I just wanted to note how good the writing is on the first sign-up list when it was just 13 blokes in a local tavern.
> The great number of horses stolen from amongst us and in our vicinity is truly alarming, and calls for the attention of every well-disposed Citizen. It is evident that there has been, and probably will continue, a combination of Villains through the northern states to carry into effect this malignant design, and their frequent escape from the hand of justice stimulates them to that atrocious practice. And as that kind of property is most liable to be carried out of our knowledge, it requires the utmost exertion of every good member of society, to baffle and suppress depredations of this kind...
I do understand that it sounds fancy to us because of the old language, but it was probably how normal people spoke back then. But man it’s still quite artful and epic the way they express such a mundane thing.
There are many organizations that similarly outlived their usefulness.
The Junior Order of United American Mechanics is another one. This was the kid's section of the Order of United American Mechanics. It survived the parent organization and is still in existence. Or at least the web site, not updated since 2019, is still up.[1]
The Shirky principle would suggest they need to steal horses to ensure their continued existence.
I know this was meant as a joke, but I can't resist the temptation to point out that this is a subtle misinterpretation of the Shirky principle (which I'm sure you're probably already aware since this was probably meant as a joke :p ).
The Shirky principle doesn't necessarily say that companies will engage in malicious behaviour in this manner. It's mostly about how, consciously or not, they tend to focus on solutions that continually mitigate problems, but tend to ignore solutions that could forever eliminate those problems, thus ensuring that they remain relevant in the mitigation space rather than successfully eliminate the need for them to exist in the first place.
Since they haven't found a horse thief since around 1907 I suspect they are looking assiduously but also carefully not where horse thieves actually are, within 20 miles of their courthouse. Therefore dutifully meeting the shirky principle in its finest sense.
I work in a policy forming not-for-profit which was tendered a "no more policy" policy in 2011 and voted it down. I am sure that meets the definition for perpetual problem solving.
If I were a horse thief, I would definitely try to join to avoid suspicion
"There is only one instance of a horse thief being caught by the Society"
Hmmm.
See also the one hundred and eleven Livery Companies of the City of London: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_company
Some of the Livery companies were already hundreds of years old before the United States even existed, let alone the Society in Dedham!
Hundreds? I've been to an abbey which has been around for more than 1'500 years...
(the next jump, to tens of thousands, will be difficult, as anything over ~5k is prehistoric)