ASSOCIATION OF FARMERS' CLUBS. 673 



Secretary F. D. Wells then presented his report of the last meeting. 

 which showed that the size of the clubs vary from a membership of 20 

 to 200; the average may safely be placed at 60. He could not state the 

 exact number of clubs in the state, as many of them wait until this the 

 annual meeting, before joining, but 100 would be a safe estimate, and 

 according to that more than 6,000 Michigan farmers are active members 

 of the state association. 



A recess of ten minutes was taken to allow delegates to pay annual 

 dues. 



Short verbal reports from fifty-three clubs were made, of the condition 

 of club work throughout the state. 



TUESDAY EVENING. 



President Daniells delivered his annual address as follows: 



ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT J. T. DANIELLS, BEFORE THE STATE 



ASSOCIATION. 



Another year of assoeiational work has passed, and again we meet in an 

 annual convention, to review the work — now of the past — and to plan 

 for the duties and the labors of the future. 



I can not forbear to refer — even at the risk of repeating that which 

 has been stated in former annual addresses before the association — to 

 the fact, undisputed and undisputable, of the unprecedented growth of 

 our State Association, iu strength, in usefulness and in public regard. 

 It stands the test of that true measure of its worth — practical results 

 attained. 



When delegates from twenty-two Farmers' Clubs met in this room 

 on February 1, 1894, to determine the feasibility and the advisability 

 of organizing a State Association, sincere and earnest friends of club 

 work felt serious misgivings lest the results should fail to justify the 

 idea. Less than four years have passed and the number of local clubs 

 has been multiplied by six, while the association welcomes to its annual 

 meeting delegates from all parts of the state, and in numbers quadrupled; 

 and thus does the present give answer io the question of four years since, 

 "Is it wise to form a State Association of the Farmers' Clubs of Michi- 

 gan?" And this is but one feature of the good work already accom- 

 plished. Well may every club worker throughout the state in view of 

 these facts "rejoice and be glad." 



It is not necessary to elucidate the fact that there are ever some 

 changes in the conditions that surround us, which though most desira- 

 ble to have made — yet can they be made only through the medium and 

 by the powers of united efforts. This fact is exemplified all through 

 human affairs, and needs no further proof. Again: This is a day of 

 organization — this is a generation which seeks to accomplish by the unit- 

 ing of individual forces and agencies — and those of other callings hav- 

 ing now each their own distinctive organization, fully necessitates a 

 more complete and thorough organization of that class, which though 

 the most numerous and the most essential, yet are its members neces- 

 sarily the most isolated — the farmer class. These and other facts are 

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