156 LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING SECOND SERIES. 



condition of organizations many of us have to make exceptions to that rule, especially with 

 regard to those organizations which draw membership from a wide territory, and still are con- 

 trolled by a very few individuals. 



In.respect to what one ought to do In the present condition of poultry organizations, there 

 Is abundance of room for honest differences of opinion, but we find general unanimity in the 

 view that every poultryman ought to belong to the local association in his town or district 

 where such association exists. Even poultrymen who neglect to join their local association 

 will usually admit that they think they ought to do so. 



The local poultry association should be the unit of organization. No satisfactory general 

 organization Is likely to become established until poultrymen more generally appreciate the 

 Importance of maintaining a harmonious local organization, and the equal importance of alli- 

 ance with other local organizations. Appreciation of these things is growing but slowly. 



The too common experience of local poultry associations is that within a year or two from 

 a most auspicious beginning jealousies and disagreements reach the point where either the 

 association divides, or a larger part of the members withdraw. For this the members indi- 

 vidually are to blame, perhaps not all in equal measure, but it is rare to meet in such cases 

 manifestations of the spirit of compromise which must exist in any organization which is to 

 be permanent and efficient. 



To this spirit every member can contribute. For the lack of it each member is responsible 

 for his share. There may be occasional cases where division or withdrawals are justifiable 

 or inevitable, but to the impartial outside view such emergencies rarely exist, and in the great 

 majority of cases, if the ^poultrymen who desire only harmony would work together in the 

 interests of harmony, and not side with either one or the other of the opposing factions, but 

 discipline both if necessary to bring about a satisfactory adjustment of the situation, its troubles 

 would be short lived. And if, as a result of the common efforts of members of poultry asso- 

 ciations who have no personal interest in the disputes which* disrupt them, local poultry asso- 

 ciations were made strong and permanent, as they should be; it would inevitably come about 

 that these organizations would combine for the things that could be better accomplished or 

 regulated through their combined efforts. While the tenure of life of the local association is 

 as uncertain as it has been in times past, or even as it is today, that condition gives some 

 warrant for the statement often made in defense of the autocratic and unpopular methods of 

 some of the organizations of wider scope, that the lack of permanence in local organizations 

 justifies the continuance of general organizations by methods constantly requiring the services 

 of apologists and defenders. The uncertainty of continuance of local organizations also makes 

 many of them reluctant to enter into league with others, and sometimes interferes seriously 

 with the efforts to extend organization. 



The individual poultryman who does interest himself in the matter, usually feels that he 

 personally can do nothing to materially improve conditions affecting organizations of poul- 

 trymen, or that what he perhaps might do, he may not undertake because to do so would 

 take time and attention which should be devoted to the occupation by which he makes his 

 living. But what no one poultryman could do individually without a supreme effort, many 

 individual poultrymen acting independently, though impelled by the same spirit, would accom- 

 plish easily, and if all poultrymen would interest themselves in their local associations, help 

 those who are willing to bear the burden of the work of the association as long as their efforts 

 are for the common good, and suppress those eager to take the lead when their efforts seem to 

 be directed toward promoting their own interests or toward things of no value to the mem- 

 bers, we would soon see far more healthy and vigorous life in local poultry associations, and 

 a much more general intelligent interest in the constitutions and methods of the organizations 

 of wider scope. 



Beyond membership in local poultry associations I would not under present conditions insist 

 on membership in any of them as a duty, for in them the individual member neither is, nor as 

 they are at present, can be a factor as he may be in the local poultry association. In any of 

 them a member may find or make opportunities to help along the cause of organization, but in 

 the local association every man counts as nowhere else, and it is in the local associations that 

 the foundations of a great and efficient poultry organization must be laid. 



