No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 271 



instruction and practice a little before they go out into institute 

 work in the country. 



MK. HERE, Clinton County: Mr. Chairman, I am glad that Mr. 

 Nelson made his speech; it relieved me from part of mine. I won't 

 undertake to tell my experience in holding institutes in Clinton 

 county, and the few remarks I make will be in the line of Mr. Nel- 

 son's talk on the duties of county chairmen. I think that is really 

 more what we want to know; our experience. The county chairman 

 must be a man of prominence and have the respect and esteem of the 

 community in his county. If he hasn't that, the sooner he is out 

 of the business, the better; get some one who has it. He must have 

 some executive ability. He must have some knowledge of institute 

 work. We cannot expect everybody to have that. There are new- 

 comers who have never had that experience and knowledge, but he 

 ought to know who his speakers are, and be able to introduce them 

 so as to tell the audience who they are, and what they may reason- 

 ably expect from them, and as to their reliability, whether they are 

 actual workers on the farm, and whether they have had actual ex- 

 perience. It is well enough to be courteous, but you can pile it on 

 too thick and embarrass the speaker, when you lose the respect of 

 the audience. I do not believe in being too complimentary to the 

 speaker. There is such a thing as overdoing that. There are some 

 people who are like myself, a little light-headed, so they will readily, 

 if you compliment them a little too much, think they have got so 

 much valuable information and are so highly appreciated by the au- 

 dience, that they do not give their audience the credit of knowing 

 a little more than they do. 



Now a county chairman ought to be an organizer; he ought to 

 have his heart in his work; ought to be willing to work a great deal 

 in preparing for the work in his institutes; ought to be willing to 

 sacrifice of his own means and his time and have his heart in the work. 

 He must know the people; know his county and know how to make 

 arrangements to get the speakers from one part to the other in 

 the best possible manner, know how to make them comfortable 

 and feel at home, and provide a proper place for their accommoda- 

 tion. He must know the people well enough to have the confidence 

 of the people, so as to be able to secure proper accommodations for 

 the speakers. He must know how to advertise; he has got to have 

 the confidence of the press with him. If he has that they will print 

 anything he asks of them free of charge. 



He must be able to use the funds of the Department economically 

 and wisely, and he must be able to show to the people just what he 

 does with the funds. A great many institute managers are sus- 

 pected of doing something with the funds not allowable. People 

 think fhere i= smiif monp\ in it What ho does with the funds 



