98 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



institutes nor better results from institute work 

 than Wisconsin and Ohio. Skill, intelligence, 

 and tact count for more than particular insti- 

 tutions. 



New York may be said to follow the Wisconsin 

 plan. Minnesota goes even a step farther; 

 instead of holding several series of institutes 

 simultaneously in different parts of the state, 

 attended by different "crews," the whole corps 

 of state speakers attends every institute. No 

 set programmes are arranged. Everything de- 

 pends upon local conditions. This system is 

 expensive, but under present guidance very 

 effective. Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsyl- 

 vania have adopted systems which are a mean 

 between the plan of centralization and the plan 

 of localization. Illinois has a plan admirably 

 designed to encourage local interest, while pro- 

 viding for central management. 



Few other states have carried institute work 

 so far as the states already named, and in some 

 cases there seems to be a prejudice against a 

 well-centralized and fully-developed system 

 a feeling that each locality may be self-sufficing 

 in institute work. But this attitude is wearing 

 away, for experience serves to demonstrate fully 

 the value of system. The danger of centraliza- 



