XXII

AMERICAN  PREFACE.

Observe  that  in  this,  the  greatest  of  the  agricultural  States,  a
trifle  more  tlian  one-lialf  of  the  employed  population  is  engaged  in
agriculture,  vvhile  a  trifle  less  tlian  one-third  is  engaged  in  trade
and  transportation,  and  in  manufaeturing,  meehanical,  and  mining
Industries.  To-day  agriculture  holds  the  same  commanding  position
in  Illinois  that  it  once  held  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  But
this  will  not  always  be  ;  manufactures  will  gradually  come  to  the
front  in  Illinois  as  elsewhere.  Why,  indeed,  should  not  the  larger
part  of  the  surplus  food  produced  by  Illinois  farmers  be  consumed
in  Illinois,  as  it  might  be  if  she  had  a  large  manufaeturing  population? ­
  Were  the  manufactures  of  Illinois  as  well  developed,  in
Proportion  to  her  agriculture,  as  tliey  are  in  Massachusetts,  her
population  would  be  to-day  10,000,000.  Would  that  be  the  worse
for  the  farmers?  Or,  take  a  European  comparison  wliich  has
already  been  used:  Switzerland,  with  15,223  square  miles  of
territory,  much  of  it  waste,  had,  in  1870,  a  population  of  2,669,-147,
  or  somewhat  more  tlian  that  of  Illinois  with  55,405  square
miles  of  territory.  Thougli  she  is  without  a  port,  the  commerce  of
Switzerland,  as  previously  stated,  has  long  been,  in  proportion  to
her  population,  larger  than  that  of  any  of  her  Continental  neigkbors,
  mainly  because  of  the  great  skill  and  taste  of  her  workmen
industrially  educated.  If  Switzerland,  in  the  lieart  of  Europe  and
with  enemies  all  about  her,  can  make  such  a  record,  what  may
not  Illinois,  in  the  lieart  of  America  and  surrounded  only  by
friends,  accomplish,  if  she  will?
Skill  and  taste  are  the  product  of  education  in  the  main:  tliey
are  cosmopolitan,  can  make  tkemselves  as  much  at  home  in  one
place  as  in  another  ;  tliej’  certainly  do  not  prefer  a  sterile  to  a  fertile
soil,—  Switzerland  to  Illinois.  Among  all  the  kinds  of  manufactures ­
  wdiich  involve  skill  and  taste,  and  do  not  require  water-power
for  tlieir  cheap  production,  there  undoubtedly  are  many  kinds  well
adapted  to  the  climate  and  other  local  conditions  of  Illinois.
Whether  tliey  are  ever  successfUlly  prosecuted  in  Illinois,  will
depend  largely  on  whether  the  State  does  what  has  proved  so
efficient  in  Switzerland  and  iii  so  many  other  parts  of  the  world,  —
whether  the  State  gives  her  people  a  suitable  education  for  the
development  of  their  skill  and  taste.