126 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



when an important institution settles down to a con- 

 tentment with its methods and its results. It should be 

 as ambitious as the most ambitious youth, for maximum 

 efficiency and thorough-going organization. It should 

 always be for progress, always anxious to be in the 

 front line trenches. It should never stand still. No 

 matter how glorious its past may have been, it should 

 constantly look forward to new achievement. Not 

 what it has done, but what is next for it to do, is the 

 main concern. 



What are the steps by which each one of these vari- 

 ous institutions can become better organized? There 

 are perhaps four of these steps which may be men- 

 tioned but not elaborated. 



1. All institutions tend to concern themselves dispro- 

 portionately with their methods and working details 

 and to overlook the real ends or purposes for which 

 they are supposed to exist. The most searching self- 

 questioning on the part of every rural institution is now 

 in order. What is its task or function? How can it 

 most fully help the farmer? What are the large ends 

 for it to seek? 



Therefore, each institution should clearly define its 

 own task. This seems a simple enough matter. But 

 very few agencies have tried to do it. They have gen- 

 eral notions about what they are to do, but they tend 

 to spread themselves widely and often to disregard the 

 work of other agencies. Lack of aim results in loss of 

 power. The fundamental need is for each institution 

 to ask itself what is the main purpose of its establish- 

 ment, what is its part in rural improvement, what are 

 the real reasons for its existence. 



2. Each institution should develop an adequate pol- 

 icy. What are the fundamental principles upon which 



