434 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



" 'Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and yes- 

 terday, maybe, a school teacher in Ohio taught his first letters to a boy 

 who will one day write a song that will give cheer to the millions of our 

 race. We are all making the flag.' 



" 'But,' I said, impatiently, 'these people were only working.' 



"Then came a great shout from The Flag: 



" 'The work that we do is the making of the flag. 



" 'I am not the flag; not at all. I am but its shadow. 



"I am whatever you make me, nothing more. 



"*I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a People may 

 become. 



" 'I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, of heartbreaks, 

 and tired muscles. 



" 'Sometimes I am strong with pride, when men do an honest work, 

 fitting the rails together truly. 



" Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically 

 I play the coward. 



" 'Sometimes I am loud, garish, and full of that ego that blasts 

 judgment. 



" 'But always I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to 

 try for. 



" 'I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope. 



" 'I am the day's work of the weakest man, and the largest dream of 

 the most daring. 



" 'I am the constitution and the courts, the statutes and the statute 

 makers, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep, cook, coun- 

 selor and clerk. 



" 'I am the battle of yesterday, and the mistake of tomorrow. 



" 'I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why. 



" 'I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution. 



" 'I am no more than what you believe me to be, and I am all that 

 you believe I can be. 



" 'I am what you make me, nothing more. 



" I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of 

 yourself, the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this 

 nation. My stars and my stripes are your dream and your labors. They 

 are bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with faith, because 

 you have made them so out of your hearts. For you are the makers 

 of the flag, and it is well that you glory in the making.' " 



The President: At this time we will proceed to take up the 

 question of railroad service with Mr. Harris. He is chairman of 

 the Live Stock Committee appointed by Mr. McAdoo to look 

 after the interests of the live stock men as far as possible. He 

 comes from Washington at the request of Mr. Chambers, who is a 



