15 



value to the farmers in the emergency existing, and has con- 

 tributed materially to the increase of acreage under cultivation. 

 All of this would have been entirely impossible but for the 

 agency of the farm bureau, through which all of the operations 

 were conducted. 



The possibilities of these farm bureaus, aided by the ever- 

 willing service of the railroad company, in the matter of im- 

 proved methods for securing labor, the introduction of farm 

 machinery, and, particularly, in the yet undeveloped field of 

 better marketing conditions, are, in our opinion, most attrac- 

 tive, and, in fact, hold the promise of greater usefulness than 

 anything yet accomplished. 



But I have taxed your patience too long to add to my nar- 

 rative anything in the nature of prophecy. Indeed, vision best 

 realizes itself by avoiding the uncertain field of prophecy, and 

 I can best close this rather desultory talk by expressing to 

 you the hope of the railroad man whom you have honored 

 with your presence this evening, that we may, as railroad men 

 and farmers, together look forward, as representatives of the 

 nation's two greatest industries, to working shoulder to shoulder 

 in the future, as we have in the past, for the common good 

 of our common country. 



