Whenever possible, urge local secretaries to hold bird classes during spring and summer in their respective towns. If no one person knows enough to teach the others let them club together, buy a few books, and, going out of doors, work out the problems of identification as best they may, until every little village has a nature study class working its way, Chautauqua-Circle fashion. Remember one point, please. No society can succeed that is content to count the quantity rather than quality of its members. One hundred intelligent members who know how to spread the _why_ and _how_ of the crusade are worth 10,000 who have merely 'joined' because someone they were proud of knowing asked them to and it was easier to say 'yes' than 'no,' especially as the _saying_ was all it cost. Also, no society succeeds that _bores_ people into joining it. Remember that no matter how near one's own heart a project may be, we have no right to _force_ it upon others. We have no right to take people by the throat, so to speak, to make them pause and listen, but setting a high standard, holding out a helping hand and making the way attractive to those who wish to reach it is a different thing, and is the only sane policy under which Audubon Societies can be conducted. One word to you who wish to see the societies flourish, who love birds, but are shy and retiring, and do not care to commit yourselves to joining anything. You may safely join the cause in _spirit_ by sending a nice little check to the treasurer of your local state society. Piers Plowman discovered long ago that he couldn't "spede" far without money, neither can the Audubon Societies.--M. O. W.
At the annual meeting of the New York State Audubon Society, held in the American Museum of Natural History on March 23, 1899, a letter was read from Governor Roosevelt, which is of such interest and importance that we print it in advance of a report of the meeting, which will appear in a future issue.
Governor Roosevelt regretted his inability to be present, and addressed the following letter to Mr. Frank M. Chapman, Chairman of the Executive Committee:
I need hardly say how heartily I sympathize with the purposes of the Audubon Society. I would like to see all harmless wild things, but especially all birds, protected in every way. I do not understand how any man or woman who really loves nature can fail to try to exert all influence in support of such objects as those of the Audubon Society.