289 



be a sort of a side show at Cincinnati, but our people of Colum- 

 bus don't think very much of what is going on at Cincinnati I 

 can tell you, however, that beginning about September 6th next 

 year, and continuing until about October 20th, we expect to cel- 

 ebrate a grand centennial; we expect to have a grand exhibition 

 showing the agriculture and horticulture of the state, and I pre- 

 sume there will be a fine display of dairy products. There is to 

 be one week set aside as a sort of a military week, one week 

 devoted to education, and one more week is to be devoted to 

 agriculture and horticulture. In closing I will simply extend to 

 you a very earnest invitation to visit Columbus at that time 

 especially, if you can't do it before, and we will see that you 

 have a good time." 



Mr. E. E. Chester was next called upon by the president, 

 and responded as follows: 



Mr. E. E. Chester: " Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

 I regret very much that any member of the much persecuted 

 State Board of Agriculture has to appear before you to say a 

 word in its behalf, and I assure you that there is one question I 

 shall not attempt to say anything upon, and that is the butterine 

 question. Some thirty odd years ago, as you all know, there 

 was organized what is known now as the Illinois State Board of 

 Agriculture, and that Board, as you know, has held an annual 

 fair in the state of Illinois, with what success you are all well 

 acquainted. Some eleven years ago it came into the mind of a 

 gentleman whose name is a household word in Illinois, that the 

 State Board of Agriculture was not doing all it might do towards 

 advancing the interests of agriculture in the state of Illinois. He 

 addressed a letter to the then President of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, outlining a plan by which additional work and addi- 

 tional advantages might be brought to the agriculturalists of Illi- 

 nois. That gentleman is Prof. Morrow, of Champaign, who has 

 the honor of being at least the father of the Fat Stock Show. 

 This exhibit was organized ten years ago under very difficult 

 circumstances, and it is an absolute fact that to make a credita- 

 ble show in the first Fat Stock Show it was a necessity to go 



