NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV 153 
sum to maintain these institutions. When our state legislatures appro- 
priate money to promote the welfare of these institutions, and to make 
more thorough these investigations and researches, that money will bring 
more than one hundred cents on the dollar, and when you show it is a 
good investment your people will not object to a slight increase of taxes. 
People don't object to taxes if they get value received. Someone has said 
taxes are worse than death. Death comes only once but taxes come every 
year. The farmer is almost as unfortunate in this as the man: 
"Whose horse went dead and his mule went lame. 
And he lost his cows in a poker game; 
Then a hurricane came one summer day 
And blowed the house where he lived away. 
Then an earthquake came when that was gone 
And swallowed the ground the house stood on. 
Then the tax collector he came round, 
And taxed him up with ihe hole in the ground." 
In this matter of corn raising, my friends, it is a good investment to 
mix brains with your work. In Pennsylvania they had a Jersey cow that 
sold for $11,500.00. That is a hundred acre farm with the hide on. In 
Ohio we have a big bee farm and one queen bee sold for $100.00. That is 
an acre of dirt on the wing. That shows that great interest is being taken. 
It shows that some people are getting interested in their business. An 
ear of corn was sold at Ames for $150.00 The ear weighed nineteen 
ounces, selling at the rate of $9,000.00 a bushel, which is a hundred acre 
farm in a bushel basket. I heard a gentleman from Ames telling the 
other day about ten ears of corn having won $7,000.00 in prizes. That is 
about $700.00 for an ear of corn. You can get more inspiration when a 
man goes to a fair and gets a prize. If a man can beat his neighbor that 
is enough glory; it is an honor and distinction of winning this prize. I 
like a man who has ambition. The fair ground is a great battle ground. 
That is where neighbor and friend come in and try to conquer by skill. 
The man who does these things counts for more in the long run. These 
men on the broad prairies of Iowa will do more to keep "Old Glory" 
floating than those gamblers down in Wall Street. We are a great big 
neighborhood, that is all. You may think you are doing your duty and 
that it is no concern of yours what someone else is doing. But we must 
keep up this good v/ork. You may keep your premises clear, but suppos- 
ing your neighbor allows a cesspool on his premises and that pool 
breeds a fatal disease? It may be that your children will be contaminated 
first; that mourning will hang on your door before it will hang on his. 
So it is of some concern to you what others are doing. This country 
of ours is a great big field; the state is a great big neighborhood; and the 
conditions . all over the country do concern you and you must have in 
your heart a desire to help your country and make your fellowmen better. 
I believe agriculture is the foundation of commerce. When granaries are 
full prosperity smiles; when depleted it frowns. 
Sometimes we hear about the boys leaving the farm. We often hear 
it discussed how to keep the boys on the farm. I don't know the solution, 
but I do know that when the farm boy can do himself and his country 
more good by leaving the farm he has my permission to go. This in- 
