520 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



6. To furnish the necessary local machinery for easily and 

 quickly supplying every community in the county with informa- 

 tion of value to that community or to the county as a whole. 



MEMBERSHIP 



Membership in the farm bureau is open to all residents 

 of the county and nonresident landowners who are directly in- 

 terested in agriculture, men and women alike. The membership 

 should be well distributed over the county and should be large 

 enough to be thoroughly representative of the farmers of the 

 county. At least ten per cent, of the farmers should be members 

 before permanent organization is effected. At least eighty per 

 cent, of the membership should consist of bona fide farmers or 

 rural residents. 



The membership fee is necessary not only to provide funds to 

 finance the work of the organization but also to secure the 

 active interest of each member. Membership fees are needed to 

 buy stationery, postage, office equipment and supplies, to publish 

 exchange bulletins or other bureau publications, to pay the 

 traveling expenses of the officers and committeemen to attend 

 county, State, or National conferences, etc. If a clear-cut pres- 

 entation of the facts regarding the nature of the organization, 

 the duties and privileges of the members, and the work already 

 accomplished and to be undertaken is made, no difficulty should 

 be experienced in keeping up the membership from year to year. 

 In some States yearly educational campaigns to acquaint the 

 people of the counties with the nature of the bureaus and the 

 work accomplished have produced a steady increase in the 

 number of counties organized and in the number of members. 



Every member should give not only moral support to the 

 work but also personal attention to some activity of the bureau. 

 Each member should keep in close touch with the work in 

 progress, assist in planning for the coming year, and participate 

 in the election of the officers and executive committeemen. 



FARM-BUREAU PROGRAM OF WORK 



A farm-bureau program of work is a plan for the promotion 

 of certain definite lines of work that pertain to a better and 

 more prosperous agriculture and a more satisfactory rural and 



