WINTER MEETING AT CARTHAGE. 137 



to think that the Society has been used to advance the interests of the 

 farm, and no one but a jealous and ignorant person can for once think 

 such the case. 1 say to you in all truth and soberness that outside of 

 the work and intluence of the State Society, no other thing either great 

 or small in all the State around has done so much for the advancement 

 of the fruit interests of the State as this very great object-lesson, 

 " The Olden Fruit Farm." Could you but know the time we have spent 

 in showing this object-lesson to those who are seeking new homes; 

 <}0uld you but see the number that go there daily ( we have had fifteen 

 there at one time seeking homes, to see for themselves what our State 

 €an do), you would bury the thought, and he who makes the accusation, 

 into the bottom of the sea (with McGinty). Nothing but jealousy could 

 prompt such a statement, and we are willing to let those who have been 

 there be judges. 



Another statement probably needs to be mentioned. You all know 

 the misfortune in the loss of money by the closing of the bank at 

 Nevada, and that report is clearly stated in our state report so that any 

 one can see. No other money has been lost, and when any one wishes 

 to tarnish the name of our late treasurer, D. S. Holman, he is on the 

 wrong track completely. Brother Holman's estate returned every 

 dollar of the money in his hands, and no person has a right to make 

 any insinuations either against him or the officers of the Society for 

 neglect of duty, without knowing whereof he speaks. A good and 

 sufficient bond was given by D. S. Holman for the fulfillment of his 

 trust. In the case of J. H. Logan no such bond was given, because he 

 was only appointed treasurer and, the rascality of the bank official at 

 Nevada has caused the loss to the Society of the amount there reported, 

 and not the failure of J. H. Logan. One other point in the interests of 

 our state work is that politics or religion has never entered the minds 

 of our members. If there be one thing we can be thankful for, it is 

 that there has been unity of feeling in our work regardless of either 

 politics or religion. To-day the best friends in our Society, and the 

 most earnest workers together, as one, are those who differ both in 

 religion and politics. Each man's opinion is his home, and no one but 

 a thief or robber will enter it without permission. And to answer the 

 question for the sake of friends, I wish simply to state that the best 

 friends and workers together in all the Society are of different political 

 and religious beliefs. " A man is a man for all that," and this belittling 

 of any one on account of politics or religion is worthy of only the sever- 

 est condemnation. 



