EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VII 419 



claims that would have the burden of proof, as in practically 

 every other case where the claimant has such a burden, and if it 

 could not be established it could not be collected. 



The President : The next number on our program is by a man 

 who has steered us in a legal way in our rate matters for the 

 last ten years. I suppose we are more interested in him than in 

 any other man who appears before us, and rightly, too. We 

 rather feel that Mr. Thorn e is one of us, and that he belongs to 

 us, and we owe a great deal to his ability and what he has done 

 for us as an organization, and the wanning that he has made in 

 these great rate fights before the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion. So without any further preliminary remarks, I am going 

 to introduce to you the Hon. Clifford Thorne. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CLIFFORD THORNS 



I am always delighted when I have the privilege of coming before 

 the Corn Belt Association. You men, Mr. Sykes and Mr. Wallace, have 

 been closer to me than any group of men with whom I have come in 

 contact, outside of my own folks. "When any crisis has come up, politically 

 or in business, you men have stuck right to me. It is something that I 

 am mighty proud of. 



At this moment war is uppermost in the people's minds. It seems that 

 every one who gets up to talk, talks war. The two editors of Iowa's 

 greatest papers last evening talked war chiefly. I would like to discuss 

 war, and I am just going to give a few little statements in regard to it, 

 and then proceed to other matters. I feel we scarcely realize as yet what 

 it is going to mean to us. We are just on the outside edges of the war. 

 A few months ago, I heard an English gentleman in Chicago discussing 

 the effect of the war on English industries. The government had reached 

 out and taken possession of factory after factory. Industries that had 

 flourished before the war were completely paralyzed, and other had grown 

 to a fabulous extent. The government had exercised functions which the 

 conservative men of England never dreamed it was possible for conserva- 

 tive old Great Britain to adopt. They had been accused of aping Germany 

 in their methods. His reply to that criticism was a parable: 



One time there was a person in Canada who appeared on the street 

 without sufficient clothing to 'correspond with the requirements of the 

 law. A policeman started out after him. It was a hot summer day. 

 The fellow gave a pretty good chase. The policeman Cnrew off his hat, 

 his coat, his vest, and it was not long until he was in the condition of 

 the man whom he was chasing. 



He gave one other illustration concerning the political developments. 

 Lloyd George, before the war, was a radical — a progressive. The conserva- 

 tive element in England regarded him as socialistic in tendency, and 

 would have nothing to do with him; they hated him. In order to show 

 the attitude of the people, he told this story: 



