The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-03-25
TIL = HAS KEN EFT ER
Reorganizing the Department Of Agriculture.
THE ] 8. !.

Reorganiiziing the Dep;
Ia By Frederil
II The CongressSo of the United States,
backed by the administrative branch
Of tho government. has reache4: the
conclusion that an epoch has been
D passed in the history of one of its
greatest departments. The depart
#rnent or agriculture has, for two dc
cades, been doing a most comprehend
tsive work in accommodating inforn.a-
Ition, largely scientific. which bears
upon the possibility Of growing bet
tier crops. lit has torn the soils Of
1.-The nation into their compon emit parts
land studied them. 1t has brought
4 the plants Of the world to this coun-
TRY and grown them in its experiment.
lsIations. It has sifted the pollen Of
the mock orange into the petals OF
tthose kindred plants that grow in the
best orchards or Florida, and. lot n
II1ew fruit has come into being. It
bic the corn yield Of the average Amer
Eican farm. It has developed serums
| that Danish disease from among farm
lanimals. 1t hasffound many ways CT
Elessening the labor of the mother on
1.-THE farm.
The developmentof this informtion
has been a vast work. Nearly 800
1000 people have been employed In the
flask. OF these 5000 were trained
scientists the largest body or men in
/ the world who were entitled to write
letters after their names The mon
ley spent for this information has
climbed steadily into the millions.
ten, fifteen, twenty millions a year.
1 until the final appropriation just
A passed amounts to t$23. 600 900.
Now the department pronounces
itself surfefted with information. 1T
has gone before Congress and asked
THAT the course Of its activities be
! purpose be to communicate the in
formation already obtained to the
farmer. While the scientific work IS
mot to be lessened, it is to yield the
center Of the stage to those who are
engaged in taking it back to the land
land getting it actually applied To
lthis end the secretary of agriculture
last year asked the permission of
Congress to reorganize its work. He
iaHsinied to separate that work which
vas regulatory, as, for instance, the
enforcement Of the pure food law, and
bring it together. He wanted the re-
search work of the department. cen
4 tralized to avoid confusion and dupli-
cation. But. most important Of all.
4 he wanted the extension work
brought into one bureau that it might
j come into8its own. Congress granted
4 this permission and the appropriation
1 act just passed was framed for this
ar+r
The greatest of the scientific
branches Of the department was the
A bureau Of plant industry. The scien-
fists Of that bureau studied all plant
life in its relation to agriculture But
4 its purpose was III erely the accnmula-
III ton of informaLfOn. Yet within that
u breau developed various lines of work
which had to do with the application
.sol this Information rather than its #ac-
emulation. Research and extension
work were being confused.
BY extension work the department
means the application Of its findings
tn the farm. It looked about for the
best nucleus around which to gather
all this extension work It found
that it had an Office Of experiment
stations This Office looked after
government demonstration farms In
- 81 - tiHu aaleTFlIOTy. III was
III engaged In taking scientific agricul-
ture back to the people and had a
framework already built up This
h should be the nucleus.
SO the office Of experiment. stations
h has been rechristened and called the
states relations service. Within Ill h y
ID been gathered all the exten sion work
+ OF the governments. Upon it is to be
LA ID especial stress, forsit is to SYM
boltze the new era that is dawnire
TOR the agricultural work Of the gov
ernment 8'
As supplement to this work III
the experiment stations there was ia K
en- d1lysfrom the bureau Of plant in
dustry q force that had grown up al
most OF itsel II, and which was known
| IS farmers cooperative work IN til J
cotton belt This was the move
s1 ne ina Tor ten Years, had been ar
tempting to relieve the South OF TIL
h5hab OF farming nothing but cotton
land corn. 1t had looked toward re-
! lilevlng a condition or run down&land
and Improbable farming that had
lIDecomes general in certain sections It's
. me ll IN % WIS TO a appoint county agents.
n1en acquainted with the various
communities and who also knew
sc,lentiIfi farming. These men worked
patiently in their communities in
the1ra e forts to introduce better meth
o Cd! and more3d diversified systems OF
IA farming nil The results that they OBJ
tanned We're Revolutionary. They
we &c he beginning Of. the extension
.l&or The organization had 50
grown that today there are 6:
! agents g IN II as many counties or tht
! south 1LlII who are actuallf accomplishing
II Inc purpose e at which all agricultur-
! lists aim. This entire force ri trani 4.
1 Eferred from nj an I, i !, n