FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 3 



The President : We will now listen to a response to the 

 address of welcome, by E. M. Wentworth, of Marshall County. 



RESPONSE BY MR. WENTWORTH. 



Mr . President and Ge7ttlemen—Th.e becoming modesty that has ever 

 clothed agriculturists requires but the simple acknowledgment of the cordial 

 welcome tendered by Brother Trigg, and a return of an equally hearty "We 

 thank you. " 



Yet, in accordance with the usual custom and expectation of something 

 more, we are glad of the opportunity to recall our bounties and give expres- 

 sion to our personal good feelings. We also appreciate Brother Trigg's 

 utterances, and we do not get "puffed up", because he is one of our num- 

 •ber — the records of history, the reward of experience and the gift of 

 prophesy, are his. He speaks agriculturally, and to agriculturists as one 

 with authority. He is one of us; we are his chosen people. 



Nothing he has said can express, nor can words of mine express our 

 abidi' g faith in Iowa's future, such as fills the minds of her citizenship. 

 There is little need of saying that lowaJiad a particularly prosperous year. 

 Consider it from every viewpoint, and the Iowa farmer today looks to the 

 future with more confidence, in every sense, than he has for years. 



Somewhere I have read— I don't know the author — I hope he was a 

 Hawkeye; I believe he must have been — these lines, that I am glad apply to 

 Iowa: 



' 'Her hands are strong, her fame secure. 

 Her praise on lips whose praise is dear ; 

 Her heart, her hope, her purpose pure ; 

 The Queen of all the earth is. here. " 



The horizon is bright with the glow of dawn. We face the future with- 

 out a fear. For years unborn, Iowa's wealth will be in agriculture and her 

 farms famous. Touch elbows with opportunity; breed well, feed well, till 

 well, live well! 



There are no words that will fully express the real and actual value of 

 our Stete; language fails when we undertake to do it. 



' 'Grandly in her ample lap 



Are annual harvests heaped sublime; 

 Earth bears not on her proudest map 

 A fatter soil, a fairer clime." 



Mr. Trigg, again we thank you on behalf of this metting for the cordial 

 welcome which you have extended us. We have met with you for many 

 years, and the warmth of your hospitality was never more cordial, nor your 

 interest more marked, than during the past summer, when the citizens of 

 Des Moines turned out so generally and aided to make the Fair a great suc- 

 cess. We look forward to the future for still closer relations, and we believe 

 the people of Des Moines realize, that the agricultural prosperity of the State 

 is the safest basis for the business interests of the city to rest upon. Thus 

 realizing, we expect in the future their full and free co-operation. 



