110 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Of course this is not an average crop, and if it were no country in tlie 

 world could compete with it — the average is about seven tons to the 

 acre, but I figure the. entire. output of these islands at 25,000,000 tons, 

 and this amount coming into our country so far has made no impression, 

 and so we fear nothing. 



Porto Rico can never produce much sugar, and though all industries 

 will undoubtedly thrive under American management, still two or 

 three hundred thousand tons is all we may expect. Of the Philip- 

 pines we know nothing, and although in the future we may expect 

 something great, still we can count upon nothing sure at the present 

 time. 



Cuba, it is my opinion, will remain a foreign country for some time 

 yet to come. So admitting all of these free of duty, we find that we 

 still have millions of tons to provide for. 



Now, the production of sugar is something more than a sentiment; 

 no one is going to bend his back to thin sugar beets for fun, or unless 

 there is some return for it. Admitting all these outside things, I am 

 first for the United States under all conditions, but I sincerely believe 

 there is a great future for us as regards the sugar industry; for with all 

 I want to see this a prosperous country and want to see us manufac- 

 ture everything we can at home. (Applause.) In all these years I have 

 had the profoundest belief in America's ability to produce the sugar we 

 consume. We have the soil and we have the brain, and, after all, the 

 brain mixed with the soil is better than commercial fertilizer. (Ap- 

 plause.) From the present outlook we should all certainly be encour- 

 aged by the many evidences of progress. In Michigan you have made 

 a great start, but do not give up, even if you have reverses, for with 

 your facilities you are bound to triumph in the end. It is the industry 

 which is founded on the solid basis which in the end becomes the pro- 

 gressive one. In the growth and manufacture of sugar we have an in- 

 dustry which cannot be overdone; we cannot produce the sugar w^e 

 eat, and so we have got to get it out of our own sunshine and not pay 

 foreign people for it. And this very fact, when it is thoroughly under- 

 stood, I believe will be a great boon to our farmers. But in all this 

 we must not forget that the soil has its rights as well as the citizen. 

 The constitution of our country provides for the protection of the rights 

 of its citizens, but it did not provide for the protection of the soil. The 

 farming of the past hundred years has been a system of highway rob- 

 bery. I am not a Michigander, but I was born in the state just south 

 of here, and down there, as you have doubtless observed here, I have 

 seen stables built out of rails, and when it became impossible for the 

 horse to get in and out on account of the manure, the stable was moved 

 to another place. 



You talk about rotation of crops. A man in Arkansas was plowing. 

 A teacher of agriculture in one of the leading schools was passing 

 along and noticed that he plowed up and killed many snakes, and also 

 that he was very careful to place these snakes in the furrow and plow 

 them under again. "I am very glad," said the professor, ''to see that 

 you understand the true theory of fertilizing." ''Yes," replied the 

 farmer, "I believe in rotation of crops. I plow the snakes under and 

 grow a crop of corn; from the corn we make whiskey, and from the 

 whiskey we get the snakes again." There is one thing sure, however, 



