2 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



that the institute workers can come together at these annual meetings 

 and take part in a day's session devoted to institute work, and that it 

 will be a very great help to the work in all parts of the State. 



One difficulty was encountered in the arranging of this program, 

 that was the fact that the law provides for holding annual meetings on 

 Wednesday, and that sufficient time could not be found during the week 

 preceding that date to arrange for a suitable program. It does not seem 

 possible, from previous experience, to get a large attendance in here 

 before Tuesday. A good many men come quite a distance, come from 

 remote parts of the State, from where it is practically impossible to 

 reach Des Moines before Monday evening or Tuesday morning; conse- 

 quently the Monday meetings have never been largely attended, and one 

 day preceding the board's meeting and the election of officers does not 

 afford sufficient time for such a program as might be arranged and should 

 be arranged to provide for this work to the best advantage. 



It would seem, that under these conditions, the date of holding the 

 annual meeting of the Stats Department of Agriculture might be changed 

 to the day following, say to Thursday of the week. Of course, this date 

 is fixed by law and could not be changed unless done so hy the legisla- 

 ture; but if w^e could have this additional day for these meetings, to 

 enable the oflficers to make provision for such a program as w^ould meet 

 the requirements, anw that these meetings, when arranged properly, 

 ought to and will bring the leading institute workers, and those who 

 take most active part in all questions together. 



I know from experience, and every one knows from experience, who 

 has attended these institutes, that some of the very best institute workers 

 that can be found anywhere, are developed in localities where the work 

 is purely local. Some of the very best institutes I have attended, in this 

 or any other State, are institutes carried on by local help. These men 

 are capable of imparting instruction and capable of formulating plans for 

 institute work and are eminently successful. 



This meeting should bring together that class of men, and it should 

 bring together all men interested in advancing the agriculture of this 

 State, and should develop into a sort of a school of instruction for the 

 institute workers, at which men will get an inspiration, suggestions, 

 ideas and plans which they can carry home and apply to their own in- 

 stitutes. That, I believe, is one feature in which our law can be im- 

 proved. It is a matter of minor consequence, merely a matter of shift- 

 ing a day one day ahead, to enable the oflacers to arrange such a program ' 

 and such order of exercises as will bring more good out of these meetings. 



I think that the present system of local management of our institutes 

 is a strong one. I believe it is a system our people would not be willing 

 to abandon under any circumstances. I think that it has some better 

 features to it than any system of central management that puts the 

 authority and power completely in one central organization. I think 

 that a central organization would perhaps bring about more co-ordina- 

 tion of the institute work than we now have; but I believe in the demo- 

 cratic system of our institutes as they are now conducted. I have noticed 

 this in other states, where they have a central organization. 



