ANNUAL MEETING. 49 



priating funds to make our exhibit at St. Louis a creditable one— some- 

 thing we will all be proud of. And whatever this Board may do to 

 further the cause, of which it is the aclcnowledged head, will be heartily 

 concurred in by those who contribute to its support. 



Governor Durbin was introduced and addressed the meeting, as 

 follows : 



Mr. President and Gentlemen: 



This has been a morning of meetings and talks by the Governor. I 

 shall not say that he is altogether talked out, but now approaches a 

 subject which he has done largely by proxy. You may not expect to 

 get any information from what I have to saj', but I should like to say 

 that only this day 1 have asked of the department in Washington to 

 have installed in our State a station to test our soils, to tell us what 

 they are domposed of, and what is the most needful thing' to do to get 

 the best results. If I can not tell you how to do it, I may be the means 

 of getting a hand that will be of some assistance to you. 



You are gathered here for a specific purpose, namely, the advance- 

 ment of certain farm interests, and while as a boy I did more or less 

 first-hand farming, at 25 cents per day, in later years have done con- 

 siderable tilling of the soil by proxy, and at all times have looked upon 

 the lot of the successful agriculturalist as a species of unusual good 

 furtune, it is doubtful if I could say anything that would enable you 

 gentlemen to better promote the already high standard of stockraising 

 in Hoosierdom. Hence, I shall speak briefly, giving my time to those 

 who are prepared to contribute to the furtherance of the particular pur- 

 pose for which j'ou are assembled. 



First of all, let me saj', if the Mayor of this good city has not fully 

 satisfied you on that point, that j^ou are heartily welcome here. When 

 the custodian of the State House told me yesterday that the meetings of 

 the several branches of this organization scheduled for the State House 

 threatened to overflow this vast building from cellar to dome, I told him 

 that we farmers must have all the elbow room we needed here even if 

 public business had to halt for a day or two. 



Let me say, further, that it is a careless observer of conditions in 

 this State, who does not recognize, as the chief source of the greatness 

 of this commonwealth, the fact that rural life is still a vital, if not 

 indeed a dominating, factor in our civilization. I am thankful that 

 Indiana is not a State of great cities, that practically all of the people 

 of this commonwealth live where there is light and sunshine enough to 

 go 'round, and elbow room for every one. The country is more prolific 

 than the city in the production of those sturdy virtues which make for 

 good citizenship, for loyalty to law and order and devotion to our institu- 

 tions. Only the current of healthful Americanism which the farms of 



4— Agri. 



