No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 533 



COL. WOODWARD: Mr. Chairman, I am very well aware that 

 this morning there was a sort of an "omnibus" vote of thanks given 

 to all those who were here. This has been a special audience and 

 has been a special treat. I do not believe I should sleep very well 

 to-night if I should go home without personally expressing my admir- 

 ation for the clearness with which this very difficult problem has 

 been presented to-night, and I am going to move that there should be 

 a special vote of thanks at this time — on this occasion and at this 

 time for the most interesting, clear and lucid way in which Mr. Cook 

 has solved these problems for us. 



The motion having been seconded, it was unanimously agreed to. 



DEPUTY SECRETARY MARTIN: Mr. Chairman, will you just 

 permit a word before we adjourn. My mind was so absorbed with the 

 excellent lesson to which we have listened to-night, that it drove out 

 at the time, one other thought that was impressed upon me during 

 this meeting, that your worthy Secretary of the Board and also Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture, along with the members of the State Board of 

 Pennsylvania, who are the county chairmen of institutes, are men 

 qualified to present such papers of such a high order as have been 

 presented at this meeting. Now I am proud of that, because I come 

 in contact with these men steadily the year round, and if they were 

 not present, there are some things that we would say that we will 

 leave unsaid this evening. 



MR. HERR: I move that when we adjourn, it be to meet subject to 

 the call of the Secretary. 



The motion having been duly seconded, it was agreed to. 



The SECRETARY: I want to say that I have been so busy as not 

 to be able to get around and know about your vouchers, but they will 

 all be sent to you and you will receive the payment for your expenses 

 very promptly. 



MR. McHENRY: Mr. Chairman, it is a rule, I believe, always to 

 keep the best for the last, and I would like to hear from our worthy 

 Secretary before we leave here. 



The SECRETARY: Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that we have had 

 enough. I do not see how I can add anything to what has been said 

 during this very excellent meeting, but I am certainly very much 

 pleased indeed with the unusually large attendance and the interest 

 that has been manifested during the sessions. I might say that in 

 the preparation of the program, the thought that was in my mind 

 was, to bring before you something that would be of most interest 

 just at this time; subjects that are timely. The reason that we have 

 had so much upon the live stock question, is because I have noticed, 

 as I think you have all noticed, that there is an increasing interest 

 all over this country in this question. There has been a very great 

 advance made in the last two or three years, not only by our own 

 State but by the whole country. 



You may have observed that during the year just closed, that the 

 amount of stock which was sold at the city of Chicago — and that may 

 be regarded as a fair index of what is going on in the country, be- 

 cause that is the center of the live stock business — was about thirty- 

 six and a half millions of dollars more in value than it did the year 

 previous, and this was what brought me to consider that it was im- 



