The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-07-17
Corn Is King and Then Come
Statesmen, of Which the
Residents Are Very
Proud.
ny ANITA

Secretary +. r. Conoway of the Iowa
Worlds Fair Commission was in a medi-
tative mood when l asked him what was
the greatest thing in all Iowa.
Now, some Commissioners from some
States might have said that the Worlds
Fair Commission from their State was
the greatest production of the State.
Mr.. Conoway did not. He is goodna-
tured and free from too great self-esteem.
SO he told the facts as he saw them:
Iowa." he said, lis great in all things.
but magnificent in two. In Iowa. corn Is
king. The maize of the aboriginal In
dams. who named our State. is now the
greatest article of production. After corn
l am inclined to think our greatest and
proudest production is statesmen.
I'VE have them in all the grades-little,
them out as fast as our great system Oh
free schools can graduate them. Now
don't laugh" and Mr.. Conoway smiled IA
trit:e himself. Don't laugh, tor l am IA
earnest.
President Roosevelt found that he
could not run the affairs of the nation
without calling in two of lowas states
man sons to advise him. We have In his
& oinet James Wilson, Secretary of Agri.
culture. and Leslie NJ. Shaw. Secretary OF
the Treasury. l defy any State IN the
Union to even approach that record.
I'VE have statesmen in the Senate ana
in the low IT house of Congress. We have
them in our own lie. islature and we keep
a large corps in training in every tow in
BIG CORN CROP.
Now as to Iowa's corn crop. The aver
age Weld in our State is 80. bushels to the
acre, while in most places We raise twice
that amount to tho acre. In the year
,r- A. -~- .AaeN- ura raised 1I2-
s54. OCo bushels of corn in our State at 80
cent? a bushel. During the year 1901 the
gros. value of all our agricultural prod
ucts was S274.CSo. $50. Iowa Is situated Win
in the great corn belt of the United States.
constituting in fact the center OF pro-
ductiveness thereof.
when We talk about corn we mean that
kind of corn that fattens horses and hogs
turns into starch and glucose in the glu-
cose factories. and not the ha~rd-shel!ed-
poorly nutritive kind that you NM else
where. When we feed Iowa corn to cat
tie We know just what to expect; II Gre
ates fat cattle.
but l know. you are not-that Iowa pro-
duces more fat cattle for food than any
other State in the Union. except Texas.
and Texas is not far ahead of us.
Now, I said to you that corr was king
in Iowa. meant that corn was the king
of products.
"The king of lnen In Iowa Is the farmer.
We are ali farmers. Even if We live in
the towns and run department stores or
plumbing shops we all nave a patch o..
ground somewhere on which We raise corn
and garden sass and flowers. Iowa IS
peculiar In that she has no great city
within her borders. She has some. good
cities. but none that even approach the
size of st. Louis.
That is because We are all farmers.
and. If you please. 1 do not want, you to
understand that We are or the hayseeo
kind either. because in Iowa the farming
is of the scientific kind. When such things
as automobile plows are ready for use you
will find some Iowa farmer will be the
first to use them.
MANY FINE RED BARNS.
Iowa is dotted with handsome red
barns n tasteful and comfortably built
farmhouses from one corner Of the State
to the other. Iowa farmers nave bath
tubs and running water in their homes.
and they live like the real kings that
they are. We get our statesmen right on
the farms. only sending them to town
teach them how to wear dress suits.
when we bring them in off the farms
they are already educated. for. be it
known of all the world, We have the
United States. There is no more excuse
in Iowa for a boy to go untaught than
there is for him to so hungry. We per-
init neither"
Trewin, another of the Iowa State Com
missioners, I'VE nave the finest school
system in the universe. Our exhibit at
the Fair will bear ME out in that state
ment."
/ Iooked around for some way to escape
from the inner office of the Iowa Commits
sion, but all avenues were closed. Sen
ator Trewin stood between me and the
door leading out on the veranda n Mr..