Bureau of Agbicultuee. 221 • 



■would not by any possibility have gotten here except 

 through the association. And inasmuch as I am con- 

 fident of the contiriued existence of this association, I 

 believe it no prophecy to measure its success by that of 

 other similar associations, because our people are just 

 as intelligent and just as industrious as those in South- 

 ern Illinois, and when shown the way can accomplish 

 just as substantial results, and I believe that I can say 

 not as a prediction, but as a fact, that this association 

 will increase its income each year after the other for the 

 next five or six years, by not less than from seventy-five 

 to one hundred thousand dollars. 



We do not claim in McCracken county to have solved 

 anything. What I have told you is a detailed statement 

 of what may be considered one small step in the right 

 direction. The ultimate solution of the question depends 

 upon the continued support and interest of the mem- 

 bers of the organization and of the citizens of the city 

 and county. Of this interest I feel little doubt, and it 

 is my firm belief that a few years of progress in the di- 

 rection in which this movement is started, will have 

 contributed largely to the solution of the agricultural 

 problem in our community. 



What has been done in McCracken county can be 

 done in every county in the State. McCracken county 

 is no favorite county. Although the State government 

 has a well equipped agricultural Department and makes 

 a large appropriation for its maintenance, and although 

 the Federal Government has the best equipped agricul- 

 tural Department in the world, with the largest agricul- 

 tural appropriation, and the best talent obtainable, and 

 has at hand a solution for nearly every serious agricul- 

 tural problem, neither the Federal Government nor the 

 State Government are automatic institutions that can 

 be set in motion by inactivity and inert complaining. 

 The benefits right at hand to be used can be had only 

 by seeking those benefits and by displaying a sufficient 

 amount of sustained interest, intelligence, and determi- 

 nation to bring into play the agencies of the State and 

 Nation. When this is done in any community you may 

 be assured that that community will receive its fair con- 

 sideration. But there are too many communities eager- 



