THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 165 



and other small grains. The land now is in better condition than 

 it was fifteen years ago. 



As I said before, they all have money to spare. Now, 

 we are not in a state of poverty abont Clinton. I don't think for 

 a moment we have that situation to deal with, but there isn't a 

 piece of land anywhere in the world, unless it might be the valley 

 of the Nile, perhaps, that will stand perpetual cropping without 

 replenishing the soil with the things we take away from it. De- 

 Witt county is not any exception to that rule. 



No one factor in the agricultural life of this country has 

 done so much toward prosperity as the dairy business, if viewed 

 from every angle that pertains to the business. The dairy cow 

 has never seen an equal as a money-making proposition. 



Now, right along that line I am reminded of our friend, Mr. 

 Marple, when he talked about the boy, the boys of this coun- 

 try, the boys of Illinois. I have a little boy five years old, and in 

 childish prattle have asked him what he wanted to do when he 

 grew up. When three years old we spent our summer vacation 

 in southern Minnesota. That little boy, every time I have asked 

 him since what he was going to do, says, "I am going to be a 

 farmer." If my boy continues in that wish, I shall do my level 

 best to give him an opportunity to become a farmer. There 

 isn't a business in this country today that offers the future that 

 scientific agriculture offers, scientific dairy farming. Our friend, 

 Mason, of Elgin, has set the pace for keeping a cow per acre and 

 raising practically everything he needs to feed the cow with, and 

 wants that cow to procure one-half can of milk per day. Says 

 he is doing that now and wants to do better. That's the thing 

 that is being accomplished by a man who has studied his business. 

 Compare that with the average that is being accomplished, and I 

 say to you that no business in the United States offers the oppor- 

 tunity for advancement, for progress, that the farming business 

 does. I say again, my boy cannot confer a greater honor upon 

 me than to continue to express the wish that he wants to become 

 a farmer, and I will agree right now that I will do all I possibly 

 can to get him started in that direction. I am thoroughly well 



