148 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
]\Ir. President : We have with us this morning a gentleman from 
Ohio whom I know is competent and well qualified to talk to you 
upon the subject assigned him. I know that the gentlemen who 
were at the fair managers' meeting last night were pleased with the 
address he made, and it is with pleasure that I introduce to you 
Mr. A. P. Sandles. 
THE PURPOSE AND FIELD OF STATE FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS. 
HOX. A. P. SANDLES, COLUMBUS, OHIO. 
What I say to you this morning I don't want you to call a speech. I 
am just going to talk to you a little while. In fact, I don't want you to 
call it a speech for a very good reason; for the same reason a little boy 
gave his grandma one time. Johnnie was siding down the baluster one 
day and grandma saw him. She said, "Johnnie, you must not do that; 
I would not do that." Johnnie said, "No, grandma, you couldn't." And 
that is one of the reasons why I am not going to make a speech and just 
want to talk to you a little v>hile. 
I am certainly glad to come out here to Iowa. When I received a 
letter from Mr. Simpson I could not resist it. I don't know who could 
resist Simpson. You know the railway conductors always say they shed 
tears when John gets off the train. I nonestly believe if John was bald- 
headed he could go out and sell hair restorer. He has been so active 
and is one of the main spokes in the wheel in our association known as 
the American Association of State Fairs and Expositions at Chicago. I 
know him so well that, as I say, I can hardly resist him. I am glad to 
come out here on this occasion. I have been interested in agriculture 
all my life; in fact, I was born in a log house close to the poor house; 
that is why I am poor. I am what is known as a farm product, home- 
grown and hand-spanked. 
I am quite sure you know that Iowa is far in the lead in this work and 
your state fair has won distinction; it is in the front rank. And your 
agricultural college at Ames is another institution that is making Iowa 
famous. Sometimes these things at home, these men and women at home, 
don't get the full appreciation they should have and go somewhere else. 
We are somewhat inclined to think that the good things are away over 
yonder; that is not true, the gold is right at your feet. I say that this 
institution at Ames is one of the engine rooms of the nation; it is going 
to drive back the darkness and drive us on to progress. This report of 
the department of agriculture which was read to you this morning I am 
sure must be a great source of gratification to all of you. Do you know- 
that the statesman, the philosopher and the scholar are all agreed and 
sing the praises of agriculture and those who plow and farm the earth. 
It is only the cheap politician who fails to give full weight to agriculture 
it ought to have. In Ohio about three or four years ago we had a governor 
elected and a legislature who forgot about the farmers and agricultural 
interests and ignored these Interests and appropriations and the very 
laws asked for by the people. When the next election came along that 
