erable amount from other cotton-growing countries of the world. I hope and believe that the difference between the mill-owners and their employes will be promptly settled by arbitration, in which event I confidently look for a decided improvement in the price of that important product of so many of our great States.

It is a matter of satisfaction that the producers of rice and sugar are getting somewhat better prices than they were a year ago, an improvement, I believe, of about ten per cent. having occurred during the year. It is also a highly gratifying sign of the times that the business failures in the South and Southwest in July, August and September of the present year represented in the aggregate of their liabilities only $4,394,000 as compared with $11,498,000 during the corresponding period of the preceding year.

Low prices of farm products are far-reaching in their effects. When the farmer receives low prices for his crops he has little money with which to purchase the products of the factory. This compels the manufacturer to decrease his product aud discharge thousands of workmen, who are thus deprived of the means of purchasing the necessaries of life from either farm or factory, and a period of hard times inevitably follows.

On the other hand, the advance in the price of farm products will put in the hands of the farmers millions of dollars that were lying idle in the banks during the period of depression. This will give them the money with which to purchase the products of the factory, and will enable the manufacturer to re-employ his discharged workmen, thus restoring to them the ability to purchase the products of the farm and factory and transforming a period of hard times and depression into a season of prosperity.

ness.

USEFUL LESSONS.

Recent conditions have taught our people many useful lessons, one of which is to avoid contracting large indebtedThe liberal use of credit may for a time seem to indicate great prosperity, but it is very apt to bring disaster and ruin later on. The farmers will profit by their experiences, and millions of dollars of indebtedness will be paid off with the increased amount of money received for the crops of this year.

EFFECT OF OVERPRODUCTION.

They have also learned that large crops do not always bring prosperity. If production exceeds the demand, disappointment and loss will follow. The four largest corn crops ever grown in America were worth $233,000,000 less than the

four smallest crops grown since 1880, and the four largest crops of potatoes were worth $70,000,000 less than the four smallest crops grown since 1880. The same law governs the price of all farm products.

DIVERSIFICATION OF CROPS.

Farmers can avoid overproduction in some lines by devoting part of the land under cultivation to products now imported. There is no good reason why the farmers of the United States should not produce all the meat, hay, wool, sugar, etc., consumed in this country.

THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

The Order of Patrons of Husbandry labored for years to make the Bureau of Agriculture one of the Executive Departments of the Government. Our success in this matter carries with it a sense of responsibility for the work of the Department. It has always been the desire of the farmers that the head of this Department should be a practical farmer, and the realization of our desires affords us great satisfaction. The present Secretary of Agriculture is a progressive Western farmer from one of the foremost agricultural States, and is doing everything in his power to promote the interests of agriculture in every section of our country. It is the earnest desire of all connected with the Department of Agriculture to make it useful to the farmers, and practical suggestions from practical farmers will always be welcomed. The Department will perfect the system of crop and weather reporting, and will search the world over for valuable seeds and plants to be distributed to the farmers.

THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY.

Earnest efforts are being made to extend our markets in foreign countries, and to secure the abolition of the discriminating restrictions and prohibitions unjustly maintained by certain foreign countries against our agricultural products. Our cattle, sheep and hogs and their products are excelled by none found in any other land. The thorough inspection given to these products by our Bureau of Animal Industry is such that our Government certificate as to the soundness and healthfulness of the food products mentioned should be accepted throughout the world. Certain nations, however, have persistently discredited this inspection, which is equaled by that of no other nation, and it is the fixed purpose of this Administration not only to secure proper recognition for our certificates of inspection, but also, as I have mentioned, largely to extend the foreign markets for the surplus from our vast territory. Throughout the length and breadth of

this land, the Bureau of Animal Industry, by its various representatives, seeks to control and eradicate infectious and contagious diseases among animals; it also conducts careful experiments to secure effective remedies, and to discover the nature of various diseases which are so destructive to farm animals. Not a single case of pleuro-pneumonia has existed in the United States for almost five years, and it, as well as anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease and others cannot readily be introduced into this country through the medium of hides and imported animals, because the Department of Agriculture scans the world for the appearance of such diseases, and promptly notifies the Secretary of the, Treasury so that our ports can be properly guarded to prevent the entry of disease In this connection, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, we shipped to the United Kingdom 378,459 cattle, valued at $35,374,322, and fresh beef amounting to 29,007,772 pounds, valued at $22,626,778. All of this great exportation to a single country was conducted under the supervision of the Bureau of Animal Industry, and this commercial growth, as compared with past years, illustrates the possibilities of the future under the influence of active co-operation between our farmers and the Department of Agriculture.

THE WEATHER BUREAU.

The Weather Bureau receives telegraphic observations from 150 meteorological stations and issues general forecasts and warnings of cold waves twice daily. From about 300 telegraphic stations it receives daily measurements of rainfall and temperature, and this information is distributed to all interested. By its warnings of destructive marine storms it saves annually many million dollars worth of farm products in transit to market. In each State it collects weekly returns from several hundred voluntary crop correspondents in different sections, and during the growing season several thousand of these crop returns are distributed weekly to the rural press. It collects at the end of each month reports of the daily rainfall and temperature from about 100 sets of Government instruments in each State and publishes the complete climatological data of the month. The Weather Bureau is an efficient instrument for the accurate collection and rapid dissemination of crop information, which is of great value to farmers.

IRRIGATION OF ARID LANDS.

Congress will undoubtedly be urged by interested associations to appropriate large sums of money to build dams, reservoirs and canals for the purpose of irrigating the arid

lands of the West. The time may come when more land will be needed to produce food, but certainly that time has not yet arrived. An increased acreage brought under cultivation by artificial means in advance of the needs of the people would seriously injure the agricultural interests, and farmers therefore can hardly be expected to submit patiently to taxation which will increase competition and destroy the little profit in their pursuit. The attention of members of Congress should be called to this matter by their constituents.

PURE FOOD.

Farmers have been greatly benefited by State legislation in the interest of pure food, but there seems to be need of a national law upon this important subject. It is suggested that the farmers insist upon the rigid enforcement of the oleomargarine law, as there is good reason to believe that some United States officials are careless in its enforcement or in sympathy with the violators of this law.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

The publication work of the Department has been greatly enlarged with its growth in other directions. More than twice as many documents were published last year as five years ago, the number being 424. Over six and a half million copies were distributed, exceeding the number issued five years ago by four million. In spite of this enormous increase, the demand still exceeds the supply. All possible means are taken to avoid duplication, and only certain public institutions and officials receive all the Department publications. Every month the Department sends out a list of publications of the month previous, and this list can be had on application. The size of the edition of every publication is carefully considered and includes a few for the Superintendent of Documents, from whom Government documents may be purchased, the price being the actual cost of publication.

The substitution of the present Yearbook for the old annual report has greatly increased the demand for that publication. Of the 500,000 copies published, however, the Department gets only 30,000 copies, and it is therefore unable to comply with all applications for this book, its quota being sufficient only to supply its own correspondents and regular exchanges. Each Senator and Congressman, however, receives nearly 1,000 copies for distribution to his constituents.

The development of the Farmers' Bulletins has been rapid. Special appropriations were made for them by Congress, the members of which are entitled to two-thirds of the total number printed. During the past year, however, members

ELECTION OF UNITED STATES SENATORS.

The National Grange is on record in favor of electing United States Senators by a direct vote of the people. I am sure we will take no backward step in this matter until the Constitution is amended to provide for it. Until that is done we should insist that the people have the right, in some measure, to express their preference for candidates, which will undoubtedly be regarded as binding upon the legislators of the dominant party.

66 BOSSISM."

The independent life of the farmer naturally makes him restive when some member of the party with which he is connected assumes to be a "Boss." Wise and patriotic leaders are acceptable, but a self-appointed Boss will find himself without a following among intelligent farmers.

DEATH ROLL.

I am advised by the Master of the State Grange of Oregon that Sister Sarah L. Hayes, wife of Past Mastsr H. E. Hayes, has passed from the labors of life to the rest beyond the tomb. She was a very worthy member of our Order, a loving wife and mother, and the sympathy of our fraternity goes out to the bereaved family. Word has come to me at about the hour of the reading of this address that Bro. I. W. Nicholson, of New Jersey, will be removed to the "Silent City of the Dead," and then laid by the side of the loving wife and mother who passed on before, a few years since. We would not recall our brother from the blessed association of the "better lands," but we wish the loved ones left behind to know that we loved and respected our brother, and extend to them our sympathy in their loneliness and sorrow. So far as I am advised, no other members of the National Grange have been called away during the year, for which we are very thankful to the Great Father of All.

CONCLUSION.

I desire in conclusion to express my appreciation of the kindness and courtesy uniformly extended to me by every member of this body during my long service as its presiding officer. I shall always cherish the fraternal friendships formed during this time as the choicest of life's blessings. It is a source of satisfaction to me that the Order has been fairly prosperous during this period, and has safely passed the reefs upon which other organizations of farmers have been shipwrecked. I regret that some of the States are unrepresented, but I am sure that well-directed efforts will soon result in a