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UNSELFISH PUBLIC SERVICE. 



"For a time," I say, because to me the great thing about the Illinois 

 Farmers' Institute is not the meetings held, great as they are, whether 

 county or state, but the great thing about the Illinois Farmers' Institute is 

 the Institute itself. 



This is what I mean: It matters not so much that we have meetings 

 and programs, or even that the meetings and programs are good. What 

 matters is that the programs shall include subjects and ways of treatment 

 that represent the best thought of the most progressive farmers of the 

 State, not only in certain lines of agricultural progress, but in any and all 

 lines, especially those most likely to be overlooked and neglected by the 

 other organizations. 



For example, we may confidently expect that the Horticultural Society 

 will look after the affairs of horticulture, especially in its commercial aspects. 

 In the same way the various breed associations will take care of the interests 

 of their respective breeds of horses, cattle, sheep and swine. The Dairy 

 Association will look after dairy matters, and if anything is overlooked or 

 falls between, it would seem that the Grange, or the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association would find it. 



And yet every one of these organisations has a rather definite program 

 that fully occupies its time and attention, especially the newest of all, which 

 is really the federation of County Farm Bureaus and the parent extraordinary 

 to a multitude of local sub-organizations for the attainment of ends that in 

 general fall under the rather broad head of the business side of farming. 



Without the Farmers' Institute we should lack an open forum managed 

 by the farmers themselves for the discussion of all such questions as may 

 interest them not somebody else. The Institute has been such a forum, and 

 as long as Illinois can secure such management of what shall be discussed 

 from that forum year by year in county and in state meetings, and get all 

 this for the bare cost of the traveling expenses of a quarter of a hundred 

 representative farmers just that long she will be lucky indeed. 



NO FOOLISH PROPAGANDA. 



It is therefore not so much that we have one hundred and two county 

 meetings and a big State roundup every year, but rather it is the trails that 

 are blazed at these meetings that count, and it speaks well of this manage- 

 ment that during all these years with their troublous times no foolish 

 propaganda has been permitted, and no extravagant ground has ever been 

 taken. 



On the other hand, this Institute has taken some exceedingly advanced 

 ground with regard to agricultural progress, and it is that to which I would 

 call attention, particularly such portions of this service as have come under 

 my personal observation and within my own field of knowledge. 



For example, it was from the platform of the Institute that the cam- 

 paign for better roads was originally promulgated and shaped up gradually 

 into what would seem feasible procedure. In this way was prejudice turned 

 into intelligent interest, and there is probably no better example of what can 

 be done by consistent and conservative study of large questions in ways that 

 are really constructive and publicly understood. 



What the Institute has done for the home must not be forgotten, for 

 some of the earliest and best suggestions for home improvement came 

 through its publications. Not only that, but the Institute afforded the 

 medium whereby pioneers like Mrs. Dunlap, Mrs. Kedzie Jones, Professor 

 Bevier and their followers have, year after year, in season and out of season, 

 reached multitudes with the gospel of better homes. But it is within the 

 field of agriculture that I would more particularly speak. 



BIG JOBS WELL DONE. 



The first great job undertaken by the Institute was the rejuvenation, or, 

 more properly speaking, the reincarnation of the College of Agriculture at the 

 State University. The Institute was hardly out of its swaddling clothes 



