ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 153 



houses with nothing but the bunch grass and the burning sand, and a blaz- 

 ing sky above. I also saw a train sidetracked 1 with great water tanks on 

 them and men coming with old wagons across that alkali plain to get 

 water for themselves and families. I said to myself who are these men in 

 these little homes, who are they, and I said to this gentleman, who are 

 they? He said they were somebody's boys and girls from the east, and I 

 thought of that song, and| I know Mr. Lombard here will remember it 

 well, "Come along, come along, don't you be alarmed, for Uncle Sam is 

 rich enough to give us all a farm." I thought of that song. 



And I thought of another thing, and I don't believe I was very far 

 out of the way. Here was this great western reserve of ours, that ought 

 to be homes for your boys and) mine, and our sons are today tenants upon 

 American soil, I could, not find so much fault if this great syndicate 

 spent their money that they had accrued and got together by the industry 

 of our sons, but they take it back acioss the water to increase the aristoc- 

 racy there. Not a church or a school house or a hall could I see anywhere 

 along that line as I rode through that vast ranch, and my heart was sore 

 and I said that something ought to be done to stir up this American people 

 that they speak in tones so plain by the tremendous power of the ballot 

 box that it reaches clear across the water: "Not another foot of Ameri- 

 can soil except to the actual settler." The man that comes here to make a 

 home and name and identify himself with us as a people we will welcome 

 them alone. 



I remember another thing, and you point to your Lincoln and your 

 Logan and other men with pride and I wonder not at it, and I remember 

 reading something from the bureau of statistics from the pen of John C. Lo- 

 gan, and I remember this statement that he made, "That the balance of 

 power in this United States was in the hands of the ignorant voters." How- 

 true it was, or is, I do not know, but I was perfectly willing to take John C. 

 Logan's word for it. 



Now friends I began to cast about me, I could not believe it was true, 

 and we have a way at our house of argueing things out, my husband tak- 

 ing one side and I the other, and I said "I don't believe it is so." I read 



