No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 205 



will find this an np-to-date community and one that will interest you 

 and afford you pleasant memories during the years to come. 



So I hope then, during these days and hours, you will find your 

 time pleasant, and again in the name of our people of the town and 

 of the people of the county I desire to bid j^ou a Avelcome, a hearty 

 w^elcome to our town and community. 



EESPONSE TO ADDKESS OF WELCOME 



By L. W. LIGHTY, Neto Berlin, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman, Hon. Judge Galbraith, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

 In behalf of the Department of Farmers' Institutes, I would sin- 

 cerely thank you for the kindly greeting and pleasant words of wel- 

 come so eloquently spoken. 



The talk we just listened to was an inspiration as well as a wel- 

 come. We realize that we are in a great county. On my first visit 

 TO Butler I was shown your fine large school buildings and grounds 

 and I was sure 1 was among a progressive people. W^hen I went 

 out through jour county I found people of a high order of intelli- 

 gence. Our institutes were well attended by the local people and 

 ;he part they took was instructive and elevating. We also realize 

 that we are in a county of wonderful resources and wealth, where 

 the wealth of the earth extends deeper than mere plow depth. Out 

 of the bowels of the earth you take that which gives us heat, light 

 and energy. Wonderful wealth was or is stored down among the 

 deep rocks, but once you discover its exact location you seem to 

 pounce upon it like a pack of wolves on its prey. AVhen I visited 

 you a few years ago I found a town with derricks so thick that 

 the rising and setting sun was hidden and I imagined they afforded 

 an effectual windbreak for the country beyond. This shows enter- 

 prise; but a few months or years and that stored material will be 

 removed and that will end that chapter. True, other ''finds" are 

 hjcated and more chapters are added, but sooner or later you come 

 to the end of that story. 



Rut your real wealth — that which gave you an opportunity yester- 

 day, is the encouragement of to-day and the hope for to-morrow, is in 

 the few surface feet of the soil of Butler county. 



Conditions were such in this country that for some years the 

 farmer and his work was practically forgotten. We acted and 

 enacted as though the foundation of wealth and welfare rested on 

 manufacturing, transportation and merchantdizing and our people 

 are just now learning that the manufacturer only changes the shape 

 of things, the transportation people only change the place of things 

 and the merchant only distributes things but that the farmer is 

 the creator of things that did not exist before. 



As the consuming population increased and the producing popu- 

 lation decreased comparatively and the available soil fertility or 



