The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-09-28
THE ANNUAL ADDRESS
DELIVERED BY HON. JOHN MIN'rO
AT THE STATE FAIR
He Tells Something of the. .Organiza.
tlOn of the Society also Its
History.

| Ladies and gentlemen: The thirty
Fourth Oregon State fair is now open
| for your inspection. to see and exam
inc the results as here offered for
been said that the results of civiliza-
| tion can be approximately measured
by a comparison between the furnish
ing of the camp of a wild Indian hunt
er and a modern ladies' sitting room
A better method to meet the wants
of the majority who attend an assem-
blage like this for purposes of inSpec-
| tion, would be, to have here speci-
(; mems of the Indian from his native
wild' with his agencies of subsistence
| md self-defense; and compare them
with the agencies now used by civil
lied nian, here shown for a like pur-
| pose.
l understand efforts have been made
to have here such a representation of
| the natice race. l hope the effort has
been successful, as no living object
could lin my Judgment be shCwn here
more impressively instructive than
| would be n native woman. dressed las
[ have seen hundreds of them) in gar
ments of their own fabrication, chiefly
from the inner bark of the cedar
| tree. 1t is doubtful if such a repre-
| sentatiCn can now be secured, as the
native race quickly and eagerly adopt
ed the white mans woven fabrics and
Ineducated man soon forgets past
fashions. The native fruits of Ore
/ yOn, l understand, will to some eX-
tent, be on exhibitions; and Il com
| moi 1.iSnn hntXynnn fhnrn and tho
ducts of settled agriculture in the
pomological division will be instruc-
tive, a measure in that line between
the conditions of savage and civilized
life. The Indian and his family as
| improved by fifty years example of
md by his white neighbOr is here
md in his dress and equipments he is
| FAR in advance of what we have reason
| TO believe the condition of the English
,griculturist was 800 years after the
| battle of Hastings. Indeed. his con
iitiOn and that of his family indicate
self respect which ought to secure
him the respect of others; and a wei
come here from every generous mind.
am speaking to ladies, who are
dressed as well as her majesty, Vic
toria, queen of Great Britain, and
Empress of India. needs TO be; though
she is the honored head of a nation
| which is the mother of nations. Il ma
ton which is in itself an exhibition
IF the results of 1000 years of upward
struggle from the savage to the civil
lied life. / am speaking to ladies
whose mothers and grandmothers;
aye, to some who with their own eyes
have seen the womanhood of the ma
tive race the chief beasts of burden
IN this beautiful Willamette valley. /
IN speaking to men, any one of whom
would deem it an honor to have just
| claim of descent from either Lewis
)r Clark who at the behest of Pres
ident jefferson explored this grand
| valley of the Columbia ninety years
ago, and found the supply of food so
scant and preca riouS, that they fire.
oucntly rcsOrted to the purchase of
dogs from the natives, rs a means of
ubsistence during their great enter
f.risC. / make these illusions to give
mphasis to the statements that it is
to settled agriculture that we owe
the changed condition of life now as
compared with what it was even
| eighty years ago; when strong ener-
sctic men pcrished from want, where
now is food to feed millions.
The origin of annual fairs reaches
back beyond written history. Doubt
less beginning with, if not antedating
settled agriculture; and must have
been amongst the earliest means of
distributing it's products as well as Of
| disseminating means of its improve
ment. At all events. local fairs have
been active agencies in support OF
settled agriculture amongst the an
cestry of this asscmblage, from tim"
immemOrial: and are yet so much in
public favor. that We have neighbor
hood fairs, county fairs. district fairs,
state fairs. Interstate. national and in
formation fairs, as next to the school,
| the generally conceded best means o,
| fundamental human advancement and
comparison.
This is the thirty-fourth Oregon
state fair. it may therefore not be q
| waste of time to briefly glance at the
origin of agriculture in this fair land
In 1924 DIR. John Mclaughlin was
appointed chief factor of the Hudson
Bay company in the valley of the
| then fair Columbia" Its chief port
was then Fort George (AstoriD. He
resolved to change it to the north bank
| Of the Columbia 100 miles inland. He
| called the post Vancouver now the
| city) and adopted agriculture as Il
| local support to his fur trade; it hav-
ing proved a great advantage TO the
Hudson Bay Co, in its contests east
| IF the Rockies with it's great rival.
the Northwest Fur company. He
moved the twenty-seven head of cattle
| Of all ages the company then owned
from Fort George to Vancouver in
1926, and planted peas and potatoes
the same year. He received this year
also, from York Fortny, Hudson Bay,
one bushel each of wheat. oats. bar
ley and corn. and one quart of tim
othy seed. all of which were planted
in 1896. The results of this beginning
were, that in 1923 the company ceased
to import -four for the use of it's en-
ployces. He induced the beginning of
settlement in Oregon by advising one
of the retiring French Canadian en-
gagees of the company to settle as a
| farmer in the Willamette valley gave
him one quart of wheat for seed and
loaned him two cows to furnish his
| family milk and two steers to be used
as team, such were the very beginnings
of agriculture here. This great and
good man continued to encourage
other retiring servants of the company
in the same way and adopted the same
/ tbo