Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 71 



the older associations were the State Horticultural Society, the 

 State Dairymen's Association, the Swine Breeders' Association, 

 the Road Improvement Association and others, but each of these 

 had its own meeting place, and there seemed to be no successful 

 effort to unite all these various societies in one powerful organiza- 

 tion. It is true that as far back as 1898 a number of these asso- 

 ciations met in the same place at the same time. Included with 

 those already mentioned were the Improved Live Stock Breeders, 

 the Missouri Grange, and the State Poultry Association. These 

 meetings were held in various towns, Mexico, Chillicothe, Fay- 

 ette, Columbia, Sedalia and Springfield being among the places 

 where the meetings were held. There was more or less local 

 interest in each town where the meeting assembled, but the pub- 

 licity, except what the State Board gave through its publications, 

 was limited to the locality where the meeting was held, and even 

 that, in some instances, was very poor. 



The writer attended several of these meetings, and the last 

 two — those held at Chillicothe in December, 1901, and at Spring- 

 field in December, 1902 — were under his supervision. He saw 

 the loss of any cumulative influence growing out of these meet- 

 ings, as the enthusiasm for each meeting had to be worked up as 

 if it were the first meeting of the kind ever held. The associa- 

 tions of the difTerent interests would do very good work for a year 

 or two; then some of them would die and others would be organ- 

 ized. There seemed to be no permanency in the plan. While 

 these meetings had all been fostered by the Board of Agriculture 

 they were not under the control of the Board, but each organiza 

 tion controlled its own affairs. The meeting place and general 

 arrangements were made by the Board, acting with a committee 

 of one delegate from each association. This committee had been 

 in the habit of voting the meeting to the town offering the best 

 bid for it. It cost considerable money to pay the necessary 

 expenses of these meetings in the matter of printing programs, 

 paying for prominent speakers and for premiums for the State 

 Poultry Show, which at that time received no State support. 

 When the time came for selecting the next meeting a delegation 

 from Sedalia submitted a proposition asking for the meeting, and 

 also a delegation representing the Commercial Club of Joplin 

 offered a purse of $400 to pay poultry premiums and free enter- 

 tainment for the officers and members of the Board and speakers 

 on the program. This was a handsome proposition on the part 

 of Joplin, and seemed certain of acceptance. 



