184 



DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



very beneficial program for the evening, I will not trespass on your time 

 at all, but will proceed immediately with the program for the evening. 



The first speaker upon whom I shall call, is the representative of one 

 of the smaller European countries, Greece, a country which, though not 

 extensive in acreage, has compared favorably with other countries of the 

 European continent. Greece goes back in its agricultural history a very 

 long way, and has much in that respect which we may well investigate. 



Greece is represented at this Congress by Hector M. E. Pabmezoglu, 

 Grecian Consul-General at St. Louis, and I will now call upon him. 



As he has not yet arrived, we will instead, hear first from the Russian 

 Agricultural Commissioner to the United States, Mr. William P. Anderson. 



Between Russia and the United States, and Russia and Canada, there 

 has been true reciprocity along the lines of dry-farming methods. I well 

 remember that when a little more than a year ago I was in th2 city of 

 Antwerp, we met there some of the larger grain dealers of that part of 

 the country, and were interested to learn that the Russian Government was 

 studying and making inquiries along another line of assisting its dry-land 

 farmers, and that it was an improved system of marketing grain. I think 

 I am correct in stating that since that time considerable facilities have been 

 provided to enable the Russian farmers to market their grain and receive 

 higher prices. We were interested in that in Canada, as our government 

 had taken steps in this direction by establishing cooperative farmers's ele- 

 vator companies, which handled last year upwards of 16 million bushels of 

 •our crops, a concern entirely owned and controlled by 12,000 farmer share- 

 holders scattered over the provinces, a concern which was rendered possible 

 by loans from the government which are being paid to the cent as they 

 fall due. 



Russia 



MR. ANDERSON: 



Mr. President: It is a year ago that I had the honor to bring greetings 

 to the Eighth International Dry-Farming Congress held at Tulsa. 



At that time I was quite a stranger in this country, in which I have 

 the honor to represent the Russian Ministry of Lands and Agriculture as an 

 Agricultural Commissioner to the United States. 



Now I have been honored to bring the greetings to the Ninth Annual 

 Sessions of the International Dry-Farming Congress from the Russian Min- 

 istry of Lands and Agriculture,, and I do not need to assure you of the 

 great pleasure which I feel from this opportunity. 



The Russian Ministry of Lands and Agriculture, realizing the agricul- 

 tural importance of the United States, has placed an Agricultural Commis- 

 sioner here with a staff, consisting of an assistant and a secretary, to 

 study the agricultural methods in detail in the' United States and to keep 

 in touch with the work of the American Experiment Stations and with the 

 farming progress in this country, with the view to applying the results to 

 similar conditions in Russia; to take charge of the exchange of selected 

 seeds, for experimental purposes and for the mutual benefit of both the 

 American and Russian Experiment Stations, and agricultural workers in 



