SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 37 



It is interesting to know that so many of these men are 

 members of farmers' clubs; determined to better the conditions 

 of home and farm and the community in which they live. Then 

 those farmers who become active in a political way and are 

 elected to the legislature, organize a farmers' club there; probably 

 because of their daily proximity to bell-cows and lemons, mules, 

 pumpkins, etc. (outside of the legislature, as they pass along 

 the streets of Lansing to and from the capitol). And the 

 members of other clubs than these, even those of the great 

 cities, have as abundant an agricultural fare upon their tables 

 each day as can be found anywhere. So we see that nearly all 

 are directly or indirectly connected with the farmers' club. 



It will be seen that our organization has been from the first 

 very closely associated with this institution. Six of the thirteen 

 ex-presidents of the State Association of Farmers' Clubs are 

 graduates of Michigan Agricultural College and of the remaining 

 seven, three are the fathers of M. A. C. men. I think the 

 professor of animal husbandry will tell you that this is a pretty 

 good pedigree. 



And, friends, the strongest fraternity, and not secret either, 

 in this College is designed to foster and promote an interest in 

 rural life and the business of agriculture, and is attended by the 

 agricultural students and faculty. I refer to the splendid local 

 chapter of the State Association of Farmers' Clubs. 



It is a great college that can turn out a first-class governor 

 from a poor farmer boy in less than a year of its agricultural 

 course ! It is an institution that will in every case develop men 

 and women, in the fullest sense of the term, out of all those who 

 have capacity and desire to learn. 



The work of the farmers' clubs is most informal : a meeting of 

 kindred spirits to consider the questions which naturally arise 

 from local conditions in the various communities. In them 

 the home is discussed, with its most sacred associations, and 

 the flowers and lawns and trees; the school with its crowds of 



