The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-04-10
Of Missouri Hold Their Third
Annual Meeting in
this City.
An Excellent Address of Wei.
come Delivered by Mr..
FIR ank Hayman.
The Reports of the Committee
Received Last Night and
Premiums Awarded.

The Missouri Wool-growers' Association
convened last night In the hall at Sichers
park, as per adjournment in April, 1882.
The meeting was called to order by the
president, Il. w. Gentry, and Mr.. WalIact
was appointed seer etary pro tenn.
After some preliminary remarks the
president read the programme for the
evening. The first was the welcoming ad.
dress by F. b. Hayman. as follows:
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE
Wool GROWERS ASSOCIATION: is NV
pleasant duty on this occasion to give ex-
preston TO the hearty good will with which
the wool growers OF Pettis county and people
of SedalIa welcome you 10 our beautiful
little city. The fact that after having held
two conventions here ycu decided TO meet
here again, would SEEM 10 imply that you
were not dissatisfied with the arrangements
made on previous occasions for your ac-
cOmmodation, and [ am authorized today
to pledge our best endeavors TO render this
meeting even more satisfactory than It's
predecessors 1t is a recognized principle
OF physiology that aptitude for the per-
Torrance of any particular function is best
acquired by practice; and if that is the
conduct OF state associations.
On account Of its central lOca ion aud
railroad facilities, it has already become
the favOrite place of meeting for every de-
scription of societies, and our citizrns
cherish the nope that our state legislature
will not long remain behind the times, but
that after all other state organizations have
discovered Sedalia's superior advantages in
this regard, orr state Legislature may fol-
Low their example, and decide TO meet here
too. Anticipating this future action of The
legislature, l will state in confidence that
the people of Sedalia have already selected
beautiful site for the magnificent capitol
structure which the state of Missouri at no
distant day is going to erect here / will
state further that this noble edifice i'm pros
pective will stand out in bold relief, i'm full
view of the grounds where you will shear
your sheep morrow. As / am afraid
that your imaginations may not he able TO
grasp this picture in all its sublime COM
pleteness, and not willing 10 risk nv repu-
tation as a prophet on single prediction,
/ feel constrained TO make another prOph-
ecy, of whose fulfillment DO reasonable
doubt can be entertained. and that is that
whether or not your future meetings ere to
be held in Sedalia under the shadow of
the capitol, one thing is certain, and that
is that you: represent to-day an organ
ization of such great and growing i'm
portance that its annua! conventions will
continue to be held long after its present
members have passed away.
A few years ago, when the wool market
became excited and the price of unwashed
wool advanced to thiriy-ive c.nts pound,
there started sort of boom i'm the sheep
business. Although the decline ip price
soon followed, still the excitement has
served at least one good purpose. 1t at
tracted the attention of many farmers to
sheep husbapdry, who before that time had
Fever given the subject a thought, and the
is, thar from that time there
has been increased interest and activity in |
that direction. Now there are many vino |
think the boom will 60 too far, and that
the business will be overdone but think |
there is only one respect in which these sp- |
prehensions have any foundation, and that |
is in regard to the profit of rearing and |
breeding scrub sheep. On land worth $40 |
to $40 an acre, it may we'll be doubted |
il will prove lucrative business |
to Craze and feed the long-legged, light
bodied, scanty and cOarse-wooIed native |
sheep of Missouri. But admitting the |
truth of this proposition, still think that |
every well-informed man will concede that |
sheep husbandry is still in ITS infancy in
this state. Ii, on the high-priced land of
illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont, and
On the still aigher-priced lands of England,
sheep can be raised at profit, surely the
'heep-raisers of Missouri have no reason to |
be discouraged.
Conceding, as We may, that the vast and |
almost appropriated plains of the west and |
southwest possess great advantages over us
m the expense of raising sheep on large
scale; still we think that there is scarcely a
arm in Missouri where few good sheep
IAN not be raised at almost no expense and
It great profit. We believe that almost
very farmer of Missouri ought, more or
ess, TO be somewhat of sheep man. As
/ few poultry are the save alls of the barn.
yard, utilizing what would otherwise be
wasted, SO are a few sheep the save alis of
he stubble-fe and fence corners. As
,ur virgin soil begins to lose its fertility
~ cropping, the valne of sheep as feriil-
GERS will also become more fully recog-
lized.
As our market and population increase
he demand for agricultural products, and
Is the waste places are brought more and
more into use, the sheep will get the credit
he deserves, as the cheapest destroyer of
useless weeds and brush, converting into
rood pastures brushy and broken land,
otherwise useless. In the meat product,
go, of our state sheep are also certain to
bay more important role in the future
han in the past. In England and France
I is already well established that there is
10 more wholesome and palatable meat
han mutton, and in all of our OWL mar
se,s the demand for good mutton is rap
dly increasing; and whatever advantage
he plains may possess over US as regards
WOOL growing, in the production of good
mutton, the advantage is all On our side.
In some comments recently upon the
American people, the great English phil
,sepher Herbert Spencer said "that We as