MR. E. G. MINER moved the nomination of MR. FRANCIS P. MITCHELL, 

 of the Rochester 'Tost & Express," as Secretary. The motion 

 having been duly seconded and carried, 

 MR. FRANCIS P. MITCHELL was declared elected Secretary. 

 MR. MINER then moved, That the Temporary Officers be made the 

 Permanent Officers of the meeting; which was duly seconded 

 and carried, and the Temporary Officers were declared elected 

 as Permanent Officers of the meeting. 



THE CHAIRMAN (Mr. Ring) then addressed the meeting as follows: 

 "Ladies, gentlemen, members of our Exchange, and all who are 

 gathered here to-day, I want to welcome you on behalf of the New 

 York Produce Exchange, and express our appreciation of your 

 coming here to be with us. We have some very eminent 

 speakers who will no doubt interest you greatly, and I shall 

 therefore not claim your attention for myself. I was a farmer when 

 I was a boy, but I grew out of it. I would like to grow back into it, 

 I am sure. I think we are all farmers, today at least. We all have 

 the farmers' interests at heart, and I believe the movement we intend 

 to start to-day will result in great good to our agricultural sections, 

 and of course, in turn to the other interests of our State. What we 

 want to do is to make the farms attractive; make them so that the 

 young men will remain on the farms and not come to the city to 

 such great extent as at present; make them attractive so the young 

 men from the cities will go to the farms. If we can demonstrate 

 to them that there are opportunities for progress and advancement 

 as great on the farms as in the cities, I am sure we can get them 

 there. You all know that we are a great State, nearly eight millions 

 in population, and yet I am told and I believe it to be so that there 

 are only 225,000 farmers in this State at the present time; and they 

 are the ones that are feeding the rest of us. Now, we want a larger 

 element in the country. 



"The gentlemen who are with us to-day will speak to you on vari- 

 ous topics, and I am sure they will all be very interesting. I know you 

 will all give your close attention. This room is not a very good one 

 for acoustic properties, and it will be necessary to be as quiet as 

 possible. I ask those in attendance if they will keep that in mind. 



"Our first speaker to-day will be a gentleman who I am sure is 

 very highly revered throughout these entire United States. I believe 

 him to be the greatest farmer there is in the country; and that means 

 the greatest farmer there is in the world. There is no man that has 

 taken a greater interest in this subject than the one who will first 



