No. 4.] ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR BATES. 159 



I have had my way with the Board of Agriculture but 

 once this year, and that was wlien Mr. Ellsworth came to 

 my oiEce some two or tliree months ago, and wanted to know 

 if I would attend this winter meeting. I told him it would 

 give me great pleasure to attend, provided the exercises were 

 such as not to require preparation. " Well," he said, "we 

 }1ropose to have a bancjuct, and propose to have you say 

 a few words." I said, "That will be very easy; if you 

 had invited me to give an address, that would have been 

 impossible, for I am too busy to find any time to prepare 

 addresses ; and it wouldn't be right to have the people come 

 together expecting an address, and find that the Governor 

 had come only for the purpose of extending a few words of 

 greeting." " Well," he said, " we will arrange that," He 

 came back again ten days later, and shoAved me the circular in 

 which he had me down for an address, and that was the only 

 thing on the programme. I asked, "How does this happen, 

 Mr. Secretary?" "Well," he replied, "you know we have 

 a way of running things about as we want to, and we have 

 changed our programme; that is all." "Well," I said, 

 " I see you have, but you have me in trouble now, and you 

 will have to change your progi-amme again." And, for 

 a wonder, I found he was quite tractable. He changed the 

 programme, and said, "If you will come, Ave will have 

 a reception to the State Board of Agriculture, and we will 

 only expect you to say a few Avords of greeting." I mention 

 this because it is the first time I have had my way Avith this 

 Board of Agriculture, and I wanted you to know that I had 

 had my way once. 



There Avere various reasons AA'hy I didn't propose to come 

 out here and deliver an address. In the first place, I thought 

 the only proper kind of an address would be an address on 

 tvgriculture ; and I suggested to him that I had made one 

 attempt at that before the Legislature, and that my views 

 hadn't seemed to meet with his approval or with that of the 

 Board, and I didn't projiose to get into any more trouble on 

 that line. At any rate, my excuses seemed to be sufficient, 

 and so I am here this evening merely to express the greet- 

 ing of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, particularly to 



