556 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



permanently profitable tends to maintain and increase the amount of pro- 

 duction, and the interest of all the other factors is in keeping this volume 

 steadily increasing, for it is upon the volume and not the value of the pro- 

 duction that their profits are based. 



In order that all these situations may be intelligently met, the live stock 

 producers must maintain a permanent organization with authority to 

 speak and negotiate for the whole industry. Such an organization must 

 be made up of men capable of commanding the respect and confidence of 

 the representatives of the other interests; it must employ trained and ex- 

 perienced advisors who understand the live stock and its associated indus- 

 tries and who can furnish its representatives with full information bear- 

 ing upon concrete questions that must come up from time to time for con- 

 sideration and decision; and finally it must be in a position to insure 

 that decision reached or agreements made will be carried out in the same 

 good faith by it as it will expect from the others. For unless the live 

 stock producers, through their accredited representatives, are willing to 

 approach all these problems with open minds and without prejudging 

 them, to recognize the mutual and interrelated interests involved, and con- 

 cede good will and honest intentions to the men who represent these 

 related industries, there is little to be hoped for along the line of market 

 improvement. 



The President : That concludes our afternoon program, and 

 if there is nothing further, we will stand adjourned until the ban- 

 quet, which will be at 6 :30. 



THE BANQUET. 



The President : Ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate your 

 presence here this evening on this auspicious occasion. As we sat 

 here and visited and talked, it occurred to us that about eighteen 

 years ago just about this time — I wouldn't say exactly the date — 

 there was a bunch of two or three hundred straggling farmers and 

 stockmen scattered over the state of Iowa, gathered in the city of 

 Des Moines to consider vital questions that were then confronting 

 them, similar to those that are confronting us today as farmers and 

 live stock feeders and producers. Out of that aggregation of farmers 

 and stockmen — and I assure you we were a green bunch at that 

 time, inexperienced, without a leader largely, no one having any 

 experience along the lines of work that seemed necessary to be 

 done, but out of that aggregation of men came what is now known 

 as the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association. 



Tonight, we are holding, about, our twelfth banquet, and we 

 are holding at this time our annual meeting, and with us have 



