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Report of the Annual Meeting

OF THE

Ohio State Board of Agriculture

Held in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in the
City of Columbus, Ohio

THURSDAY MORNING SESSION, January 12, 1905.

The Ohio State Board of Agriculture met in annual session in the hall of the House of Representatives and was called to order at 10:10 a. m. by President Carpenter, who said: The State Board of Agriculture will now be in order.

You will please arise. Prayer by Dr. Chamberlain.

Dr. W. I. Chamberlain, of Summit county: For the blessings of the past year we give thanks unto the Great Giver of all good. Thou hast smiled upon our fields and they have yielded their increase; our flocks have been blessed by Thee; the business interests of this great commonwealth have responded, and not only the farms but the shops and the homes have thrived; have been blessed; to Thee we render profound thanks for these blessings. And we ask that the same loving hand which has bestowed them in the past will grant them to us in the year upon which we have entered.

We ask Thy blessing upon the deliberations of this day, that all may be done in Thy fear and may result to Thy glory, which we ask for Thy name's sake. Amen!

President Carpenter: We will now have a song by the Cecilian Ladies' Quartette.

A song, "When the Bloom is on the Rye," sung by the Cecilian Ladies' Quartette. (Applause.)

President Carpenter: Gentlemen, I will now appoint a committee to wait upon the Governor and notify him to appear before you for his address. Your committee will consist of:

Hon. T. E. Cromley, of Pickaway county; Mr. A. F. Shaffer, of Fulton county, and Dr. H. M. Brown, of Highland county.

The committee will please retire at once to the Governor's office and notify him to be present.

I will also appoint a Committee on Credentials, which will consist of:

Mr. A. J. Clark, of Guernsey county; Mr. John B. Lindsay, of Meigs county, and Mr. C. F. Steen, of Erie county.

The secretary will now call the roll of counties.

On the call of the roll of counties the following delegates responded to their names:

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POSTOFFICE.

West Union.
Beaver Dam.
..Dodgeville.
.Athens.
Uniopolis.

. St. Clairsville.

Georgetown.
Oxford.

. Minerva.

Urbana.
.Gleneste.
.. Lisbon.

Coshocton.
Bucyrus.
Warrensville.
Brooklyn.

. Arcanum.
Defiance.

Delaware.

Sandusky.

Lancaster.

Parrott.

Groveport.
Wauseon.

... Gallipolis.

Chagrin Falls.
Bellebrook.
Cambridge.
Silverton.

McComb.

Ridgeway.
Hopedale.
Deshler.
Hillsboro.
Logan.

Monroeville.

Smithville.
Rockwood.

Newark.
Bellefontaine.
Elyria.
Sylvania.

London.

COUNTIES.

Mahoning

Marion

Meigs

Mercer

Miami

Montgomery
Morgan
Morrow

Muskingum

Ottawa

Perry

Pickaway

Pike
Portage

Preble
Putnam
Richland

NAME.

.C. C. Bowman..
.H. W. Cookston..
John B. Lindsey..
.C. F. Kruger..
.W. F. Robbins..
S. D. Bear.....
.A. E. Corbert.

.J. M. Farley.

.R. Y. White.
.George W. Sloan..
..Chas. C. Chappelear.
.J. A. Baum..

J. W. Theobald..
C. R. Doolittle
John J. Kayler.
.A. P. Sandles.

W. H. Shyrock..
E. E. Rockhold.
.J. J. Brim.....
W. A. McGeorge.
J. H. Knapp..

Ross
Sandusky

Scioto

Seneca

Shelby

.J. C. Royon..

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POSTOFFICE.

Berlin Center, R. R.

. Cochranton.

Pomeroy.

. Celina, R. R. 4.
Piqua.

Dayton.

McConnelsville.

Edison.

. Chandlersville.
Port Clinton.
New Lexington.

Duvall.

Beaver.

Streetsboro.

Eaton.

Ottawa.

Mansfield, R. R. 8. . Bainbridge. Woodville.

Mt. Joy.
Republic.

Houston.

Paris.

Akron.

Warren.

.. Claibourne.

Convoy.
Lebanon.

Marietta.

Shreve.

Tontogany.

. Upper Sandusky.

President Carpenter: Gentlemen of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture: I want to thank you for the inspiration it gives me to look into your intelligent faces. This splendid audience is an earnest of your intent to keep Ohio always to the fore in all that pertains to higher material and social wealth.

In the address which I shall make, which is fraught somewhat with statistics, I hope you will find some food for reflection.

ANNUAL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT J. L. CARPENTER.

It affords me great pleasure to be permitted to join my fellow-workers in this meeting, being the sixtieth annual since the original law creating the State Board of Agriculture. The conditions of agriculture and manufactures in Ohio have vastly changed and wonderfully progressed since the early meetings of this body. Each succeeding year, up to the present time, progress has been steady and real, and to the pioneers in the work we are largely indebted

for our present high attainments and important standing, in the nation and the world, as an agricultural and manufacturing State, and for a citizenship pronounced in example and leadership in all affairs and on all occasions. The flag of Ohio has never been lowered and the farmers of our State have never marched in the lines of retreat. They have fought the battles of progress; scaled the walls of opposition and depression; have withstood all the storms incident to greater development and now enjoy the degree of success that commands the attention, the respect and the admiration of all classes.

The present advanced position and high social and political rank of the Ohio farmer is the result of his determined and persistent fight and desire for all the benefits of education, and his pursuit and adoption of improvements and conveniences that bring the farmer in closer touch with the city and with city advantages.

The farmer is no longer the isolated individual who receives the news of the world but once a month, but a man well informed in daily events as they occur, and hence the equal of his city brother in discussing public problems, in forming conclusions and in knowledge of the markets and the principal marts of trade.

Our agriculture is closely linked with our manufactures. Upon the success of one is the dependency of the other, and hence the State Board of Agriculture, in all its work, has planned to foster, encourage and promote these two fundamental industries of our State. Their importance is grandly significant when we contemplate their vas ness and their relations to every other interest that has combined to build up this commonwealth to a position first among the states of the nation.

We do not realize the greatness of Ohio agriculture until we study the census reports. Here we are informed that at the last account taken there were two hundred and seventy-six thousand seven hundred and nineteen farms, occupying twenty-four and one half million acres of land. The capital invested in these farms was one billion, thirty-six million, six hundred and fifteen thousand one hundred and eighty dollars, and when we add to this the value of the farm machinery and the live stock, we have a total reaching the enormous sum of one billion, one hundred and ninety-eight million, nine hundred and twenty-three thousand nine hundred and forty-six dollars. In the operation of our farms there is an annual expenditure of seventeen million dollars for labor and fertilizers. Is agriculture an important industry? Does it demand the best attention of its representatives? On these questions there is no doubt, no division of opinion, and we should, therefore, carefully consider every proposition affecting agriculture and seek to inject the best methods in the transaction of our business, and surround ourselves with every protection possible and with every advantage to be secured.

The annual value of Ohio farm production is close to three hundred millions of dollars, and the value of farm live stock about one hundred and twentysix million dollars. These enormous figures bring vividly to our minds the relation of the farmer to the State and his claims for recognition in the management of her affairs.

That agriculture and manufacturers are closely linked is further evidenced by the fact that seventy-eight large establishments, in Ohio, are in operation producing strictly agricultural implements, in which is invested nearly twenty. four million dollars and employing seven thousand workmen, who receive over three million dollars annually in wages. The production of these establish ments has an annual value of fourteen million dollars, and if we were to add to these the one hundred and eleven flour and grist mills, employing twelve

million dollars of capital with an annual output valued at thirty-seven million dollars, our importance proves greater and greater, and the necessity for intelligent action in sustaining these great industries becomes more and more apparent. I am glad to observe that the law making powers of Ohio, and the administrative officers of the State, have given careful attention to our interests by the enactment and enforcement of wise laws and the appropriation of such sums of money for the advancement of agricultural work and agricultural education, as has been consistent with the revenues of the State and the demands of our interests, as they have from time to time been made to appear.

In aid of agricultural improvement and agricultural education, including the State University as a whole, the last General Assembly, in its appropriation acts, endorsed and approved by the Governor of the State, gave evidence that our interests and requirements have been liberally considered within the revenues of the State. There has been no unwillingness on the part of our legislators or executive officers in giving to agriculture as full recognition as has been possible to give. No fair-minded citizen will ever expect the impossible.

The appropriations referred to continued the liberal policy that has usually prevailed in the interest of agriculture, and are as follows:

To the State Board of Agriculture.....
And in addition to this the State has provided
for interest and principal as becoming due on
the bonds issued for buildings and improve-
ments on the State Fair grounds.

To the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station......
To the State Board of Live Stock Commissioners..
To the State Horticultural Society.

To the Ohio State University.....

$102,000 00

63,700 00

9,882 50

1,000 00

657,750 00

We have evidence all about us, throughout the fabric of our State and general government, that agriculture is now, even more than ever before, recognized as not only the basis of our civilization, but the basis and support of our material progress, and that the greatest and most valuable crop of the farm-the farmer's boy-is in greater demand than ever before. The present governor of our own State is a product of the farm, and he is, therefore, in closest touch and sympathy with everything pertaining to farm interests. He has knowledge, from his own experience, of the needs of the farmer, and he has, upon all occasions, strongly expressed himself as favoring all consistent measures that tended to encourage agriculture and promote the best interests of the agricultural classes. We need governors who understand and are in sympathy with the great work of agriculture, and who have the discretion and ability to act wisely at the proper time and without regard to any personal ambitions or personal preferment.

The farmers of Ohio owe to Governor Herrick their highest endorsement of his stand in their interests, as best understood.

As to the particular work of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, I shall make but brief reference, because its work is quite familiar to you all.

The County Farmers' Institutes, under the control and management of the Board, continue most successfully, meeting a popular demand and bearing great weight in broadening agricultural education, and bringing the farmer in closer touch with his neighbor and with everything pertaining to advancement in his calling.

The gathering, publication and prompt distribution of crop and stock statistics continues for the benefit of farmers in the distribution of his crops

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