THE AMERICAN STANDARD OF PERFECTION 261 



Under the head of active support to vital things, 

 many believe that the matter of taking up parcels 

 post — "with every Congressman and Senator," one puts 

 it — and that of putting pressure upon the express com- 

 panies to compel better rates and careful handling of 

 shipments are the most promising activities. This last 

 to include, also, just settlement for claims of loss and 

 neglect in transit. One of these members instanced an 

 experience of his own to show in what direction the 

 power and prestige of the Association could be used. A 

 certain shipment of fowls was so smothered by piling 

 other packages above and around the coop, that nearly 

 two thirds the fowls comprising it were killed. Claim 

 for damages was entered. Long delay ensued, with no 

 favorable result. Finally, the shipper stated plainly to 

 the carrying company that, unless he received early 

 satisfaction, he would lay the' matter before the American 

 Poultry Association. The effectiveness of this was shown 

 in the fact that, in less than a week, he received full value 

 for the smothered birds. 



One member, high in poultry councils, asserts that 

 the government is appropriating thousands of dollars to 

 each Experiment Station in our states for investigation 

 in all other branches of agriculture. From this, he 

 deduces that poultry also should have the benefit of 

 such nursing, and states his belief that our national 

 government, " if the proper effort was made," would 

 appropriate several thousand dollars each year to each 

 state, for poultry investigation. Another suggests that, 

 since the United States government has not yet burst 

 some of its swaddling bands of red tape sufficiently to take 

 a census of any poultry except that carried upon "farms," 



