530 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The number was greeted with applause and the orchestra re- 

 sponded to encore. 



President : We have with us tonight a man who is probably 

 more widely known than any man who is interested in the same 

 way in the United States, and a man who has probably by his 

 work for the dairy interests placed more money in the pockets 

 of the dairymen than any one else in the United States; Mr. 

 Charles Y. Knight will address you. 



ADDRESS. 



Chas. Y. Knight, Chicago. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Convention: For a num- 

 ber of years I have been working to prevent imitations and substitutes. 

 Tonight I feel that I am somewhat inconsistent in that I have been sub- 

 stituted for a very brilliant Iowa statesman of whom I am a very poor 

 imitation. It seems to me you people will feel as though you had been 

 invited to a champagne dinner and served with soup. In other words, 

 where the program says "pure butter" olemargarine has been substituted. 



You can not always expect to meet good Iowa people. I know you 

 meet them everywhere. It is almost impossible to do anything in the 

 United States without consulting Iowa. When we go to Washintgon to 

 talk legislation the first man who has to be consulted is an Iowa man. He 

 occupies the position of speaker of the house, the second man in power 

 and authority in the United States. After we have run — if we do suc- 

 cessfully — the gauntlet of the house under the supervision of an Iowa 

 speaker, we come to the senate and an Iowa man stands in the door there. 

 Senator Allison is chairman of the republican steering committee of the 

 senate, and has more influence on legislation to be acted on there than any 

 man in the United States. When it comes to the matter of breaking into 

 Uncle Sam's treasury we find Iowa at every door. The first man we have 

 to deal with in that case is also Senator Allison, also chairman of the 

 committee on appropriations, the most powerful man in the United States. 

 No appropriation of any kind can be made without his approval. Then 

 when we get the appropriation it is necessary for us to consult another 

 man, ex-Governor Shaw, who is at the head of the treasury department, 

 and of whom we are all proud. And after you have seen him and arranged 

 with him for whatever is to be done in the way of getting into the treasury 

 you will have to go to another Iowa man. I refer to Mr. Roberts, superin- 

 tendent of the United States mints. And yet Iowa's authority does not 

 end there. You can't get into the United States, if you come in at the 

 port people usually come in at — New York — without consulting another 

 Iowa man. When you come up New York harbor and prepare to get off 

 the steamship you have to consult Collector of the Port Clarkson of Iowa. 

 So when I address an Iowa audience I think I am pretty near to the center 

 of the hub. And I am glad to say that it is generally regarded and 



