The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-19
WOODROW WILSON


 big operators who gambled in futures and at their will boost or depress | the market. But under the <protec- ton given the planters by, the Cot ton Futures Act, they have derived, with the assistance of the office of Market and Rural Organization, in- calcuable returns.
 The official standard grades promul- gated under the provisions of this act
 have been adopted by the leading spot markets and affords the Department through its supervision over these markets an opportunity to assist the | farmer in securing fair quotations on which a large part of the crop is sold. tp; The bureau is now furthering official | grades for commercial corn with mo- ticeable results, as the desire to obtain ! the price for the highest grade is J proving a strong .inducement to the farmer to exercise more cafe in | handling his product. The general
 use of official standards will facilitate
 also warehouse legislation for which Isthere Is serious need. The Depart ment recommends uniform state laws and a federal statute which will en- able it to license bonded warehouses. Warehouse receipts will be acceptable | collateral for loans and contribute effectively toward the solution of the problem of rural credits. In addition
 to its many other activities the Office of Markets also acts as an interme- l diary in the exchange of information between the producing sections and l the large consuming centers.
 ! This system is being rapidly devel- ] oped and has already demonstrated its usefulness in preventing the glut- 1 ting of markets and in 1essening the
 humber of cars that have totbe divert ed in transit from their original des- tinations.
 I While the Office of Markets and Rural Organization is thus endeavor- ing to smooth the farmers road to market, the Office of Farm Manage ment is devoting itself to determining what it is he can take there most ad- vantageously. This office was created
 in 1905 as part of the Bureau of Plant Industry. With the reorganiza- ton of the department in 1915, how ever, it became a part of the office of the secretary and its functions were more strictly defined. Its one purpose
 now is to assist the farmer. in making his farm pay.
 To this end the scope of the work of the Office of Experiment Stations
 has been greatly enlarged. so that, as
 reorganized as thes States Relations Service, that bureau now has the ad-
 ministration of the great fund provid-
 ed by the Smith-Lever Bill for agricul-
 tural education extension work. par ticularly among country agents. The bill which became law on May 8,
 1914, gives the farmer the benefit of the agricultural knowledge which the
 department has been storing up for half a century.
 |. "Reservoiring" in the words of Am bassador Page, an enormous mass of information collected with the peoples money which the people are entitled to get.
 "It is certain remarked Secretary
 Houston in discussing this smatter ] that if the average farmer could be induced to imply what the experts know or what the best farmers prac- T tice, a revolution could be brought 2 about in the agriculture of the nation.' !, The Smith-Lever Act revolutionizes !; the conditions under which the work . of agricultural education on the farm l IS COHuuCteu. US one great dlIl IS to l bring to every farmer and farmers S wife in the country the agricultural
 and household Knowledge in the pos- session of the Federal Department and 7 the state colleges : Altogether a total |. of nearly five million dollars will be } spent in this undertaking during the . fiscal year of 1915-1916. A great part t of the Smith-Lever funds are used in the support of more than one thous- and country agents each one of whom 5 is really deputy Secretary of Agri- 3 culture. There is nothing about a 7 farm from account books to drainage and from disease preventing serum to : cattle breeding that he is not compe- ) tent to discuss. He not only instructs l and advises, but frequently lends his
 assistance to cooperative movements 8 and in the construction of improve : ments. The country agent as develop 9 ed under the Wilson administration is t the best welcomed individual a farmer g can meet.
 t The remarkable expansion of agri- 3 cultural extension made possible by