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page of a newspaper than I would Jack Johnson or Harry Thaw. 

 [Applause.] 



My good friends, we have got the corn and dirt religion in Ohio working 

 in every county, every township and every nook and corner, every school, 

 every church, the Y. M. C. A., the Grange, the Chamber of Commerce, and 

 the bankers and the railroad men are trying to get into good society in 

 Ohio. [Applause.] 



My good friends, we have an example never before equaled in the 

 world, of $40,000 being contributed in good money of volunteer subscrip- 

 tions to pay the expenses of boys and girls to the national capital, and to the 

 good old city of Brotherly Love. It is the public spirit in Ohio that is 

 paying the bill, and not the public treasury. It has taken hold everywhere. 

 We are learning out there that our government has been stimulating 

 manufacturers, as well as many other lines, that at last, when the high-cost 

 of living is a menace to the welfare and happiness of this country, our 

 nation and people are turning the corner-stone and bed-rocked wealth and 

 prosperity, and that is, agriculture. 



My good friends, I wish I had a little more time, but I am going to 

 cut it short, to tell you what a wonderful hold it has had, how much inspira- 

 tion it has given to the boys and girls. 



Don't you know that a lot of farmers are so stingy and narrow-gauged 

 that they make little money-mills out of the boys, trying to extract every 

 penny from their labor. They let them eat and sleep in the house, but make 

 them work like horses, and they don't want the boy to get any more pleasure 

 out of life than the horse is getting. That is just what is taking a lot of 

 boys and girls off the farm, and it is this contest work, this encouraging 

 the boy in the field that is making him fall in love with the dirt religion in 

 Ohio. 



My good friends, I want to place on exhibition here tonight three of 

 our products, two of ours and one of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bright, I want 

 you to stand up. Here is a manly young man, who went to work and put 

 his head in the game, and by studying drainage and fertilization, and good 

 seed-bed, won the championship prize as a wheat-grower in Ohio— 54 

 bushels, 37 pounds, and that is a splendid victory not only for Earl Bright, 

 but for humanity. This little gold badge was given to him by the boys 

 and girls of his township because he won the honor for his community. 

 Earl is a good fellow, and I have given him a certificate to pick out any 

 young lady he wants in the whole community. 



Mr. Rose, stand up. This manly young fellow, unmarried [laughter], 

 raised 131 tit bushels on one acre. [Applause.] That is splendid. And 

 when a boy puts a grain of corn in the ground and gets two ears, and 

 contributes that to the wealth of the world, that boy is contributing more 

 to the cause of humanity than Jack Johnson, the prize fighter, ever did. 

 [Applause.] One hundred and thirty-one bushels stand to his credit, and 

 our three thousand boys in Ohio this year in the corn contest will average 



