The Columbus courier. [volume] (Columbus, Luna County, N.M.) 1911-1920, 1915-04-23

N part OF the agricultural department
to spread useful agricultural and
household Information among the
Ak0 people through the medium Of the
press OF the country. The attempt
has been highly successful, as per
haps the readers OF newspapers do
not need to be told, for the interesting and and al
times compelling writings OF the service men have
been before them from day to day.
In the department Of agriculture there is an Of
hce OF information which was created IN June, 1918.
Before its establishment there had been no active
effort to give directly to the people the results OF
the departments work. Walter II. Page. at pres.
ent the American ambassador 20 Great Britain, said
on this subject Of getting agricultural Information
to the people that the department Had been reser.
voiring an enormous mass OF information collected
with the peoples money and which the people were
entitled TO get"
In the past there we're issued at frequent inter.
walls publications largely In bulletin form, but with
the exception OF more or less perfunctory notices OF
their appearances comparatively little was done to
make the public aware that they we're at it's dis.
posal One Of the first things that the Office OF In.
formation did, therefore, was to develop a system
oy which absolutely accurate newspaper stories
based on the material contained in these bulletlna
could be sent out to such newspaper. which Il
seemed reasonable to expect from the nature OF the
various subjects, would be interested in publishing
them for the sake Of their readers. This work stIn
forms a large part of the activities OF the ONCE.
Some time ago there was q criticism of what were
called the publicity efforts OF the department Of aWri.
culture. The critics did not understand at ali the
nature OF the work which was being done. They
seemed TO think that a press agency had been es.
tabliahed simply for the purpose Of boomIng ,ha
activities OF the agricultural department with a view
perhaps, as some OF the critics may have thought
OF saying something kindly occasionally about the
onicials OF government concerned in the work
Criticism passed quickly, for congress was told IN
a letter to Speaker Champ Clark Of the house OF ran.
resentatves Of Just what the Information work =,
the department consisted, and a sharp line was
drawn between the nature Of the information which
was being sent out and the usual stdH which h
turned out by a publicity bureau which Is not AZ
all necessarily an Information bureau.
10 the letter to the speaker Of the house the sec.
rotary OF agriculture said this;
The nation is spending through the depart.
ment many millions Of dollars in acquiring sgrl.
cultural Information. u would be little short OF
criminal to spend millions OF dollars to acquire
Information and not to use every possible Ell.
cient agency available for placing II at the dis
posal Of the people as promptly as possible. u
Is the purpose Of the ONCE 1.-THE Office OF informa-
toni with as little delay as possible, through
every proper medium, to give tEe knowledge
which the department possesses as the result Of
Investigations and field work to all the people
who desire II or should have Il. The ONCE I'M
dertakes to deal solely with facts. with sugges-
tons OF remedies. and OF methods Of applying
them IN every field OF agriculture"
Prior to the time that the office Of information
was created nearly all the printed matter con-
veying information was In the form OF bulletins
and circulars and the issues we're not very vol.
luminous. Frequently a great deal Of time was
required finally to prepare the bulletin, to print
II and 10 distribute II. II was Inevitable for
many reasons that these bulletins could not
reach the great mass Of the people who would
be interested In them. Many farmers did not
know that the service was at their disposal
They knew nothing about the bulletins or which
ones Of them would be helpful to them, nor did
they know how to secure them. Moreover. the
publications largely were technical, we're diff
hcult &c interpret, to understand and TO apply.
One Of the particular duties Of the depart
ments Office OF information is TO put the matter
which comes from the different bureaus in tech
nlcal or scientific form into language which lay
readers can understand. II seemed easier and
better TO the department officials that the Office
OF information should choose the matter OF spe-
cial value to particular districts or sections Of
the Union and 10 have Il distributed to such sec
tons quickly, II had been found that delay In
Issuing the ofncial printed bulletins and In mail
ing them often defeated the ends Of real service.
In case Of the appearance In some district OF an
insect plague or Of a disease that menaced the
stock. quick action, Of course, II was realized.
was necessary to ~cc0mpis results.
The inauguration OF the service u information
as Il is at present carried out necessilated a most
efficient mailing system which would enable the
Once 10 circulate It's material among those
classes Of publications and in those sections of
the Nountry which could derive benefit from H.
and At the same time avoid a distribution that
would be expensive to the government and use
less to the newspapers and, IL they should pub
lish II. to their readers.
New there Is a mailing system installed and
under operation by the division OF publication
ami by means OF Il the publications OF the coun-
try are classified geographically and BY their
character. Now Il is possible 70 transmit a
story 10 all the newspapers IA the United States,
to an the newspapers Ia any city or group Of
cities, 70 ell the farm publications 10 the country
or IN any state. emitting the general newspapers,
20 the trade papers Of any one or ell Of tho
trades, to daily newspapers In big cities alone,
" to those In small county aeats alone-in short
practically any desired combination Of publica-
lions is possible.