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 Preliminary report. 
 
 3 1924 001 089 204 
 
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 // Preliminary Report 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMISSION OF INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 Agricultural Resources 
 OF THE State 
 
 MADE TO THE 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 AT ITS 
 
 JANUARY SESSION, A. D. 19 16 
 
 PROVIDENCE: 
 
 E. I.. FREEUAN CO., STATE PRINTERS 
 
 1916 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001089204 
 
^Utt of l&i}olii Mlmi mh l^mv^imt flantatinnB 
 
 Preliminary Report 
 
 COMMISSION OF INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 Agricultural Resources 
 OF THE State 
 
 MADE TO THE 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 AT ITS 
 
 JANUARY SESSION, A. D. I9I6 
 
 PROVIDENCE : 
 
 B. L. FREEMAN CO., STATE PHINTBH8 
 
 1916 
 

 " ^~' ^~; / 
 
 '//-e^ 
 
PRELIMINARY REPORT. 
 
 To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and 
 Providence Plantations: 
 
 The undersigned members of the Commission, appointed by 
 His Excellency the Governor, for the purpose of inquiring into the 
 agricultural resources of the State, respectfully report as follows: 
 
 The Commission was appointed under the authority of an act 
 passed by the General Assembly at the January session, 1915, and 
 approved March 31st, 1915. This act required the Commission to 
 inquire into the agricultural resources of the State and report to the 
 General Assembly the result of such inquiry. The act further 
 provides that the Commission shall make a report, which may be 
 preliminary, to the General Assembly, at its session in 1916. As the 
 subject is a very complex one the Commission found it impossible 
 to complete its labo;rs so as to make a final report this year and the 
 report herewith submitted is therefore preliminary to a final report to 
 be made later. 
 
 The Commission has held many meetings and has conferred with 
 officials and citizens interested in agriculture, and in the short period 
 of its existence, has so far aimed to get a general view of the problem 
 before it, giving, however, especial attention to questions of marketing 
 and dairying, since these seem to be the immediate importance. 
 Other matters ttiat seem worthy of consideration have been noted and 
 are mentioned in the concluding part of this report, but your Com- 
 mittee intends to make special recommendations in regard to them in 
 its final report. 
 
 Sir Horace Plunkett, the famous agricultural expert, has summed 
 up the problems of agriculture in very few words, — "Better farming, 
 
4 HEPOKT OP COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 better business, better living." Fanning, he argues, is an industry- 
 demanding the latest applications of science and the most careful 
 efficiency; it is a business that must be conducted cooperatively to 
 secure the best results; and it requires living conditions such as to 
 make the life of the farmer and his family more comfortable, more 
 social, more stimulating. 
 
 Of these three sets of problems your Commission considers that 
 comparatively little study needs to be given to increased productions 
 through improved farming methods. Already much attention is 
 devoted to such matters by the National Department of Agriculture 
 and by the State College. Moreover, we are convinced that increased 
 production and better farming will come automatically when better 
 business methods are developed in marketing and when standardized 
 products are presented at fair prices to the consumer. Better business 
 will encourage better farming, and better living will naturally follow 
 the increased prosperity of the farmer. 
 
 The Commission in this preliminary report and in the final report 
 which it hopes to make next year, has it in mind to present the problem 
 of agricultural betterment as a whole, and to suggest changes that 
 seem to harmonize with the best methods in use elsewhere, even 
 though such changes are contrary to present methods in use, or are in 
 opposition to interests concerned in the maintenance of things as they 
 are. The Commission, therefore, welcomes suggestions and criti- 
 cisms, as aids towards the preparation of its final report, believing 
 that only through publicity and discussion can problems be clearly 
 understood and proper solutions attained. 
 
 COOPERATION. 
 
 In European rural organization the key-note of the entire system 
 is embodied in the motto recently emphasized at the Pan-American 
 gatherings at Washington: — "Each for all, all for each." AVe 
 believe that in this State the same motto should have application. 
 Rhode Island is a compact, populous and wealthy State, chiefly 
 urban and manufacturing in its interests, but largely dependent on 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 5 
 
 its rural sections for farm products. In reality the rural interests are 
 not distinct from or opposed to urban interests. The interests of 
 both are intrinsically united, so that a chamber of commerce should 
 be as deeply interested in the welfare of the country towns as these 
 should be in the improvement of cities. For this and similar reasons 
 your Commission wishes to emphasize as its fundamental plank the 
 need of Cooperation: — cooperation between city and town, coopera- 
 tion among the several departments and boards of State adminis- 
 tration, cooperation between public boards and private organizations, 
 and last but by no means least, cooperation among farmers, among 
 dairymen, between the producer and the consumer, and between 
 these and the middleman. 
 
 Your Commission is deeply impressed with the crying need for a 
 greater coordination of, and cooperation among, the several adminis- 
 trative agencies of the State. Departments and Boards already in 
 existence are amply sufficient to accomplish remarkable improvements 
 in the conditions of the towns, if only they worked together with 
 common purpose and well defined plan. Especially is this true of such 
 agencies as the Boards of Agriculture, Veterinarians, Health, and 
 Education, the Commissioner of Forestry, and the State College. 
 These unitedly could work out a general plan which, if pursued con- 
 sistently, would within a comparatively few years greatly enhance the 
 prosperity of the agricultural interests. 
 
 The same point also would hold true of the many private agencies, 
 each of which is devoted to some one aspect of rural life, such asso- 
 ciations, for example, as the Grange, the numerous associations for 
 the furtherance of such matters as corn growing, the production of 
 milk, poultry, fruits; cow-testing associations, two of which already 
 exist in the State (The Aquidneck Dairy Men's Association and the 
 Providence Cow Testing Association) and especially the new farm 
 bureaus recently organized for the promotion of county agent work. 
 The State College is even now doing much to bring about an earnest 
 cooperation among public and private agencies and your Commission 
 is positive that the more closely such cooperation can be effected, the 
 more rapid will be the rehabilitation of agricultural interests. 
 
6 HEPOKT OF COMMISSION INTO AGEICULTUBAL RESOURCES. 
 
 The county agent work seems to 'be so important a movement 
 that its organization and purposes are herewith detailed. 
 
 The county agent plan as at present operating in this country, grew 
 out of a combination of ideas contributed by (1) the work of the 
 German TraveUng-Teacher, (2) the District Representative of the 
 Ontario Department of Agriculture, and (3) the County Demon- 
 strator of the Cotton Belt, established by the Office of Farm Manage- 
 ment of the United States Department of Agriculture, Cooperating 
 with the General Educational Board. 
 
 The work in the Northern States was begun in Boone County, 
 New York, March 11, 1911, at which time the Boone County Farm 
 Bureau was established by financial cooperation between the Bing- 
 hampton Chamber of Commerce and the Delaware, Lackawanna & 
 Western Railroad. A county agent was employed, who worked 
 under the supervision of the State College of Agriculture and the 
 Office of Farm Management of the United States Department of 
 Agriculture. Large commercial organizations then became inter- 
 ested in the work, notably the Council of Grain Exchanges of Chicago, 
 which made available 1100,000, offering $1,000 outright to each 
 county which would organize and employ a county agent. It was 
 soon found, however, that the cooperation of the farmers themselves 
 was very important and this led to the organization of the local 
 interests in the form of a farm bureau, as it is generally called, by 
 which the farmers in the county are given a voice in the selection of 
 the agent to be employed and in the direction of his work. This has 
 proved highly satisfactory, especially in the northeastern states. 
 
 Owing to the passage of the Smith-Lever extension act IMay 8th, 
 1914, funds are now available from the Federal Department of 
 Agriculture to place a man in every county in the United States 
 within ten years. This plan, of course, implies that supplementary 
 funds be raised from state sources, recognizing state interests and 
 state control, and from county sources, representing local interests 
 and local control. The usual plan for raising the county funds is by 
 direct appropriation from the county commissioners. In Rhode 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 7 
 
 Island, in the absence of a political organization, it becomes necessary 
 to divide the county budget among the cities and towns, thus adding 
 largely to the labor of obtaining the necessary funds from local 
 sources. In Washington and Kent counties every town in which the 
 matter has been presented voted the appropriation without opposi- 
 tion. In Providence County the cities and towns have been slow 
 to act, since most of them are looking to Providence to see what 
 action it will take. The funds now available for the work in Provi- 
 dence County are, a State appropriation of $1,000 and an appro- 
 priation from the Federal Goveriunent and State College of $1,000. 
 These funds are contingent upon the raising of at least $1,000 from 
 the community to be served. The sum of $3,000, however, is not 
 sufficient to obtain satisfactory results, as the type of man required 
 for the work in Providence County cannot be obtained short of a 
 salary of $2,500 as a minimum. To this must be added $500 or $600 
 for traveling expenses, $600 for office expenses and $500 for printing 
 and miscellaneous expenses, so that it may be seen that over $4,000 
 will be required to carry on effectively this work. 
 
 If the City of Providence should vote $1,000 this would be less than 
 the City would have to pay under the county organization, as two- 
 thirds of the taxable property in the county is in the City of Provi- 
 dence, and, if we had county commissioners, as they have in Massa- 
 chusetts, Providence would be called upon pay over $1,300. 
 
 The county agent is a traveling teacher and organizer, whose 
 duties are to go among the farmers, to become personally acquainted 
 with them, and to make suggestions as to improved methods of 
 agriculture, farm management and community organizations. He 
 acts as a bridge between the Agricultural College, where the scientific 
 knowledge is "on tap," to the farmer, who, either through indifference 
 or lack of opportunity, has not been able to avail himself of that 
 storehouse of knowledge. The county agent learns the farmer's 
 problems, and in addition to his own training, he has at his command 
 as an agent of the National Department of Agriculture and the 
 
8 EEPOET OF COMMISSION INTO AGHICULTUilAL BESOURCES. 
 
 State College, all of the resources of these institutions to enable him 
 to help the farmer solve his problems. 
 
 To secure the highest proficiency in County Agent work, it is very 
 important to have a county wide organization of farmers backing up 
 the agent. The Providence County Farm Bureau already has 
 nearly 250 paid-in memberships, practically all of which represent 
 farmers engaged in farming. 
 
 The organization, in itself, can, with the help of the county expert 
 be made an effective, constructive factor in the agricultural develop- 
 ment of the county. Hampden County, in Massachusetts, of which 
 the City of Springfield is the county seat, has from all sources an 
 annual appropriation for this work of $23,000. 
 
 Until the establishment of the Washington and Kent Coimties 
 Farm Bureau in this State in September, 1915, Rhode Island and 
 Nevada were the only two states in the Union that had not adopted 
 the county agent plan of agricultural development. 
 
 AGRICULTURE IN RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 In a study of agriculture in Rhode Island one of the obvious phases 
 of the problem is the fact that lands originally used for agricultural 
 purposes have been allowed, with increasing population, to lapse into 
 disuse. For nearly a century after its settlement Rhode Island was 
 mainly, if not wholly, an agricultural colony. As late as 1790 the 
 agricultural towns maintained a large and thrifty population and 
 sold through the ports of Providence and Newport large numbers of 
 horses and cattle, and great quantities of lumber, butter, cheese, 
 cider, beef, barley and other grains. 
 
 But already at that date the decline of rural population and 
 industry had begun, and by 1795 inquiries into the causes for this 
 decline are set on foot. A keen trained observer of that daj'* both 
 states the fact and assigns the following reasons: (1) scarcity of 
 labor; (2) preference for a seafaring life; (3) lack of a profitable 
 market; (4) distractions of frequent elections; (5) lack of information 
 
 *See " Pictures of Rhodo Island in the Past," by Gertrude S. Kimball, Pages 133-4 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 9 
 
 and training. The curious point in this connection is that there is no 
 mention of exhaustion or infertility of the soil. In fact, a traveler of 
 the time observes that "in no other colony does one see cattle of such 
 enormous size nor flocks of sheep so numerous," (Kimball, page 110). 
 
 The facts seem to indicate that the people of the State were finding 
 more lucrative employment in commerce than in agriculture, and that 
 enterprise was seeking those lines of endeavor that were offering 
 larger prizes and better pay with smaller sacrifice. The spirit of 
 adventure was caUing to them and they obeyed. 
 
 This tendency to neglect agriculture for occupations offering 
 larger rewards, more regular hours, and less of isolation and hardship 
 was heightened by the introduction and increasing importance of 
 manufactures. By 1812 many of the farms were falling into decay. 
 President Timothy Dwight* at this time remarked that the country 
 around Providence was "so lean as scarcely to supply its inhabitants 
 with food." Women and children as well as men, all of American 
 birth and many, says Fearon (1817), owning farms and houses, 
 were employed in the mills. This desertion of the land for more 
 attractive occupations progressed steadily for over eighty years. 
 
 The important fact that emerges from the foregoing consideration 
 is that we have during all these years a process, not of soil-deteri- 
 oration and consequent abandomnent, but of economic adjustment 
 to changing conditions. In the earlier days when labor found no 
 profitable outlet other than the land, larger areas were taken up, 
 poorer lands were brought under cultivation and the products of these 
 poorer lands satisfied simpler needs. As commerce and especially 
 manufactures increased and offered more remunerative rewards 
 for labor the poorer lands were abandoned. The demand for labor 
 continued and grew more urgent; laborers flocked in from beyond 
 the seas; agriculture and manufacturers were bidding in the same 
 labor-market, the margin of profit on medium lands would not permit 
 of equal competition for the labor which both must have; hence, the 
 lands of mediimi grade also were left unused. Thus has come about 
 the gradual diminution of the acreage of improved land. 
 
 ♦Kimball, Pages 165-8. 
 2 
 
10 BEPOBT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 But now another change has set in. With the increase of popu- 
 lation has come an increased demand for food products. The price 
 of these products to the consumer has steadily increased until the 
 situation has become distressing. The question of better and larger 
 food supply has become a burning one. Once again economic 
 conditions are changing and these changes are now reflected in the 
 increasing capital applied to agriculture. 
 
 The Problem of the Land. The United States Census of 1910 
 estimates the land area of Rhode Island at 682,880 acres, of which 
 64.9% or 443,308 acres are considered to be farm lands. Much of 
 this, however, is not really suited for farming purposes, being either 
 forest or swamp lands. Of this farm acreage 40.2% or 178,344 acres 
 is reported as improved land, this being 26.1% of the land area of the 
 State. 
 
 An estimate of the land resources of the State based on the judg- 
 ment of a considerable number of citizens fitted to pronounce on the 
 matter gives the following inventory: 
 
 1. Area adapted only for forest land, 240,000 acres or 35.2%. 
 
 2. Area of barren land, swamp land, etc., 73,000 acres or 10.7%. 
 
 3. Area of unused farm land, 53,000 acres or 7.8%. 
 
 4. Area of partially used farm land, 93,000 acres or 13.6%. 
 
 5. Area of farm land satisfactorily utilized under present economic conditions, 
 113,000 acres or 16.5%. 
 
 The remainder, 110,880 acres or 16.2% is taken up with sites of 
 cities, villages, houses, pleasure grounds, mill sites, game preserve 
 grounds, ponds, etc. 
 
 In regard to farm lands, certain conclusions drawii from the national 
 census may be of interest. 
 
 There are in the State 5,292 farms, a number which shows a definite 
 
 decrease for many decades, although, as is well known, the population 
 
 of the State is rapidly increasing. The acreage per farm is now 
 
 19.1 acres less than in the year 1850. Of these 5,292 farms there are : 
 
 Under twenty acres 26 . % 
 
 From 20 to 50 acres 21.6% 
 
 From 50 to 100 " 23.9% 
 
 From 100 to 176 " 17 . 97o 
 
 Qver 175 acres 10 . 6% 
 
REPORT OP COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 11 
 
 The trend is away from the very small and the very large farm. 
 On the other hand, the total wealth in the form of farm property is 
 about thirty-three millions of dollars, a valuation which is an increase 
 of 22.2% over that of 1900. The average value of land per acre is 
 now $33.86, as compared with $29.46, ten years ago. ' The average 
 value of a farm is now $6,234, as compared with $4,909, ten years ago, 
 and an increase in ten years almost as great as that in the fifty previous 
 years. This increase in value is partly but not entirely due to the 
 enhanced productive values of land. It is largely a reflection of the 
 increase of the value of western grain lands and is due rather to the 
 hope of a prospective demand than to any real increase in value. 
 
 Of the farms 82% are operated by owners and managers and 18% 
 
 by tenants. The tenantry per cent, however is smaller than it was 
 
 .in 1880, showing a drift towards the ownership of farms. In 1910 the 
 
 farms free from mortgage amounted to 70.4%. Mortgaged farms 
 
 totaled in per cent, for the past three decades. 
 
 In 1890 19.1% 
 
 In 1900 27.1% 
 
 In 1910 29.6% 
 
 But the per cent, of mortgage debts to the value of the mortgaged 
 farms is decreasing, viz.: from 42.6% in 1890 to 33.2% in 1910. 
 In respect to the farmers themselves, those of native white stock 
 amount to 83.3%, showing that those of foreign birth are still com- 
 paratively few in number. 
 
 While it cannot be said that there is at present any serious return 
 movement of population toward the farm, yet from the census 
 reports there seems to be a steady increase of productivity per acre 
 in general farming, a steady growth of capital invested in various 
 forms of agricultural industry, and a corresponding increase in the 
 value of farm products. For example, the capital invested in — 
 
 1900 was $26,989,189. 
 1905 " 29,252,992. 
 1910 " 32,990,739. , 
 
 These brief summaries seem to show that the amount of improved 
 land actually in use is now at its minimum, and that henceforth there 
 
12 REPORT OP COMMISSION INTO AGRI.CULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 should be called into use the medium or even the poorer lands, so as 
 to enable the State as far as possible to feed from its own lands its 
 rapidly multiplying population. 
 
 To this end it would seem wise that the State should seek to 
 ascertain definitely the extent of its arable lands, cultivated or other- 
 wise. This information, perhaps, will be furnished when the Com- 
 mission on the Natural Resources Survey makes its final report. 
 If this information were secured and made easily apcessible to pro- 
 spective settlers, and if a reliable list of lands on sale with prices were 
 available, in the preparation of which real estate agents would 
 doubtless readily cooperate, presumably unused farming lands would 
 more easily find a sale. 
 
 Furthermore, it may be possible for a mill corporation situated in a 
 town where there is much land not in use, to buy up these lands, to 
 erect neat homes on five or ten acre lots, and to sell these on amortiza- 
 tion payments to families, one or more of whose members are em- 
 ployed by the corporation. This would ensure a more healthful 
 and wholesome life, and an opportunity to employ slack times and 
 parts of the long summer days in the improvement of the land and in 
 the production of garden products for home use or neighborhood 
 sales. 
 
 Again, it may seem wise for the State to buy up large tracts of 
 land, and to seek to colonize on these, members of those immigrant 
 races that show most aptitude for farming operations. It is possible 
 that much of the clearing of such lands, or the building of roads, 
 might be performed by convict labor, stimulated by a small daily 
 wage to be paid to the families of those so employed. By a proper 
 system of amortization sales and under the guidance and instruction 
 of trained experts from the State College, there should be no reason 
 why the State within a comparatively few years would not have its 
 arable lands in full use. In this connection it may be said that 
 although Rhode Island farmers are mostly native whites, it is antici- 
 pated that this will be largely changed within a generation. The 
 smaller farms are rapidly passing into the hands of enterprising 
 
REPORT OP COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 13 
 
 immigrant families, used to farming in their own countries, who 
 clean up the land and farm it intensively, relying upon their nearness 
 to urban markets to make profitable sales of their produce. To your 
 Commissioners it seems well to encourage this movement, rather than 
 to try to move from the city into the country the city bred man. 
 Further study will be given to this problem. 
 
 In this connection your Commission has taken into consideration 
 the feasibility of recommending a system of rural credits and land 
 banks, including a Torrens system of land title registration and the 
 possible exemption from taxation of mortgages and farm improve- 
 ments on farms of small acreage and value. In view, however, of 
 probable action by Congress in respect to rural credits and land 
 loans, it seems advisable at this time not to make formal recommenda- 
 tions in respect to these matters. 
 
 Aisde from general farming, the agricultural interests of the State 
 are concerned with dairying, truck-farming, poultry, eggs, fruits and 
 berries. Dairy products apart from milk are negligible, and the 
 raising of domestic animals for food purposes receives little attention. 
 It may also be noted that the census asserts that "Wherever the soils 
 are sufficiently retentive of moisture to permit it, trucking is replacing 
 general farming, owing to the proximity of great manufacturing 
 centers." 
 
 There are other problems in connection with the land that are 
 worthy of careful study. It seems obvious that, since about one- 
 third of our entire acreage is suitable only for forest purposes, the 
 State should adopt a policy based on the teachings of scientific 
 forestry, looking towards the production of valuable timbers in place 
 of scrub growth. There is also the possibility that swamp lands 
 might be utilized for the raising o.f cranberries. The production of 
 cranberries however involves capital and the careful use of scientific 
 methods, so that the State would possibly have to encourage the 
 industry by granting exemption from taxation for a term of 
 years. 
 
14 EEPOKT OP COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 MARKETING. 
 
 The greatest need of the farmer in Rhode Island is better business 
 methods for disposing of his products. Knowledge of the means 
 whereby production may be increased has spread rapidly during 
 the last few years, but there has been no improvement in marketing 
 and distribution. Although the value of farm products in this State 
 last year amounted to over nine million dollars, agriculture as a whole 
 is not profitable. The breach between producer and consumer has 
 been, and still is, widening. Unless the farmer can get assurance of a 
 profitable market for his products he has no incentive to avail himself 
 of improved methods of production. This is a condition of affairs 
 which is not peculiar to Rhode Island, but is met in all countries, 
 the Old as well as the New. 
 
 Farmers as a class are not, from the very nature of their occupation 
 in a position to exercise very much influence over the market. They 
 are primarily concerned with production and have neither the time 
 nor the opportunity to learn the art of merchandising. But unless 
 this phase of the problem is solved, there will be no real improvement in 
 agriculture and the splendid progress that has been made along pro- 
 ductive lines will be in a large measure wasted. For this problem co- 
 operation among farmers is the only solution that has ever been found. 
 Cooperation has been tried for many years in Europe and has worked 
 successfully. It is being tried in some sections of this country, but 
 makes slow headway against that stubborn individualism that is so 
 characteristic of our farmers. Yet, for the farmers, the path of 
 individualism leads to economic ruin. They must follow the example 
 of the manufacturer and the merchant and organize their business. 
 The merchant and the manufacturer have adopted the corporate 
 form of organization. The cooperative plan is best adapted to the 
 needs of the farmer. The advantages of cooperative organization 
 are so obvious as to make it unnecessary to dwell upon them. It 
 would make possible: 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 15 
 
 (1) The Standardization of Farm Products. 
 
 Lack of standardization is one of the greatest handicaps that the 
 farmer labors under, and is the great barrier that stands between 
 direct dealings between the farmer and the consumer. The amount 
 that each farmer produces is so small in comparison with the total 
 amount of production, that he gains no advantage in attempting to 
 standardize his own products; but when his products are marketed in 
 cooperation with his neighbors, they may be standardized to the 
 advantage of both the farmer and the consumer. 
 
 (2) Information as to the Demand of the Market. 
 
 The individual farmer is not in a position to obtain reliable infor- 
 mation as to the needs of the market and he therefore relies almost 
 entirely upon chance. A cooperative association selling the products 
 of many farmers, is in a position to study the market and to learn 
 with a degree of practical accuracy, what the demands of the market 
 are. 
 
 (3) The Utilization of Products; which would otherwise go to 
 waste, by means of a canning and preserving factory. 
 
 To accomplish these results there should be a state wide organi- 
 zation of agriculture on cooperative lines. The nucleus for such an 
 organization is already in^ existence in the Providence Market- 
 Gardeners Association. This association works cooperatively to a 
 certain extent, but stops just short of being a true cooperative 
 association. If it were organized into a true cooperative association, 
 it might have direct dealings with the farmers within easy access of 
 Providence and also act as the selling association for local cooperative 
 societies in other parts of the State, all of them afhliated with the 
 Providence Association. 
 
 The saving resulting from elimination of duplication of effort that 
 would thus be brought about would make possible the employment of 
 a general manager and assistants trained in the disposal of farm 
 products. The association should be controlled by a board of 
 directors selected by the membership, with representation on this 
 
16 REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 board from local associations. These local associations would act 
 as forwarding agents for the scattered farms, would collect the receipts 
 from sales and would distribute them among the farmers. The 
 local association might also serve as agent for the purchasing of 
 fertilizers and farm equipment, this affecting a great saving; and last 
 but not least, the local associations would serve as social and business 
 centers where farmers could meet and discuss matters of agricultural 
 interest, including marketing conditions. 
 
 In connection with marketing there are many questions that 
 demand careful consideration and further study. There is the ques- 
 tion of transportation facilities for example, whether by railroad, 
 trolley 6r auto-trucks, using a carefully planned system of State 
 roads. A system of community telephones also is essential, so as to 
 make it possible for every farm in the State to be in communication 
 with others or with the cities. There are also the possibilities inherent 
 in sales and delivery by parcels post, or sales at the farm directly to 
 those making use of automobiles. To such customers farm-canned 
 fruits or vegetables might find a ready sale, provided lists of farms 
 desirous of dealing directly with customers were prepared through 
 cooperation and mailed to the owners of automobiles throughout the 
 State. 
 
 A central market, conveniently located at Providence for freight 
 deliveries, with affiliated local associations could also be made ver\- 
 useful for other rural interests besides farming. There is, for example, 
 a constantly increasing demand for the products of poultry farms. 
 As now sold, eggs carry no guarantee of standard qualities. If they 
 were sold through a central cooperative market, they could be stand- 
 ardized and further production encouraged. Live and dressed fowl, 
 likewise, for the former of which there is a large and growing demand, 
 could be sold directly from the producer to the consumer to their 
 mutual advantage. 
 
 Your Commission, in view of the partly cooperative character of 
 the Providence Market-Gardeners Association, and because of the 
 advantageous site already controlled by this Association, is con- 
 
HEPOHT OF COMMISSION INTO AGHICULTURAL RESOURCES. 17 
 
 suiting with its management and is laboring to secure their assent to 
 its incorporation as a Central Marketing Association on the basis of a 
 bill, about to be submitted. 
 
 Furthermore, since the real problem is not that of production, but of 
 distribution or marketing, we recommend that the State appoint a 
 competent man to be known as the Director of Marketing, whose duty 
 shall be to collect information as to prices, standards, marketable 
 products on hand and probable receipts from producers, so as to keep 
 both the producer and the consumer informed in respect to standards 
 and fluctuations in prices. A competent man, in close touch with the 
 marketing problems of the State, would be of great benefit both to 
 farmers and consumers. 
 
 THE MILK AND DAIRY PROBLEM. 
 
 The situation in respect to this industry is serious. This is true 
 in other sections of New England also, as is shown by the careful 
 investigation recently made by the Boston Chamber of Commerce. 
 But in Rhode Island especially there is general dissatisfaction, (1) on 
 the part of the producer because the dairy business is on the whole 
 unprofitable, and (2) on the part of the consumer because of the poor 
 quality of milk furnished by the producer. From the standpoint of 
 health also there is profound dissatisfaction. The quarterly reports 
 and the annual report for 1915 of the milk inspector of Providence 
 show a great increase in bacteria in the city supply of milk, and 
 emphasize the danger to citizens from tuberculosis, tj^hoid fever 
 and digestive troubles of infants fed on unclean milk. What is true of 
 Providence is doubtless fully true of the other cities and towns of the 
 State. In fact, there is a strong suspicion that matters are worse 
 outside of Providence. 
 
 Your Commission is united in the opinion that the health of the 
 Community must first and foremost be considered, especially in 
 view of the fact that the heavy infant mortality rate is largely due to 
 the defective milk supply. The State with its police powers is in duty 
 bound to safeguard the health and to preserve the lives of its inhabi- 
 
18 REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 tants, regardless of opposing pecuniary interests, which are often 
 more interested in personal gain than in the welfare of infant life 
 or in public health. In health matters the State is sovereign, the 
 towns and cities are merely its agencies, and local and private inter- 
 ests should be merged into the general interest of the entire State in 
 seeking for healthful conditions and freedom from disease. 
 
 To your Commission, therefore, it has become obvious that if 
 possible a constructive policy should be devised, aiming first to 
 ensure a safe and wholesome supply of milk, and secondly to 
 strengthen and build up the dairy interests of the State. We have, 
 furthermore, become convinced that the remedy must be drastic 
 and thorough, if anything worth while is to be accompHshed. 
 
 Your Commission therefore unanimously recommends: 
 
 (1) That all cattle entering the State be subjected to a tuberculin 
 test under such conditions as may be framed by the State Board of 
 Agriculture. It is well known that the tuberculin tests given in some 
 neighboring distributing markets are unreliable, and hence that 
 many cattle are passed which, if admitted into the State, become 
 centers' of contagion. We furthermore recommend that all food 
 animals intended for sale, except poultry, be killed in licensed slaughter 
 houses only, that all or such parts of diseased animals as are not fit for 
 food be destroyed by State Inspectors, and that the State reimburse 
 the owner of such animals for the value so destroyed. The value paid 
 should be the current (wholesale) market value as food, except in the 
 case of registered stock. Registered stock, if killed because of its 
 diseased conditi(in, should be paid for at a three-quarters valuation, 
 determined under the appraising rules of the State Board of 
 Agriculture. 
 
 (2) We furthermore recommend that the State College and the 
 State Board of Agriculture, and the several county bureaus with their 
 county agents, be urged to lay special stress on the breeding of regis- 
 tered stock, on the improvement of stock through cow-testing 
 associations, and on careful instruction to dairymen in respect to the 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 19 
 
 proper care of cattle and sanitary methods of milking and the prepara- 
 tion of milk for the market. Clean barns and the cleanly handling of 
 milk are fundamental. The improper use of milk utensils on the 
 farm, or in transit from the farm, is common and hard to prevent. 
 The personal equation of the dairyman or his helper is more important 
 than rigid rules of inspection; this can not be secured by legislation, 
 , but by an appeal to self interests and a personal pride in the product 
 of the dairy. Much, however, might be accomplished if the Milk 
 Inspector of Providence, in connection with the State Board of Health, 
 would prepare a simply-worded pamphlet setting forth the best and 
 .approved methods in the handling of milk. County agents with 
 these pamphlets for distribution might by a campaign of education 
 accomplish much in the direction of cleanliness and freedom from 
 contamination. 
 
 (3) Owing to the unprofitableness of dairying the number of 
 milch cows in the State, relatively to population, is steadily decreas- 
 ing. This inevitably means that in the long run under present 
 conditions, Rhode Island's milk supply will be imported from other 
 New England States and even from Canada, i. e., from sources out- 
 ride of the jurisdiction of this State. This decrease is also a serious 
 detriment to agricultural interests, since cattle manure is necessary 
 in order to maintain and increase the fertility of the soil. 
 
 There are many reasons for this decrease in the number of cattle, 
 but they may all be summed up in the statement that the keeping of 
 cattle has ceased to be profitable under present conditions. The 
 demand from the cities for improvement in the quality of milk has 
 not been met, simply because the average farmer who sells his milk to 
 a middleman can not make dairying pay. What laws have been 
 passed involving stringent regulations have only had the effect of 
 bringing in milk from other states, where regulations could not be 
 inforced. To-day the whole subject is misunderstood both by pro- 
 ducers and consumers. Whether rightly or wrongly, consumers 
 believe that milk should be delivered to them at a price not more 
 than nine or ten cents a quart. Any attempt to raise that price will 
 
20 REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES, 
 
 only result in a lessened consumption, an end not to be desired if we 
 consider the food values of milk and the health of children. Under 
 a proper system the State would produce its own milk supply without 
 purchasing milk from other states, so that the question arises, how 
 many more cows must the State have in order to produce entirely 
 its milk supply ? 
 
 The whole State uses about one hundred sixty-four thousand 
 (164,000) quarts of milk daily. Of this amoimt about seven thou- 
 sand (7,000) quarts come from Massachusetts, and a little over 
 twenty-two thousand (22,000) from Connecticut. About twenty-two 
 hundred quarts come from Maine and Vermont, but this is at present 
 negligible, since about as much Rhode Island milk is sold now in 
 Fall River and New Bedford. There is a large amount of cream, 
 however, coming from those states, but this is necessary and not 
 especially objectionable. If the whole State- uses one hundred, 
 sixty-four thousand quarts of milk and if twenty-nine thousand 
 quarts come in from other states, we then have one hundred thirty- 
 five thousand (135,000) quarts made daily in the State by its twenty- 
 three thousand (23,000) cows. This is a low average and capable 
 of great improvement, yet it is fully equal to the average of any other 
 state. Using this average yield per cow the State will have to add four 
 thousand nine hundred forty cows in order to produce entirely its o^\ti 
 supply. Incidentally, if that number of cows could be added, their 
 assessed valuation would be added to the State 's taxible propertj^ 
 
 Yet it is plain that if farmers do not now find dairying profitable 
 and are reducing rather than increasing their stocks, they can not be 
 induced to increase the number of dairy cattle, unless they can be 
 assured a reasonable return for their investment and labor. But if 
 the average consumer is not willing to pay over nine or ten cents per 
 quart, the remedy must come by devising some methods whereby a 
 larger price can be paid to the producer than he at present receives, 
 without increasing the cost to the consumer. 
 
 In passing, it may be said that the producer who sells directly to the 
 consumer is making profits, other things being equal, and there is no 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 21 
 
 reason why such dairymen should not deliver clean and wholesome 
 milk. The trouble arises chiefly from the middleman, who purchases 
 at low rates from the producer, milk both good and bad, mixes these, 
 averaging their butterfat contents, and then sells a low grade milk at a 
 large profit. 
 
 The element of transportation charges seems on the whole to be 
 comparatively insignificant. The transportation charges by rail- 
 roads seems neither excessive nor an undue burden. The rate of 
 charge for less than twenty miles is 5.88 cents for a ten quart can, for 
 twenty to fifty miles it is 7.8 cents for a ten-quart can, both figures 
 including the return of empty cans and transportation as express on 
 passenger trains. These prices are uniform throughout all parts of 
 the State open to railroads. Trolley lines have not entered into 
 competition for this work owing to a lack of facilities for marketing, 
 yet judging from experiences in other places they could offer a much 
 reduced rate if the demand arose. 
 
 In view of these facts your Commission therefore recommends 
 that cities or urban centers having a population of over 5,000 be 
 required to establish municipally owned central milk depots, con- 
 venient to transportation centers, and to allow no milk whatsoever to 
 be sold within their limits before it has passed through these depots 
 for standardization and pasteurization, under the supervision of 
 their Boards of Health, in accordance with rules approved by the 
 State Board of Health. 
 
 This recommendation does not apply to the smaller towns, whose 
 milk supply is as poor, if not poorer, than the supply in cities. Some 
 arrangement, however, can easily be made, either to have the milk of 
 the towns standardized at the nearest city depot or to let certain 
 towns, in combination or separately, set up depots of their own. It is 
 important tha,t all deliveries of milk to the depots be made by the 
 producers, either in person or by common carrier, but not by jobbers, 
 since the end sought is the personal responsibility of producers for 
 their product until its delivery for standardization. 
 
22 REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 In respect to pasteurization, standardization and distribution we 
 make the following suggestions : — 
 
 PASTEURIZATION. 
 
 It is recognized to-day that dairy cattle are not animals in a state of 
 nature, but have been artifically developed into machines for the 
 production of milk, more milk, and increasingly more milk. Their 
 condition therefore is abnormal and sound health is hard to maintain. 
 By most careful attention and devotion to detail, a healthy herd of 
 cattle furnishing practically pure milk can be had, but such are the 
 exception rather than the rule. For such milk provision is made in 
 standardization, providing for its sale as raw milk at special prices. 
 It might be possible even for such high grade producers under careful 
 regulation, to sell their milk under their own names to special cus- 
 tomers. Aside, however, from this extra grade, it seems best to 
 insist that all milk be pasteurized for precaution's sake at the central 
 depots. The operation requires great care and scientific supervision. 
 Furthermore, pasteurization by private concerns may be given to the 
 same milk a second or even several times, in order to enable it to 
 keep until it can be sold. Improper pasteurization and repasteuri- 
 zation are responsible for charges sometimes made against pasteuri- 
 zation. The best authorities agree that the proper pasteurization of 
 milk is absolutely necessary under present conditions and is not 
 injurious to health. Any possible disadvantage from it is more than 
 offset by its decided advantage from the standpoint of health. 
 
 STANDARDIZATION. 
 
 Your Commission believes that no solution of the milk problem 
 is worth while, unless it insists on a through standardization, so that 
 each consumer may know exactly what he pays for in purchasing 
 milk. This is impossible if the consumer has to rely on the statement 
 of his milkman or on his own judgment as to quality. On the other 
 hand a municipally owned and controlled central milk depot can 
 scientifically determine the standards of milk brought to it and by the 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES, 23 
 
 payment of higher prices for the better grades can thereby stimulate 
 the producer to furnish a better quality of product. While the 
 prices given below are not necessarily final and must eventually be 
 regulated by supply and demand, they are at least useful as an illus- 
 tration and represent the results of much careful study. We recom- 
 mend, therefore, that milk be graded as follows : — 
 
 MILK GRADING. 
 
 Grade Extra. 
 
 Raw milk. Ten thousand bacteria or below. Not below 
 3H% butterfat. Price to producer, 73^ cents; to consumer, 11 
 cents. For each additional half-unit of percentage of butterfat 
 add one cent to price for both consumer and producer. All 
 cows competing for this grade to be tested semi-annually with 
 tuberculin, and if reacting, milk to be rejected. 
 
 Grade "A." 
 
 Milk pasteurized at milk depot. Between 10,000 and 100,000 
 bacteria. Not below 3% butterfat. Price b}/2 cents to pro- 
 ducer, nine cents to consumer. For each additional half-unit 
 of percentage of butterfat add one cent to price for both pro- 
 ducer and consumer. 
 
 Grade ",3." 
 
 Milk pasteurized at depot. Between 100,000 and 200,000 
 bacteria. Not below 3% butterfat. Price 5 cents to producer, 
 8 cents to consumer. For each additional half-unit of per- 
 centage of butterfat add three-fourths of a cent to price to both 
 producer and consumer. 
 
 Grade "C." 
 
 Milk pasteurized at depot. Above 200,000 bacteria. Not 
 below 2^% butterfat. Price 43^2 cents to producer, 7 cents to 
 consumer. For each additional half-unit of percentage of 
 butterfat add one-half of a cent to price for both producer and 
 consumer. Grade "C" milk not to be sold except for cooking 
 purposes. Make it penal offense to offer this milk for sale 
 anywhere for other than cooking purposes. 
 
24 REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1. No milk below 3% to go in Grades Extra, A or B. 
 
 2. All milk to be sold to consumer in sealed containers. 
 
 3. Seals of different color to be used for each day in the week. 
 
 4. Seal to bear stamp of grade, fat-content, and price to consumer. 
 
 5. Milk containing intestinal bacteria always to be rejected. 
 
 6. It will be noted that in grading no attention has been given to 
 total solids, since this matter is secured by the butterf at provision. 
 
 Your Commission expresses the opinion that Grade C milk is 
 undesirable and its sale should be allowed for a time only, until 
 dairymen may readjust themselves to the new system. Ultimately 
 such low grade milk should not be allowed to be sold in the State. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 Your Commission has not yet worked out fully the details of the 
 plan proposed, but in general suggests the following methods. 
 
 Each city or town would determine the maximum amount needed 
 for daily consumption and would receive milk directly from pro- 
 ducers in standardized sealed cans, marked with the producer's 
 name and address, and would accept all milk of high grade offered, 
 rejecting, if not needed, milk of lower grades. Payment in cash 
 should be made to producers whose milk was accepted. The milk 
 should then be properly pasteurized, graded, placed in bottles or 
 other containers, sealed, and thus prepared for delivery. 
 
 For delivery the city or town should be divided into districts, the 
 privilege of delivery sold or auctioned, and the milk in each district 
 delivered through one delivery, mornings or afternoons. Depots for 
 sales also should be provided, for the sale of milk in sealed bottles 
 only. Furthermore, all sales or deUveries should be on a cash basis, 
 so as to eliminate the waste involved in the credit system and in the 
 loss or destruction of bottles. At convenient places throughout the 
 city milk tickets should be placed on sale, so that payment for 
 delivery may be expedited by the use of milk tickets good for a 
 
REPORT OP COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 25 
 
 specified quantity and quality of milk, including a charge for bottles, 
 which would be credited on return of bottles. A small discount 
 might be given on tickets sold in quantities, since cash would be 
 paid in advance. To prevent overstocking, each deliverer of milk 
 should be allowed to return each day to the central depot all unsold 
 milk, but at a slightly lower price. The sale of fresh milk can be 
 assured by sealing with a different color for each day of the week. 
 
 The problem of surplus milk is of slight immediate importance, 
 particularly as long as fresh butter retains its present value. With a 
 little intelligent cooperation between municipality and producer, all 
 necessary regulations could be easily made. Without doubt the 
 higher prices paid for good milk will tend to diminish rapidly the 
 supply of low grade milk, and it is probable that for some time the 
 demand for high grade milk will be greater than the actual supply. 
 
 There is a distinct advantage in requiring the producer to furnish 
 his own cans. As it is, the farmers, not owning the cans, are exceed- 
 ingly careless in their treatment of them and use them around the 
 farm as receptacles for many things besides milk. Cans should be 
 returned to the producer only after having been thoroughly sterilized 
 at the depot and should be used for nothing except milk after return. 
 Metal stopples with flush tops, i.e., a, pressed stopple with top soldered 
 on, having a space between bottom and top of stopples, should be 
 standardized. Many of the present metal stopples are simply 
 pressed cups, hence, when the concave top which catches all kinds of 
 dirt, is removed, the dirt falls into the milk. This type of stopple is 
 less hygenic than the old wooden plugs, which are too filthy to be 
 allowed at the present day. 
 
 Finally, attention may be called to the fact that under the pro- 
 posed system the price paid to the producer for high grade milk will 
 stimulate the production of high grade as against low grade milk, and 
 that the dairying business will be put on a paying basis. Estimates 
 made by experts show that the entire cost of delivery, from the farm 
 to the consumer's door, should not exceed two and one-half cents per 
 quart, in fact. Doctor C. E. North, Director of the North Public 
 
26 RBPOET OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 Health Bureau of New York City, believes it will not exceed the 
 sum of two and one-quarter cents. The prices suggested by the 
 Commission would therefore allow a good margin of profit to the 
 city or town as reimbursement for interest on the capital invested 
 and on the expense of management of the central bureau system, 
 so that no deficit, it is believed, would be incurred. 
 
 Your Commission believes that through this system the dairying 
 interests of the State will find a constant stimulus to improve the 
 quality of their herds and their products, to add to the number of 
 dairy cows, and to keep them in a healthy condition. It is believed 
 also that the State would be the gainer, not merely from the added 
 values of manures and taxable property, but chiefly in the preservation 
 of infant and adult life and in the lessening of sickness and disease 
 among the inhabitants. 
 
 The members of your Commission are aware that the cry of 
 socialism may be raised against the proposed plan, but aside from the 
 fact that no member of the Commission believes in socialism, there 
 is a united belief that milk has become so great a necessity in modern 
 civilized life, and yet is so generally poor in quality that the time has 
 come when under the police powers of the State the community 
 should supersede the individual in the sale of milk. The plan aims 
 to deprive the individual of the right to sell a food dangerous to 
 health, by having the community itself assume the charge, not of the 
 production of milk, which would be really sociahstic, but of the 
 distribution of it after a proper grading and pasteurization. Just as 
 the individual has been refused the privilege of a private well or a 
 private cesspool or privy, because these are a menace to health, so the 
 State may properly withdraw from individuals the privilege of fur- 
 nishing ungraded and unclean milk, by insisting on proper standard- 
 ization, pasteurization, and distribution, for the- sake of the health of 
 its citizens. It should be said, however, that, in fairness to those who 
 are now engaged in the business of dairying, some provision should be 
 made to take over at a proper valuation, from those who may desire 
 to dispose of it, the physical property now employed in this industry. 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 27 
 
 BETTER LIVING. 
 
 One of the most important problems in connection with rural 
 life arises from the drift of the farming population to the cities. 
 The obvious conclusion is that this tendency will continue, unless 
 farming can be made clearly profitable and farm life attractive. 
 In so small and compact a State as Rhode Island the making of 
 rural life attractive should be comparatively simple. There are no 
 long distances to be covered, so that the expense of transportation or 
 telephone communication is light. The real needs involve a policy 
 emphasizing better sanitation, education, recreation, and perhaps 
 some modification in town government aiming at greater efficiency. 
 
 Your Commission would emphasize the need for a more careful 
 study of health conditions and sanitation in the rural sections of the 
 State. It seems obvious that larger powers and a more thorough 
 supervision should be exercised by the State Board of Health over 
 the health authorities of the towns. The whole State is deeply con- 
 cerned in the health of each particular section of any town or city. 
 Typhoid on a dairy farm through neglect or ignorance may destroy 
 human life along a milk route and may seriously affect milk sales 
 through the resultant lack of confidence in the cleanliness of milk. 
 Polluted streams from private privies or village sewage, or the con- 
 tamination of springs and wells, may result in a severe epidemic with 
 its economic losses and its destruction of human life. We would 
 suggest that the State Board of Health be instructed to make a 
 careful study of the sickness and death rates of each town, of the 
 conditions of sanitation, especially those involving the pollution of 
 waters, and of actual provisions employed in securing proper medical 
 and nursing care in cases of sickness. Furthermore, health bulletins 
 might be prepared especially suited to conditions in rural sections 
 and mill villages, and distributed freely, in several languages if 
 necessary, so as to educate all along the newer methods of preserving 
 health and safeguarding against the spread of contagious diseases. 
 
 It is obvious that the problen of rural education in Rhode Island is 
 as important to the city as to the country. Our cities increasingly 
 
28 EEPOHT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 need the products of the farm, and anything that will improve 
 farming methods or develop intelligence in the handling and marketing 
 of farm products will directly affect urban food conditions. In 
 Rhode Island the State Board of Education is doing splendid work in 
 unifying and strengthening the town schools, and the College at 
 Kingston is of great aid in concrete educational studies through its 
 teaching and its many contacts with agricultural interests. The 
 Board of Education, however, should be enabled, through larger 
 facilities, to develop in the town schools those newer aspects of rural 
 education so prominent in other states, whereby each school becomes 
 a sort of community center, occupying a model building, and empha- 
 sizing in its training, in addition to the usual studies, the many sided 
 social and economic aspects of rural life, thus imparting a simple 
 training in the best scientific methods of modern farming. This 
 would result in a system of education suited to rural conditions and to 
 the daily experiences of the children, since it would develop in them 
 a knowledge of the most efficient methods for the development of the 
 home and the farm. To this end it would be necessary that the 
 State College and the State Normal School, which furnishes by far 
 the largest number of teachers to rural schools, should unitedly work 
 out a course of training in rural community needs, which might be 
 taught to those who planned to teach in rural schools and which 
 should in fact be made compulsory for a diploma. In this way there 
 would gradually come into the rural schools of the State a kind of 
 education that would tend to make rural life attractive and even 
 preferable to that of the crowded urban center. 
 
 In the opinion of your Commission the rural problem of Rhode 
 Island is peculiar in that there properly can be drawn no sharp line of 
 separation between rural and urban interests. The whole State is so 
 small in area, so densely populated and so wealthy in per capita 
 wealth, that its interests are really unified in fact if not in theory. 
 When the road system of the State is completed, almost every part of 
 the State might be used for homes by urban workers, since they could 
 be carried easily to their urban vocations by train, trolley or auto- 
 
BEPORF OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 29 
 
 mobile. There is at present a strong trend in this direction and this 
 might be strengthened, if the State and the towns unitedly would 
 undertake a policy of improvement, from the standpoint of esthetic 
 attractiveness. The first natural step in this direction would be to 
 extend the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Park Commissioners 
 so as to include the entire State, or as an. alternative, to organize a 
 similar Commission for the western part of the State. Through such 
 an organization the most attractive groves, ponds, and water-sites on 
 shore and bay might be secured for the permanent use of the public 
 and connected by boulevards and state roads, thus making the State 
 as a whole attractive to the home-seeker and to the occupiers of sum- 
 mer homes. Town and village improvement associations, in 
 addition, might work out under a competent 'leader plans for indi- 
 vidual and general improvement, so as to make their respective 
 localities attractive home centers through emphasis on cleanliness, 
 the use of trees and shrubbery, neat homes, good schools and recrea- 
 tional and athletic centers. A comparatively small amount of money 
 properly expended under trained supervision, would exert a powerful 
 influence in working out a solution of the rural problem. 
 
 In this connection it may be suggested that the annual county 
 fairs, or preferably town fairs, might largely extend their usefulness 
 if careful attention were given to the newer aspects of rural improve- 
 ment, showing by the use of models what other states are doing in 
 matters of community service and village and town improvement. 
 
 Your Commission would finally suggest consideration as to whether 
 it has not become necessary to make some modifications in the exist- 
 ing forms of town government so as to ensure greater uniformity and 
 efficiency. Throughout the United States the county has an impor- 
 tant function in coordinating the general activities of the towns 
 (townships), in such matters for example, as schools, health, and 
 roads. Next to the county the village or small urban center receives 
 careful attention, since its problems of policing, health, and franchise- 
 services are essentially different from those of rural sections. The 
 movement in those States that have given most attention to such 
 
30 REPORT OF COMMISSION INTO AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 matters is to change from the direct form of government used in towns 
 to a representative form making use of the commission and manager 
 types of organization. The States of Michigan and Ohio have in 
 recent years passed carefully planned legislation in respect to local 
 government for county and village and a study of these systems would 
 undoubtedly prove suggestive in working out more efficient govern- 
 ments for our towns. 
 
 In conclusion, your Commission again desires to emphasize the 
 importance of considering the rural problem as a unit and of the neces- 
 sity of an open-minded cooperation among all the agencies of the 
 State, since rural interests are so closely identified with urban inter- 
 ests. To us the problem of marketing seems fundamental, and the 
 need pressing for a safe milk supply, furnished by Rhode Island 
 dairymen having a direct pecuniary interest in the production of 
 wholesale milk. For that reason these problems have received 
 especial attention in this preliminary report. Yet the problem of 
 better living is also of keen interest for rural communities and should 
 not be neglected. The time seems ripe for a constructive rural 
 policy, and the members of the Commission bespeak a sympathetic 
 consideration of this report and solicit carefully considered sugges- 
 tions from those eager to assist in building up the Rural Community 
 of Rhode Island. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 JOHN S. MURDOCK, Chairman, 
 HOWARD EDWARDS, Secretary, 
 JAMES QUAYLE DEALEY, 
 HORACE W. TINKHAM, 
 HENRY S. TURNER.