196 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



acres of land representing that great plant, and, as I said, all devoted 

 to educational purposes. There is no greater educational force in Iowa 

 than that institution, taking into consideration the length of time that 

 it gives to the education of the people. Nowhere! I believe the young 

 men and women of Iowa, who are to be the future citizens of this state, 

 will be inspired and helped by visiting the State Fair every year. The 

 man who never visits an institution like that, the man who never visits 

 our educational institutions, who stays on his farm and does not come 

 in touch with the fair and with the men who are managing such insti- 

 tutions and the good they are doing, can have no appreciation of the 

 real situation. He is not competent to judge. He becomes a critic 

 because of something he has heard. But let him go and see. I sometimes 

 feel that if I could just march every citizen of this state through that 

 great institution at Ames, or at Iowa City for instance, each man would 

 come away, after having seen it, and after having seen the army of 

 young men and young women preparing for the future citizenship 

 of this state, saying, "I have no word of objection, I bid it God Speed." 

 So with the institution at Cedar Falls. I wish the men and women 

 of this state could see and investigate for themselves what is be- 

 ing done in Iowa for the public good and the public welfare. If they 

 would a shout and storm of applause would go up all over Iowa in praise 

 of these institutions and these men who are doing this work for the 

 people and for human welfare everywhere. And so I take an interest 

 and a pride in submitting these facts this morning. 



I looked at the law to see what is really expected of the men who are 

 managing this institution. The legislature re-writing the law a year 

 or two ago, created what they called the Department of Agriculture. What 

 is it for? The statute says it is for the 'promotion of agriculture and 

 horticulture, forestry, animal industry, manufacture and domestic arts, 

 embracing district and county agricultural societies. That is what this 

 Department of Agriculture is for. It reaches out to every interest of 

 men upon the farms, — ^the agricultural interests of this state, horticul- 

 ture, forestry, manufacturing interests, and domestic arts. Is there any- 

 thing that does not come within the purview of the Department of Agri- 

 culture? I wonder if you fully appreciate the powers and duties that 

 are conferred upon you by the state, if you fully appreciate what the legis- 

 lature meant and intended and wanted from the Department of Agri- 

 culture. The law says it shall be the duty of the Board to look after and 

 to promote the interests of agriculture, the agricultural education, and 

 animal and other industries throughout the state; to investigate all sub- 

 jects relating to mechanical appliances, machinery, and the diversifica- 

 tion of crops and products; to investigate reports of the prevalence 

 of contagious diseases among domestic animals; the destruction of in- 

 sects, grain and grasses and other reports, and report the results of the 

 investigation. This Department of Agriculture is established and founded 

 according to these provisions of the law, for the express purpose of help- 

 ing conditions in Iowa agriculture in every way. That is what I tried 

 to get at in the talk I tried to make last night, that these county and dis- 

 trict fairs ought also to be an educational force if the thought and in- 

 tention of the legislature is carried out; that they are to promote the in- 



