Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-02-07
Official Paper Of County.
Mayor Kellow's Address of Welcome
Before the Farm ers Institute
January 80, 1896.

men, and more particularly to our
Farmer friends:
In behalf of our little city, which /
represent here to-day, want to say
to you that we welcome you within
it's borders to discuss all matters per-
tanning to your welfare; and finally,
when you feel SO inclined, we welcome
you to come and make a home with
us, and when l say 1--WE welcome
you,' feel confident am expressing
the honest sentiments of every citizen
of Cresco. There are some strange
things happening in this world, and
it seems to me one of the most curl
GUS freaks of nature, or man, is that
freak which induced your worthy
president to call upon me for speech.
! know it is customary at some noted
gatherings to call upon some gifted
son of the Rostrum to deliver an
opening address, or speech Of well
come to the gathered hosts; but the
unfortunate position you are in at the
present time is this: The son YOU
have selected for that purpose pos
s.sses no such gift. have been at a
loss to know whether the unfortunate
position l find myself placed in
should be charged up to your presi-
dent, or whether it belongs to my
worthy friend and able predecessor,
who SO kindly and ably talked to you
in your meetings in the past, and by
so doing induced you to insist that
his successor should follow in the
same parts. But no matter how I'M
fortunate a position I find myself
placed in, l accept as consolation
what every speaker has to console
himself with, who is not competent
to fill the place, and that is this: that
my hearers will have the worst of a
bad bargain. To tell the truth find
myself in about the same predica-
ment the good old farmer was in
when he got up to preach. suppose
some of you have heard the story,
but it fits my case SO nicely, and in
addition to this, it shows SO clearly
how natural it is for all of us to think
that we have everything so hard
while others have things so easy, that
l must give it to you. The story is
this: A good old farmer says to his
pastor one day, II wish had no more
to do than you have" And his pas
tor kindly concluded to exchange
places with him for a while, and says
to him, II will go out and pillow for
you and you shall come in and do my
work and preach for me next Sun
day." The farmer jumped at the op-
portunity offered him, and out goes
the preacher to pillow. Our farmer
preacher searched the bible all the
week, late on Saturday, before he
found a text to suit him, SO you can
readily see the time was very short
for a green hand to get up good ser
mon. Sunday morning comes, and
finds the congregation all in their
places, and our farmer friend in the
pulpit. Up gets the new pulpit ora
tor, and after standing before his con-
gregation for long time, unable to
say anything, until he imagined lie
saw great many curious and inquir-
ing looking faces, he says to them:
"Well, if any of you can do any bet
ter, just get up here and do it,"
1 have no intention, my farmer
friends, of undertaking to tell you
anything about running farm, for
you ought to know more about farm
ing than I, and l will take it for
granted that you do, and will leave
all such matters for the present to be
discussed between yourselves. There
is one thing, however, / haye thought
of making few remarks about, and
that is the relations that should
exist between citizens of the town, or
rather city (for we are now city,,
and to the farmers l want to say just
few words in regard to the friend
ship and good will that should exist
between town and country, and with
that said, will leave the meeting in
your hands.
The grand and good Lincoln once
said this country could not long exist
half slave and half free. Later on,
some one has said this country could
not long exist half drunk and half
sober. Both of these, to my mind,
are good points we'll taken. These
statements convey to me the need of
freedom, soberness and good will, and
that such conditions must exist in
order to secure happiness, prosperity
and peace. We look around us and
see families all torn to pieces, with
discord and strife; we take u broader
view, and communities in lhe same
conditions, and caused by the same
unfortunate circumstances; we take
still wider view of the whole world
and see nations losing their comfort,
happiness and wealth by the same
unavoidable chain of commotiop
and strife. We see all this state of af-
fairs going on around us continually,
and without any foundation for its
existence. Now if this is correct
statement of the conditions that ex-
list between families, communities,
and nations, where strife and discord
reign, what have we to expect but
that the same consequences will fol-
low, where the same state of condi-