people, the anthem of a grand nation, commencing at the
Atlantic, is following the sun to the Pacific, across a continent of
happy homes.

We are a great people. Three millions have increased to fifty--thirteen
states to thirty-eight. We have better homes, better clothes, better
food and more of it, and more of the conveniencies of life, than any
other people upon the globe.

The farmers of our country live better than did the kings and princes
two hundred years ago--and they have twice as much sense and heart.
Liberty and labor have given us all. I want every person here to believe
in the dignity of labor--to know that the respectable man is the useful
man--the man who produces or helps others to produce something of value,
whether thought of the brain or work of the hand.

I want you to go away with an eternal hatred in your breast of
injustice, of aristocracy, of caste, of the idea that one man has more
rights than another because he has better clothes, more land, more
money, because he owns a railroad, or is famous and in high position.
Remember that all men have equal rights. Remember that the man who acts
best his part--who loves his friends the best--is most willing to
help others--truest to the discharge of obligation--who has the best
heart--the most feeling--the deepest sympathies--and who fiercely gives
to others the rights that he claims for himself, is the best man. I am
willing to swear to this.

What has made this country? I say again, liberty and labor. What would
we be without labor? I want every farmer, when plowing the rustling
corn of June--while mowing in the perfumed fields--to feel that he
is adding to the wealth and glory of the United States. I want every
mechanic--every man of toil, to know and feel that he is keeping the
cars running, the telegraph wires in the air; that he is making the
statues and painting the pictures: that he is writing and printing the
books; that he is helping to fill the world with honor, with happiness,
with love and law.

Our country is founded upon the dignity of labor--upon the equality
of man. Ours is the first real republic in the history of the world.
Beneath our flag the people are free. We have retired the gods from
politics. We have found that man is the only source of political
power, and that the governed should govern. We have disfranchised the
aristocrats of the air and have given one country to mankind.

ABOUT FARMING IN ILLINOIS.