70 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



lieve that the State Fair is a state institution. While the inter- 

 ests of the state are closely connected "v\dth the State Fair, so the 

 interests of Des Moines and all our interests lie close together. 



I can appreciate these words of welcome ; I can realize and know 

 they come from the heart and that they are truly meant. 



There are some things said by Mr. Dobson I would enlarge upon. 

 The people of Iowa are industrious, and while industrious, they 

 are prodigals ; while in some things they may be economical, they 

 have not learned in the school of economy. It has been my privilege 

 to visit Japan, so that the illustration he gave you is one that ap- 

 peals to me. These 45 million of people in Japan make their living 

 and actually live on an area less than half the size of the state of 

 Iowa. The entire Empire of Japan — and at the time I visited it 

 was before their recent acquisitions of China and Corea — comprises 

 ten thousand square miles, less than the state of California; and 

 when you consider that so much of it is not tillable, then you can 

 realize the force and effect of the illustration Mr. Dobson has given ; 

 and when we consider that their wage schedule is so much lower 

 than ours, and taking all these things into account, we can truly 

 say that Japan is wonderfully prosperous; and this gives us some 

 idea of economy we know nothing about, and I trust and hope that 

 the necessities of the people of the orient shall not come to us. 

 That we have become lavish and to a degree careless goes without 

 saying The time has come in Iowa when better methods must be 

 resorted to. We have high priced land, high priced labor and a 

 higher schedule of living, and I hope and trust it may never be 

 lower. If we are to maintain these high standards of prosperity 

 we must make our lands more productive; we must conserve the 

 different forces and gain the best advantages possible by more in- 

 telligent application. 



I realize much has been done in the past. I give the organiza- 

 tion of the Iowa State Fair credit for its share in this better and 

 more improved work. We have had our annual meetings and 

 fairs, and I trust each one has been better than the one preceding, 

 and I further trust that the future holds out better prospects. 



It must be a pleasure to you gentlemen who come to our annual 

 meetings and attend our annual fairs to see the rapid rate of 

 progress made. When I first knew the State Fair we had very 

 few buildings and of a poor character. When I first knew Des 

 Moines it was different then ; my earliest recollections were in the 

 vicinity of Des Moines. I have known Iowa when it had not a 

 railroad within its borders. Now, that it has nearly ten thousand 



