ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 5y 



this county of Effingham, the " Grand Prairie," was thought 

 almost valuless for want of fuel. Behold the marvelous trans- 

 formation. Stephen A. Douglas' legislative acts resulted in the 

 construction of the Illinois Central railroad, which contributes 

 directly each year millions of dollars to the State treasury; the 

 vast silent prairie becomes a garden land of almost limitless pro- 

 ductivity, dotted with beautiful villages and cities, vocal with the 

 hum of industry, and musical with the notes of happy progress, 

 the rich body of our splendid commonwealth. 



Nor yet are the outlines of the wondrous story sketched. 

 From beneath this fertile soil, we are mining coal, more valuable 

 far than the fabulous wealth of famed Golconda. Within a 

 radius of about one hundred miles, centering at this beautiful 

 City of Effingham, we are producing coal of greater value than 

 the combined golden output of California, Colorado and Alaska. 



The possession of such enormous wealth and seemingly 

 boundless resources is fraught with iminent peril to individual 

 and governmental character and permanence. But one course 

 can avert the ever accompanying danger of such oppulence, 

 namely, the proportionate advancement of our people in knowl- 

 edge, and the graces of broad, genuine christian manhood and 

 woman hood. The christian culture of the rising generation. 

 And so my farmer friends, I plead with all the earnestness of the 

 mature years of a long and active life, for our homes and children 

 and our country, because we love these more, and not the farm 

 and cow less. 



Standing upon the apex of our towering industrial and 

 financial prosperity, holding these securely beneath our feet; 

 with what exultant joy and reverent gratitude we trace the 

 patriotic toils and perils of our fathers, who elevated this moun- 

 tain. Behold the glory of our national banner beneath whose 

 protecting folds we dwell in peace and security, and rejoice in 

 the proud history of our great commonwealth. 



Illinois commanding at Cairo the navigation of the majestic 

 Ohio and Mississippi, the most important strategic points in the 

 nation, and bordering two of the old slave states, upheld the 



