Report of the Delegates to the Farmers' 

 NATioi^Aii Congress,* 



At St. Paul, Minn., 1897. 



To His Excellency Roger AVolcott. 



Sir : — We beg to acknowledge our indebtedness for the 

 courtesy of your appointment as delegates from the State of 

 Massachusetts to the Farmers' National Congress, which held 

 its seventeenth annual session at St. Paul, Minn., on Aug. 

 31 and Sept. 1, 2 and G, 1897, and submit the following 

 report. 



The Congress assembled in the Representatives Chamber 

 of the State Capitol at St. Paul, at 10 o'clock a.m., Aug. 31, 

 1897, was called to order by the president, Hon. B. F. 

 Clayton of Iowa, and prayer was ofiered by Right Rev. 

 Bishop John Ireland of St. Paul. 



Addresses of welcome were made by the mayor of St. 

 Paul, Hon. Frank B. Doran ; by D. R. McGinnis, Esq., 

 vice-president of the State Agricultural Society ; and by 

 Hon. D. M. Clough, governor of Minnesota, wdiich received 

 hearty responses from the officers and delegates assembled. 



President Clayton delivered his annual address, from 

 which we quote in part as follows : — 



"The farmer reads little and is often doubtful that he is 

 better informed from that little, as he learns from it more 

 things to brood over without finding a remedy for his ills. 

 The little glimpse he obtains from what he reads intensifies 

 his prejudices and does not prepare him to cope with his 

 difficulties. He brushes so little against the world, of which 

 he is so important a part, that the world practically ignores 

 his existence. 



* This report has been transmitted to the secretary of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture by His Excellency the Governor, and, according to custom, is included in 

 the "Agriculture of Massachusetts." 



