tionate place in our civilization. It means the beauty and 

 the strength of the out-of-doors. It means the peace and 

 solitude where men think profoundly and adhere tenaci- 

 ously, where strong characters are formed and high pur- 

 poses are nourished. It means food and raiment and 

 shelter; the primal things that go to the roots of life, and 

 supply the basis of all of our institutions. It stands for 

 toil and proclaims the honest eminence of useful labor. It 

 stands for simplicity as the eternal measure of permanence. 

 It calls men out from the crowded places to where the 

 horizon is wide, where the majesty of nature prompts man 

 to its imitation. 



We are multiplying very rapidly the complications of 

 our civilization and we ask ourselves to what limits we may 

 safely go in the direction we call progress. The answer 

 is here, that we cannot get far away from the standards this 

 structure proclaims, from the country-bred man, the man 

 who is constantly measuring his work with the work of 

 nature and thus keeping it true. Life may become very 

 fine and high, but it must remain natural to keep its 

 strength. We should look to this hall as a beacon, lighting 

 the way in which we may go in safety. It will stand a per- 

 petual reproach to frivolity, artificiality, and idleness; it 

 will supply an antidote for the dependence of the sub- 

 merged, and for the arrogance of the over-fortunate. It 

 proclaims the farmer the type man of America; it ad- 

 monishes us to train him but keep him a farmer. - 



Agriculture is not only an industry, it is a life. This 

 building stands for the preservation of that life, for its 

 elevation and such a distribution of its ideals as will flavor 

 the whole life of our country. 



This is indeed a great day for California. We are taking 

 stock of our condition. When we find a people engaged as 

 we are today, met in the spirit in which we are met, we 

 know that they are going forward on the broad highway of 

 life, that their estimate of social values is true, and that they 

 have avoided the temptations to which other nations have 

 succumbed. 



