Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1924-02-23
Farm Agents Praised By
Cabinet Official.
fIincaln News Service,

washington d. C,-Secretary Wal
lace, of the u. s. Department or Agrf
culture, after receiving group OF Ne
gro farm experts employed by tue
Government for field work In Ala
bama and Mississippi, two OF Whom
were specially designated fer prize
trip" to Washington on account OF the
best work as shown by the annual ex
tension reports has made an ofnclal
release regarding the excellent work
of the entire group. The Negro work
ers in Alabama raised the FUNDS
among themselves for these prize
triLs, which were awarded TO one locai
farm agent, B. F. Hill from Limestone
County, Alabama and one local nome
demonstration agent, Mrs. L. X. Daily,
from Montgomery County. The reports
were judged by an official ronnecteu
with extension work in the depart
ment and representatives Of the agrl'
cultural college in Alabama. To accom-
pany the twoprize-winners OF the
State College sent the three negro
State-agents in county agent WORK,
home demonstration work and boys
club work, Harry Simms, Rosa B.
Jones. and C. NJ Kynette. The Negro
field representative of the Office of Elk
tension Work, T. N. Campbell, was
with the group, and in addition
George G. Cypress the Negro state
club agent for Mississippi was sent
on funds raised in that State.
"a campaign for building doorsteps
may be considered odd" said Mrs
Daily, in telling a group OF extension
people about her work, but it is typl-
cal of the conditions we have to meet
and the needs of some of our people.
We can only attempt to introduce very
simple improvements, such as getting
decent approaches to some of the farm
homes among the Negroes. There is
little use in talking about water sys-
TENS, for example, for the average Ne
gro farmer not only could not afford to
put them in, but often his house has
no. source of water whatever and the
members of the family have to carry
all their water in buckets from some
neighbours house."
Mrs. Daily described many amusing
and touching incidents ccnnected
with her work among Negro homes.
These were substantiated in character
by the account Of the work among the
men given by Mr.. Simms. Over $4,000
of the $4,000 Negro farmers IN Ala
bama are tenant farmers They work
under a bad system whereby the land
| lord controls their financial affairs,
and many of them are practically
never out of debt. Missionary work
among these Negro farmers, for in q
way that is what extension work is, re
quires an immense amount OF tact
and sympathetic attempt to come
close to their special problems.
Mr.. Simms cited an instance where
he went to gathering Of tenants at
| Westinghouse, where the white land
lord was also present. "These colored
farmers were suspicious CT everything
f; might say because they thought the
white men had sent me down there;
and the white landlord was looking
for trouble because he thought was
there to make his farm people discon
tented" He went on to say that exten
sion work offered the only means he
knew of, for bringing help and instruc
ton directly to those people, most OF
whom are sorely in need Of it.
The time spent at the Department Of
Agriculture included a trip to Belts
vile and special visits to the Office OF
Extension Work. the Bureau of Home
Economics the Horticultural and Pom
illogical Division, and Cotton Investi-
cations of Bureau of Plant Industry
the Biological Survey, the Bureau of
Agricultural Economics, the Weather
Bureau, the Bureau of Chemistry and
the Motion Picture Laboratory.