The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-08-18
SHIAWAsSEE FARMERS PICNIC.

An Enjoyable Meeting Held at the Park
Saturday-Good Music and Earnest
Helpful Addresses.
The picnic of the Shiawassee County
Association of Farmers Clubs was held
at Caledonia Park Saturday under the
most favorable of circumstances. The
day which was almost uncomfortably
warm in the morning began to be CON-
fortably cool by the time the program
began in the afternoon and with light
breeze playing among the trees OF the
park all annoyance from the heat was
forgotten. AS usual the pavilion at
the park was taxed to the utmost capa-
city and many more stood about the
sides, on the ground listening to as
much of the program as they could
hear.
The principal treat of the afternoon
was of course the address by Prof. A.
j. Cook, of the California agricultural
college, but the other addresses and
papers were also good. The music by
the Congregational choir was pleasant
feature of the program while the violin
solo by Mss Mabel Ferry and the
soprano solo by Mrs. X. E. Travis, both
of whom were accompanied on the
piano by Miss Gregory, aroused lively
appreciation and hearty applause. A
piano solo by Mr.. j. j. Whelan carried
the audience along with it and was
heartily enjoyed as Mr.. Whelan's piano
solos always are. The recital of the ex-
perience of one of Dewey's sailors with
tub of butter spattered over him by
Spanish shell brought down the house
when given by Master Glen Fuller, of
the Maple River Farmers Club, and
the recitation by Homer Mcbride, of
the Oak Grove Club, was also we'll
received. The piano duet by the little
Misses McCallum, of the North New
burg Club, was also prettily done. An
instrumental duet by the Misses Hadley,
of Illinois, who are visiting their aunt,
Mrs. Frank Sergeant, was another
pleasant musical feature of the well
filled program.
Some of the more important points
in the various papers and addresses are
given here Each one was an earnest
effort and apparently was received
with the appreciation it deserved.
After the meeting was called to order
with well chosen remarks by Pres. E.
j. Cook, the Maple River quartet had
sung an anthum, and prayer had been
offered by Rev. Carlos H. Hanks, Prof.
A. j. Cook was introduced. Prof Cook
spoke in part as follows;
1t is exceedingly pleasant to be here
on this beautiful day, to see your green
fields, and especially to look into your
friendly faces. l used to be with you
often, and now after these years of sepa-
ration it is doubly pleasant to be with
you again.
When, the other day, / heard that
there were in this state over six hun
dred oranges, and over three hundred
fifty farmers clubs, l said. "Good for
grand old Michigan, / am glad to
call her my native state"
But there is work to do. Rockefeller
is said to be worth three hundred mil.
lions and is taxed on six hundred thou
sands. Prof Bemis, of the University
of Chicago, says this whole method OF
taxation is one gigantic wrong. The
taxation problem is gigantic problem,
and this club movement seems today to
offer means of obtaining the solution,
The great portion of the morality of the
country is on the farm.
You remember the great amount oi
capital put into trusts last year, but
this year in February alone more money
was put into trusts than all last year
together. An author stated few weeks
ago that we must have change in this
respect Now believe this world Is
constantly improving. Next year will
be better year than this, and next
week will be better week than this,
It's been constant evolution. We
can't stop it. If we degrade ourselves
we will simply not be in harmony with
the improvement going on. But we
are going to keep on and complete the
evolution 1t must be either revolution
and there are worse things than revo-
lution-or it must be evolution, and ]
believe it is going to be evolution.
The farmers club is educative. This
is its great work-to make the best
method the common method, educating
the people to the better things. You
don't know how much one club alone
in this county has done for farmers
clubs in southern California. Your
social features are a great advantage
alone. Now I'm going to tell you some
of the farmers faults. You are too
suspicious of each other and you can't