No. 7. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



417 



pure air and wholesome surroundings, stands an institution -whieb 

 contains potentialities of which Judge McAllister and Judge Beaver 

 in turn have dreamed for fifty years, but the fruition of which has 

 been delayed, at least in part, because the great and splendid rftato 

 of Pennsylvania, v/hose very name is taken from the disciple ot the 

 art of peace and whose resources are almost boundless, has Kever 

 been shown the way, or, having been shown it, has not been able to 

 follow the path. 



If I should paint for you the picture you might think me a dreamer 

 of the dreamers, and having painted it, in after years you might make 

 comparisons between the dream and the actualities. Furthermore. 

 I want you to think of me as a very practical, close to the earth sort 

 of an individual that has to deal with accounts and unpaid billb, ap- 

 propriations and other mundane and sordid affairs. 



If I were to give my address a title this morning it would be ''The 

 Promotion of Agriculture in Pennsylvania. A Comparison." 



I invite your attention first to a table showing the agriculture of 

 the four most populous and wealthy states in the Union in order 

 of population -Inid wealth: New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and 

 Ohio. These states have been chosen because they are the states 

 that are in the same class Avith Pennsylvania. What Vermont, or 

 Florida, or Idaho are doing to promote agriculture can be of littV' 

 interest to us at this time, since they are not in our class. 



The agriculture of these four states is somewhat similar, as shown 

 by the following table: 



Total value of farm property in million dollars, .. 



Total value of farm products in million dollars, 



Number of million acres of farm land 



Number of million acres of improved farm land,.. 



Value of farm products per acre, 



Value of farm products per acres of improved land, 



2,004 



346 



33 



28 



$10 50 



12 40 



The figures in this table are not given to prove the relative profit in 

 farming in the several states. They are given to show that Penn- 

 sylvania has an agriculture that is worth while. They prove be- 

 yond peradventure that Pennsylvania is a great agricultural ^tate. 

 The reason that some other states are considered greater agricul- 

 tural states than Pennsylvania is not because their agriculture is so 

 much greater, but because their other industries are so much less. 

 Take the State of Nebraska. You think of it as a great agricultural 

 state, and it is. A state that, practically speaking, has neither 

 lumber, nor building stone, nor iron ore, nor coal, nor oil, nor gas, and 

 not even falling water enough to create electric power, must of ne- 

 cessity be an agricultural state if it is going to be anything. As a 

 matter of fact, Nebraska is three-fourths larger than Pennsyhania, 

 and the value of its farm products were, in 1899, about three-fourths 

 that of Pennsylvania. 



Aside from the four states mentioned in this table, if we assume 

 the value of the farm products to be a measure of the agriculture of 



27—7—190(5. 



