So the meeting was declared open for discussion. The gentlemen who participated were not partisans of any particular section or state and were evidently disposed to be deliberate and cautious in their selection. Most of them presented arguments in favor of Tennessee. Some were in favor of the state of Washington. As I listened to the discussion I was conscious of a deep feeling of interest developing within me. It seemed to me that intuitively I comprehended the motives and purposes of these men and that I had a stronger grasp upon the details of their design than they. A great inspiration seized upon me which seemed to swing my mind over every detail and to light up every feature of this subject. When all who intended appeared to have spoken, the chairman suggested that Mr. Braden might, perhaps, present some views which would be worthy of consideration. I could not forbear compliance and spoke as follows: “Gentlemen—I feel a deep and profound sympathy for the objects of this meeting. When I say this I do not want to be understood as expressing favor for any plan whereby the thoughtful, conservative statesmanship of modern society is to be set aside, and experimental statesmanship is to be substituted for it. I am convinced that the social system which Christendom accepts to-day is the best which humanity has ever employed, and that it would be the worst of crimes to destroy it without furnishing some practical model for a new and better one. “The United States presents a plan which is sufficiently elastic, an area sufficiently extensive, and opportunities sufficiently varied and abundant, to make it proper that one state should be devoted to the development of the co-operative system. I, for one, am fully convinced that a state should be selected in which the obstacles to your efforts will be but few and slight. For instance, you ought not to concentrate your efforts on Tennessee if there is another area, less populous, less prejudiced and less attached to the present system. “The vote of Tennessee is 321,190. Its population approaches 2,000,000. You must, in order to gain control of Tennessee, increase its population by nearly 2,000,000 co-operators casting a vote of nearly 300,000. This assumes that a portion of the present population is not opposed to the Co-operative Commonwealth. It is plain to me that it will take you a generation to accomplish your purpose. “The same objections apply in a less degree to Washington. The population of that state is 450,000 and its vote 93,435. To direct our colonies to a territory not yet admitted into the Union, like Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, would subject them to repressive congressional legislation from which in a state they would be free. As for Wyoming, with a population of 60,000 and a vote of 21,000, it does not present a field for our operations as suitable as some others.