306 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



BREED ORGANIZATIONS. 



Under breed organizations we would place two distinct 

 organizations, National and State. The national organization 

 would be the record association where our hogs are recorded. 

 The value of the record association is priceless. The value of a 

 pedigree is only what it is made by the party who signs it; at the 

 same time the officers of the record association can and should 

 prescribe rules and regulations for the recording of the animals 

 that should be very helpful to the honest breeder in making 

 his pedigrees as correctly as possible and as hard as possible for 

 the rascal to make a dishonest pedigree. 



Officers of a record association should be men of known 

 integrity, well versed in the breed, fearless in the discharge of 

 their duty, and men who will place the value of the record above 

 all else. Many vexing questions come up for decision by the 

 officers of the association. They must be men who can decide 

 against a personal friend if it is necessary to do so. 



Generally speaking, the meetings of the record association 

 are purely business meetings. We believe that this should be 

 changed in a manner and the annual meeting should be a busi- 

 ness meeting and, in addition, a meeting of the members of the 

 association to "talk shop." Papers should be prepared on dif- 

 ferent subjects vital to the members, discussions entered into, 

 and the meeting made the most profitable in this way. Efforts 

 should be made by the officers to get as large an attendance of 

 the members as possible to these annual meetings,, and the 

 members should in turn make an especial effort to attend. 

 Members of the board of directors of the association are often 

 confronted with questions about which they are in doubt. If 

 we could have in these meetings a free expression from the mem- 

 bers regarding matters that they may know will come before the 

 directors much assistance will be given the board in making their 

 decisions. 



A hearty co-operation should be made by the members with 

 the officers of our record associations in making the record all it 

 should be. This can be done by the members lending every 

 effort to the officers, especially in complying with the rules 

 regarding the recording of the animals. You are vitally inter- 

 ested in the value of your record. It is within your power to 

 make the record more valuable and more nearly correct by 

 cheerfully complying with the rules of recording as made by the 

 association in which you are recording. 



