The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-12-27
AGENTS ',N|TS Can
help MUCH

Excerpts from address Of Assistant
Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. Carl
Vrooman, at conference OF Coun '
81 mt Leaders, Chicago, November 20
1917.
there is no body Of men in the Unit
ed States to whom l. would rather
speak than to TIE county agents, the
men who were the captains Ct the ar
my of food producers in a fight the
like of which vas never made before.
If we Of the Department of Agricu'-
ture, who, while the fight was on,
from the headquarters tent, offered
prayers and plans. can serve you in
in any more effective ways in the fu-
ture than we have in the past, you
Rave only to omr and US. I want to
ask you also to take back to the men
in the burrows an expression Of their
govern. cts gratitude for an essen
tial service faithfully done. Will you
say further, "Your country needs your
services a little longer. Notonly your
country, but humanity, requires for it's
salvation that you plant and pillow,
sow and save and send forth to the
needs of the nations for another sea-
son, even as you have for the season
that is past"
No man knows when the war will
end. Against the sort of foe we face
no man can guess how long the war
must be waged. There is only n
thing that we all know to a certainty,
and that thing is that the war will be
won, no matter how long it takes, o
how much it costs. in treasure and
blood. And we know too that to win
that war armies on the fair fields Of
France are but a chaff before the
wind except as they are supported by
other armies as large and as ready
to undergo sufferings and sacrifices,
in the burrows and foundries at home.
You County Agents out in the
counties of every state have rendered
and still have to render, a service to
your country the Importance of which
cannot be estimated. You r holding
a salient almost as important as Yer
dun, for except as you continue to
hold it, the forces or democracy must
fail.
Your government has not failed to
realize that important fact. It has
outlined a very definite program for
the development of county agent work
by the end of this fiscal year that, IN
the ordinary course of things, would
have required six years. For thai
purpose, Congress has placed at the
disposal Of the Department Of Agrl-
culture millions of dollars.
The wide and rapid development is
a military necessity because Of war
conditions. We need and must have
a County Agent in every agricultural
county in the United States by the be.
ginning of next planting a and
that means February l.
Not all of this stupendous work can
be done by the Department OF Agrl-
culture unless it has the cooperation
of the Agricultural Colleges and the
other agencies that are working with
it. Nothing must be left undone to
speed up the work of organization in
the counties, to get agents appointed
in the counties promptly enough thai
they will be on the ground ready te
direct the effort of the farmers ever
before the actual planting time be-
,kgins. :,
Il For the county agent is the direct
inr genius in the agricultural indus
try Of his county. There has reste'
on him always q very great persona
responsibility. There rests upon hin
.now d more imperative public res