The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1902-01-17
To the Farmers Club People of Michi-
From the Michigan Farmer.

From the Michigan Farmer.
l think that, in the past, it has
been the custom for the newly elected
officers OF the State association to
write an. article for the club depart
ment of The Farmer; sort of'inau-
gurar. 9sa t :
First, permit me to thank you for
the honor which you, through your
delegates, conferred upon me In elect
ing me president Of the State associa.
tion for the coming year, and allow
me to assure you that my earnest de-
sire is to so perform the duties OF the
Office that you will feel that your con.
fldence was not misplaced.
At this time it seems that 1t would
be pertinent to review some OF the
lines of work which demand our
closest attention.
At the head l would place the as
sociational topic for January, 1.-THE
Organization OF New Clubs; How Best
Promoted?" This subject comes at
the time Of year when we can, II we
will, get time to do some work Of this
kind. II we feel that the clubs are a
good thing we should be willing to
push them along, and one Of the best
ways we can do this is to assist in Or
ganizing and placing firmly on its
feet a new club. The influence Of
good club in any community we know,
and let us reduce the number Of
neighborhoOds in the State where
this influence is not known. Talk up
at the club one or more promising To-
calities for club, and appoint spec
ial committee of earnest workers to
canvass the situation in each, OF, If
some other method seems more prsc-
tical, follow it; but let each club re-
solve to become the parent OF one
other club this winter Report your
success through The Farmer, as it is
very encouraging to all club workers
to hear of the formation OF new clubs.
Any community that desires club,
and where no other club is near by to
assist them, can get directions for Or
ganizing, blank constitutions, ETC.,
by requesting the same from the as
sociational secretary.
The subject which l would place
second in Importance is the State as
ISOLATION: our duty to it, and its obi
cations to the clubs. Had not every
club in the State ought to belong to
the State association? How can we
prove to the clubs that are not in the
association that we are worthy of
their support? Our association should
be, as the name implies, an associa-
tion Of the clubs Of the State, while in
fact it is an association of somewhat
less than one half Of the clubs. This
is too bad. l am going to suggest
this subject to be used as assOciational
topic in the near future: "Is the
State Association Worthy of the
United Support of the Clubs Of the
State, and how may its work be made
More Effective?"
AS we know, the legislature will
meet next year, and we must be ready.
We must send men who can, and will,
honestly represent us, il possible, and
be ready to make our wishes known
in thunder tones. 1t is none too soon
to begin to rumble, or in other words,
to discuss measures which we wish
enacted. What will be our platform?
How can we improve our present sys.
tenn Of taxation? Shall we continue
to pay our county officers-they only
know what, or shall we pay them
salary? We must strongly urge the
Torrens system OF land transfers, II
we want it, and we should make
special study of the system of direct
primaries, and be ready to support
this measure Understandings, il 1t
promises relief along the lines now
subject to abuse. These questions
form the outline Of the measures,
which from my present light, should
like to study with a view of pushing
the issues named before our next
legislature, as our Farmers Club plat.
form. What should we add: what
had we better eliminate?
1t has been my purpose to outline
in this article what l regarded as the
most important questions that con.
front the Farmers Clubs of the State
at the present time.
The successful campaign IS the one
that is best planned, and l have given
my plans ia very plastic form. We
have, in the clubs, men who are
seasoned by years Of experience, some
who have given nearly as many active
thoughtful years to club work as /
am years old, and 1t is upon these, as
we'll as other workers, that ain GO
ing to depend to write me frankly
when any word Of mine seems to
jeopardize any phase of club work, or
when they see anything that | can do,
which is not being done to- help on
the cause Of Michigan's Farmers
Clubs.