260 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



HOW MANY VACATIONS SHOULD OCCUR DURING INSTI- 

 TUTE SEASON? 



BY Hon. T. J. PHILIPS, Atglen, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: If I were to answer this 

 question from the standpoint of the Institute Lecturer, my answer 

 would be very short. I would say, begin when the Institute season 

 opens, and arrange for three weeks' Institutes and one week's vaca- 

 tion each month, until the soa.«!on closes. T think T realize as much 

 as any man can wiiat it means at the close of one Institute to go 

 on to another, in possibly another line of work. Now, we, as lec- 

 turers, have other business interests to look after as well. We 

 are usually men of family, and need to look after our home and 

 family life. 



It has been said that the life of the Institute Lecturer is a stren- 

 uous one. We go out into the field, and we put up at all sorts of 

 places — usually the best that can be provided for us — but often we 

 are out of reach of communication from home, and we feel that mat- 

 ters should be so arranged that we could go home more frequently. 

 On the other hand. I understand that every time there is a vacation, 

 the Secretary is obliged to spend out of the money allowed him three 

 hundred dollars for the transportation of the men to their homes. 

 Therefore, that should be reduced to a minimum. 



Now, I know that we usually begin about the first week in Decem- 

 ber, and then comes in the State Grange meeting. I doubt whether 

 there is a man who recognizes the force for good of the Grange more 

 thoroughly than I do, and that meeting is the very life-blood of the 

 Grange. Then come the Christmas holidays, and that period has been 

 set aside by the entire civilized world for a season of family re- 

 unions and festivities. That vacation comes just right, according to 

 my way of thinking. Then comes the State Board meeting, the lat- 

 ter part of January, and then a period of hard work; for six con- 

 tinuous weeks last year some of us did not visit our homes. We 

 drove over the mountains, and walked and worked until, if the 

 whole thing became monotonous to us, is it to be wondered at? 



Now, I have thought a great deal over this subject since it was 

 assigned to me. T would not presume to dictate to the State De- 

 partment how to hold their Farmers' Institutes, or to criticise in 

 any way; but it has occurred to me that the abandonment of the 

 Saturday evening session might be a partial solution of the problem. 

 Often we find ourselves, late Saturday night, miles from a railroad, 

 and from hotel conveniences, where we can brush up and rest up for 

 the work of the following week. By doing away with the Saturday 

 evening sessions, and curtailing the afternoon' sessions, or letting 

 the State Lecturers speak in the early part of the day, and filling 

 up the later program with local talent", there are few sections of the 

 country from which a man can't get home, if he wishes, for a day of 

 rest with his home folks, and get back in time for Mondav afternoon 



