TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 443 



from the poppy fields of Flanders to the very gates of Sedan, marched on, 

 on, and never backward, until the impregnable lines of the enemy were 

 broken and peace on earth had again come upon us, it made me think 

 that, after all, the coming of Abraham Lincoln into the world was, per- 

 haps, for the reason that through a united people of the United States the 

 civilization of the world might be saved. 

 I thank you! (Great applause) 



ADDRESS OF C. L. HARLAN, UNION STOCK YARDS, CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion: 



The speaker has been working since the first of last March as a live 

 stock marketing investigator for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and 

 the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association. His employment as such 

 was the result of an agreement between the two organizations that the 

 livestock producers of the state ought to have some one who should de- 

 vote his time exclusively to studying the livestock marketing situation, 

 at least in so far as Iowa interests are involved, and be prepared to 

 represent or defend those interests w^herever it might be deemed neces- 

 sary. 



Just what activities or responsibilities the position should include was 

 not determined at the time, but it was rather to be left to the develop- 

 ment as circumstances might make desirable. But as the greater part 

 of Iowa livestock goes to market through the Chicago livestock market, 

 and as that market is the center at which livestock prices for the surplus 

 production regions of the west are largely determined, it was thought that 

 it might be advisable to have an office there and make that a headquar- 

 ters, at least, for the work. The speaker, therefore, went to Chicago 

 and spent a month in going over the situation with a view of determin- 

 ing whether it might be considered worth while to establish such an 

 office. At the end of that time he reported to the supporting organiza- 

 tions that he thought it would be worth while to center the activity in 

 the Chicago market and to devote his time largely to a first-hand study of 

 conditions as they there exist. He was instructed to make arrangements 

 to that end, and the work was started about the first of April, although 

 office accommodations could not be secured until the latter part of that 

 month. 



In a general way, the character of the work to be done was to be along 

 three lines. The office was to act as a kind of a bureau of investigation 

 into complaints as to service or treatment made by Iowa shippers con- 

 cerning transportation or handling and selling agencies, either enroute 

 or at the market, and to secure such explanations, rectifications or 

 changes as might be thought desirable. The speaker was also to be an 

 authorized representative of the two organizations at conferences, investi- 

 gations or hearings which might be concerned with matters involving 



