OPENING ADDllESS 



DELIVERED IJY V. O. STRICKLAND, PRESIDENT OF THE SISKIYOU COUNTY 

 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, OCTOBER SECOND, EIGHTEEN HUN- 

 DRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: It is my dutj'', as President of tlie Sis- 

 kiyou Agricultural Society, to extend to you all an earnest and cor- 

 dial welcome to this the thirteenth annual exhibition. Another 

 duty would be to give a concise statement of the present cojidition 

 of the Society, its future prospects, and what is needed to make our 

 fairs attractive, useful, and instructive. 



It is not necessary for me to rehearse the history of this district to 

 make it apparent to you that from our infancy, as it were, we have 

 been on tlie decline; or, in other words, our greatest prosperity as 

 a money-making community, and the largest population since our 

 first settlement, covered the first four or Hve years of our existence 

 as counties. Many of our hills and gulches were then the busy 

 marts of temporary industry, where hundreds received golden reward 

 for tiieir energy, while our fertile valleys, untouched by man, wore 

 beautiful robes of flowers, the product of virgin soil. How changed 

 now the i)icture! Impoverished earth yielded golden gods and 

 became exhausted. Fertile valleys became pregnant with the homes 

 of .sturdy, industrious tillers of the soil, and now bear the fruits of 

 life. With these changes what are our wants? We want permanent 

 l)Oi)ulation. Permanentpopulations wantgood society. Good society 

 requires educational facilities in all their forms. Where does educa- 

 tioji commence, or where does it end? It commences with our 

 existence, and ends with our lives. What are the highest forms of 

 education? Those which tend to elevate mankind most, and to 

 make human life most desirable. Thus, industry is the foundation, 

 intelligence the motive i)ower, and moral obligation to our fellow- 

 man our guide. Our annual fairs elucidate these questions. AVhat 

 should a fair be? It should be an annual gathering of communities 

 to offer thanks to our God, the directing power of this so little known 

 world. It is the time when we should spend a week in jubilating, 

 and show by our merry faces and merry actions that we are thankful 

 to Mother Earth for her bounties, as from earth all things come and 

 all must go. It should be the time to review all the transactions of 

 the year. It is the time for the farmer and mechanic to meet face to 

 face and consult upon the merits of agricultural n)achinery, and to 

 make the suggested improvements. It is a time for making a grand 

 co(")p('ration of all our interests — linancial, moral, and social. It is 

 the time when Mother iCarth has fullilled her labor in the great con- 

 structive work of nature and is preparing for annual sleep. 



What are the results of successful fairs? Why, sirs, the very 

 atmos{)here illuminated by the happy, smiling faces of old and 

 young, who take an interest in these exhibitions, make us feel hap- 



