he forge and the anvil, with tools
for rough iron working, were added to the equipment of the farm. In
those days, farming required a knowledge of the use of tools; the
square, the level, the plumb-bob; the hammer, the saw and the plane;
were as necessary to the farmer, as they were to the carpenter.

"If we carefully study the significance of these things, we shall soon
discover, that in reality those farms were practically, combined
agricultural and manufacturing institutions, which were self-supporting
and self-sustaining to such an extent, that farm people were the most
independent on the face of the globe. As such, these small farm centers
were potent factors, in swiftly advancing the permanent wealth and
civilization of rural society. Born and trained in this practical school
of life; financially unshackled, therefore politically free; our farmers
of fifty years ago, developed a spirit of sturdy independence, a
patriotic devotion, a steadfastness of purpose, a self-confidence, and a
power of the initiative, which made them the pride and the bulwark of
the nation. They were the well trained, trustworthy citizens, of a true
republic.

"Evolutionary progress, moves forward by waves. The depression between
the crest of the last and the summit of the succeeding wave, represents
the transition, from one step of progress to the next higher. Therefore,
periods of depression, need not cause alarm, they are in reality
prophecies of progress. Let us apply this evolutionary law to
agriculture and its people, as being in the transition stage, during the
past forty years.

"Since the beginning of the last half of the nineteenth century, the
separation between agriculture and manufacture has been going forward,
the gulf between them becoming wider and more absolute, with each
succeeding year. Invention, improved machinery, combinations of capital,
the sub-division of the various trades into specialties, leaving the
worker, master of none; all have served to develop the entire system of
manufacturing industries, to a degree out of all harmony with the tardy
progress made by agriculture. The mining and manufacturing craze, has
swallowed up all other interests. Like a whirlwind, it has spread over
the land, drawing into the ranks of its toilers hosts of agricultural
workers; thus swelling the army, producing manufactured articles, and
correspondingly reducing the home market for such things.

"These conditions have naturally pr