224 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



of thousands of men and women and we have lost hundreds of millions 

 of dollars; yes, billions of dollars in material wealth. 



But the greater loss of these two is the human loss, the loss of human 

 genius and human skill which cannot be measured in dollars and cents. 

 Of course, it is not possible to keep in Iowa all the genius born in Iowa, 

 because genius naturally scatters to every direction of the compass. 

 It is not possible to keep within the state and give opportunity to all the 

 talent it produces, but think what would it have meant if we had kept 

 in Iowa so great a genius as Armstrong who built the great terminal 

 of the Northwestern Railway at Chicago. Think what it would have 

 meant for the state if his genius for engineering had been directed to 

 the development of the industries of Iowa. What would it have meant 

 for the state if it had been possible to keep here George M. Reynolds, 

 who ranks as one of the greatest financiers of the nation and if his 

 energies had been directed toward the upbuilding of the commonwealth. 

 What would it not have meant to the agricultural interests of the state 

 if Iowa had not lost the late S. A. Knapp who left us to devote some of 

 the greatest labor of his life to the agricultural development of the south. 

 I might go on naming men whom we have lost and whose genius has 

 helped to develop commonwealths elsewhere. There are artists — we can- 

 not even keep here Iowa-made cartoonists and as soon as we develop one 

 we let him go elsewhere to exercise his genius. There are scientists, 

 doctors, journalists, agricultural leaders, captains of industry, who were 

 born and reared in Iowa, but who have given the choicest labor that is in 

 them to other people. The loss of these men has been great to our state, 

 though of wonderful profit to the nation. It may not be fair to expect 

 to keep them all, but it is reasonable that we should keep more of them 

 than we do. 



What is wrong? 



Has not Iowa wealth? No man can say that it has not, because from 

 sea to sea there is no more productive spot, no happier region. Those 

 who know, say that in all the world there is no similar area of land which 

 God has more bountifully blessed. 



It is chiefly ignorance of Iowa's true worth and lack of understanding 

 of her resources and her opportunities that are responsible for the outflow 

 of both men and money from the state. Men do not understand that in 

 both agriculture and in the industries they can find splendid opportunity 

 for the investment of their money and their labor. They do not under- 

 stand that they can buy of Iowa factories the majority of the things 

 that they need to satisfy their physical needs. 



How many of you men know that some of the choicest woolens made 

 in the world today are made in Iowa? How many Des Moines people 

 who go to buy a woolen blanket ask for an Amana blanket? Probably 

 not many ever think of it. Yet in the city of New York those who are 

 particular about blankets try to get Amana blankets. The buyers for 

 the best New York department stores seek to get them for their trade. 

 One big establishment advertised as though it were a tremendous achieve- 

 ment in business that it would put upon sale $39,000.00 worth of Amana 

 blankets on a particular date. Yet in Iowa, but one man in ten, I will 



