298 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 
THURSDAY EVENING, 7 :45. 
Chairman : The first on our program this evening is an address 
by G. L. McKay, of Chicago. 
ADDRESS. 
PBOF. G. L. MC KAY, CHICAGO, ILL. 
M?: Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is needless for me to go 
through the formula of telling this audience that I am pleased to be 
present at a meeting of this kind. In coming to this magnificent state of 
lov/a, I feel that I am coming home. I am bound to this state by many 
ties 1 spent fifteen years of the best part of my life in connection with 
that great institution, the Iowa State College, and they were among thQ 
pleasantest years of my life. Very few people, I believe, realize the 
great work that institution is carrying on for the benefit of mankind. I 
say "mankind" because we are all dependent upon the soil for existence. 
We hear it sometimes said, "He is only a farmer." Why, we might truly 
say ihat the farmer is the axle of all creation. The prosperitv and hap- 
piness of every nation depends largely upon the agricultural resources; 
therefore, the occupation of farming should be classed among the highest 
of the professions. The agricultural colleges and experiment stations, 
throagh their research work, are beacons of light for guiding farmers in 
the channels of success. As my friend Dr. Robertson has said, "Agricul- 
ture in its different phases, not only includes cultivation cf the land, but 
tlie culture of the people who live on the land." 
Wealth may be defined as anything that admmisters to the wants or 
happiness of man, and the ownership and possession of which may be 
transferred from one person to another. Its original sources are the sun, 
soil, air, water, plants, animals and labor. It is the task of the agricul- 
turist to so manage these agents and agencies as to obtain the largest 
and best services for himself and fellow, from them. The outcome of 
true culture is the exercise of intelligent purpose in the activities of life; 
and that, in his occupation, stamps the farmer as the man of real culture. 
It is a false idea that culture is found only in idleness, amid luxurious 
surroundings. 
Agriculture has many branches, and no particular branch deserves more 
fostering care than dairying, owing to the fact that dairying, in its 
adaptability for conserving the fertility of the soil, makes it possible for 
all other branches to flourish. Therefore, the man who gives intelligent 
care and attention to this line of agriculture is assured of success in all 
other branches. The amount of revenue derived from the production of 
butter does not materially diminish the revenue from other sources, but 
rather increases it, owing to the added fertility of the soil. Show me any 
section or any country where dairying is carried on extensively and I will 
show you a people uniformly proseperous and happy. 
It is not my purpose to talk to you on the producer's side of the ques- 
tion, although it is the hub around which all other dairy questions re- 
volve. Every person who manufactures butter, or sells the same, realizes 
