480 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



necessary. This matter of military preparedness is largely one of the 

 head and heart and not of the legs. You can train the legs in a short time, 

 and the head and heart can be prepared in a "short course." 



Now, suppose some fellow — it would be just like some farmers did when 

 they started the short course; they said, "Do they expect to bring these 

 lads out from these schools and tell us something about farming?" Well, 

 they did! And some of these military authorities will say, "Think of that 

 idea! A short course in military preparation!" 



Well, you had it. The gentleman over here told the truth, for many an 

 Iowa lad left the farm home and within thirty or forty days from the time 

 they left that home they were in the trenches in France. Maybe that was 

 too short a time. I am not here to discuss that phase of the matter, but I 

 am here to say that not one of those lads ever turned back or made a 

 failure of the job over there. 



But I am wandering away from the subject that I was to speak on. 

 Before I touch that I want to say a word in reference to the farm bureau 

 organization in tlie state. It is familiar to all of you. I think the first 

 farm bureau was organized in the state in September, 1912. At the be- 

 ginning of the war there were 26 counties organized. At the close of the 

 war, and before that time, every county in the state was organized. 



I can say to you men who have been active in the organization of these 

 bureaus, that there was no other organization in the state that did more 

 in an actual, substantial way than the farm bureaus did to put across the 

 final victory. The farmers of Iowa through these organizations and 

 through co-operation increased the production of swine — I can't call them 

 pigs or hogs any more, they are too fine for any such name as that — in- 

 creased the production about a million in the state on the call of the 

 governor, and the increase in small grain over the previous ten years was 

 27 per cent. That's what you did. There were about fifty thousand boys 

 taken away from the farms and put into the army, and yet with that re- 

 duction in labor, you made that increase in production. I think you have 

 the right to swell out your chest a little if you want to. 



I was asked to say a few words about the marketing question. The 

 prosperity of any country is gauged by the prosperity of the farmer; and 

 if there are those in the commercial centers who think it is not vital to 

 keep up the farming in this country they will find that when the farm is 

 gone their business is gone. The farm, being the source of original pro- 

 duction, is therefore of vital interest to every citizen, no matter what his 

 occupation may be. It matters not whether I live on and get my living 

 from a farm, or whether I get it some place else, it is vital in the indus- 

 trial life of the country, and it is vital to every citizen. 



In the past agricultural policies have dealt largely with the subject of 

 increased production. Tomorrow the agricultural policy of the state and 

 nation should deal, not only with production, but should include the 

 larger field of marketing. It is a double-barreled proposition. You want 

 the production — the world needs it — but after you have produced it then 

 comes the vital question of getting it to the proper market. 



I can think of no other line of business activity where there is so much 



