ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 225 



solid substantial men, the veritable salt of the earth, united and de- 

 termined in the promotion of such measures as shall benefit the people 

 and add wealth to the state, is a power that cannot be resisted or turned 

 down. 



The times are propitious for the exercise of such a power. The peo- 

 ple are sick at heart and nauseated with the babblings of would-be poli- 

 ticians and statesmen and the constant parading of the great bugbear 

 economy not for economy's sake, but for the party's sake, when increased 

 educational advantages and industrial knowledge and investigations for 

 the benefit of the people are demanded. 



The time was when the pioneer friends of agriculture entertained 

 great hopes for the building up of a great industrial institution of learn- 

 ing in Illinois in which instructors in agriculture and kindred topics 

 should be made as prominent as the superior agricultural advantages of 

 the state demanded. 



They were met with the rebuff that the people did not want it — that 

 they were not asking for it, but above all the virtuous politicians and 

 legislators were opposed to taxing the dear people to provide the nec- 

 essary funds. Cheap reputation for economy, dearly bought at the price 

 of ignorance, irreparable loss of fertility, delayed development and wasted 

 opportunities. Such are some of the conditions that led the various agri- 

 cultural organizations of the state to unite upon one common plan and 

 concert of action and effort to secure that long delayed recognition for 

 our College of Agriculture that shall place it in a position to creditably 

 represent Illinois as an aducational institution and successfully carry- 

 out the plans and fulfill the hopes of its founders. 



In unity and numbers there is strength. 



The individual farmer acting alone and for himself counts for very 

 little in shaping public affairs, but as a member of an organized body of 

 intelligent and thinking men, seeking only the best interests and wel- 

 fare of all the people, and no private or personal gain, is in a position to 

 exert a most powerful and salutary influence. 



The agitation of one man or of any number of men not working in. 

 harmony can avail little, but when united with one common object and 



