PART II 



Proceedings of Slate Agricultural Convention 

 Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 14, 1921 



The convention was called to order at ten o'clock a. m., Wednes- 

 day, December 14, 1921, by President C. E. Cameron, in the House 

 Chamber at the State House, Des Moines, Iowa. 



Vice President J. P. IMuUen : The first number on the program 

 will be the address of President C. E. Cameron. 



President C. E. Cameron: Gentlemen of the Convention and Members 

 of the Board of Agriculture: 



We have met again in annual convention to transact the necessary busi- 

 ness of the Society, to greet old friends and to form new acquaintances. 



As you know, the success of the Department of Agriculture depends 

 somewhat upon the prosperity of the State. During the past season, Iowa 

 has passed through a period of financial depression that has never been 

 equaled, when her granaries are bursting with the products of the soil. We 

 have, it is true, seen close times in Iowa in years gone by, but these have 

 been due usually to a part failure of crops. During the last couple of years 

 we have been stepping too fast and could not bring ourselves to a realiza- 

 tion of the fact that the high prices and good times would not continue. I 

 think now we have reached the bottom and, no doubt, have received a 

 lesson that will be with us for years to come, and that is, — that we must 

 not anticipate too much upon future prospects. 



I remember a few years ago we were running along so smoothly that 

 we anticipated the receipts of the fair and made permanent improvements 

 on the fair grounds to the amount of forty thousand dollars, and that 

 year was the only one since my connection with the fair that the fair did 

 not pay out. This was in 1915, the year of the heavy rain and wind that 

 blew so many tents down. It looked, after that storm, as if we would not 

 be able to continue the fair, but we did, and when the fair was over and 

 the balance sheet made up, we found that we were five thousand dollars 

 behind on the fair, and forty thousand in the anticipated receipts that we 

 figured on, making a total of forty-five thousand dollars that we were in 

 debt. We could not go to the State to reimburse us, as the State has never 

 appropriated one cent to carry on the fairs. Our credit, however, was good 

 so we went to one of the banks and were told that if we would give our 

 individual note, with all the members signing it, they would let us have 

 the money. This we did, and the next year our profits were enough to take 



