THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL UNION 381 



attraction possessed by the N.A.U. lay in the eloquence, the 

 charm of manner, and the personality of its founder. There 

 was, of course, the magic of a new name. There are to-day 

 hundreds of fairly intelligent men who belong to no agri- 

 cultural organisation. Yet if one with a new name, but still 

 advocating the most ancient programme, were started to- 

 morrow, many of them would come in, and they would be 

 joined by numbers who would leave the old ones, believing 

 that they had at last found salvation. This may not mean 

 altogether wasted effort, though it is certainly a waste of 

 money, and it sometimes enables the mere politician to make 

 much of the want of unanimity among agriculturists. How- 

 ever, for good or ill, this peculiarity appears to be inherent in 

 the human mind ; perhaps especially in the agricultural 

 mind. 



The N.A.U. succeeded in starting some 500 local branches 

 in England, many of which developed surprising activity. 

 As the writer of this history was Organising Secretary to the 

 Union for some years, and during that period visited every 

 county in England and attended several hundreds of meetings 

 of branches, he had an opportunity of knowing how effective 

 the organisation was. The Cable, a weekly agricultural paper, 

 which Lord Winchilsea started, was of great assistance in 

 educating members and in keeping the branches informed of 

 the work of the Union, and was a decided factor in spreading 

 the movement. A sufficient number of branches were successful 

 enough to prove the correctness of Lord Winchilsea's theory, 

 viz., that " the threefold cord " could be twined, that harmony 

 among the three sections was attainable and could be main- 

 tained, and that the organisation as a whole was not the 

 Utopian idea which so many onlookers considered it. The 

 only reason why the Association did not survive was that 

 means were lacking. One of the main causes of its demise 

 was the growing fear of its strength prevalent among the 

 party political wirepullers. 



The British Produce Supply Association was never 

 connected in any way with the N.A.U., except that Lord 

 Winchilsea and one or two others worked actively for both. 



