consider whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers,
and thus induce them to work by their own consent; or buy them, and drive
them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far they naturally
conclude that all laborers are necessarily either hired laborers, or slaves.
They further assume that whoever is once a hired laborer, is fatally fixed
in that condition for life; and thence again that his condition is as
bad as, or worse than that of a slave. This is the "mud-sill"
theory.
But another class of reasoners hold the opinion that there is no such
relation between capital and labor, as assumed; and that there is no such
thing as a freeman being fatally fixed for life, in the condition of a
hired laborer, that both these assumptions are false, and all inferences
from them groundless. They hold that labor is prior to, and independent
of, capital; that, in fact, capital is the fruit of labor, and could never
have existed if labor had not first existed -- that labor can exist without
capital, but that capital could never have existed without labor. Hence
they hold that labor is the superior -- greatly the superior -- of capital.
They do not deny that there is, and probably always will be, a relation
between labor and capital. The error, as they hold, is in assuming that
the whole labor of the world exists within that relation. A few men own
capital; and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their capital,
hire, or buy, another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to
neither class -- neither work for others, nor have others working for
them. Even in all our slave States, except South Carolina, a majority
of the whole people of all colors, are neither slaves nor masters. In
these Free States, a large majority are neither hirers or hired. Men,
with their families -- wives, sons and daughters -- work for themselves,
on their farms, in their houses and in their shops, taking the whole product
to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of
hirelings or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable
number of persons mingle their own labor with capital; that is, labor
with their own hands, and also buy slaves or hire freemen to labor for
them; but this is only a mixed, and not a distinct class. No principle
stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. Again, as has
already been said, the opponents of the "mud-sill" theory insist
that there is not, of necessity, any such thing as the free hired laborer
being fixed to that condition for life. There is demonstration for saying
this. Many independent men, in this assembly, doubtless a few years ago
were hired laborers. And their case is almost if not quite the general
rule.
The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile,
saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land, for himself; then labors
on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner
to help him. This, say its advocates, is free labor -- the just and generous,
and prosperous system, which opens the way for all -- gives hope to all,
and energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all. If any
continue through life in the condition of the hired laborer, it is not
the fault of the system, but because of either a dependent nature which
prefers it, or improvidence, folly, or singular misfortune. I have said
this much about the elements of labor generally, as introductory to the
consideration of a new phase which that element is in process of assuming.
The old general rule was that educated people did not perform manual labor.
They managed to eat their bread, leaving the toil of producing it to the
uneducated. This was not an insupportable evil to the working bees, so
long as the class of drones remained very small. But now, especially in
these free States, nearly all are educated -- quite too nearly all, to
leave the labor of the uneducated, in any wise adequate to the support
of the whole. It follows from this that henceforth educated people must
labor. Otherwise, education itself would become a positive and intolerable
evil. No country can sustain, in idleness, more than a small per centage
of its numbers. The great majority must labor at something productive.
From these premises the problem springs, "How can labor and education
be the most satisfactory combined?"
By the "mud-sill" theory it is assumed that labor and education
are incompatible; and any practical combination of them impossible. According
to that theory, a blind horse upon a tread-mill, is a perfect illustration
of what a laborer should be -- all the better for being blind, that he
could not tread out of place, or kick understandingly. According to that
theory, the education of laborers, is not only useless, but pernicious,
and dangerous. In fact, it is, in some sort, deemed a misfortune that
laborers should have heads at all. Those same heads are regarded as explosive
materials, only to be safely kept in damp places, as far as possible from
that peculiar sort of fire which ignites them. A Yankee who could invent
strong handed man without a head would receive the everlasting gratitude
of the "mud-sill" advocates.
But Free Labor says "no!" Free Labor argues that, as the Author
of man makes every individual with one head and one pair of hands, it
was probably intended that heads and hands should cooperate as friends;
and that that particular head, should direct and control that particular
pair of hands. As each man has one mouth to be fed, and one pair of hands
to furnish food, it was probably intended that that particular pair of
hands should feed that particular mouth -- that each head is the natural
guardian, director, and protector of the hands and mouth inseparably connected
with it; and that being so, every head should be cultivated, and improved,
by whatever will add to its capacity for performing its charge. In one
word Free Labor insists on universal education.
I have so far stated the opposite theories of "Mud-Sill" and
"Free Labor" without declaring any preference of my own between
them. On an occasion like this I ought not to declare any. I suppose,
however, I shall not be mistaken, in assuming as a fact, that the people
of Wisconsin prefer free labor, with its natural companion, education.
This leads to the further reflection, that no other human occupation
opens so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of
labor with cultivated thought, as agriculture. I know of nothing so pleasant
to the mind, as the discovery of anything which is at once new and valuable
-- nothing which so lightens and sweetens toil, as the hopeful pursuit
of such discovery. And how vast, and how varied a field is agriculture,
for such discovery. The mind, already trained to thought, in the country
school, or higher school, cannot fail to find there an exhaustless source
of profitable enjoyment. Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce
two, where there was but one, is both a profit and a pleasure. And not
grass alone; but soils, seeds, and seasons -- hedges, ditches, and fences,
draining, droughts, and irrigation -- plowing, hoeing, and harrowing --
reaping, mowing, and threshing -- saving crops, pests of crops, diseases
of crops, and what will prevent or cure them -- implements, utensils,
and machines, their relative merits, and [how] to improve them -- hogs,
horses, and cattle -- sheep, goats, and poultry -- trees, shrubs, fruits,
plants, and flowers -- the thousand things of which these are specimens
-- each a world of study within itself.
In all this, book-learning is available. A capacity, and taste, for reading,
gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is
the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only
so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet]
unsolved ones. The rudiments of science, are available, and highly valuable.
Some knowledge of Botany assists in dealing with the vegetable world --
with all growing crops. Chemistry assists in the analysis of soils, selection,
and application of manures, and in numerous other ways. The mechanical
branches of Natural Philosophy, are ready help in almost everything; but
especially in reference to implements and machinery.
The thought recurs that education -- cultivated thought -- can best be
combined with agricultural labor, or any labor, on the principle of thorough
work -- that careless, half performed, slovenly work, makes no place for
such combination. And thorough work, again, renders sufficient, the smallest
quantity of ground to each man. And this again, conforms to what must
occur in a world less inclined to wars, and more devoted to the arts of
peace, than heretofore. Population must increase rapidly -- more rapidly
than in former times -- and ere long the most valuable of all arts, will
be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area
of soil. No community whose every member possesses this art, can ever
be the victim of oppression of any of its forms. Such community will be
alike independent of crowned-kings, money-kings, and land-kings.
But, according to your programme, the awarding of premiums awaits the
closing of this address. Considering the deep interest necessarily pertaining
to that performance, it would be no wonder if I am already heard with
some impatience. I will detain you but a moment longer. Some of you will
be successful, and such will need but little philosophy to take them home
in cheerful spirits; others will be disappointed, and will be in a less
happy mood. To such, let it be said, "Lay it not too much to heart."
Let them adopt the maxim, "Better luck next time;" and then,
by renewed exertion, make that better luck for themselves.
And by the successful, and the unsuccessful, let it be remembered, that
while occasions like the present, bring their sober and durable benefits,
the exultations and mortifictions of them, are but temporary; that the
victor shall soon be the vanquished, if he relax in his exertion; and
that the vanquished this year, may be victor the next, in spite of all
competition.
It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him
a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this,
too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the
hour of pride! -- how consoling in the depths of affliction! "And
this, too, shall pass away." And yet let us hope it is not quite
true. Let us hope, rather, that by the best cultivation of the physical
world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within
us, we shall secure an individual, social, and political prosperity and
happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the
earth endures, shall not pass away.
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