rosperity as with a
mantle. It is the interest of the farmer to protect every great interest
in the state. You should feel proud that Illinois has more railroads
than any other state in this Union. Her main tracks and side tracks
would furnish iron enough to belt the globe. In Illinois there are
ten thousand miles of railways. In these iron highways more than three
hundred million dollars have been invested--a sum equal to ten times
the original cost of all the land in the state. To make war upon the
railroads is a short-sighted and suicidal policy. They should be treated
fairly and should be taxed by the same standard that farms are taxed,
and in no other way. If we wish to prosper we must act together, and we
must see to it that every form of labor is protected.

There has been a long period of depression in all business. The farmers
have suffered least of all. Your land is just as rich and productive as
ever. Prices have been reasonable. The towns and cities have suffered.
Stocks and bonds have shrunk from par to worthless paper. Princes have
become paupers, and bankers, merchants and millionaires have passed into
the oblivion of bankruptcy. The period of depression is slowly passing
away, and we are entering upon better times.

A great many people say that a scarcity of money is our only difficulty.
In my opinion we have money enough, but we lack confidence in each other
and in the future.

There has been so much dishonesty, there have been so many failures,
that the people are afraid to trust anybody. There is plenty of money,
but there seems to be a scarcity of business. If you were to go to the
owner of a ferry, and, upon seeing his boat lying high and dry on the
shore, should say, "There is a superabundance of ferryboat," he would
probably reply, "No, but there is a scarcity of water." So with us
there is not a scarcity of money, but there is a scarcity of business.
And this scarcity springs from lack of confidence in one another. So
many presidents of savings banks, even those belonging to the Young
Men's Christian Association, run off with the funds; so many railroad
and insurance companies are in the hands of receivers; there is so much
bankruptcy on every hand, that all capital is held in the nervous clutch
of fear. Slowly, but surely we are coming back to honest methods in
business. Confidence will return, and then enterprise will unlock the
safe and money will again circulate as of yore; the dollars will