FIFTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 89 



there. We are trying to do something — trying to size this thing up and 

 see what can be done. What are we going to do in Iowa? You men 

 know what land is wortli in Iowa today; you know the farmers of Iowa 

 have left us for several reasons. One reason is they have never been 

 able to see wherein their farm values are going to increase much over 

 $150; they feel that $150 an acre is pretty near the top price for land, — 

 that $200 is the top price. Do you know what Germany has done in 

 the last forty years? You know that following the Franco-Prussian 

 war they emigrated to this country because their farm lands were 

 worth only $175 to $225 an acre and because there were not sufficient 

 industrial opportunities to take care of the young men and women in 

 Germany. For tliis reason they emigrated to this country immediately 

 following the Franco-Prussian war in great numbers. But, since that 

 generation what has happened, and why did it happen? Bismarck, 

 who was as great a Prince of Business as ever he was a Prince of War, 

 went into that situation in Germany in 1874, and he said. "We must 

 stop this emigration, we must provide opportunities in Germany for 

 her young men and her young women," and he evolved the slogan, — 

 which in Estherville I saw in the residence of an old German veteran, 

 hanging on the wall of his home, that slogan is: "Germany has room 

 enough and work enough for all her children." I think we should 

 paraphrase that slogan of Germany to read: "Iowa has room enough 

 and work enough for all her children," and then, in the spirit of the 

 Imperial Bismarck, we should put that slogan into effect. He got the 

 government to encourage German industries and Germany began to 

 intensify its industrial life and began to build up its industrial em- 

 pire to the extent that she was the envy of her neighbors and caused 

 that enmity which has practically brought about the war we have in 

 Europe today. Forty years ago it w^as a question of Germany doing 

 something for her own young men and young women or else seeing 

 them, or most of them, come to this country. Then what happened 

 to those farm lands? With that industrial upbuilding, thus making a 

 greater Germany, those lands began to be subjected to a more intensi- 

 fied cultivation, industrial enterprises increased and the prices began 

 to rise until just before the war, four months ago, those lands ranged 

 from $750 to $900 an acre. The land that Germans left thirty-seven 

 years ago because they did not know where the higher prices were 

 coming from. Now, you know what the German empire is today. For 

 the past ten years that emigration has practically ceased and Germany 

 has put herself on the right side of the ledger. We do not assume that 

 it is a great thing to lose a little population, but it made the people 

 think of Iowa, and it has made us realize collectively and individually 

 that we must adopt that same slogan that Bismarck evolved and put 

 out in Germany, and this Association wants to get behind every good 

 movement, whether it be a good crop expert, good roads boosting, in- 

 dustrial upbuilding and intensified industry whatever it may be. We 

 want to get behind all those good movements for a bigger and better 

 Iowa in every sense of the word, and we want to be able to say five or 

 ten years from now, as Germany can say today, that "Iowa has room 



