Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-05-19
The Proposed Department Of AgrIcuI-


[RemarEs Of Hon. James NJ. Tyler Of Vermont in the
House Of Representatives the bill to elevate the
Bureau Of Agriculture 10 an Executive Depart
mentl
Mr.. Speaker, rise TO oppose the amend.
ment establishing one or more experiment
stations in every state in order to make a re-
mark or two on the bill itself The Commit
tee on Agriculture allege that there is a gen.
eral demand by the agriculturists of the coun-
try that the bureau Of agriculture be raised to
a Department of the Government. In recog-
milton Of that demand, il it exists, / desire to
vote for bill that would create such a De-
partment and make it effective. But to be
effective il should be constructed with no un-
necessary machinery.
In my judgment the committees bill is too
complex. II provides for four bureaus,
bureau Of agricultural products, bureau of
animal industry, a bureau of lands, and a
bureau Of statistics, the chief officer of each
to be appointed by the President. Now,
submit that there is no occasion for so many
bureaus as the bill compels the secretary Of
this department to organize. To the first two
/ would not object, although the work dele
gated to them could as well if not better be
performed by clerks appointed by the secre-
tary, who would be under his immediate su-
pervision and responsible to him for the dis
charge Of their duties. But there seems to
son that the Government already has bureau
of statistics and a statistician in the present
bureau Of agriculture, and for the further rea-
son that the Land Office in the Interior De-
partment can have its jurisdiction enlarged so
as to collect all statistics aud perform all du-
ties that the bill proposes to confer on this
bureau of lands.
The substitute bill submitted by the Com
mittee on Civil Service Reform is simple and
more direct in its provisions. It proposes
two bureaus-one Of animal industry and one
Of mining industry-their chiefs to be ap-
pointed.by the secretary. As mining has be-
come so great an interest in this country it
seems proper that that industry should have
a separate bureau. The other work of the
department could better be performed by
clerks under the direction Of the secretary.
Mr. Speaker, one remark further The
farmers of this country are not an inferior
class whose society is desired only on cleo
ton days, and who are denied their proper
social and political position. The phrase ION.
ly farmer" once employed as a term of re-
proach, long ago became obsolete. Farmers
have learned that they are what they make
themselves; that to successfully pursue their
vocation requires brains, education, skill. In
my section of the country, and 1 believe the
same is true throughout the North, farmers,
as a class, are intelligent, well-informed, and
independent in respect of pecuniary means.
Plenty sits smiling in every door.
More than this, they are controlling pow
er in social and political affairs, and do not
ask the Federal Government to elevate their
condition. Even in that section Of the coun-
try where labor was for century degraded,
agricultursts have assumed the dignity that
of right belongs to them. The statistics that
have been exhibited here TO show the enormous
positive that farmers have brought intelli,
gence to their work, and that the products of
the soil have returned to them wealth and in
huence.