120 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



ilege to do for all what each cannot do for himself. This is a func- 

 tion of government which should not be ignored nor slighted. The gov- 

 ernment has been slow to recognize this fact as regards poultry hus- 

 bandry. It is not yet too late to make amends. It should be done im- 

 mediately. 



Will the government act ? "Will the poultry industry be safeguard- 

 ed? That all depends upon the attitude of the poultrymen. If the 

 government is "of the people, for the people and by the people," it 

 naturally follows that the people should ask for what they want, and 

 the government should grant the request. You poultrymen in Missouri 

 have only yourselves to blame if poultry husbandry has not been given 

 sufficient attention on the part of the Agricultural College and Experi- 

 ment Station. The same may be said of poultrymen in New Jersey, 

 Kansas, New York and every other state. Until recently we have not 

 appealed to the legislatures or to the agricultural colleges and experi- 

 ment stations for help either individually or collectively. We have been 

 busily engaged gathering a few eggs while other agricultural interests 

 have been, so so speak, "sawing wood." It is high time we cut a little 

 sawdust ourselves. We should not and have not asked for more than 

 the importance and the necessities of the poultry industry demand, but 

 we want that much. We will not get it unless we go after it. 



Sixteenth — The money appropriated by the State and national gov- 

 ernments' for agricultural education and experimentation should be 

 expended equably and with due regard to the commercial importance of 

 the great agricultural industries and to the number of persons concerned, 

 and the immediate needs of the various divisions of agriculture, such as 

 dairying, horticulture, crop growing, poultry husbandry, etc. The per- 

 sons in authority in many colleges and experiment stations have seemed 

 to entertain the thought that poultry husbandry was something outside 

 of the realm of agriculture, and that hence nothing could be done in the 

 matter of giving instruction or carrying on experiments in poultry hus- 

 bandry without special appropriations from the State. Their argu- 

 ments usually have been that they did not have money enough to meet 

 the requirements of the departments already in existence. This is equiv- 

 alent to saying that poultry husbandry is not worthy of recognition, or 

 not having been recognized that it will not be necessary to give poultry 

 husbandry support until the other departments "get their growth." 

 Meanwhile increased appropriations are given each year to the depart- 

 ments already established and poultrymen are told that they should go 

 to the legislature to get the money to establish a department. However 

 commendable and desirable it may be for the legislature to make special 



