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Show OGDEN HAS GREAT COLISEUM FOR HER LIVE STOCK SHOW Speach Dedication by Governor George H. Dern Live Stock Industry Mean Much to Utah Ogden, Jan. 5. With praise for the enterprise of Ogden citizens, Governor Gover-nor George H. Dern dedicated the $100,000 livestock coKsc-um this afternoon after-noon before a few thousand citizens of Utah and neighboring states, including in-cluding practically all of the leading cattlemen of the west. The governor spoke from a platform plat-form in the center of the huge structure struc-ture and on all sides of him were the most highly prize pure-bred cattle, sheep and hogs that could be gathered in Utah, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming, with top herds in each breed from as far distant as Chicago on the east and California on the west. Governor Dern recalled attending a' meeting of Ogden business men on the evening of November 10 last, when it was decided to build the large structure. He marveled at the speed with which it was built and paid a compliment to C. J. Humphris, contractor, con-tractor, for constructing the coliseum in fifty-four days. Governor Dern said: I was invited to come here today to dedicate the new Ogden Livestock Show coliseum. To dedicate means to devote formally and solemnly to a special use. In order that we may know clearly what we are doing we must understand who is giving this building and to what special use it is to be devoted. I chanced to be in Ogden on the evening ev-ening of November 10, and I had the privilege of attending a dinner at the Weber club, where the architect's plans were submitted, discussed and approved. I regard it as a noteworthy notewor-thy achievement that a building of this size ami type of construction should have been erected since that date. I am informed that it was commenced on the 12th of November, or 54 days ago, including Sundays and the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays. I want to compliment the contractor who put up this great building in so short a time. He is a worthy example of the push and eh-ergy eh-ergy for which Ogden is famous. When I was shown the plans I was told that the coliseum was being financed fi-nanced by public subscriptions from the citizens of Ogden and Weber county, coun-ty, with some assistance from other citizens of the state of Utah, and that it was being done purely as a civic enterprise and not to make profits for the subscribers. I am filled with respect re-spect and admiration for this unselfish unsel-fish devotion of Ogden people to the welfare and upbuilding of their city. Ogden has long been distinguished for the cordial, harmonious and enter-prish enter-prish manner in which its citizens co-operate and pu)l together in anything any-thing that is going to help "the Gate City. One of the requisites of good citizenship is a willingness and disposition dispo-sition to do one's full share of the work that needs to be done for the benefit ben-efit of the community, and Ogden has been singularly fortunate in having a class of business men who have been as keenly interested in the public welfare wel-fare as in their private affairs. These men have been alert to the possibilities possibili-ties and opportunities of their city and they have been enthusiastically loyal and devoted to her advancement. That is why Ogclen has so rapidly developed de-veloped into an important, flourishing, thriving city. What helps ' Ogden, helps, Utah, and hence the whole state is under lasting obligations to ihis city and to the men who have built it up. This coliseum is another product of the Ogden spirit. Nothing could be finer than the generous manner in which your people have got behind this project and freely given to the public this edifice which will mean so much for the prosperity of the city of Ogden, the state of Utah, and the whole intermountain country. That is the answer to the question, "Who is giving this building?" The special use to which this coliseum coli-seum is to be devoted is the development develop-ment of the livestock industry and other agricultural activities in Utah and the surrounding states. This is to be a public building, and it is to be used for educational purposes: It will form a home for exhibitions of the highest development in livestock, poultry, seeds and agricultural products. pro-ducts. Wherever art and science are taught, visual instruction has been found a valuable method of conveying thought. To see -a process demonstrated demon-strated is much more impressive than to hear it described or to read about it. When growers see the exhibits that will be shown there they not only will comprehend the results that have been obtained by others, but they will be moved by the spirit of emulation; and when they go and do likewise .the quality and quantity of their products will be enhanced. This means increased in-creased production which will bring added wealth to . the. individual and hence to the state. Some of the exhibitions of farm products and livestock that will be held here, will be competitive in character, char-acter, and that will be an additional stimulus for improved quality. Incidentally Inci-dentally this structure will lend itself to a variety of civic activities, trials of speed, athletic contests and other large public gatherings. Primarily this building was needed to house the annual Ogden Livestock show, the seventh one of which is now being held. The livestock show has become a fixed Ogden institution. From small beginnings it has grown to dignity, and importance. With the ample and modern facilities afforded by this coliseum it will be equipped to serve larger territory and to do so more effectively. As the F-cope, influ- ence and usefulness of the livestock shew increase,-the importance of Og- I den as a livestock center will be mul tiplied many fold. The name of Ogden Og-den will be associated with the highest high-est achievements in the breeding of cattle, sheep and hogs, and that will bring renown, not only to herself, but also to the state of which she forms so conspicuous a part. The fact that Ogden Og-den is the home of Sarah Ann Duplicate, Dupli-cate, the ail-American Holstein cow, has already brought us this kind of fame. The importance of the livestock industry in-dustry to the state of Utah is so obvious ob-vious that I need not quote statistics to prove it. Our state, as well as the rest of the intermountain country, is not a highly developad industrial section, sec-tion, and it produces more agricultural agricul-tural products than it can consume. We must therefore ship out our surplus sur-plus products. Our remoteness from the centers of population subjects us to freight rates that prohibit us from shipping out low grade products. The simplest way to concentrate farm products pro-ducts is to convert them into meat, dairy products and wool by feeding them to hogs, cattle and sheep. Furthermore Fur-thermore our area is largely composed of ranges, which can be used for no other purpose than grazing, and these ranges are the source of a large proportion pro-portion of our livestock production. The livestock industry is therefore absolutely ab-solutely essential to this territory. Without it we should be drudging along in poverty and we should have no chance to progress. With it every farmer has a share in the general prosperity that is largely the result of the industry that produced $30,000,-000 $30,000,-000 in Utah in 1925. Not only the farmers, but those who operate the packing houses, creameries, condens-eries condens-eries and cheese factories, participate partici-pate in the benefits, to say nothing of the railroad men and others who are engaged in the transportation of the products of the livestock industry. An industry that is so far reaching in its beneficent effects deserves the most intelligent and sympathetic aU tention of any governmental agency that is able to serve "it. The least fortunate people in our country today are the farmers. About one-half of the population of the United Unit-ed States is engaged in agriculture. They provide the food and the fibre for clothing themselves and the other half. Their service is indispensable in-dispensable without them we should all starve and freeze. Such a service deserves a fair reward and yet the farmer has to subsist under conditions that are inferior to those of the people who are engaged in other industries. The country- has been relatively rela-tively prosperous during the past few years, and industrial workers have received re-ceived high wages, but the farmel has had a hard time to get along. He is calling for help, and he needs help. Probably the safest road toward relief re-lief is in a better co-ordination of the capital and labor engaged directly and indirectly in agriculture and a greater knowledge of agricultural economics. One branch of agricultural economics I is a scientific knowledge of livestock breeding and feeding, and a full recognition recog-nition of the fact that quality is what the world wants and will pay for. When farmers learn that it takes no more feed to produce choice stuff that will top the market than it does to produce canners that bring the lowest price, they will have found a way' to help themselves that will go far toward to-ward making farming a profitable and attractive business. Utah has about two and one-half million sheep, half a million cattle and 100,000 hogs. It is interesting to speculate spec-ulate on what the raising of better livestock would mean to the farmers and stockmen of our" state. If every sheep could be made to produce one pound of wool more per- year, we should have an additional 2,500,000 pounds of wool, which, at 40 cents par pound, would bring an extra $1,000,-000. $1,000,-000. It can be done. We sell 1,500,000 lambs per year. If the quality of these lambs is improved im-proved so that they will bring an extra ex-tra dollar per head, we shall get another an-other $1,500,000. It can be done. We sell 125,000 cattle per year, much of it. scrubby stuff. If we improve im-prove the quality of these cattle so they will Dring an additional $10.00 per head, we shall have another $1,-250,000. $1,-250,000. It can be done. We have 71,000 dairy cows in Utah. If their grade could be improved so they would yield 50 pounds per year more butterfat, we should have 3,500,-000 3,500,-000 pounds which, at 45 cents, would bring in another $1,500,000. It can be done. These are not unreasonable assumptions, assump-tions, and they shew the kind of results re-sults that can be obtained through the program that this livestock show is designed to encourage and promote The exhibitions that will be held in this building will preach eloquent sermons ser-mons on quality, and by so doirg, they are going to contribute to the farmers' farm-ers' salvation. In every respect, therefore, there-fore, this coliseum is designed to benefit ben-efit the public and it is truly a public institution;, and so I count it a high privilege to be authorized by the enterprising en-terprising people of Ogden to dedicate dedi-cate it to the advancement of the livestock live-stock and agricultural industries, and to the service of all those who are engaged en-gaged in those pursuits in the intermountain inter-mountain country; and I hereby extend ex-tend an invitation to the citizens of our neighbor states to come to Utah and avail themselves of the Ogden Livestock Show coliseum for the .staging .stag-ing and holding of any gathering whose object is in harmony with the purposes to which this edifice is now dedicated. I assure those who wish to make use of this coliseum that it shall at all times remain here as a horns for the quartering of such beneficent public activities. |
