190 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



Just a word to the small farmer, if there are any small farmers or 

 breeders here — the man with eighty to one hundred and sixty acres of 

 land — what benefit will an appropriation of this kind be to you? You 

 have seen here today and will see in any section of this State that the 

 large and successful breeders are united on this proposition. They have 

 advantages to train and educate their sons that the small farmer cannot 

 have, and yet they favor this proposition. Your son cannot have every 

 advantage on your farm. You have not the herd to give him the in- 

 struction which the large breeder has, but you can, without expense to 

 yourself, by the appropriation of this money to the Agricultural College, 

 send your son there and let him spend one, two. three or four years get- 

 ting practically the advantages that the best breeders are giving their 

 sons. 



We do not want to be behind other states. Every man ought to 

 take a local pride in his home, in his home locality, his State and his 

 country. We want to place Missouri at the head of the procession. Our 

 live stock industry is great, but in all our public institutions we want to 

 be ahead of others, if possible. 



I want to make this statement and if it is unreasonable, I hope some 

 of these breeders present will correct me. At the National Live Stock 

 Show at Chicago, the prizes won by the Agricultural College of Iowa — 

 the prize won by the champion steer fed by the Agricultural College of 

 Iowa, will be worth more to the breeders of Iowa than their Agricultural 

 College has ever cost them, as an advertising medium for the live stock 

 of the State ; and yet they have an equipment that has cost them more 

 than one hundred thousand dollars. Which of you who could put down 

 a dollar and take up two dollars would not do it every time? That is 

 what we are asking for. We have practically three million head of cat- 

 tle, in Missouri. Suppose by some means we could increase the value of 

 these three million head two dollars a head, it would amount to six mil- 

 lions of dollars. The appropriation asked for, thirty thousand dollars, 

 ^vill amount to one dollar for every hundred head of cattle in this State, 

 That appropriation of thirty thousand dollars, indeed an insignificant sum, 

 if we take into consideration the vast resources of the State, amounts co 

 one dollar for every hundred head of cattle in this State and an increase 

 of two dollars per head in the value of our cattle would bring us six 

 million dollars. Well, this appropriation, gentlemen, would assist in 

 the development or in the improvement of the live stock interests of the 

 State, not only cattle — this is rather a cattle breeders' session today — 

 but this argument can be used for all classes of stock. You will see 

 what an insignificant percentage of the improvement it will take to pay 

 the State a hundred per cent on its investment or a thousand per cent. 



