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ANNUAL EXHIBITION—OPENING ADDRESS. 131 
OPENING ADDRESS. 
Delivered on the Fair Grounds, September 27,1870, 
BY B. R. HINKLEY, PRESIDENT. 
Fellow Citizens: After the lapse of eleven years, we are again 
assembled at this beautiful and prosperous metropolis to inau¬ 
gurate a general exhibition of the industry of Wisconsin. 
It is needless to say that great changes have occurred in the 
industrial condition of the state since that date. Our agricul¬ 
ture, mining, manufactures and commerce have all made won¬ 
derful progress. Then the state was in its infancy: now it has 
attained to its majority, and is making strides that will soon 
give it rank among the foremost of the great states of the 
Union. As a society, it has been our endeavor to aid in this 
work of development. It is reasonable to conclude that our 
labors have not been in vain—that the improvements observa¬ 
ble in our system of agriculture, and in the cultivation of 
fruits, as well as the remarkable growth of our manufactures 
and commerce, are m some degree attributable to the zealous 
and unremitting efforts put forth by this organization. 
Gentlemen of the society, we have reason to congratulate 
each other, the society itself and the city of Milwaukee, upon 
the success attendant on the endeavors to make this, our sev¬ 
enteenth exhibition, pre-eminently successful; and I am glad 
of this opportunity to publicly thank the citizens of every por¬ 
tion of the state for the spirited manner in which they have 
responded to our calls for efficient co-operation. Especial 
thanks are due the city of Milwaukee, so many of whose citi¬ 
zens have contributed to the fund by means of which these ex¬ 
cellent improvements have been made for the accommodation 
of all, and to the handsome display of articles here presented, 
and who by the generous manner in which they have supported 
the society in the furtherance of its plans, have fully redeemed 
the pledges made by their representatives in urging the loca- 
