168 TWEiNTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 



in a few years it will be common practice in that community. Those are 

 two things I had in mind that fit especially well into your work. 



Then there is another thing I am sure every one of you present here 

 is interested in and that is the fact that by working with these boys and 

 girls in work of this kind and bringing them out to work together and 

 compete together, we are developing in these rural boys and girls leader- 

 ship that is going to be important in the very near future. 



I was in a meeting last spring when these presidents of a certain kind 

 of boys' club were called in, there happened to be thirty-one groups in 

 that county, and the president of a small college got them together and 

 gave them some instructions in regard to how to handle a meeting, how to 

 preside, because that was what they were going to do when they went 

 back and held their own club meetings. He gave them instructions on 

 simple things about parliamentary law. I heard a father say after that 

 meeting: "Well, it would have been just a whole lot better for us if we 

 could have had that very same thing when we were younger." I- think 

 that expressed very well the idea of a good many people in regard to this 

 work. 



In connection with this work, some have asked, "Why can't the schools 

 do this?" Well, the schools are doing a lot and we certainly want to assist 

 and cooperate with the schools in every way we can, but I have to point 

 out in that connection these figures, which may somewhat astound you. 

 There is an old saying you know that figures don't lie, but liars do figure, 

 so if you don't believe me figure it out yourself. It is a fact that a boy 

 or girl in the average community, farm community in Iowa, from the 

 time they are born until they are twenty-one years of age, if they are 

 good boys and girls, spend about one per cent of their time in church and 

 about 10 per cent of their time in school, which leaves about 90 per 

 cent of their time under home direction. That is why I believe these 

 clubs I am talking about, and which you can assist in, are important be- 

 cause they teach the boy or girl so effectively, with so much of their time. 



I believe we have an opportunity to help the boys and girls on the farm 

 in helping them develop themselves for agricultural leaders. You know 

 it is a fact in the average county in Iowa about 160 new farmers start 

 every year; about 160 boys start farming every year. That is to say 

 nothing of the girls who go into the farm houses. If we just simply ex- 

 pend our efforts to reach that 160 and see that they are equipped with 

 the best possible information concerning all farm operations, I believe in 

 a few years we will have a class of farmers upon our farms that would 

 produce more efficiently than is the case* at the present time. 



I want to speak just briefly of the things that exhibitions and contests, 

 and more particularly what the Iowa State Fair is doing for the boys' 

 and girls' club work. We who are in state work use the Iowa State Fair 

 particularly in our state work — and you can use it as sort of a goal, 

 as a thing we urge the boys and girls to strive for. We have a wonderful 

 help in that way. In all this work, the contest feature, the competition 

 is always in the boy's or girl's mind. You know a football game would 

 not be interesting at all if it were not for the contest. 



