Evening star., 1941-02-23
Farming Service Defends Nation
Research Work Aids
Army and Navy in
New Emergency
By 4. A. H0ehinP.


glorified, grain-dispensing country
store, has set its collective shoulder
and it's collective mind against a
succession of endless and diversi-
fed problems, from matters affect
ing isolated sections to big-time
crises which have had potential
strength to wreck a nation.
1t has found no peace in its almost
70 years of existence, and yet, SCARED
by such battles as those with the boil
weevil, with cattle disease, and with
| dying, dust-consumed farm lands, it
has grown to stature which COM
mands at least equal place with any
branch Of the Federal Government.
| Always up in the front line in this
Nations armed conflicts, the depart
ment has again pitched its tent
and set up its own heavy artillery
beside its brothers, the Army and
the Navy, and is looking ahead to-
ward the not suspicious months of
1941 with the realization that 1t
is today better prepared for trouble
than ever in its history.
Indeed, the Army and the Navy
are glad of the adjoining hypothet-
ical tent and already they have
visited it with their problems and
sought advice, for today the depart
ment has become high-speed
organization of scientific efficiency
which cannot only grow a sweet
potato in a test tube but can also
concoct with that same test tube a
poison gas to match and probably
better the vilest concoctions that
could be inspired from the Berchtes-
gaten laboratory.
In many ways the departments S
work has come to affect our lives
and our way of living. Attributable
in one way or another to but small
part of its honeycomb of labora-
tories are the soap bars with which
we wash our hands, the plastic
cabinet which houses the intracacies
of our radio, the paper upon which
we write.
Defense Problems.
Now 1t becomes the problem of
the Agriculture Department., in as
suming its share of the history
making national defense effort, to
work for the continuance of that
way of life in the making of which
it had so notable hand.
AS the agency has grown in size
and accomplishments. so have its
duties and responsibilities increased.
In addition to supplying the ma
terials with which to feed and clothe
an army, it will have definite
role in molding the actual arma-
ments of this latest of Uncle Sans
many and notable fighting machines
"a role unprecedented except for
certain work in the World War.
With gunpowder and liquid fire,
with synthetic gasoline and airplane
plastics, it will help to render the
Nation strong against attack. With
a full knowledge of substitutes for
almost every war essential which We
import, it will battle attempts to cut
of our markets. With improved
methods Of refrigeration it will store
thousands of tons of frozen foods
to thWart the menace of starvation.
But this is somewhat ahead of
the story. To appreciate what the
, agency is today, one should look
back to yesterday and see its humble
beginnings, see the problems and
emergencies which have tried, tough
ened, and fitted it for it's big task of
1941-and who knows for how many
subsequent years?
1t did not come into being until
1862, but its antecedentS really go
some two centuries beyond that.
We first see government interest in
the problems attendant to agricul-
ture in 1642 when the general court
of Massachusetts, offered premiums
to stimulate sheep raising.
Whether this attempt met with
success or not, history does not
seem to say, but it was not until 1882
that similar efforts were made and
recorded. In that year, a tract of
governmental ground was allotted in
Georgia for growing mulberry trees
in aid Of the silk culture, and begin
lining in 1888 for 10 years Parliament
granted 100000 to promote the cul-
tivation of indigo and other crops
in the same State.
Franklin's Share.
Measures of this general nature
continued spasmodically off and on
right up to 1862. The versatile Ben
jamin Franklin, in fact, had his
share in the fostering of agriculture
before the Revolution when, as an
agent for the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania. he imported silk
worms and mulberry trees and vari-
Gus seeds and plants which he
thought might flourish on Ameri-
can soil.
The Revolution, however, had an
adverse effect on agriculture and
put an end, for example, to at
tempts being made by South Caro-
lima and Virginia to encourage sheep
raising. That was one war when
the science notably did not thrive
After the Revolution Thomas JEFF
ferson more or less carried on the
work which had been initiated by
Franklin and was aided in the gath
ering of foreign seeds and cuttings
by our Consuls abroad. The Patent
Office, then a part of the State De-
partment, became the distributor of
the agricultural imports and in
doing so became the real grand
father of the present-day DEPART
ment.
A definite move to create a
Department of Agriculture, which
took voice around 1840, eliminated
in 1852 with the passage of three
acts-the Homestead, the Depart
ment and the Land Grand College