SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 69 



That it has been effective in its general purport may be assumed, 

 when taking into consideration the healthy condition of the 125 co-oper- 

 ative companies now doing business in Iowa, and that the percentage of 

 failures of co-operative companies in Iowa for the past three years is less 

 than that of any other occupation. 



I do not pose as a reformer, nor am I one of those who advocate a 

 great overgrown organization of farmers for the purpose of holding and 

 hoarding wheat for a dollar a bushel, or corn for fifty cents, regardless 

 of the laws of supply and demand; this is the middle ground on which 

 the producer and the consumer should be able to meet and adjust prices 

 unhampered by the power of monopolies. 



I believe in co-operation because I believe it to be the most effective 

 means of breaking dowa those barriers of trade which are always tread- 

 ing close to the line of criminal practice, under the law, but always able 

 to escape the penalties of the law. 



I believe the streams of our commercial life need cleansing, and the 

 man who will deny the farmer his part in this work is an enemy to good 

 government and a traitor to his country. 



The President: This paper is now open for discussion. 



Mr. Henry Wallace : I am very glad to hear this paper of 

 Mr. Meserole. He has done good work in pushing forward this 

 cause. It seems to me it is the duty of every man, whether he has 

 grain to sell or not, to stand by this co-operative movement. It 

 means a very great deal to the farmers of the State, even those who 

 buy corn and grain, ought to stand by the purpose of this move- 

 ment, for the purpose of cleansing the channels of trade. There 

 is a great deal said against this penalty clause spoken of in the 

 paper. I believe it is absolutely essential to the existence of co- 

 operative elevators, absolutely essential to the farmers and ele- 

 vators who make their living in this manner. 



The President: Next we will listen to an address by Mr. H. 

 W. Collingwood, editor Rural New Yorker, New York. 



DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN AGRICULTURE. 



H. W. COLLINGWOOD, NEW YORK, N. Y. 



Memiers of the State Farmers' Institute, and Ladies and Gentlemen: 

 Over twenty-five years ago I went through Iowa as an emigrant, going 

 from New England to Colorado. I have not been here since and I am 

 glad I had a chance to look around a little before I talked to you. I 

 should feel more at home if I felt that there were those here that came 

 from east of the Alleghenys, either as a pioneer or with their father. 

 Let me see if there are any such here. (Several hands went up). In 

 the East, at a meeting of this kind, when a man tells a story or makes a 



