Evening star., 1901-11-15
AGRICULTURAL PROMOTION
ORGANIZATIONS IN NEARLY EVERY
STATE OF THE UNION.
Digest of Laws Prepared by the In
dustrial COmmfssiOn-Grain In
spectiOn and Elevators.

and will publish soon digest of the laws
of the several states relating to boards
of agriculture, farmers institutes, etc.
summarizing the practice in the selection
of commissioners of agriculture, agricui-
tural boards, etc. The commission says:
Organizations for the promotion of ag-
riculture, maintained either in whole or in
part by the state governments, are found
in nearly every state in the Union. State
boards Of agriculture, the most common
form Of organization for that purpose es-
tablished by law and maintained at public
expense, are found in about half the states.
The other typical form is a department
or bureau of agriculture, presided over by
single officer, usually designated as COM
missioner of agriculture. In several cases.
however this Office combines a number
of functions, and his bureau Is known as
the bureau of agriculture and immigration
the bureau of agriculture, labor and in
dustry, the bureau of agriculture, sta.is
tics and mines or the like. These commits
sioners are found chiefly in the south but
also in Maine, New York and North Da-
kota while in Pennsylvania there is a
department Of the state department pre-
sided over by secretary of agriculture.
Finally, In Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa
the place of a board of agriculture is fill
to a greater or less extent by the execu-
tive committee or board Of directors or
managers of the state agricultural society,
and in Utah a similar arrangement is in
effect with the directors of the Deseret Ag-
rlcultural and Manufacturing Society.
State Boards of Agriculture.
''The two principal modes of designatin
the members of the state boards of agricul-
ture are election by state and agricultural
societies or their delegates, and appointed
by the governor, usually subject to con-
flrmation by the upper house of the legis-
1n{,, ".
are combined, part of the members be-
ing appointed by the executive and part
chosen by agricultural societies 1t is COM
mon also for certain officials to be desig
mated members of the board eX officio, the
governor and the president of the state
agricultural college being often designat-
ed. In few states the members of the
state board are elected at annual meetings
by delegates from local societies, who are
declared to be for the time being eX officio
members of the board itself, while in New
Jersey all the members of all the agrcul-
tural and horticultural societies, farmers
clubs and oranges in the state are de-
clared to be members of the state board
of agriculture. In several cases the men,
bers of the boards of agriculture are re-
quired to be appointed from more than
one political party. The commissioners of
agriculture in some states are elected by
the people, like other state officers; in
other cases they are appointed by the ex-
ecutive.
Inc members of the state boards of
agriculture commonly serve without COM
pensation. other than the expenses incident
upon attending the meetings and perform
ing their official duties. The actual ex-
ecutive work is usually in charge of a sal
arled secretary chosen by the board in
some instances from it's own number. The
functions of this officer therefore corre-
spond somewhat closely to those Of the
commissioner of agriculture in states hav-
ing such officials. In some states there is
both a state board of agriculture and a
commissioner of agriculture, who acts as it's
executive officer; while in Kentucky the
commissioner Of agriculture, labor and sta
tistics Is assisted by advisory board"
Elevators and Warehouses.
The commission is also preparing a di-
gest of laws and court decisions relating
to grain inspection, elevators and ware
houses. The Introduction to this publica-
tton is by Mr.. Robert Christy of the Wash
ington bar, who says:
I'm all of the states that have attempted
to form a complete and perfect system for
the regulation of public elevators and pub
lie warehouses there is a very considera-
BILE similarity in the leading features of
the laws composing such system which
differ but little in the powers conferred
upon the executive officers and in the du-
ties imposed upon the warehousemen, but
chiefly in the mode of selection of such
officers and their designations.
1T Is to be presumed, too, that this
similarity Is at least partly due to the fact
that the system adopted by the state of
Illinois, the oldest of these states, and with
city most advantageously situated for the
reception and reshipment of grain and COM
modities Of all kinds produced in the north
west, was selected the common stand
ard of imitation, departures from this COM
mon standard being due to the special con-
ditions of environment existing in the va
rious states.
AFTER long experience in the mode Of Sc
lecting the officers having control Of the in
spection of grain and the supervision of the
condition and management of public ware
houses by appointment of the governor, by
and with the advice and consent of the
senate some OF the states require such Of
f1cers to be chosen by the qualified electors,
as other state officers are chosen One
state has gone so far as to extend to the
recognized political parties by statute the
privilege OF putting the candidates In nomi-
nation as for other state officers"