TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 175 



Mr. President : Next on the program is an address by the Gov- 

 ernor of Iowa, and I take pleasure in presenting to you, Honorable 

 B. F. Carroll. 



ADDRESS. 



GOVEBNOB B. F, CABEOLL. 



Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Agricultural Convention: I 

 hardly know what to say to you this afternoon. I certainly will not de- 

 tain you a great while. 



My view of the agricultural department of the state is broadening each 

 year. I guess that is due to the fact that the department itself is broad- 

 ening all the time. I have had more or less to do about it, or see about 

 it, for ten or twelve or more years, and my judgment is that no eight 

 days of the year are of more value to the agricultural interests of the 

 state than the eight days which are devoted to the annual fair of our 

 state. I think that practically everyone who comes to the fair comes 

 with some definite idea as to what he wants to learn, or what he wants 

 to study. It is absolutely impossible for any human being in eight days, 

 or even eighty days or eight hundred days, to study all of the things 

 that are brought to our state fair at any one of its sessions. We can 

 see all of them, we can go by and look at them and get a general idea 

 of them, but to get right into the merits of the things on exhibit, it is 

 impossible to comprehend or study all of them in any reasonable amount 

 of time. One thing that suggested itself to me impressively was a little 

 incident which occurred at the last state fair. An attorney whom I 

 have known for many years remarked, "I must leave the fair this even- 

 ing; I have court matters to which I must attend tomorrow. I am 

 here studying the question of horses. I operate a farm which is now 

 occupied by a tenant and I am here studying horses." He said, "I can 

 go to a certain barn and see Belgians, to another and see Percherons, 

 to another and see Clydesdales, away from the fair, but I can come here 

 and see every variety of animal that is bred and reared in our state." 

 He said to me, "It is a most interesting thing." Now what is true of 

 this man, I doubt not is true of a very large per cent of the people 

 who come to the fair. Many go to the fair simply to see, and at that 

 they are learning a good deal. The things which are shown there and 

 which are brought to the attention of the people of our state are unsur- 

 passed anywhere. And I am not now speaking of the farming com- 

 munities of our state alone, because years ago the state fair of Iowa 

 grew too large to be regarded simply as an agricultural fair. The in- 

 fluence of that fair touches every corner of the state. It is a great 

 school to us. One man may not be able to come to the fair, one man 

 may not be able to go to the agricultural college, but his neighbor comes, 

 or goes to the school; he studies these things and then comes back and 

 reports on them, talks about the new machinery, improvements that 

 have been put on, etc., and the knowledge which he gains is communi- 

 cated to and benefits his neighbors. Many men of our state bring stock 

 here for no other purpose than to dispose of it. Nothing but good can 

 come from that, because nothing but the best stock is brought here. Take 



