384 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 



The states are being represented at this very important hearing by 

 E. W. Reed, special valuation counsel of the Valuation Committee of the 

 National Association of Railway and Utility Commissioners; by John 

 E. Benton, General Solicitor of the National Association; J. H. Ralls, 

 valuation attorney of our commission, and J. E. Eubank, valuation expert 

 of the Iowa Commission. Their work has been especially commended. 



Interests of Public Not Neglected 



I am here to assert that the interests of the public are being presented 

 to the Interstate Commission effectively and efficiently in the pending 

 Rock Island hearing, the only one in which Iowa has any direct interest 

 that has yet come before the commission for final hearing. 



I am proud of the record the Iowa Commission has made in these valua- 

 tion matters under the leadership of Commissioner Woodruff, and want 

 to assure you that no one is asleep at the switch in reference to valua- 

 tion of Iowa railroads. 



A NEW LEASE ON LIFE J 



BY MRS. GENE CUTLER 



We are engaged in a great business. Two years ago I would have 

 said occupation, but in that time the Farm Bureau has taught us that, 

 we have a Business — the biggest business in the United States. 

 Usually when we speak of Big Business we get a picture, perhaps, of 

 tall buildings, inside of which are well-dressed men and women, held 

 aloof from the rest of the world by iron gratings, and occasionally we 

 hear the clink of gold and silver. 



Or perhaps we get a picture of massive structures of stone or brick 

 alongside mammoth smokestacks, from which pour great clouds of 

 soot and blackness to soil the world. These are the factories, and we say 

 they are Big Business. Or we see shining rails and locomotives, and 

 they symbolize our transportation system, and we call it Big Business. 



What we should see is a broad stretch of hills and valleys covered 

 with Iowa's tall corn, Oregon's wheat, the cotton and tobacco of Texas 

 and Virginia, and the corn and oats of the East. Here and there are 

 cottages and bungalows, with a few houses of commodious type, all 

 housing farmers and their families, each a small part of that Biggest 

 Business in the United States — Agriculture. 



Represents Heavy Investment 

 The value of all farms and farm property is twice that invested in all 

 the manufacturing industries. It is four times the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission valuation of all the railroads, and twelve times that of the 

 capital, surplus and undivided profits of all the banks in the United 

 States. We have always been Big Business, but we have just learned 

 to see ourselves collectively and appreciate that. We are the basic 

 industry and produce 80 per cent of the wealth every year. City-built 

 industries can never become greater than agriculture because they are 

 only monuments of margins. These city-built industries become top- 

 heavy and burdensome. That is the thing we are suffering from now, 



