EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 157 



depend solely on these voluntary assoeiations and their magnificent 

 work. Meetings should be held everywhere in the towns and ham- 

 lets. You should receive the support of the public press, notwith- 

 standing the pressure which will be brought upon the editors to 

 prevent this. Up to the present time, neither in the state or nation, 

 have there been any additional material facilities provided above 

 what we had in this state for the last thirty years ; facilities which 

 experience has demonstrated are insufficient. 



The greatest transportation problem that confronts the agricul- 

 tural interests of the present day, is not rebates, not discrimination, 

 nor over-capitalization. The question before you is, how can you 

 provide these facilities that will protect your interests in future 

 years? You may not be able to get back millions of dollars that 

 should have stayed on these Iowa farms, but we can save them in 

 future years. It is well to loek the barn door, sometimes after the 

 horse is stolen, that is, if you have another horse. 



If you of this generation have the genius and the foresight to 

 grapple this tremendous question, and get things down to a prac- 

 tical working basis, well and good; if you fail to do this, the expe- 

 rience of the past forty years in the middle western states proves 

 that your success will be temporary. If you fail to do this, the 

 agitation will blow over, and public interest will die down, and we 

 will go to sleep for another generation or so ; twenty years later we 

 may wake up and we may not. It is up to you. 



The President : We have with us tonight a gentleman, while his 

 name does not appear on the program, who represents an organiza- 

 tion which at one time, in the state of Iowa, was very prominent; 

 an organization which at least is remembered by our older members, 

 and perhaps by some of the younger members — the days of the 

 Grange in Iowa. I have the pleasure of introducing to you tonight 

 the head lecturer of the National Grange, ^Ir. G. W. F. Gond, of 

 New Jersey, who will address you for a few moments. 



ADDRESS. 



G. W. GOND, NEW JERSEY. 



Mr. President and Fellow Farmers of Iowa: I realize full well 

 that you have listened to two able addresses this evening, and what 

 I would have to say, perhaps, might be wearing on your nerves. Per- 

 haps it might be well for me to say at the outset, so that no one 

 may begin to wonder when the end will come, that what I may have 

 to say will be brief, realizing, as I do, that I could hardly get 



