SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 377 



Minnesota working alone will accomplish little; we must all work to- 

 gether. Organization is everything. An illustration of this fact may 

 be found in the story of the old darkey who had a reputation for miles 

 around for his ability to handle a blacksnake. A certain planter, who 

 wanted that type of a man came miles to see the old fellow. He found 

 Mose out in the barn and asked: "Are you the darkey that can use the 

 blacksnake better than any man in this country?" Mose replied, "I 

 sholy am de man." "Well", said the planter, handing him a blacksnake, 

 "see that fiy up on the rafter?" Mose brought down the fly and said, 

 "That fly am no more." "Well," said the planter, see that bee up on 

 the other rafter?" and in turn Mose brought down the bee and said, 

 "That bee is dead." Again the planter look around and finally pointing to 

 a hornet nest said, "See that hornet nest up there?" but Mose stood 

 perfectly still. "Well," said the planter, "why don't you fetch those 

 fellows down?" "Boss," said the darky, shaking his head, -dem fellows 

 is organized." 



The President: Our next speaker is a man who needs no introduc- 

 tion, Hon. W. B. Barney, State Dairy and Food Commissioner. 



Mr. Barney: Mr. President and Gentlemen: I can hardly tell why 

 I w-as selected to make an address this afternoon. I want to assure you 

 that I am not prepared for anything at all formal and I might give 

 the same reason that the Mayor did for being chosen. He was selected 

 because he was Mayor and I was selected because I am the Dairy and 

 Food Commissioner of the state. It is really more or less of a habit 

 and I sometimes tell a little story which illustrates Avhat habit will rto 

 to you. 



We have a man in Des Moines who runs on the West Ninth line, that 

 is the West Ninth street car line. He goes out every morning to the end 

 'of that line and hour after hour, day after day, he makes that route, 

 running eight hours a day, and when he gets to the end of that line he 

 makes the remark, "This is as far as I go and here is where you get 

 off." He kept that up for many months and years. Last winter he 

 concluded that he would take a vacation and he went down to Kansas 

 City. Now if any of you have ever been to Kansas City you will know 

 that they have quite a good many very steep hills there and that the 

 country is not very level as is the case around Des Moines or Waterloo. 

 Many of the streets are very abrupt. He was walking about the city, 

 one day, looking at the sights and occasionally gazing up at the high 

 buildings. The streets happened to be very slippery that day, as you will 

 remember we had some icy weather last winter. He happened to be at 

 the top of one of those hills when his feet slipped from under him and 

 he started sliding down the hill. When he got about half way down 

 he came into contact with a very fleshy lady who landed in his lap. 

 They continued down the hill together and when, finally, they arrived 

 at the bottom, he made the remark, "This is as far as I go ana nere Is 

 where you get off." 



Now, you, of course, know that this was merely force of habit and 

 I have sometimes told the story just to illustrate what habit will do. 



