The Arvada enterprise., 1915-04-22

~ !: : : !: !: E: !:
part OF the agricultural department
w to spread useful agricultural and
AV \ \ household Information among the
~ people through the medium Of the
! press of the country. The attempt
has been highly successful, per-
haps the readers of newspapers do
not need to be told. for the interesting and and at
times compelling writings of the service men have
been before them from day to day
In the department OF agriculture there is an Of
flee OF Information which was created In June 1913
Before It's establishment there had been no active
effort to give directly to the people the results of
the departments work. Walter H. Page at pres.
ent the American ambassador to Great Britain said
on this subject OF getting agricultural information
to the people that the department Had been reser.
votring an enormous mass Of information collected
with the peoples money and which the people wero
entitled to get
In tho past there were issued at frequent inter-
walls publications largely In bulletin FORM but with
the exception OF more less perfunctory notices of
,he,r appearances comparatively little was done to
make the public aware that they were at its dis
posa Ono Of the first things that the Office of in
formation did. therefore. was to develop system
oy which absolutely accurate newspaper stories
oased on the material contained In these bulletins
could be sent out to such newspaper which n
seemed reasonable to expect from the nature n, ,bo
various subjects. would be interested in publishing
them for the sake OF their readers This work stil
forms large part Of the activities of the office
some time ago there criticism OF what werc
called the publicity efforts of the department of .1r
culture. The critics did not understand at nil th.
nature OF the work which was being done Tbav
seemed to think that a press agency had been a..
taohsned simply for the purpose of booming the
ACTIVITIES OF the agricultural department with vIew
perhaps, as some OF the critics may have tbougb,
OF saying something kindly occasionally about tho
ohicials OF government concerned in tho work
Criticism passed quickly. for congress was told In
etter 10 speaker Champ Clark Of the house OF rem
resentattves Of Just what the Information WORT ~,
the department consisted and a sharp lins -n.
drawn between the nature Of the Information vhich
was being sent out and the usual stun which I.
turned out by a publicity bureau which ia NOT NJ
all necessarily an Information bureau
In the letter to the speaker OF the house the sec
retary OF agriculture said this:
Tho nation Ii spending through the depart.
ment many millions OF dollars In acquiring agr.
cultural Information II would be little short of
criminal to spend millions OF dollars to acquire
Information and not to every possible eff.
c'ent agency available for placing II at the dis.
posal OF the people as promptly as possible. 1t
Is the purpose OF the Office 1.-THE ofice of informa
toni, with AZ little delay as possible through
every proper medium. to give the knowledge
which the department possesses as the result OF
Investigations and field work to all the people
who desire II or should have II. The oilce un.
dcrtakes to deal solely with facts. with sugges.
t'ons OF remedies. and OF methods OF applying
them In every field OF agriculture"
Prior to the time that tho office OF information
WAS created nearly all tho printed matter con
vcying information In the form Of bulletins
and circulars and the issues were not very vol
luminous. Frequently great deal OF time WAS
required finally to prepare the bulletin to print
II and to 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. were dit.
dcult to interIret. to understand and to apply.
One OF tho particular duties OF the depart.
mcnts offcc OF Information is to put the matter
which comes from the different bureaus in tech.
uicai or scientific form into language which lay
readers can understand. II seemed easier and
better Ia the department officials that the Office
OF Information should choose the matter OF spc.
cial value 10 particular districts or sections OF
tho Union and TO have Il distributed to such sec.
tons quickly. had been found that delay In
issuing tho official printed bulletins and in mail.
ing them often defeated the ends OF real service.
In case OF the appearance In some district of an
,nscct plague or OF n disease that inenaced tho
stock. quick action. OF course. II was realized.
was necessary to accomplish results.
The Inauguration OF the service OF information
"a II is Mt present carried out ncccssntcd a most
efficient mailing system which would enable tho
Office to circulate it's material amonS those
classes OF publications and In those sections OF
the country which could derive benefit from It.
and at tho same time avoid n distribution that
would bc expensive to the government and use.
less to tho newspapers and. II they should pub.
lish II, to their readers.
Now there Is a mailing system installed and
under operation by the division OF publication
and by means OF Il the publications OF the couu.
Try classified geographically and by their
character. Now It Is possible to transmit =
story TO all tho newspapers In the United States.
to all the newspapers In any city or group Of
cities, to ail the farm publications In the country
or In any state emitting tho general newspapers.
10 the trade papers OF any one or all Of tho
trades. to daily newspapers In big cities alone.
q 70 those In small county seats alons-ln short,
practically any desired combination Of publica.
tions 10 possible.