136 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ing why this organization can not join in boosting this great state. We 

 have the most representative farmers in this association. We have the 

 men in every locality where we are organized that really do things. Then, 

 why not join in with the force at the college with a will, and make things 

 go? Help in every possible way with the farmers' institutes and short 

 courses, and all other movements that tend to build up your state and 

 make it a more desirable place for farmers to live. Let us try to 

 keep the young men on the farm. If we do this, we will all be boosting 

 for a greater Iowa. 



During the past year death has entered our official ranks and re- 

 moved from our circle our beloved brother and co-worker, Hamilton 

 Wilcox, of Griswold, Iowa, director from the Ninth Congressional Dis- 

 trict Mr. Wilcox was a man of sterling integrity and genial personality, 

 and the better you knew him, the more you loved and admired him. He 

 attended our first meeting, and took an active part in the formation of 

 your organization. He was elected director for the ninth district at 

 that time, and served continuously in that capacity until his death, Oc- 

 tober 21st. During the summer I spent a week with Mr. Wilcox, can- 

 vassing Cass county, and I learned to esteem him very highly, and I 

 feel that the Corn Belt Association has suffered a very great and irre- 

 parable loss in his death. And I would recommend that a suitable me- 

 morial in appreciation of Mr. Wilcox' valuable services to this associa- 

 tion be prepared by this convention and published in the coming annual 

 report. 



Now, in conclusion, I wish to say that while we have not realized our 

 ambitions and seen the association built up as fast as we had hoped for, 

 yet we should not get discouraged, for we have made progress. The 

 building up of this association means a steady grind — every officer and 

 member doing his best to increase the membership and bring the or- 

 ganization up to a high standard of efficiency. Don't think your presi- 

 dent and secretary can do this, for it takes more than an official board 

 to make an efficient organization; and whatever you do, never allow 

 yourselves to lapse into the idea that the officers can run your associa- 

 tion. Whenever you do this, your organization is doomed. The farm- 

 ers and stockmen constitute this organization, and your duty and privi- 

 lege is to say who shall be your officers and how you association shall 

 be conducted. If you zealously maintain this vigilance over the creature 

 of your care and pride, you can have an organization that will be a 

 blessing to future generations. In other words, your organization in the 

 future will be just what you make it. 



Under the new plan of securing membership pledges which you have 

 adopted, the president of your association, who is expected to do this 

 work, can not succeed without the hearty cooperation and support of 

 the local men in canvassing among your farmers, and you should not 

 expect him to go out as an agent selling insurance or patent medicine. 

 If you do, you will soon bring your association into disrepute, and gossip 

 will be circulating all kinds of stories about your officers. If you are not 

 willing to make the sacrifice to help make the canvas, your organization 

 will not grow very fast. So I hope that during the coming year that 



