208 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



On motion, duly made and seconded, the treasurer's report 

 was adopted as read. 



The President: We will now be favored with a song by Mrs. 

 J. E. Moore, of Mason City. 



Solo, "Daffodils," by Mrs. J. E. Moore, and response to 

 encore. 



The President : We have something a little out of the usual 

 this evening for a dairymen's convention, as Miss Lowe has 

 kindly consented to favor us with a reading. 



Vice President Barney was called to the chair, and the Presi- 

 dent addressed the meeting as follows: 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



S. B. SHILLING, MASON CITY. 



Mr. Chah^man^ Ladies and Gentlemen— It is not my attention to stand 

 before you for any length of time this evening in an attempt to make an an- 

 nual address. I simply wish to crave your indulgence for a few minutes 

 while we review what has been accomplished in the State during the past 

 year, and the position in which we find ourselves in trying to elevate the 

 dairy industry of the State. 



I sat down beside Brother Wright a few minutes ago to get some ideas, 

 as he almost always furnishes the subject-matter for my discourses when we 

 are out together, but he rather put a damper on me this evening because the 

 only thing he told me was that his feet were cold, and I took that as a hint 

 that he did not want me to talk very long. 



<I am going to ask you, as I did one year ago, to pardon my seeming 

 egotism when I again refer you to our financial standing. I believe that it 

 must be as satisfactory to you as it is^to me to know that this association, 

 which a few years ago carried an indebtedness, last year came out with a 

 balance of six hundred dollars or more to our credit. I believe we have ar- 

 rived at a point [where we can keep intact in the treasury the amount of 

 money that belongs to the buttermakers. It may not be known to all of you , 

 but the buttermakers contributed to this fund by donating a tub of butter, 

 and it was the intention and has always been the wish of the officers of this 

 association to have that amount of morey received from the butter to go 

 into the pro rata fund. Heretofore we have been compelled to use that 

 money, and the buttermakers, with their usual generosity, have never ob- 

 jected, and we have always been able to return the amount to the treasury 

 with a goodly sum added, but I believe we have now arrived at a point 

 where we can keep intact the full amount that belongs to the buttermakers. 



I wish for a few minutes to indulge in a few statistics. I will be brief 

 about it because statistics are dry, but I think you will have no difficulty in 

 arriving at the conclusion why I am giving you these statistics before I get 

 through. In the first place I will give ycu statistics other than dairy statis- 

 tics in Iowa. 



