PART II 



Proceedings of the State Agricultural Convention 



WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1914. 



The convention was called to order at ten o'clock a. m. in the 

 Agricultural rooms at the state house, by the president of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, Hon. G. E. Cameron. 



Vice President Olson presided while President Cameron made 

 the following address : 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



BY C. E. CAMERON, ALTA, IOWA. 



Never in the history of the fair was there a more auspicious open- 

 ing than that of the fair of 1914. Every department was full to over- 

 flowing with the resources of this great state and the surrounding 

 states of the Mississippi Valley. Iowa, the center of all the great agri- 

 cultural states of this union, should have the greatest agricultural fair 

 in the union, and this year demonstrated beyond a doubt that we had 

 fulfilled that mission from an exhibit standpoint. Never in all my con- 

 nection with this great instituion have I seen a more optimistic board 

 of managers prior to the opening of the fair and up to Monday night 

 when that fearful storm struck our grounds. We had predicted that 

 the total attendance would beat all records and felt confident that we 

 would reach the three hundred thousand mark. But that old Scotch 

 saying is as true today as when it was first spoken — ^"The best laid 

 plans of mice and men gang aft aglee," — and agricultural fairs are no 

 exception to this rule. You gentlemen who are here today represent- 

 ing the different county fairs of this state know that good weather is 

 the greatest asset that a county or district fair can have. Well, that 

 holds good in all state fairs, as a great many of the leading fairs this 

 year can testify. While we had our storms, our dry weather in some 

 parts of the state, and the war, all conflicting with the successful flnan- 

 cial interests of our fair, our attendance was only some eight thousand 

 less than last year, and 1913 was the banner year for attendance. 



We had made great plans for this year's fair; had increased the 

 premiums something like fifteen thousand dollars and made perma- 

 nent improvements on the grounds over and above the appropriation 

 of seyenty-flve thousand dollars made by the last General Assembly for 



