THE I. A. A. 81 



of Agriculture, if it is to take its place there, these things are going 

 to have to come true. Furthermore, in the future, the farmers of 

 the state of Illinois are going to need to call more and more to ser- 

 vice in that organization men who know the business aspects of farm- 

 ing, for these are business questions the proper answers to which de- 

 termine the answer to the question that is in the mind of more than 

 one of my pals, "Can I afford to farm? Can I take a chance on 

 farming?" Until that question can be answered positively, in the 

 affirmative, the young man hasn't much business thinking about it. 



What has been borne in on me in fifteen or seventeen years spent 

 around among the farm people of the states of Indiana, Illinois, and 

 Wisconsin is that a "punkin," no matter how big it is nor how good 

 looking it is, isn't any good as a farm product unless it will pay a 

 profit. You can grow a better animal or a better ear of corn; and 

 you can inspire a man to do that; but unless you can teach him how 

 to get his money out of it and live, you haven't taught him much. 



As I see the job of the I. A. A. in the future, it is to take its 

 place as the third point of that triangle the University and Experi- 

 ment Station, the State Department of Agriculture, and here a vol- 

 unteer association of farmers in the I. A. A. It is going to have a 

 glorious part to play in its time, almost as glorious as the pioneer in 

 the field that other great institution in this state, the Farmers' In- 

 stitute played in its time. 



