312 MISSOURI AGRICUI.TURAL REPORT. 



tonight in this magnificent building, erected on ^Missouri soil, paid for 



by ^Missouri money and dedicated to the dairy men and dairy women and 



dairy interests of Missouri, is it any wonder that the first question that 



suggests itself to us is "Where are we at?" 



***** 



I learned sometime ago with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction 

 that this, the thirteenth annual meeting of the Misouri State Dairv^ 

 Association, was to be held here; but when, a short time ago, a pro- 

 gramme was sent to me with an urgent request from your secretary that 

 I would respond to the call in the discharge of m.y duty, as designated 

 on the program, and when I was further reminded at home that the 

 place of this meeting was the "Athens" of Missouri, the seat of learning, 

 the home of culture, the abiding place of titled dignitaries, the rendez- 

 vous of professors, I questioned very seriously the advisability of my 

 taking a part in these exercises. 



My abiding faith in the dairy business, my implicit confidence in 

 the good people of our grand old state, and with this as a basis, my in- 

 tense enthusiasm has prompted me to preach tlie Gospel of Dairying in 

 many parts of Missouri, to many good sized audiences of very intelli- 

 gent people, among whom were many well posted along dairy lines. 

 And while I have felt perfectly at home among these people, my lack of 

 any title whatever, I was sure, could not help but make me feel out of 

 place, if not ill at ease here. 



4 ***** 



I am reminded tonight that a year ago I had the pleasure of repre- 

 senting the dairy interests of Missouri at the State Dairy Association 

 convened at Palmyra, and in their behalf asked that assembly, the citizens 

 of that hospitable little city as well as our great commonwealth, "Why 

 not Missouri?" 



And now after another year of progress in every department of 

 science and every branch of industry and in the interest of the faithful 

 few who started this organization thirteen years ago and who for thir- 

 teen long years have fostered and nursed and defended it, I come to you 

 and demand to know from you and from every true, loyal citizen inter- 

 ested in developing the latent resources, preserving the richest heritage, 

 and building up the most important industry in the great State of our 

 nativity or adoption. "Where are we at?" 



This may not appeal to you as a very elegant expression. It may 

 not be grammatical, it may not be rhetorical. It may lack poetry; it 

 may seem to you superfluous, but to me it seems full of meaning, full of 

 expression and more impressive than any other language that might 

 be used to ask the same question. It carries me back to the long ago, 



