PROCEEDINGS IOWA FAIR MANAGERS ASSN. 185 



these three or four circumstances which I have indicated, and I say that 

 they challenge the very best thought of our ablest men both on the farms 

 and in the cities, because when all is said and done our national prosperity 

 is dependent upon our farm prosperity; forty per cent of our people depend 

 on what grows on the farm. That forty per cent, because of this present 

 condition, their purchasing power is reduced and the effect is felt upon 

 the remaining sixty per cent. We have come to the time when we have 

 got to check up carefully on our marketing as well as on our production of 

 agricultural products. Speaking of Iowa in terms of Iowa, seems to me 

 the challenge comes up squarely to the State Board of Agriculture, to the 

 State Agricultural College and to all other agencies interested in Iowa 

 agriculture, including bankers, merchants and every citizen of Iowa, — 

 because we all know Iowa is an agricultural state, the basis of our pros- 

 perity is in the Iowa farm, and it presents a problem which must have the 

 most careful attention of all citizens of Iowa. 



This tendency for the farmer and business man to regard their interests 

 as antagonistic has got to be overcome if Iowa meets this problem ahead 

 of it in the next twenty years. We have here thirty-five million acres of 

 the most valuable land in all the world. Nowhere in the world is there 

 thirty-five million acres lying in one body that equals in value of fertility 

 the thirty-five million acres in Iowa. We have in Iowa the most intelligent 

 farm citizens that can be found in any similar body of land in the world. 

 Nowhere can there be found the same number of farmers having the ca- 

 pacity for large production and intelligent production. The problem is to 

 organize this whole thing, reorganize the process with a view to the future. 

 It is a problem I think the State Board of Agriculture, and you gentlemen 

 interested in the county agricultural fairs must take to yourselves seri- 

 ously. There is not any question about our coming out of this period. 

 As I say, some of us are going to get hurt. The problem is not this emer- 

 gency now, because I think most men who are familiar with all conditions 

 which are likely to affect us now are agreed that we have reached the 

 bottom. We may have some temporary depressions in the price of corn 

 and some other crops, but we have a right to assume we have turned the 

 row and are headed now towards better times. The problem is not alone 

 this present emergency, it is a problem of the future agricultural policy of 

 Iowa. It brings with it the challenge to every man who loves his state 

 and loves his fellow citizens here. I would like to see the Iowa fair men 

 and Iowa State Board of Agriculture take the lead in this. I would like 

 to see them in a reorganization and directing of the various agencies 

 which are standing for better agriculture. I would like to see you set up 

 a state marketing organization which would enable us to market our crops 

 more intelligently than we have. 



The day I left Washington the manager of the Co-operative Fruit Grow- 

 ers of California was in my office. I said "Well, how have you done this 

 year?" They handle mostly oranges. Oranges are a luxury. These Co- 

 operative Growers of California marketed their oranges and made a profit 

 on their production and on their marketing. It simply came about by 

 attacking that marketing problem as a business organization, and does its 

 marketing intelligently. They grade their fruit, they don't market poor 



