FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 71 



When the citadel of this noble animal was attacked by a 

 death-dealing disease — when her influence and her keeper's busi- 

 ness tottered on the verge of annihilation — when her character 

 was assailed because of the manner in which her product was 

 handled — when the oleomargarine interests invaded her trail, 

 serving the devil in the livery of Heaven — whenever the dairy- 

 man's interest has been in jeopardy there is one whom we all 

 love and delight to honor, who comes to the rescue in the de- 

 fense of her whose trail we would have perpetuated, and I know 

 of no greater privilege than bringing today from all the people 

 a message of gratitude to John B. Newman, our Assistant Dairy 

 and Food Commissioner. Along this trail in Illinois are evi- 

 dences of loyal advocates and efficient workers. The evidence 

 of the influence of such men as our worthy President, Mr. 

 Mason, and our untiring zealous Secretary, Geo. Caven, may be 

 seen all along this trail in productive farms, contented people 

 and beautiful homes. 



Missouri is indebted to the Dairy Department of the Uni- 

 versity from an educational standpoint and the centralized 

 creamery interests from a commercial standpoint, for much of 

 the progress that has been made in converting tobacco patches 

 into cow pastures and tobacco barns into cow barns in that 

 State of wonderful resources is due to it. 



The greatest buttermaking center in the United States is 

 Omaha, Nebraska, and well do I remember, when they made 

 fun of the idea of starting a creamery there. The history of 

 dairying in Nebraska reads like a romance, and prominent in 

 this history is Geo. Haskel, who was the pioneer in the centraliz- 

 ing of the manufacture of the raw material from a large area 

 that from want of a market had previously gone to waste, and 

 giving relief to a poverty-stricken people made destitute from 

 drouth, chinch bugs, grasshoppers, hot winds and cyclones, and 

 prominent among those who have developed the most wonder- 

 ful business in that country that has grown rich from the pro- 

 ceeds of the lonesome dairy cow, and whose names are entitled 

 to a place in the Hall of Fame are Haeker and Rushton and 

 Cole and Harding and Clark and a legion of others, and to all 

 these I send the acknowledgment of a grateful people. 



