Ephemeral Uplift Organizations. 
In a recent issue of “The Daily Ad- 
vocate,” Stamford, Connecticut, under 
the department heading, “Stamford in 
Old Days,” was an item from which 
we quote the following : 
“The Civic Federation of Stamford, 
one of those ephemeral uplift organiza- 
tions of which Stamford has had sev- 
eral dozen, was organized February 12, 
1906. Its object stated in its constitu- 
tion was to ‘mass the moral sentiment 
of the community.’ ” 
In every community there are 
“ephemeral uplift organizations.” 
Sound Beach and Greenwich and, in 
fact, the entire nation has its full share. 
Nature and science have also had a 
wide experience in ephemeral uplift or- 
ganizations. Ephemeral has been the 
career of innumerable magazines de- 
voted to nature study and the general 
uplift of humanity and the improvement 
of the schools of the nation. 
From one point of view it is well to 
try all sorts of things to prove that 
which is true but the trouble is that 
most of these local civic organizations, 
general uplift affairs, are not to prove 
that something new is true but to create 
official positions perhaps in hope of 
providing salaries as the outcome of 
some general drive for this thing and 
that. We note that the daily paper from 
which we quote has had frequent edi- 
torials on that subject and is evidently 
voicing the general opinion that these 
upstart, ephemeral organizations 
should be less plentiful. 
No one should become so conserva- 
tive or old-fashioned as to be unwilling 
to try a new thing. In no field of en- 
deavor has there been in recent years 
such a growth of new organizations as 
in behalf of boys and girls. Many, 
many such attempts have been made 
since the remarkable successes of the 
costumed organizations, Scouts for 
boys and Scouts for girls, Camp Fire 
Girls, etc., but one wonders what such 
long tried and true organizations as the 
Y. M. C. A. think of these affairs. 
Among those that have proved their 
worth by the test of experience is that 
grand old ideal, The Agassiz Associa- 
tion, formed forty-six years ago. In 
these forty-six years there have been 
but two presidents and neither of them 
has drawn a cent of salary for presi- 
dential or executive work. Where in 
all this country will you find that 
equalled ? 
The present editor of The Guide to 
Nature has edited the official magazine 
of The A A for thirty-one years, the 
name some fourteen years ago being 
changed to The Guide to Nature from 
the old, dearly beloved magazine, “The 
Observer.” But practically the contin- 
uity of The AA has been unbroken for 
only four years less than half a century, 
and its magazine for only two years 
less than the third of a century. During 
that time this organization, erected on 
a solid foundation and with praise- 
worthy fundamental principles, has had 
occasion to look down benignantly if 
pitifully on upstart, amateurish at- 
tempts, some of them dragging along 
for several months and some for a few 
years. 
The evident moral of this is : Stick 
to local and general organizations that 
have proved their worth and be chary 
of trying everything new that comes 
along. A queer fact and an astonish- 
ing commentary on human nature is 
that an upstart, new association can 
obtain better financial support than can 
those old, well tried organizations that 
have proved their worth. It is a good 
rule not to be too venturesome but to 
cling to the things of confessed, self- 
evident and proved merit. 
The news about Betelgeuse must 
have jolted some of the movie stars 
considerably. — New York World. 
