The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-06-26
HOW STUDENTS RESPONDED.
Pres. Benton Of University of Vermont
Tells of Their Service.

| Benton at the corporation dinner OF the
University of Vermont Monday after
noon, June 25;
! The University of Vermont has met
the present national crises in the same
patriotic spirit that has animated OIL
GERS and students of this institution for
more than century-thc spirit that
gave the buildings Of this university Tor
government barracks in the war OF 1917;
! that sent out the flower of our~ college
youth in the Civil war; that responded
loyalty and promptly in the war with
Spain, and the Mexican episode OF last
year. As soon as diplomatic relations
were broken with Germany, all the re-
sources of the university, human and
material, were placed at the service OF
state and nation.
Fully one third of the student body
has left this institution to engage IN
some form of service made necessary by
war conditions. Forty of our men are
in the reserve officers training camps al
Plattsburg, service where the possibill-
ties of usefulness are increased by the
excellent military drill that has been
conducted here for so many years ana
which has resulted in placing the unlver.
sity in the distinguished class established
by the United States war department to
which very few colleges are eligible. I'm
der the efficient direction OF the com
mandant,. Captain Howard, members OF
the faculty and considerable number
of Burlington citizens have taken mill
tary drill.
The young women of the university
have responded Loyalty to the needs OF
the occasion. One hundred and twenty
six applied for admission to short course
work under Captain Howard, the instruc-
ton being similar to that given in first
aid classes. A large amount OF secreta.
rial work has been done voluntarily con-
sisting largely in arranging and tling
military census returns for the use OF
the war department.
1t may be of interest to know some
of the ways in which the university has
responded to the present war emergency.
One of the most urgent demands made
has been the increased production OF
food supplies and the conservation and
efficient use OF food materials. Ninety
per cent of the students in the college
of agriculture left several weeks ago to
engage in productive work--in farm OPP
Grafton, in garden supervision or In ag
ricultural extension activities; and five
per cent left for Plattsburg training
camp. The remaining five per cent took
up some other form of activity. In this
emergency all of the men in the col.
lege of agriculture forsook the classroom
in order to apply the many useful things
they have learned to some form OF pa
triotic service.
The home economic department is pro-
viding Just the leadership that the WON
en- OF Vermont need at this time when
conservation OF food supplies is imper-
atively demanded The head of this
department and her assistants, including
some of the young women students, are
going about the state giving demon
stra tions and telling the housewives the
practical things they are so anxious to
learn concerning the reservation of foods
and the elimination of waste. AT least
fifty of these demonstrations have been
held and this work will not stop with
the close of the college year.
The agricultural extension service OF
the university has been a great service
to the state. AT the beginning OF the
crisis the county agents were summoned
here for conference and programs were
arranged for the various counties. PUB
lie meetings in cooperation with the
committee OF public safety were held
in every county in which there was
agent, and the gospel OF agricui-
tural preparedness was preached by rep |
of this service. Thousands
of posters were issued broadcast through
out the state calling attention to the need
of an increased crop production A seed
survey was conducted and thirty thous-
and seed questionaires were sent out
asking for information regarding avail |
able kinds and varieties for sale and
kinds and amounts needed by farmers.
These REPLIES were mailed back to the |
central office TO be sorted and tabulated |
and were then returned to the proper
agents. This service made pos
sible in no small measure the increased
crop acreage in Vermont this year. A
vast amount of information concerning |
the planting and care OF crops accord |
ing to scientific methods has been given |
by telephone from the central office and
by the county agents. Each county |
agents Office has been made an agricul- !
tural employment bureau. A production |
and conservation series OF bulletins, thir- |
ty-six in number, has been issued, four
teen OF which related to agriculture and |
twenty to home economics. These have
been issued in editions of ten thousand
and five thousand copies respectively.
From six to eight men have been IN
the field since June | at the expense OF
the extension service visiting farmers |
and getting the cost of milk production
at the request Of the Boston chamber OF
commerce transmitted through the com
mittee of public safety.
The boys and girls club work with
the cooperation of the bankers of the
state has increased to large proportions
and promises much for better agricul-
tural conditions. The extension service
has been instrumental in the iutroduc-
ton Of alfalfa and soy beans which pro
vide important additions to the farmers
feeding stufs and at the same time ben
nefts the soil. Farm management dem
--.-.4.a., ,.nrl has haan conducted mo- 3