The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-09-02

suing year: President, Guy b. Johnson
Of Old Bennington, vice-president, j..
B. Wilbur, Jr., Of South SALISBURY,
treasurer, Arthur j. Holden of Ben
nington. Five directors were elected
to hold Office for three years; J. I.
Colgate Of Old Bennington, j. b. VIII
bur of Manchester, W. H. Roberts OF
Manchester Center, J. B. Wilbur, Jr.,
of South SALISBURY, and L. II, West
of Dorset.
The meeting requested that the sec
retary's talk on What Results May
be Expected from a County Improve
ment Association" be published in full
in the county papers. After a general
discussion the meeting adjourned.
What Results May be Expected From
County Association
A Frenchman living in the noun
tains was asked why he kept horse
and replied ITO get in the hay"
When asked why he raised the hay
he replied ITO keep the horse" 1t is
not impossible for philanthropic, So
cial betterment or community better
ment or community development or
ganization to exist for much the same
reason as the Frenchman kept his
horse. 1t is not impossible for such an
organization to exist year after year
in a community and still leave the
community exactly the same as if the
organization had not existed. Such
organizations sometimes maintain
themselves for years without lasting
results.
In a business concern results are
very definite. Such concerns usually
exist in order to make money. An in
ventory at the end of the year shows
to the cent how much money has been
made or how much money has been
lost. There is no question of results.
In a social betterment organization re-
suits are less definite, less easily
measured, more intangible. In a bust
ness organization it is very easy to
detect inefficiency. If the profits in
dollars and cents are not there then
the organization is inefficient. In
philanthropic organizations, however,
it is not as easy to detect inefficiency,
because of the intangibility of the re-
suits. 1t is not impossible for such
an organization to exist year after
year with little or no results. 1t is
possible, on the other hand, for such
an organization to accomplish much
good and still not receive the credit
due.
Some time ago, in conversation with
a friend, the statement was made to
me that work for boys was the most
difficult of all lines Of work in which
to secure results, that ordinarily the
results did not show until years after
ward. | did not reply because | diff
fered absolutely and wanted time to
think the matter over. More thought
has convinced me that my friend was
absolutely wrong. In fact, there is no
line of social betterment work where
results are more easily attained and
where results show more readily than
in work with boys. If man has been
engaged in boys work for number
of years and cannot show results there
is but one answer, viz; that he has
failed 1t is not an answer nor an
acceptable excuse for him to say that
he has sown seed which will show
themselves in the character of these
boys later on. If man has worked
for a number of years with boys and
at the end of that time they are the
same sort of boys that they were
when he began working with them, ne
has failed. If a father had brought
up son who was a reprobate, would
we accept his excuse when ne said
that he had sowed seeds of character
in that boys nature which years later
would bear fruit, and that perhaps
some day, when the boy was on the
verge of committing crime they
would deter him from doing it? If a
father has brought up son to man
hood and that son has not yet shown
any signs Of developing useful char
acter that father has failed. | knew
man who, number Of years ago,
organized in his home study class
among a group Of high school boys in
which he endeavored to instill into
these boys natures, ideals Of useful
ness and service. At the end OF the
year he left the city TO go 70 another
part Of the country. A year later ne
learned to his surprise that nearly
every boy in that group had invited a
group of grammar school boys to his
home and had endeavored TO DO for
those grammar school boys what this
man had endeavored TO do for the high
school boys. The man in question had