TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 257 



Governor Harding: At that, there are enough. 



Mr. Files (continuing) : If all the mules in Iowa could by some 

 means be transformed into one great elongated mule, that animal 

 could duck his head and kick the spots ofif of the moon. He esti- 

 mated that the cows of Iowa produced enough milk in a single year 

 that if it could be poured into the vacated bed of the Mississippi 

 river it would float a fleet of battleships from Keokuk to New Or- 

 leans. If all of the cattle in Iowa could be amalgamated into one 

 great conglomerated cow, that old bossy could stand with her feet 

 on good American soil, browse upon the luscious grasses of the 

 tropics, and at the same time with her tail be switching the icicles 

 ofT of the north pole. It is a wonderful state that we live in ! 



Iowa has more automobiles per capita than any other state of the 

 Union. She has more newspapers than any other state of the 

 Union. She has more colleges than any other state. She has more 

 secondary schools than any other state. She has a lower percentage 

 of illiteracy than any other state. But there is another field in which 

 she is making herself known. During the past ten years Iowa has 

 been going forward more rapidly than any other state of the Union 

 in the matter of manufacture. Do you know that at the present 

 time, the largest broom factory in the United States is located in 

 Iowa at Burlington? The largest sash and door factory is located 

 at Dubuque ; the greatest cream separator factory at Waterloo ; the 

 largest calendar factory at Red Oak ; the largest plaster mill at Fort 

 Dodge ; the largest cereal mill in the United States is not at Battle 

 Creek, but at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The largest furniture factory is 

 not at Grand Rapids, it is at Burlington. And so you can see that 

 it is high time that we people of this state, and the people of the 

 world were beginning to realize that here, after all, is the Garden 

 of Eden. And it is not necessary for me to say that the fairs of the 

 state of Iowa have been one of the most potent and one of the 

 most effective mediums of education, that has brought Iowa to 

 its present pre-eminence. Neither is it necessary for me to say 

 that the greatness of the state of Iowa, and the success of the 

 fair associations of Iowa have not been due to the application 

 of Robinson Crusoe methods. Perhaps one of the best examples of 

 the effectiveness of co-operation can be illustrated by a little animal 

 that roams the plains of South America — it is called a burro. It 

 goes about in herds. It has just one enemy to fear, and that is the 

 wolf. When they are attacked they form a circle, with their heads 

 together and their heels to the outside and proceed to kick off the 



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