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 16—47372-2 aPO 
 
Calendar No. 945. 
 
 2d Congress, ) SENATE. ( Report 
 
 3d Session. f 1 No. 1072, 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 
 DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 December 14, 1912. — Ordered to be printed. 
 
 Mr. Smith of Georgia, from the Committee on Agriculture and For- 
 estry, submitted the following 
 
 REPORT. 
 
 [To accompany H. R. 22871.] 
 
 The Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, to whom was referred 
 the bill (H. R. 22871) to establish agricultural extension departments 
 in connection with agricultural colleges in the several States receiving 
 the benefits of an act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and of acte 
 supplementary thereto, having considered the same, beg to report it 
 back to the Senate with one amendment and with the recommendation 
 that the bill as amended do pass. 
 
 The object of the bill is to make provision for the establishment of 
 extension departments in the land-grant agricultural colleges of each 
 State and to carry to the farmers at their homes the knowledge gath- 
 ered at the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. 
 
 Fifty years ago the Morrill Act became a law, and by aid from th« 
 appropriation which it made colleges of agriculture are now success- 
 fully conducted in every State. 
 
 Twenty-five years ago the Hatch bill became a law, and by aid 
 from the appropriations which it made agricultural experiment sta- 
 tions are now successfully conducted in everj^ State. Other legisla- 
 tion has also been enacted since the Morrill and Hatch Acts of further 
 aid to the colleges and experiment stations. 
 
 The Morrill Act provides for the endowment and support of col- 
 leges,^ the leading object of which shall be "to teach such branches of 
 learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." The 
 Hatch Act provides for agricultural experiment stations where by 
 investigation and experiment accurate knowledge4l obtained upon 
 farm problems. J^ 
 
 The experiment stations were essential to proper instructions in 
 the colleges. In most of the States these colleges and experiment 
 stations have for years worked in close association. They have con- 
 ducted investigations and made tests bearing upon many important 
 
2 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 questions connected with the farm, and their investigations and tests 
 have been especially with reference to conditions in their respective 
 Sta.tes. They have studied plants and determined with accuracy 
 the foods upon which they live and mature crops. They have ana- 
 lyzed different classes of soil in their respective States to determine 
 the plant food contained and have learned how to make it available. 
 They have ascertained defects of soils and how to remove them. 
 They have w^orked out the improvement of seeds and have found 
 the way to resist many plant diseases. They have tested stock, 
 cattle, and hog foods and diseases. They have found what foods 
 will bring the best results and have advanced in the treatment of 
 diseases. 
 
 I do not claim that the knowledge which has been obtained is 
 absolutely accurate in all lines, but I insist that they have learned 
 many things of great value to those engaged upon farms; and their 
 officers are, as a rule, able and capable men, practical as well as 
 scientific, and devoted to their work. 
 
 These institutions are now engaged in their best work and will 
 continue to demonstrate new truths which would be most helpful if 
 understood and used in the dailj work of the farm. 
 
 There are students at these colleges who are obtaining much aid 
 from the instructions which they receive, but there is no sufficient 
 provision to carry to the farmers at their homes the valuable infor- 
 mation which has been and will be obtained by the work of the col- 
 leges and experiment stations. 
 
 The last census shows that the rural population of the 48 States 
 was 49,384,882. The majority of our population is engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits. It is my urgent plea that they should receive 
 as speedily as possible the help which the successful use of all thai 
 has been learned and may yet be learned at the agricultural col- 
 leges and experiment stations would be to them. 
 
 The National Government has spent on the agricultural college; 
 and experiment stations in round figures $70,000,000. It spends 
 now $3,940,000 cash annually upon them. From State appropri- 
 ations and other sources they receive annually $11,000,000. A 
 large part, however, of this last-named amount is required for new 
 buildings and equipment required to meet the growing demands 
 upon the colleges. 
 
 For the year ended June 30, 1912, Congress appropriated 
 $15,000,000 for carrying on the exclusively agricultural work of the 
 Department of Agriculture. Much the larger portion of this monej 
 is spent for investigation and experimentation. Information ol 
 great value to the rural interests of the country is secured, but t 
 comparatively small amount is devoted to showing those at worl? 
 upon farms how to apply this information. 
 
 Dr. True, Director of the Office of Experiment Stations, has stated 
 
 Heretofore interest in the agricultural development has largely been in the direc 
 tion of securing new truths. A vast amount of valuable information is now in exisi 
 ence awaiting some effective means of getting it into operation by the farming peopl 
 of the United States. It has been found that the mere publication of results m th 
 bulletins and pamphlets is not sufficient, and that there is much even that thes 
 publications do not contain and can not be taught by them. 
 
 The agricultural colleges were created and organized chiefly for the benefit of agr' - 
 culture. They have devoted themselves to perfecting their organization and course - 
 of study for the education of their students and by means of experiment stations 1 
 
 ''n ***> *^''' 
 
Ll_ establishment of agricultural extension departments. 3 
 
 CO 
 
 . . the investigation and discovery of agricultural truths. Recently there have arisen 
 
 C/3 demands upon these institutions for information and assistance outside of their class- 
 
 •^ rooms by persons engaged in agriculture unable to attend these colleges as students. 
 
 " These demands became so insistent that at the meeting of the Association of Agri- 
 
 '-— cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations held at Portland, Oreg., in 1909, the associa- 
 
 I • tion by formal action changed its constitution by recognizing the obligation of the 
 
 ' ^ colleges to the rural peoi^le outside of their halls as equal to the obligation of resident 
 
 ^ students and their work of research. Forty-five colleges, representing 43 States, were 
 
 P^ conducting extension work during the college year which closed June 30, 1911, but 
 
 ^ their work was limited by lack of sufficient funds. 
 
 We are confronted, therefore, with the fact that the National Gov- 
 ernment has spent, and is spending, hxrge sums of money upon the 
 agricultural colleges and the experiment stations. The money so 
 spent has arousecl interest in the States and they are appropriating 
 to this work sums in excess of those appropriated by the National 
 Government, but the inspiration for tlie work and the leadership 
 in the work came from the national appropriation. These institu- 
 tions are doing good, but much that they might do fails of accom- 
 plishment because there is no organized machinery backed by neces- 
 sary funds to carry the information they gather to those actually 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
 
 The agricultural colleges, agencies in a sense of the National 
 Government, are ready for immediate service at the home of the 
 farmer. They are ready to furnish the information they have 
 acquired to all upon the farms instead of to a few at the colleges. 
 The bill which has passed the House is intended to enable them to 
 increase their extension work at once and develop it in time upon a 
 broad scale. 
 
 It is of vital importance to carry promptly to the farmers the 
 knowledge acc(uired at these institutions. 
 
 A number of bills have been introduced dining the past few years 
 intended to accomplish this result. Last fall the executive com- 
 mittee of the State Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, 
 officers of the National Soil Fertility League, and representatives 
 of the Agricultural Department prepared a bill which was intro- 
 duced in the Senate on the 16th day of January and in the House of 
 Representatives on the 17th day of the same month. The House of 
 Representatives has passed this bill with only two important amend- 
 ments. One requires that 75 per cent of the money appropriated 
 shall be used in actual demonstration work, and the other provides 
 that this bill shall not interfere with the demonstration work now 
 being done by the Agricultural Department. 
 
 Many State legislatures will meet in January, and the passage of 
 the House bill by the Senate at the earliest day possible is necessary 
 to give them an opportunity to act. 
 
 The bill provides for the establishment and maintenance in each 
 of the land-grant colleges of agriculture of an extension department 
 to give instruction in agriculture and home economics to farmers at 
 their homes. 
 
 This instruction is to be given by demonstration work and other 
 means in the local farm communities. 
 
 It provides for a fixed appropriation from the Treasury of $10,000 
 unconditionally to each State. It provides also an appropriation 
 beginnmg with $300,000 a year, July 1, 1913, to be prorated among 
 the States on a basis of rural population. This appropriation is to 
 be mcreased each year $300,000 until the maximum of $3,000,000 is 
 
4 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUKAL EXTENSION DEPAKTMENTS. 
 
 reached in 1923. No State is to receive a pro rata of this sum unless 
 it provides an equal amount for the same purpose. The money is to 
 be expended by the State colleges of agriculture through their exten- 
 sion departments in each State. Seventy-five per cent of the money 
 must be used in actual field demonstration; 5 per cent may be used 
 for prmting and publications, and the remainmg 20 per cent for 
 instructions in household economics, or for further field demonstra- 
 tions. The bill provides that any Federal money lost or misused 
 must be made good by the State, and it prohibits the use of the money 
 for purposes except those specified. It provides for reports from the 
 colleges to the Secretary of Agriculture, and through the Secretary 
 of Agriculture to Congress. 
 
 The bill permits the purchase of no land by the Government. The 
 representatives of the colleges in the various communities in each 
 county in each State will enlist farmers, who, under the direction of 
 the representative of the agricultural college, will test the value on 
 their own land of the information brought by the representative of 
 the agricultural college. The farmer will be invited to plant under 
 the direction of the representative of the college. The character of 
 the soil will be tested, the nature of the fertilizer to be used explained," 
 the selection of seed advised and the time of planting and manner of 
 cultivation suggested, and demonstrations will be made which wUl 
 teach and prove the value of the knowledge acquired at the colleges 
 and stations. In another place the representative of the college will 
 teach, and by experimentation demonstrate, the best manner for 
 caring for fruit trees. In another, the best system for feeding cattle 
 and stock and of dairying and butter making may be the subject of 
 the demonstration. 
 
 Demonstrations will also be made in home economics and labor- 
 saving machines. 
 
 The colleges of agriculture and the experiment stations in each 
 State have devoted themselves to the study of the pecuHar conditions 
 of their State and the locahties of their State and will, through their 
 representatives, carry to the farmer in his home the accurate informa- 
 tion which experimentation has demonstrated and in turn give a 
 practical demonstration in the locality before the farmer and his 
 neighbors of the value of the information acquired and how to use it. 
 This class of work will be supplemented by printed discussions of the 
 best mode of farming, of hygiene, and of household economics, and 
 the means available will be used to give those on the farm all that 
 research can develop which will be of service to them. 
 
 The value of such instruction is not a matter of experiment. It 
 has been tried in other countries, as well as to a limited extent in our 
 own. A number of European countries for the past 25 years have 
 been carrying the information gathered in their colleges and experi- 
 ment stations to the homes of the farmers. Detailed information as 
 to how the extension departments in other countries have been con- 
 ducted and the beneficial results from them has been gathered by the 
 National Director of the Office of Experiment Stations. 
 
 We have selected Belgium as an example and have examiried the 
 statistics prepared by the Department of Agriculture showing the 
 effect there of agricultural extension work upon the lines proposed 
 for our country by the bill under consideration. They disclose an 
 average increase of production per acre in 20 years of 30 per cent. 
 
ESTABLISHMENT OF AGlilGULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 5 
 
 They also disclose a lessened cost of production per acre, and this 
 splendid accomplishment is attributed to the information and instruc- 
 tion carried to the farmers by agricultural extension work. 
 
 The testimony before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and 
 Forestry and the House Committee on Agriculture furnishes convinc- 
 ing proof of the great benefits which have been accomplished by the 
 limited work upon this line already carried on by the agencies cre- 
 ated principally through congressional action. 
 
 Dr. Russell, dean of the college of agriculture of the University of 
 Wisconsin, pointed out its value in the improvement of cattle and 
 dairying in Wisconsin. Among other things, Dr. Russell said: 
 
 ^The extension work is desitjnated generally to take that work right to the man on 
 the field, and it seems to me the advantageous feature of this bill is that it leaves it 
 to the discretion of the agricultural college to organize this work along those lines 
 that are going to be most effective for the community concerned. 
 
 He also pointed out a development of corn seed which in a portion 
 of Wisconsin had enabled an increase of production per acre of over 
 50 bushels. He dwelt upon the necessity for soil diagnosis, and how 
 at one point more phosphate was needed and at another more nitro- 
 gen and another more potash, and how for various crops portions 
 of those necessary plant foods could be supjilied and at other places 
 other ingredients could be locally found, and he urged the importance 
 of carrying accurate information upon this subject to the farmer at 
 home, and he showed the work he was doing endeavoring to give 
 such information to the farmers of Wisconsin. 
 
 Dr. Russell relates this incident, told him by Dr. Hopkins, of 
 Illinois : 
 
 Dr. Hopkins had demonstrated in southern Illinois what could be done with a 
 dollar and a half's worth of phosphate to soil that needed this plant food. The aver- 
 age yield of corn in that locality was about 13 bushels. Dr. Hopkins demonstrated 
 that witli a little phosphorus and brains the yield could be increased fourfold. An 
 old man came up with tears in his eyes and said: "Dr. Hopkins, I want to thank you 
 for what I have seen to-day; l)ut, God help me, if I only knew that 40 years ago." 
 He said, "I have six sons in my family and have labored night and day to keep body 
 and breeches together and to keep the family together, and what have I got on my 
 farm? Twelve to 1-5 or 16 bushels of corn to an acre — that's all I can make. I would 
 have liked to send my l)oys to college. I would have liked to give those children an 
 education; but I could not raise enough crop on the piece of land that I owned, so 
 I have toiled all my life and have earned barely enough to support my family. Now, 
 if a man had only come to me when I was comparatively young and told me the things 
 you have told me to-day — that one dollar and a half's worth of phosphate would have 
 given me 50 l)ushels of corn like the crop which was raised right over the fence from 
 where I am — I could have sent my children to the high school and to a university." 
 
 Dr. Soule, of Georgia, discussed the subject along the same lines, 
 and pointed out how corn and cotton production had been increased 
 in various parts of the State nearly 100 per cent by the application 
 of the knowledge develoj^ed in the State College of Agriculture and 
 Experiment Station. He called attention to the different varieties 
 of soil even in Georgia and the different character of plant foods con- 
 tained in the different soils of the State. Among other things, he 
 said: 
 
 I have told you of the variations of our soil in Georgia. How can we direct this 
 thing from a centralized position? It is impossil)le to do it. There is not a man not 
 familiar with the agricultural conditions of California wlio would attempt to advise 
 the farmers of that State. It is not possible to send out information and literature 
 from Washington that will meet the needs of the farmers in Georgia, as well as in all 
 the other States. We must conduct tViis as a localized proposition, studying and teach- 
 ing through the agricultural colleges. 
 
6 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPAETMENTS. 
 
 Dr. W. D. Gibbs, president of the New Hampsliire College of Agri- 
 culture and Mechanic Arts, gave an illustration of the benefit of 
 agricultural extension work of the kind that this bill contemplates 
 through a young man who studied at the College of Agricultiu'e of 
 New Hampshire. He said: 
 
 This old orchard was full of San Jose scale, and was an unproductive orchard, pro- 
 ducing mediocre fruit in small quantity. The father had made his living by selling 
 milk 8 miles away. This young man went to work on the orchard and pruned it and 
 sprayed it and cared for it in other ways, and to-day they have one of the best apple 
 orchards in New England. Instead of producing 800 barrels of poor fruit a year it is 
 producing about 1,500 barrels of good fruit a year. The result is that the town has 
 become an apple-producing center. Now, those farmers might have read agricultural 
 experiment station bulletins for a hundred years on how to develop an orchard and 
 they never would have done it. They believed their eyes and changed their methods. 
 
 We are tremendously interested in this thing. The salvation of New England, it 
 seems to me, is dependent upon increased agricultural prosperity. Agricultural 
 extension is the way to bring it about. You can talk to farmers at farmers' institutes 
 and you can send them bulletins by the ton, but they do not change their practice. 
 But when you go to the farm and "show" the man then he is your friend for life, and 
 that, in my opinion, is the way to develop agriculture in New England or any other 
 part of the United States. 
 
 Dr. Thompson, president of the University of Ohio, presented a,, 
 strong appeal for the bill and declared that it was necessary to 
 ''develop the work of the American farmers," and as a ''supple- 
 mentary move that will reach the matured men and women, who, for 
 one reason or another are not able to bring themselves to the school, 
 and give them the full benefit of the appropriations already made to 
 the colleges and experiment stations." 
 
 Dr. Howard H. Gross, president of the National Soil Fertility 
 League, of Chicago, among other things, said: 
 
 1 believe this bill for agricultural extension, measured by its general benefits, is 
 the most important constructive measure since the days of Abraham Lincoln. I 
 believe that is the concensus of opinion of the gentlemen who have given it careful 
 study. 
 
 He pointed out that at a low estimate the proposed extension work 
 is not only the way to an increase of average yield per acre of 20 per 
 cent, but also made the following statement: 
 
 The approximate area of farm lands is 900,000.000 acres. The present crop value is 
 about $9,000,000,000. Twenty percent increase means $1,800,000,000, equal to $18 
 per capita on 100,000,000 population. This sum equals one-half of all the money in 
 circulation. Surely the figures are tremiendous. The maximum cost to the Federal 
 Treasury under the bill before you will lie $:i,000,000 per year. The value of 20 per 
 cent increase on one -year's crop will pay for the proposed demonstration work for 
 600 years. 
 
 He also said: 
 
 There appeared before the committee representatives of agricultural associations ' 
 representatives of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, students o* 
 agricultural development, and leading bankers, all of whom urged the passage of this 
 measure as one necessary for the improvement of the agriculture of the country, and 
 they dwelt upon both the benefits which would go to the farmer and to the urban 
 citizen as a consequence of the improved methods on the farm which this bill would 
 bring about. 
 
 At a recent meeting of the presidents of the colleges of agriculture 
 and experiment stations, the following resolutions were passed: 
 
 The Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, in 
 session at Atlanta, Ga., November 14, 1912, most respectfully requests the United 
 
ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICQLTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 7 
 
 States Senate to pass the agricultural extension bill, H. R. 22871, during the coming 
 session of the Sixty-second Congress. 
 
 For some years the institutions represented in this association have been urging 
 the development of work in agricultural extension for the purpose of carrying to the 
 farmer in his own community the successful experience of the experiment stations 
 and the approved teachings of the colleges of agriculture. 
 
 During the sessions of the Sixty-first Congress several bills looking to this end were 
 introduced and hearings given to the representatives of the agricultural colleges, of 
 the National Grange, of bankers' associations, and of others interested in the develop- 
 ment of the Nation's agricultural resources. 
 
 On January 16, 1912, the Hon. Hoke Smith introduced in the United States Senate 
 and Hon. A.F. Lever introduced in the House of Representatives a bill to establish 
 agricultural extension departments in connection with the agricultural colleges in 
 the several States receiving the benefits of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862. 
 The bill now known as H. R. 22871, embodying substantially the provisions of the two 
 bills referred to above, has passed the House of Representatives and is now pending 
 in the Senate. 
 
 The provisions of this bill have been fully discussed in the hearings before the 
 Committees on Agriculture in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. 
 Its provisions are simple and clear. The bill seeks to bring to the practical farmer 
 by correspondence, instruction, and demonstration the accumulated and approved 
 experience and methods of the colleges and experiment stations during the past 50 
 years. 
 
 Fifty years ago the United States Congress passed the act providing for the land- 
 grant colleges. Twenty-five year ago Congress passed the act providing for the experi- 
 ment stations. Both these acts have been supplemented with legislation increasing 
 the funds and the efficiency of both colleges and stations. It is now urged that on this 
 anniversary year the agricultural extension bill be passed in order to enable these 
 colleges to carry to the farmer who can not come to the college or station such demon- 
 stration of the results obtained in these institutions as shall enable him to maintain 
 and develop the agricultural resources under his direction. This movement we 
 believe to be in accord with sound public policy lying at the basis of the economic 
 policies looking toward increased production as an important factor in determining the 
 comfort and welfare of the whole people. This bill naturally and logically completes 
 the chain of agencies fostered by the Federal Government for the betterment of agri- 
 culture. Hitherto we have maintained laboratories and field experiments at our 
 colleges and stations, have put the results into bulletins, and have taught them in the 
 classroom. It is now proposed to take these results to the local community, carry the 
 school to the farmer, and make his own fields a laboratory in which we can demon- 
 strate the value of science when applied to agriculture. 
 
 The association would call the attention of the Senate to two facts: First, the uni- 
 versal approval the country over of the wisdom of passing the land-grant act after an 
 experience of 50 years; of the equally luiiversal approval of the coimtry of the act 
 providing for the experiment stations after an experience of 25 years; and. 
 
 Second, to the fact that the agricultural interests as represented by farmers, the 
 colleges, the experiment stations, the agricultural press, and other interests as repre- 
 sented in bankers' associations and philanthropic agencies of various names are all 
 united in a desire to see the bill for agricultural extension become a law. 
 
 The Association of Agricultural Colleges, believing that these extension depart- 
 ments should be established without delay, and believing that this naeasure should 
 receive favorable consideration upon its own merits without complication with other 
 legislation, does most respectfully urge upon the Senate of the United States the 
 importance of passing the bill for the establishing of agricultural extension depart- 
 ments in the agricultural colleges of the several States at the earliest possible date, to 
 the end that the legislatures of the different States, many of which meet in January, 
 may have oppoitunity to accept the provisions of the bill and to put the departments 
 into operation durmg the coming year. 
 
 Attention is respectfully called to the hearings before the Committee on Agriculture 
 and Forestry in the United States Senate, Sixty-second Congress, second session (S. 
 4563), March 1, 1912, for a more complete statement of the merits of the bill and of the 
 reasons for its enactment into law. 
 
 Passed by the Association of Ameiican Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
 Stations, Atlanta, Ga., November 14, 1912. 
 
 WiNTHROP E. Stone, President. 
 
 Attest: 
 
 Joseph L. Hills, Secretary. 
 
8 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTUKAL EXTENSION DEPARl'IklENTS. 
 
 The International Dry Farming Congress at Colorado Springs 
 indorsed the bill by unanimous vote. 
 
 The New England Conference of Rural Progress, comprising 70 
 organizations, at a meeting in Boston, said: 
 
 Of all the bills now before Congress, we believe the Lever bill to be the most practical 
 form of legislation yet proposed. 
 
 The Tri-State Grain Growers' convention, comprising Minnesota 
 and the two Dakotas, passed resolutions emphatically indorsing the 
 bill. 
 
 The executive officers of the State Grange, the State Federation of 
 Farmers' Clubs, and State Horticulture Society, of Michigan, unani- 
 mously indorsed the bill. 
 
 The Farmers' Union indorsed the bill. 
 
 Th3 Third Wisconsm Country Life Conference, at Madison, passed 
 a resolution urging the Members of Congress to pass the agricultural 
 extension bill. 
 
 Secretary of Agriculture Hon, James Wilson, m a memorandum 
 prepared for the President of the United States, after full discussion 
 of tne provisions of the bill, says : 
 
 From time to time during the past three or four years bills have been introduced in 
 Congress having for their object agricultural extension work, and upon these bills 
 there has been considerable discussion. Public sentiment has gradually been crys- 
 tallized on the matter until now we have before us House bill 18160, known as the 
 Lever bill — a concrete proposition in regard to carrying the results of agricultural 
 knowledge directly to the man on the land. Unquestionably such a plan, if properly 
 carried out, would result in great good and would do much toward making useful and 
 valuable the rapidly growing store of knowledge developed along agricultural lines. 
 
 (Secretary Wilson designated House bill 18160 as the bill to which 
 he was referrbig. The present bill, as heretofore explained, is the 
 substitute for that bUl.) 
 
 The following are abstracts of indorsements of the bill as it was 
 first introduced into the Senate, the present bill being practically the 
 same measure, with only the changes to which we have heretofore 
 called attention: 
 
 ALABAMA. 
 
 President State Agricultural and Mechanical College says it is "a splendid piece 
 of prospective legislation. " 
 
 President Alabama Polytechnic Institute: "We regard this work as one of the 
 greatest possible good that can be rendered by the Government to our great farming 
 interests. * * * This sort of constructive work done with the Government money 
 seems to me is of even more value than what might be called the destructive work of 
 the appropriations for guns and battleships." 
 
 ARIZONA. 
 
 President University of Arizona: "The newer sections of the country are in great 
 need of the national help that such a bill as yours contemplates. * * * I am glad 
 the whole subject is engaging the attention of Congress * * *." 
 
 ARKANSAS. 
 
 President University of Arkansas: "I heartily approve of the bill and hope that it 
 will be passed." 
 
 Dean and director College of Agriculture: "Senate bill 4563 * * * is a piece of 
 proposed legislation which, to my mind, is of great importance." 
 
 CALrFORNIA. 
 
 President University of California: "There is no way in which we can do real good 
 for the masses of our people better than through agricultural extension work. * * * 
 There can be no question about our favoring the bill; we know what it means." 
 
ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS, y 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 President Connecticut Agricultural College: "My personal opinion is that carrying 
 of the latest scientific knowledge to the working farmer is one of the most important 
 duties of the land-grant colleges. I sincerely hope that this bill will have favorable 
 consideration by the present session of Congress." 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 ^President Delaware College: "I am very much pleased, indeed, to hear that the 
 bill * * * ]jag been read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
 and Forestry. * * * Boys and girls of the common-school and high-school ages 
 usually decide into what sphere of life they wish to enter. Formerly the dearth of 
 agricultural education in that formative period rendered it impossible for the boy or 
 girl to realize the importance of such instruction and consequently the country boy 
 usually found a home in the city. I believe that this condition of affairs will be 
 remedied by the operation of such a bill as you have proposed." 
 
 FLORIDA. 
 
 President University of Florida: "I sincerely hope that you will be successful in 
 passing this measure. Our State at the present time is giving $7,500 annually for 
 farmers' institutes and agricultural extension work. With double this amount we 
 believe that the efficiency of the agricultural extension work would be quadrupled, 
 as paradoxical as this may seem." 
 
 GEORGIA, 
 
 Chancellor University of Georgia: "It is the best bill for extension work that I 
 have ever seen. It is the only bill for extension work which I have been able to read 
 and understand. If there is any way in which I can aid in its passage I will be glad 
 to know it." 
 
 President State College of Agriculture: "We are naturally very much gratified to 
 see the progress you are making with your measure in the Senate, and hope Mr. Lever 
 will have equal success in the House." 
 
 HAWAII. 
 
 President College of Hawaii: "I have read the bill over carefully and heartily 
 commend your efforts to secure this benefit for the large and important class of our 
 people who are in need of its provisions. This is constructive legislation of the truest 
 type. Efficiency and contentment in agriculture are at the foundation of the Nation's 
 welfare. * * * j believe that extension teaching is most important of all our 
 methods for the propagation of knowledge. * * * There is sufficient data to show 
 that the endowment for the agricultural colleges and experiment stations and the 
 appropriations for the Department of Agriculture must be considered as among the 
 best investments that the Nation has ever made." 
 
 IDAHO. 
 
 President University of Idaho: "Even with the best preparation we can make, 
 and the most generous support from the Government in all of its divisions, we expect 
 to be swamped by applications for assistance through extension instruction. Prac- 
 tically every community in the State is clamoring for extension work, and only a 
 small percentage of the requests can be complied with. With reasonable support, 
 however, from the United States and the State, we may expect that practically the 
 whole agricultural population of Idaho will go to school for a portion of each year." 
 
 ILLINOIS. 
 
 Vice president University of Illinois: "The bill (S. 4563) introduced by you into 
 the Senate of the United States is one of very great importance to the people of our 
 country, and if passed is destined to work wonderfully great results. It is well known 
 to everybody who has thought on the matter that agriculture with us is in a state of 
 low development. * * * The people of the rural districts are not sharing ade- 
 quately in the general prosperity of the country, and the latter can not be maintained 
 without a forward movement among these rural people. Everywhere of late is heard 
 the cry, 'Back to the farm.' But until the farm becomes desirable as a source of 
 
10 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEP^TMENTS. 
 
 living and of community life no adequate result can be reached. This bill will serve 
 in a practical way to make this movement really sucessful. * * * The University 
 of Illinois is doing a great deal of this work now from State appropriations. It can do 
 much more with the aid that the bill is destined to give." 
 
 Editor Orange Judd Farmer, Chicago: "The demonstration idea has not been given 
 great attention at the North. Its wonderful success South ought to be sufficient 
 proof that it would be just as satisfactory at the North. We are heartily in favor of 
 this kind of work. I am very anxious to do what I can to help this bill along." 
 
 President Purdue University: "I am in favor of this kind of legislation rather than 
 some of the other measures which are now before Congress. * * * I find the 
 demands upon us for attention and for work which we would like to do far in excess 
 of our resources. This kind of work is the thing now most needed in our agricul- 
 tural colleges and I hope the measure will pass." 
 
 President State Agricultural College: "We shall be very glad to do anything neces- 
 sary to be done to indicate the interest of the farming classes in this matter and to 
 assure the Members of Congress that they will appreciate the enactment of a law along 
 the line of this bill." 
 
 KENTUCKY. 
 
 Editor Home and Farm, Louisville: "The policy will result in great good. * * * 
 Only through a better agricultural educktion will the farmers be able to diversify their 
 crops intelligently, care for their soils, and increase their profits." 
 
 President University of Maine: "I have gone over Senate bill 4563 with very great 
 interest. I see nothing whatever to criticize or change in the bill. If this bill 
 becomes a law it will enable the land-grant colleges to render unusual service to the 
 people of this country. If I can be of any service in bringing about the favorable con- 
 sideration of this bill it will be a pleasure." 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 President Massachusetts Agricultural College : " I am more than glad to give a hearty 
 indorsement to the bUl. * * * I think that this is one of the most important educa- 
 tional measures ever introduced into Congress. I believe the time is ripe for a great 
 Federal movement in popular education in agriculture and rural affairs. The States 
 are doing something, but we need the stimulus, direction, and practical assistance of 
 the National Government. * * * You will find the agricultural educators and 
 farmers of America back of you in this effort to inaugurate a great movement. I know 
 of nothing that the present Congress could do that would be more popular. I hope 
 the bill may be passed at this session." 
 
 MICHIGAN. 
 
 President Michigan Agricultural College: "This bill has my hearty indorsement 
 and I hope may pass. I shall do all I can to that end." 
 
 MINNESOTA. 
 
 Indorsements received from the officers of the State College of Agriculture and 
 Experiment Stations of Minnesota. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 President Agricultural and Mechanical College: "I heartily indorse your bill. 
 While I was president of the American Association of Institute Workers I delivered 
 an address urging that such a bill be passed by the National Congress. Extension 
 workisby far themostimportant work of the land-grant colleges at this time. * * * 
 We already have enough information to transform our agriculture if we could get the 
 people to incorporate it in their practices." 
 
ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 11 
 
 President Montana State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts: 'I am heartily 
 in favor of this movement, and I believe that the provisions of this bill will meet the 
 approval of all the interests concerned. The amount required to carry out this bill 
 is msignificant, and yet it will stimulate the States to expend several times this 
 amount." 
 
 NEBRASKA. 
 
 Chancellor University of Nebraska: "The University of Nebraska has already 
 organized a department of agricultural extension. For lack of funds, however, our 
 work is conducted mainly along the line of farmers' institutes. I have read the bill, 
 and most cordially indorse it in every particular." 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 President Rutgers College: "I am glad to express to you my emphatic indorse- 
 ment of this measure and my earnest hope that it will be passed. The State Agricul- 
 tural College of New Jersey, Rutgers College, is surely in position to do extension, 
 work throughout the State, and the work ought to be done." 
 
 President College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts: "I heartily approve your 
 bill arfti hope that it will be adopted." 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 President New Hampshii'e College of Agricultm'e and the Mechanic Arts: 'My 
 personal belief is that if this bill is passed by Congress it will be one of the wisest 
 pieces of legislation since the land-grant act of 1862. * * * To my mind agri- 
 cultural extension work is of the utmost importance at the present time. Our experi- 
 ment stations have accumulated a large mass of facts and our colleges have done a 
 wonderful work in accumulating and assimilating agricultiual information of all kinds^ 
 and the most important thing we can do now is to extend this information to the 
 farmers. This can be done only by demonstration and by other practical thorough- 
 going methods. I hope that your bill will receive the hearty support of every Member 
 of Congress. " 
 
 NEW MEXICO. 
 
 President New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts: "I have read the 
 bill with great care, and will say that I belieAe it to be the best of the several bills 
 now pending before Congress which have this object in view. 'Whatever may be the 
 merits of the various propositions to have the Federal GoA'ernment support agricul- 
 tural high schools, trade schools, district agricultural schools, and branch experiment 
 stations, it seems clear that none of these ought to be tied up with the agricultural 
 extension proposition, of which almost everybody is in favor. The Association of 
 Agricultiiral Colleges at its recent meeting took the position that the support of agri- 
 cultural extension work was the most important advance movement to be accom- 
 plished by legislation at this time. " 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 President Cornell University: "It is a species of instruction which appeals to the- 
 public more than college instruction or investigation, for which provision has been 
 made in previous acts of Congress. " 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 President College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts: "There is no work which the 
 Nation can do now which would tell more for material progress than the extension 
 work which would be so healthfully aided by your bill. If there is anything that our 
 farmers need more than another it is for some one to carry directly to them the vast 
 amount of scientific knowledge about crops and methods which has been made avail- 
 able in the past few years. The passage of this bill would give an opportunity to do 
 this thing, and I am sure no step could count more for progress than would be taken 
 by such action on the part of our Congi'ess. " 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA. 
 
 President North Dakota Agricultural College: "A resolution was adopted at 
 the Tri-State Grain Growers' Convention indorsing the passage of your bill, and, 
 as president of the convention. T sent copies of the resolution to the memliers of 
 both houses in Minnesota and the two Dakotas. I trust the bill will find favor with 
 both Congressmen and Senators and become a law." 
 
12 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 Dr. Thompson, of the University of Ohio, appeared in person before the committee, 
 advocating the bill. 
 
 OKLAHOMA. 
 
 President Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College: "I am in hearty 
 sympathy with the purpose of your bill." 
 
 President Oregon Agricultural College: "I am in hearty accord with all the 
 provisions of this bill. I have already written Members of the Oregon delegation, 
 urging that they give it their support. " The Oregon State Agricultural College has a 
 regularly organized department or division for extension work in agriculture and 
 home economics. One great need is for money with which to carry on this work. 
 I sincerely trust that your bill may be passed by the present Congress." 
 
 PENNSYLVAXIA. 
 
 President Penn-sylvania State College: "Let me thank you for copy of Senate 
 bill 4563. * * * Wishing the bill success and thanking you for your efforts for the 
 benefit of public education. I am, * * *." 
 
 Secretary State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania: "1 take this oppor- 
 tunity to especially commend Senate bill 456S, introduced by you. and to assure 
 you of the interest and support of this association. This is a matter of immediate 
 need and far-reaching advantage to the agricultural interests of the country. I 
 sincerely hope that it may become a law." 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 President Rhode Island State College: "I heartily approve of your bill and have 
 BO criticisms to make. This college has been prosecuting extension work for seven 
 or eight years, laboring under the difficulty of lack of funds. * * * I am anxious 
 to do whatever is possible to aid in the passage of this measure, and have written our 
 Senators accordingly. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 President Clemson Agricultural College: "I have read this bill with a great deal 
 of interest. * * * i consider it one of the most important pieces of constructive 
 legislation proposed since the Hatch Act, establishing the agricultural experiment 
 stations. There is no question but that the great need to-day is the dissemination 
 of agricultural information among our rural people. We would welcome the passage 
 •of such a bill as yours, and assure you that we would try to make its application in 
 South Carolina of the greatest usefulness to our people." 
 
 SOUTH DAKOTA. 
 
 President South Dakota State College: "The cause is one that has our hearty in- 
 dorsement. I have not been negligent of Senate bill 4563. I believe that our dele- 
 gation will support it." 
 
 Principal, School of Agriculture: "I think our farming people * * * have 
 almost no realization of the advantages that will come from legislation of this kind. 
 * * * I feel positive that this work will greatly advance the agricultural interests 
 of this great State of South Dakota." 
 
 TENNESSEE. 
 
 President University of Tennessee: "I am heartily in favor of the passage of this 
 Act. I believe the work contemplated by it to be of the greatest importance. I will 
 be glad to do anything in my power to influence its passage." 
 
 TEXAS. 
 
 President Agricultural and Mechanical College: "If this bill should become a law, 
 I am sure that it will mark a new era in agricultural education among the masses in 
 America. * * * i can think of no ex])enditure of money by the Government 
 that would be more remunerative to the Nation and which would redound to the 
 amelioration of so large a number of our most deserving fellow citizens." 
 
 Editor Farm and Ranch: "This is a very important measure and one that should 
 be passed without opposition." 
 
ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 13 
 
 President Agricultural College of Utah: "Utah established an agricultural exten- 
 sion department several years ago. * * * We are unable, however, with the 
 means at our disposal, to meet the demands made upon us. * * * You are at 
 perfect liberty to quote the officials of the Utah Agricultural College as being in very 
 hearty sympathy with any measure for the promotion of our industrial life through 
 the development_of extension work among the farmers and farmers' wives throughout 
 the country. It is possibly the most important work now lying before the agricul- 
 tural colleges, since it permits the proper distribution among those who need it of the 
 splendid mass of facts gathered by the agricultural experiment stations." 
 
 President Virginia Polytechnic Institute: "This is by far the best proposition 
 which has yet come forward. * * * The bill seems carefully drawn, and I can 
 most heartily indorse it." 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Vice president State College of Washington: "I have been waiting a little to find 
 what was recommended by the meeting of the agricultural college representatives and 
 find that they are all of them backing this particular bill. There is certainly a large 
 demand for more extension work in the country. We need to rationalize our educa- 
 tion and make it more helpful to the young men and young women who do not expect 
 to enter professional life. I will write to our Representatives and Senators and ask 
 for their hearty cooperation in the jDassage of Senate bill 4563." 
 
 WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
 President West Virginia University: "I thank you very much for a copy of the bill 
 sent, and hasten to express my wish that it may become a law. * * * This ia 
 one of the greatest works for the benefit of the entire country to which public money 
 can be devoted. It is through the extension work, and through it alone, as far as I 
 can see, that the people of most of our rural communities can be thoroughly awakened 
 to the need and value of agricultural education. The proposed bill seems to me to 
 be satisfactory in every detail, and I hope that you will be successful in securing its 
 passage." 
 
 Dean and director College of Agriculture, West Virginia University: "I am sending 
 out a letter to some of our leading people urging the support of your bill, and would 
 like to send a copy of the bill with these letters. * * * "We shall give this measure 
 every support possible." 
 
 WISCONSIN. 
 
 Dean University of Wisconsin: "Senate bill 5463 * * * is, to my mind, 
 the most suggestive measure that is under consideration in Congress for the advance- 
 ment of the agricultural welfare of the Nation. What is needed most imperatively 
 is the carrying of present agricultural knowledge to the man on the farm. * * * 
 The agricultural extension service is the only way in which this can be most effec- 
 tively accomplished, and your bill most satisfactorily fulfills this need. * * * 
 We in Wisconsin will do all that we can to aid in the passage of this measure." 
 
 Secretary Wisconsin Country Life Conference Association: " The following resolu- 
 tion was unanimously adopted by the conference association, representing all the 
 varied interests of country life and rural progress in all parts of Wisconsin: 
 
 '"Resolved, That it is the sentiment of this conference association that we urge our 
 Representatives in Congress to support the bill "To establish agi-icultural extension 
 departments in connection with the agricultural colleges in the several States, etc." 
 House bill 18160, Senate bill 4563.' 
 
 "I take pleasure in acquainting you with representative Wisconsin sentiment on 
 this measure." 
 
 Secretary Wisconsin Live Stock Breeders' Association: "Inclosed herewith please 
 find copy of resolution passed unanimously by the Wisconsin Live Stock Breeders' 
 Association, an organization representing all of Wisconsin's best live-stock breeders: 
 
 " 'Madison, Wis., February 8, 1912. 
 " 'Resolved, That the Wisconsin Live 'Stock Breeders' Association assembled in 
 annual convention heartily indorses the principle of Governineut aid to agricultural 
 college extension as embodied in the Lever bill (House bill ISKiO), and that we 
 authorize the secretary of this association to send a copy of these resolutions to the 
 chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Agriculture and to Members of the 
 Wisconsin delegation in Congress.' " 
 
14 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPAETMENTS, 
 
 Secretary National Association of State Universities: ''I am deeply interested in 
 your Senate bill 4563. The bill ought to pass, and I should be glad to cooperate 
 with you in any way within my power to bring about the desired result." 
 
 Mr. W. O. Thompson, member executive committee Association of American Agri- 
 cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations and president Ohio State University: 
 "As chairman of the executive committee of the Association of American Agricultural 
 Colleges and Experiment Stations I should be very much pleased to be heard before 
 the committees of both the House and Senate. As a little evidence of our interest, 
 I may say that we started agricultural extension four years before the legislature 
 authorized it, and had as many as 8,000 boys on the farms doing experimental work. 
 * * * The Agricultural College Association expressed itself very decidedly last 
 November in favor of agricultural extension." 
 
 Secretary New England Conference on Rural Progress: "At a meeting of the New 
 England Conference on Riu-al Progress, March 8, at the offices of the State board of 
 agriculture, statehouse, Boston, the following resolutions were unanimously voted: 
 
 '"Recognizing the latent possibilities of the New England States for agricultural 
 development, especially along certain high-class, specialized lines, and realizing that 
 this development can be most speedily and effectively brought about through well- 
 organized extension teaching in agriculture, the New England Conference on Rural 
 Progress — representing more than 70 organizations interested in rural life — to-day 
 assembled in convention in the city of Boston, would respectfully urge upon Congress 
 the necessity and advisability of passing legislation granting Federal funds for the 
 development of extension teaching in agriculture. Of the bills now before Congress 
 we believe Senate bill 4563 and House bill 18160 to be the wisest and most practical 
 forms of legislation yet proposed.' 
 
 "The delegates represent the agricultural colleges, the experiment stations, the 
 State granges, and various special agricultural, live stock, dairying, and other organiza- 
 tions and agencies of New England." 
 
 State superintendent of farmers' institutes, Lansing, Mich.: "At the Michigan 
 State Round-up Farmers' Institute, held at this place on February 27 to March 1, at 
 which representative farmers from more than 50 of the counties of the State were 
 present, the following resolution was adopted: 
 
 "'Whereas Representative A. F. Lever, of the seventh district of South Carolina, 
 has introduced a bill to establish agriculture extension departments in connection 
 with agricultural colleges in the several States receiving the benefits of an act approved 
 July 2, 1862, and acffe supplementary thereto, and referred to the Committee on 
 Agriculture: Therefore 
 
 '^'Resolved, That the members of the Seventeenth Annual Farmers' Institute 
 Round-up, in session at the Michigan Agricultural College, ask and urge its Senators 
 and Members of Congress to favor the passage of this bill.' 
 
 "I would say that, in addition to the above delegates, the executive officers of the 
 State Grange, State Federation of Farmers' Clubs, State Horticultural Society, and 
 nearly 1,000 farmers were present and voted unanimously for the resolution." 
 
 Editor Agricultural Epitomist, Spencer, Ind.: "I congratulate you on so far- 
 reaching a measure as Senate bill 4563 is intended to be. If Congress does nothing 
 else than pass this bill, it will justify the wisdom of the forefathers." 
 
 Union City, Ga., February 26, 1912, 
 Dr, A. M. SouLE 
 
 {Care Hon. Hoke Smith), Washington, D. C: 
 Resolutions adopted by Georgia Farmers' Union that the bills now pending in 
 Congress which propose to appropriate a sum of money to each State for agricultural 
 education, providing the State will appropriate a similar amount, known as House 
 bill 18160 and Senate bill 4563, be heartily indorsed and supported. 
 
 J. F. McDaniel, Secretary- Treasurer. 
 
 The committee recommends the passage of the bill as it came from 
 the House, with only the following amendment: 
 
 On page 5, line 14, strike out the words "duly appointed by the 
 governing boards of said colleges," and insert "of the State, duly 
 authorized by the laws of the State." 
 
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