164 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



OPENING ADDRESS 



OF PRESIDENT FINIGAN, DELIVERED AT THE PAVILION, ON TUESDAY EVENING, 



SEPTEMBER 16, 1884. 



Directors and Members of the State Agricultural Society : 

 I feel constrained to pause at the outset of my remarks, to contem- 

 plate this new and splendid building, in which we now hold our 

 Thirty-first Annual Fair. 



It is a pleasing duty for me to have the honor, as is customary, of 

 inaugurating this building for the first time. For the purpose for 

 which it has been erected, this building has a floor space of 124,000 

 square feet; comfortable standing room for the entire population of 

 many of our larger towns. 



In erecting this grand palace of industry, Sacramento has contrib- 

 uted $40,000, and the State $40,000, and the State Agricultural Society 

 has erected a State building for $80,000 that cannot be duplicated for 

 $100,000. 



We had a large outlay in furnishing this building, and at the Park 

 we have made improvements that are equal in every way to the best 

 on the other side of the Rockies. It cost this society $50,000 for per- 

 manent improvements this last year, and no honest minded citizen 

 can say that it was not needed, nor that the money was not judi- 

 ciously spent. We point to the completed work with pride. The 

 grandest results have been achieved with great economy of time and 

 means. 



This superb building, strong in all its parts, useful in all its depart- 

 ments, beautiful both in detail and general effect; this grand achieve- 

 ment suggests the subject of my annual address. As we have builded 

 here so must we build our system of agriculture. We must and will 

 establish in this State a comprehensive system that will embrace 

 every variety of soil and climate, every interest; a system that will 

 be permeated by intelligence, and conducted with skill; a system so 

 complete in its parts that each will add strength to all the rest; a 

 system that will give wealth and happiness to our people; a system 

 that will continue to be progressive in development for all time to 

 come. 



But I must address myself to the matter in hand, with directness 

 and plainness of speech, for we are here with a purpose. 



How are we to accomplish the grand -results already indicated? 

 What are the difficulties to be surmounted? In answering these 

 questions I can do little more than offer suggestions, and I beg you 

 to understand, at the outset, that my aim is to stimulate the thoughts 

 of those who are more competent to treat of these great subjects than 

 I am. If I succeed in doing this I shall be more than satisfied. You 

 will pardon me, therefore, if my address seems fragmentary and 

 incomplete. 



Let us begin with the soil. The soil of California is naturally rich, 

 and it possesses remarkable recuperative powers. Heretofore we have 



