ADDRESS 
DELIVERED BY 
Mr. JAMES J. HILL 
BEFORE THE 
FARMERS’ NATIONAL CONGRESS 
MADISON, WISCONSIN 
SEPTEMBER 24, 1908 
It has often happened in gatherings to promote 
the interest of agriculture or irrigation or water- 
Ways or some other national undertaking, that so 
many side issues have crept in as to interfere with 
the work and weaken the conclusions of the con- 
vention. To avoid this error should be your first 
care; since it can have no effect upon a public that 
has learned to discount all so-called official utter- 
ances that are not germane to the body from which 
they issue and the subject to which they are sup- 
posed or pretend to relate; and since a wide scat- 
tering of subjects must prevent that full discus- 
sion of work and interests, which alone can make 
it worth while for you to assemble in gatherings 
such as this. 
For this reason I will confine myself very close- 
ly in what I have to say to the present state of the 
agricultural interest in this country; to the emer- 
gencies which ordinary foresight can distinguish 
in its near future; and to those remedies and im- 
al 
