SUPERVISION, INSTRUCTION AND SUPPORT 



were able to report results achieved. The experience meet- 

 ing has been a most potent part of all meetings of the 

 demonstration forces. Doubtless the fact that the agents 

 looked forward to the next meeting cheered them on in 

 getting good results in their counties. They were anxious 

 to report them and receive the plaudit, ''Well done." When 

 the forces grew larger the state meetings were continued 

 as annual meetings and the intervening meetings were held 

 in districts. Instruction in the district meetings was more 

 intensive and specific, while at the state meetings there was 

 the expanding of the horizon and the enlarging of purposes. 

 There is just enough of system and discipline in an organiza- 

 tion of this kind to give it tone and effectiveness. In the 

 absence of such supervision, the centrifugal forces would 

 grow stronger than the centripetal, and by and by, the organ- 

 ization would disintegrate. The meetings have strength and 

 power. It may not be generally recognized that the annual 

 meetings of the state farm demonstration agents of the fif- 

 teen Southern States in Washington gave direction, coher- 

 ence and integrity to the work in all of those states. They 

 have done more than anything else to establish the harmony 

 and symmetry which run through this entire organization. 

 Soon after state agents were appointed for the different 

 states they began to hold annual meetings of a week or ten 

 days each. These men, with Dr. Knapp at their head, worked 

 all day and every day of their sessions making each other 

 familiar with developments, outlining definitions and policies, 

 and making plans for the ensuing year. They, too, were 

 anxious to get the best possible results in their states so that 

 they would be prepared at the next annual meeting to give 

 reports for the inspiration of each other. 



The annual conferences of the women agents had even 



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