154 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



behalf of the whole city as well, that we bid you a hearty wel- 

 come to the city for the purposes for which you come, and that 

 that welcome is not confined to these purposes alone, but it goes 

 out to you, to the associations which you represent, and to every 

 part of the state, among those who are interested in building 

 up any of the great industries on which we rely for the state's 

 welfare and financial and social grow^th. I was asked within a 

 few days what I regarded as the greatest accomplishment of 

 the Chamber of Commerce during the year and a few months 

 and few weeks that it has been in existence, and I rephed with- 

 out hesitation that it was the fact that it had been able to get the 

 active business and professional men of the city together and 

 get them to understand one another better ; to make them more 

 intimate in their relations with one another ; to make them 

 realize that they are dependent parts of one great whole rather 

 than independent units, each one striving for himself, for him- 

 self alone, and for himself without any regard to the interests 

 of 'his fellow men. 



That, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the great reasons why 

 we welcome and invite conventions of this sort, — 'because we 

 get together, locally and with those from other parts of the 

 state, all interested in the same thing, whether it is acconi- 

 plished by one vocation, one employment, one business, or 

 another, and that is, the ultimate welfare of the whole state of 

 Maine. These meetings, travelling as they do from one part 

 of the state to another, as you alternate and as other associa- 

 tions alternate, from one place to another, carry with them a 

 Gospel which is bound to instruct, an enthusiasm which is 

 bound to inspire each community that is fortunate enough to 

 be selected for one of the annual meetings of such associations. 

 And I speak this not with any sense of flattery, not as addressed 

 to these two associations alone, but to any and all of the state- 

 wide societies which are interested in any general industry, for 

 improvement in the state. 



We are confronted by great and grave problems and the 

 greatest of them, perhaps, from a public standpomt, is one of 

 which your two associations and that which met with us two 

 weeks ago, are engaged in a practical solution. It is the ques- 

 tion of the high cost of living on which the changes have been 

 rung so frequently and so continuously that we sometimes tire 



