The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-09-15

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sSSaAaasg E& tcman farmer as who never
fHVHA ID raised anything except his hat re-
%F THB ferred to Uncle Samuel of the
WcSA1S HW United States department Of agri
SEyeaSA W3 : culture. All say is that said
~ EMI person is Il comedian who can't
YK1 AE.- comedc. Pardon the assumption,
E,A~~-S5Er.. but | can prove this. In fact, |
~t1at - 81 would bet of SamuelS per-
@M1VzMmnMnzMD fect'y good beaver hats Oh it,
The other day took dinner at
the Doughnut Cabinet In the New Willard hotel. in
our capital city, and had talk with Uncle Sam
and few of his congressman. Oh, 10, this Dough
nut Cabinet has nothing to do with q kitchen cabi-
net nor that tasty breakfast morsei-its the room
which some of your Uncle Sans servants are said
to seek when they want to talk it over" AID dine
bit a; the same time. | simply took notes as
talked with Uncle Sam and his servants. One
congressman was in particularly loquacious mood
and his thoughts turned toward agriculture.
"You know" said the congressman. Il was back
home q while before election and met Farmer
Smith whom | knew boy Naturally was
glad to him. but couldn't help pulling my time
worn offer on him, the formula for which runs like
this: My dear Smith, have at my disposal a long
list of bulletins published by the department of
agriculture at Washington; also have few pack
ages Of seeds selected for me by the departments
scientists 1t would afford me great pleasure, my
old friend to send to you either the goods or some
of the bulletins What will it be- Smith,?
"Now, Smith has no moss growing on his dome.
If he did take off his cap and scratch his head
before he made his decision. He had received both
bulletins and seeds from me many times before.
Well said Smith, I think would rather have a
bulletin with live thought in 1t than seed with
dead germ"
apparently Farmer Smith appreciates my bulle-
tins" exclaimed Uncle Sam. I'm glad to hear
that, for I'm making every effort to put into them
the practical knowledge dug out by my scientists
and Investigators. Last year | distributed through
you congressman and the department of agriculture
upward Of 100000 copies of Farmers Bulletins,
the subjects Of which covered In respects the
entire gamut of the widely varied activities of the
department. But it is impossible for me to supply
even the six million farm families with all of the
bulletins issued Consequently the bulletins of the
department regarded a foundation work
upon which the superstructure Is built.
ITO supplement these bulletins decided about
three years ago to have a regular service bureau
such as is provided by some of the large business
enterprises, only mine to tap reservoir so
great and so deep as to contain an ineXhaust1ble
fund of unbiased, scientific information. chris
tened this innovation office of information, and 1t
has lived up to its name.
"In order to start the Office of information on the
right basis from the standpoint of the newspapers
and other periodicals. secuted about for some
time and finally secured the services of two old
New York newspaper and advertising men and put
them into the office with instructions to get their
facts right by referring the stories to the scientists
for a final O. K. but to write or edit them SO the
periodicals would publish them and the people
would read them 1t was difficult task, but 1t has
been accomplished, as evidenced by the miles OF
clippings of stories sent to by the various clip
ping bureaus. This convinced me that was get
ting more OF the departments information before
the people-supplementin the bulletin service
'You wouldn't believe it. but some people con.
1,1rhfT hnd Etn RI q
a publicity campaign. Far from 1t! They did NOT
realize the difference between the giving out Of In
formation of purely educational character. based
upon facts for which the people already had PAID
their money and the usual publicity matter Inc
Office Of information performs the service or max
Ing available to newspapers and other periodicals.
in the form with which they are familiar. the
practical knowledge dug out by the departments
srientfsts in field and laboratory investigations.
These men trained in their specialtes, are neces-
sartly not newspaper advertising men and there
fore do not know the periodicals want their ar
ucles prepared.
.Only occasionally does a scientist possess a
nose for news and even less frequently can ne ex'
nress his news In way that would escape the
n.c,Ient eve and active blue pencil Of editor.
Onlv the other day heard a congressman say: An
investigator is q man who has found opt what ev'
erybody already knows and tells ABOUT II III IAN
guage which nobody can understand.
"The statement about the language USED oy
many scientists certainly is true. but have 10 pay
w rosnacts TO them as Investigators. Their diff
acuIt lingo is necessary to them. although to the
lavman It may not always be advisable to de-
acr,be common rainfall as falling meteoric water
~ IN write about the elimination and toxlcity OF
caffein in unprecedented rabbits-"Rasever ina
means The scientist however, insists on II Tor &C
curacys sake, and accuracy is his middle name
"You might as well try to pump the ocean dry'
continued Samuel with emphasis, "es to exhaus
the information Of my scientists alopg their specia
lines. Much to the delight Of the boys IN tn'
Office however it is not always necessary .
$3.50, th,s knowledge Scientists frequently art
susceptible to attack by the Bacillus scribenoi
The manuscripts resulting from the work OF t M
scribbling bacillus are put into news snape " ~
oeace of information. But, for one reason or an
other. this germ at times becomes encysted ana
IS necessary to inoculate in new spot ms n
Office does by interviewing scientists VINO are Ju mus
chasing heterogeneous, which the newspaper ma
.ant do or are exhausted from telling Inc peopi