LIVE STOCK breeders' ASSOCIATION. 157 



in the land beyond. Man's success is not measured alone by the 

 amount of his bank account ; Columbus, Fulton, Morse and a host of 

 others are not known for their pecuniary success. It matters not to 

 us whether they died rich or poor, our legacy is the same. The great 

 universities that dot the political centers of the states of great America 

 are dependent largely on the material stream that flows from the 

 large aggregation of wealth that surrounds them ; but the end for 

 which they are maintained would be lost were it not for the boy grown 

 on the American farm. A\'ith the love of freedom born in his heart, 

 with strong arm and active mind, and a brave heart he goes forth to 

 fill the halls of our colleges, universities, the marts of trade, or the 

 offices of the great transportation companies, ambitious to do the best 

 services in any department he may fill. Go into the great metropolis 

 of our nation, enter the banking, commercial and professional institu- 

 tions. Who mans them? Seventy-five per cent of the founders and 

 heads of these institutions are from the rural districts. The great 

 stream of rural brawn and brain continues to flow, and must for 

 years to come, into that boundless, busy field of responsibility, that 

 must needs be filled by the very best material obtainable. The pur- 

 pose of man is to do something, and that something to aid his fellow- 

 man. The great west that so blesses mankind to-day would be a 

 wilderness, were it not for the pioneer farmer, who for the cause of 

 freedom and home, braved the storms and perils of the great un- 

 known, and became the precursor of better things to come ; then 

 comes the live stock improver (the cause for which we stand to-day) 

 disseminating the improved blood little by little until the great valley 

 of the Father of Waters is known the world over for its wonderful 

 progress. Plocks, herds, studs, shops and mills dot the greatest of 

 all lands. 'Tis said the strength of the nation is in its homes and the 

 best home is the rural home ; there the owner is king and lord of all. 

 Father, mother, children, there is no home without the combination. 

 I know some of our great breeders have lived and died old bachelors, 

 and some farm homes have existed without children, but they can- 

 not have been ideal. 



Surely the man who builds up a great herd should have a life 

 partner, one who shares his sorrows, sympathizes in his losses and 

 exults in his victories, whether great or small. A farmer should have 

 a farmer's wife. Some city people are very much infatuated with rural 

 life, but it's only a fancy. They visit their country cousins and 

 friends, and see nothing but the glitter and silver lining, and have no 

 conception of what labor, thought and energy was necessary to have 

 gained and maintained these ideal rural homes. 



