【正确答案】 This quotation to some extent reflected the American attitude towards agriculture and farmers in the nation's infancy. In America where there is a Great Plains, agriculture is one industry of vital importance. From the earliest days, the sight of farmers working the land has been at the heart of the American experience. Actually upon the arrival of the first European colonists, they found in the stump-strewn clearings Native American, or "Indian", communities were growing crops. Agriculture represents a bond of continuity between present and past, linking new generations with the rhythms and dreams of generations of long ago. Now agriculture and its related industries still serve as the foundation of American economic life. Therefore the president extolled the virtues of the hardy and self-sufficient farmers as those most worthy of emulation by the people as a whole.