410 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



iiu'ii who have preceded me without feeling somewhat embarrassed, 

 and my reputation will be better sustained by keeping quiet. I have 

 to speak to you people to-mOrrow, not only once but twice, and at 

 this late hour it seems to me it would hardly be in keeping to lake 

 your time. 



I have been deeply interested in what you have been saying; I like 

 to hear men talk about their great possibilities, because I suppose 

 not one of us will ever live up to his possibilities. I do not think 

 much of a man that does live up to his ideals. When you get to that 

 point, it is about time to drop off andj)ass into the other world. I 

 like to have the ideal just a little ahead. I believe you are the sec- 

 ond greatest state in the Union, sir. 1 believe in standing by your 

 own State first, last and all the time, if you do have to lie a little 

 to do it. I believe in your standing by your opportunities, great as 

 they are. I believe that the time is ripe for eastern investment. 1 

 believe, farmers, that the time has gone by when men should seek 

 western investments in lands. We hear a great deal about the psy- 

 chological moment. It seems to me to-day, as far as eastern lands 

 are concerned, it is a farmological moment, if I may be permitted to 

 use that word, and that the time is ripe for the East to do something. 

 I have seen something of Eastern agriculture and something of West- 

 ern agriculture. I have been over a large portion of the East this 

 past year, and assure you that men, not alone in the State of Penn- 

 sylvania, are bestirring themselves and are waking up to *their op- 

 portunities. Why, in the old State of Maine, even in that old state, 

 the farmers think that is the best place that God ever permitted 

 his sun to shine upon. Wherever you go there, you will find that the 

 people think that it is the only state in the Union, and you will find 

 that they have bred there a true type of Americanism and you will 

 think after all there are good people in Maine, and those people are 

 stirring up things in the line of their best interests while the west- 

 ern man takes very little stock in what we" ran do. He usually tells 

 us , "O yes, New York, Pennsylvania and New England are mighty 

 good places to be born in," and then drops the whole proposition 

 right there. We are now coming to the point where we are going to 

 show these people what we can do. 



I saw some farms last week, going over the old State road of New 

 York, that in my judgment afford a better place to put money than 

 even the great State of Iowa. 



I was glad to hear another suggestion here as to the necessity 

 of rallying around the agricultural college closer than you ever 

 did before. I spent yesterday with a gentleman near Owego, in our 

 State, a man doing splendid work on his farm taking those old hills 

 and utilizing them, getting five cents a quart for his milk. What 

 do you suppose he says? He says, Cornell University is responsible 

 for this whole thing. He says it is responsible for this work that 

 I am doing here, and he is a modest fellow, too. He says Cornell 

 University is responsible for this and more. That man is fit to teach, 

 and yet he told me that his business would be so ordered and adjusted 

 that he should go, to Cornell University, each winter and spend 

 a little time there checking himself up to date. When you come in con- 

 tact with such men and realize their influence, you better appreciate 

 the work of the agricultural college. I tell you it means much. T 

 do not know just how much support you are giving to your schools 



