ACfilC. 
 LIBRARY 
 
/c 
 
 REMARKS OF D. F. HOUSTON 
 
 SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 AT 
 
 CONFERENCE OF 
 EDITORS OF AGRICULTURAL JOURNALS 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C, NOVEMBER 20, 1918 
 
35 \ 
 
 AGRIC. 
 LIBRARY 
 
 1 1 THE accompanying important statement 
 by Secretary Houston on the agricultural 
 and food situation has been prepared from 
 the Secretary's remarks before a conference 
 of agricultural editors at the Department of 
 Agriculture in Washington, November 20. 
 
REMARKS OF D. F. HOUSTON 
 
 SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 
 At Conference of Editors of Agricultural Journals 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C, NOVEMBER 20, 1918 
 
 I greatly appreciate your full response to my request and I would 
 be untrue to myself if I were not also at this time, on behalf of the 
 Department and the Government, to tell you how much the coopera- 
 tion of the Agricultural editors of the Union has been valued by the 
 Department and the Government and how much it has contributed 
 to the campaigns for the increased production of foods and feedstuffs 
 and, therefore, to the successful prosecution of the war. The Depart- 
 ment has long recognized that the farm papers are perhaps the most 
 effective printed mediums for reaching the millions of people living 
 in the rural districts. We arrived at this conclusion a number of 
 years ago after a very careful survey. I know of nothing that the 
 better agricultural papers of the Union have omitted to influence 
 thinking along right lines and to further the purposes of the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 I had two thoughts in asking for this conference. In the first place, 
 I earnestly desire your advice, suggestions and criticisms as to the 
 activities of the Department — past, present, and prospective. There 
 is nothing which can be shown to be of value that the Department 
 is not willing to undertake, within the limits of its powers and funds, 
 to help the agriculture of the Nation. There is nothing that it is now 
 doing which it is not willing to curtail or to eliminate if such action 
 seems wise. Of course, the Department is not perfect. If it thought 
 it were perfect, it would fail to do its duty effectively. For my part, I 
 seek in my work here, as I hope I shall always do, to preserve an open 
 mind and to receive every responsible suggestion and to give it the 
 most earnest consideration. 
 
 CLEAR AND CALM THINKING NEEDED. 
 
 In the second place, I desire to canvass with you the conditions 
 through which we are now passing, to assess them as fully as possible, 
 to see what direction our further thinking should take, and to unfold 
 to you our thoughts and plans. Unquestionably, there is need of very 
 clear and calm thinking and of discovering as fully as possible the 
 
 f)-i,> i 2G 
 
. • ' •: : /. '"4- 
 
 direction which our forces and activities should follow. If the whole 
 Nation can maintain its customary poise and view its complex tasks 
 in a calm spirit, much of our difficulty will disappear. In times of 
 great change, of rapid world movements, no little hysteria naturally 
 develops. One sitting at a Nation's capital, dealing with vast interests, 
 is likely to get the impression that there is more of it than actually 
 exists. This arises from the fact that in a democracy, with masses of 
 intelligent people, there are those who are always on the job of plan- 
 ning and of furnishing suggestions. This is the strength of democracy 
 and it is also one of the difficulties of democratic government. Many 
 proposals are made affecting every great national interest and under- 
 taking. In our particular field, since food has played such an im- 
 portant role in recent years, many views are laid before the public, 
 some of them from responsible individuals and organizations, some 
 of them from those of another sort; and alarms are sounded. Not a 
 few suggestions of world famine and of impossibility of supplying our 
 own and other peoples are offered. Apprehensions are aroused. 
 Waves of impressions and suggestions come into this office; and, 
 unless one keeps his balance, he is especially likely to develop the 
 feeling, as I have said, that all the people are hysterical. This, of 
 course, is not true. The great masses of our population are not 
 greatly excited. They have maintained their steadiness during the 
 period of stress through which we have passed and they will maintain 
 it for the future. 
 
 ONLY THREE PERIODS AT ALL COMPARABLE. 
 
 It is not singular that many people should be disturbed and appre- 
 hensive in times of great change; and, therefore, particularly at the 
 present time; for, obviously, we are in the midst of the greatest 
 changes the world has witnessed. It seems to me that there are only 
 three other periods in the world's history at all comparable with the 
 present in point of interest and in respect to the nature and extent 
 of changes and possibilities. The first is the breaking up of the 
 Greek civilization. It doubtless appeared to the people of the time 
 that they were witnessing the collapse, if not the destruction, of 
 civilization. The same, in general terms, may be said of the period 
 of the decline and fall of th e Roman Empire. We know now that those 
 periods were not periods of decay, but rather of the dispersion and 
 diffusion of the civilized agencies and forces of the world over larger 
 areas, affecting favorably many more millions of people. The third 
 is that which is marked by the dissolution of the medieval system 
 and the discovery of a new world, with all its consequences. 
 
FINAL BLOW TO MEDIEVALISM. 
 
 The fighting has ceased. It will not be resumed in the near future 
 perhaps on any scale whatever; and, if at all, in restricted fashion. 
 Do you realize what apparently has been accomplished or what is in 
 sight? In general terms, the most striking fact is the "giving of the 
 final blow to medievalism in the world, revealed in the downfall of 
 arbitrary power which has sustained itself through an imposing 
 military array. It is almost incredible that the Romanoff dynasty, 
 which a few years ago seemed to be one of the most firmly fixed facts 
 in the world, has disappeared; that the Hohenzollerns, in some 
 respects even more firmly planted, have gone; and that the Hapsburgs 
 have fallen and, with them, princes and potentates of varying degrees. 
 Think of the wrong done to France righted in tha probable restoration 
 of the territories taken from her by force, of a restored Polish state 
 which was broken up by conspiracy and arbitrary forceful aggression 
 more than a century ago, and of the appearance of other unified 
 nationalities based upon race, language, and community of purpose, 
 such as the Czecho-Slovaks and the Southern Slavs! Is it not interest- 
 ing to contemplate, too, the possibility of the elimination of the Turks 
 and of Turkish rule from Europe? What appeals to the imagination 
 more strongly than the final accomplishment of what has been sought 
 by crusaders through the ages — the recovery of the Holy Land by 
 Christendom? How impossible would it have seemed a few short 
 years ago that the allied nations of the world would assent to the 
 principle of dealing with peoples everywhere on the basis of the 
 interests of such peoples? And how foreign to the thinking of the 
 Central Powers the thought that small nations have as much right 
 to exist as the greatest and that it makes a difference not so much 
 how big a nation is as what kind of a nation it is? Who would have 
 dreamed that there would be community of purpose in the matter 
 of reducing armaments and of relieving the world, in fuller measure, 
 of the burdens of militarism and of the effective development of a 
 will to secure respect for the common purpose of decent peoples 
 through association backed by an adequate international police? 
 And above all things do we realize that we have saved for the world 
 "the rule of law" among nations, given international law a new sanc- 
 tion and validity, and made it impossible for any arrogant power 
 again to regard such law and treaties solemnly entered into as scraps 
 of paper. Has not the purpose of the nations, crystallized in the 
 phrase of the President "to make the world safe for democracy," been 
 secured? 
 
NO JUSTIFICATION FOR EXCESSES HERE. 
 
 There are those who think that parts of the world have progressed 
 even beyond the rule of democracy and will be committed to per- 
 versions of it. Personally, I do not fear that any considerable part 
 of the world will run to excess for a very long psriod. I have no great 
 fears as to England, France, Switzerland, the United States, or any 
 of the other great free nations of the world. They are democratic. 
 In democracies there is no good cause which can not secure a hearing 
 and, in reasonable time, get itself expressed through the ballot. 
 Democracies are not places where attempts of misguided minorities 
 to force their will upon the majority by radical and violent methods 
 flourish. A minority has a right fully to expose its legitimate purposes 
 and to try to persuade the people to support them; but if it can 
 not do so, it has no right to resort to force. The great majority of 
 the people in this country clearly understand this. Unfortunately, 
 there are a few, many of them only recently among us, who do not 
 see this. They have not caught thg meaning, the spirit, and the pur- 
 pose of democracy. They think too exclusively in terms of some 
 other country entirely differently circumstanced; and they are con- 
 fused by words. I can understand how peoples who have lived in 
 Germany might realize the necessity of resorting to extrems measures 
 to enforce their views; because there the masses of the people have 
 not been consulted in governmental matters affecting their lives and 
 fortunes. It is easy to see how they might undertake, by using force 
 and violent measures, to break down tyrannical, dominating elements 
 and existing institutions. Excesses in Europe will abate as real 
 democracy makes headway. There is no justification for them here 
 and they will not be tolerated by the settled democracy of the other 
 free powers of the world. I am not afraid that the great thoughtful 
 masses of the American people will be swept from their moorings and 
 will abandon their standards and principles. Still, there is always 
 need of vigilance and of clear thinking. There are those among us 
 who are either ignorant, misguided, or vicious who assiduously spread 
 misinformation; and, for innocent, selfish, or pernicious reasons, 
 arouse, or seek to stir up prejudices and unrest. 
 
 The remedy is the old remedy of education; and I speak of these 
 things because they indicate the great responsibility resting upon 
 the agricultural press of the Union and a great duty and privilege, 
 although I recognize as clearly as you do that you have to deal with a 
 constituency as deeply grounded in the principles of democracy and 
 in understanding of its essence, if not more so, than any other great 
 group in our country. 
 
THE FOOD SITUATION. 
 
 Turning now more immediately to our particular problem, I find, 
 as I have no doubt you do, more than a normal amount of interest in 
 the food situation and much discussion of it. In respect to this 
 matter, there is no little confusion and misunderstanding. There are 
 those, as I have said, who are raising alarms. They have in mind the 
 present condition of the populations of Europe ; and represent that, in 
 view of the disturbed conditions there, they will not be able to sustain 
 themselves and will take such supplies from this country as will make 
 it impossible for us to supply our own population. 
 
 It is highly important to keep two things separate and distinct. 
 For a year we shall be concerned primarily with available food sup- 
 plies and with domestic and foreign demands for them. The matter 
 of planting during the ensuing year and of the harvests a year from 
 now are quite different things; and each of the two must receive 
 discriminating consideration. 
 
 FARMERS' RESPONSE MAGNIFICENT. 
 
 This Nation is, relatively speaking, very fortunately circumstanced 
 with respect to its supplies of food and feedstuffs. The farmers of 
 the country have responded magnificently. They have expanded 
 their operations not only because of the expectation of satisfactory 
 returns owing to the prevalence of large demands and good prices, 
 but they have also patriotically heeded the appeals of this Nation 
 and of the Allies for increased production. The facts speak for them- 
 selves. In spite of all the difficulties, of labor disturbance and con- 
 fusion in every direction, the first year of the war, 1917, the farmers 
 planted 23,000,000 acres more of the leading food crops than in 
 1916 and 32,000,000 more than the five-year pre-war average, and 
 produced record crops of most products except wheat. Of course 
 you gentlemen know that the partial failure of the wheat crop was 
 in no wise due to lack of interest or activity on the part of the farmers. 
 They planted a large acreage, but had the misfortune to lose by 
 winter killing the largest percentage of it ever recorded. They further 
 increased the acreage of the principal food crops in 1918, and indica- 
 tions coming to the Department from the various channels at its 
 disposal show that, in response to the suggestions of the Department, 
 they have enlarged their plantings of winter wheat and rye this fall. 
 The total production of the leading cereals in 1917 and also in 1918 
 exceeded that of any preceding year in the history of the Nation 
 except 1915. While the figures for 1918 show a decrease below 1917 
 of 160,000,000 bushels, it can not be said that the available supplies 
 for human food or the aggregate nutritive value will be less this year 
 than in 1917. The estimated wheat crop for the current year is 
 
8 
 
 approximately 919,000,000 bushels, compared with 651,000,000 in 
 1917 and 636,000,000 in 1916. The corn crop, although considerably 
 less than that of last year, exceeds the five-year average, is above the 
 average in quality, and is greatly superior to that of 1917. It has 
 been estimated that, of the large crop of last year, approximately 
 900,000,000 bushels were soft. This, of course, was valuable as feed 
 for animals, but less so than corn of normal quality. It should be 
 remembered that on the average, only about 12 per cent of the corn 
 crop is annually consumed by human beings, and that not more than 
 26 per cent ever leaves the farm. Furthermore, the stocks of corn 
 on the farm on November 1 are considerably larger than those of 
 last year. 
 
 The farmers also have been very active in the matter of live stock 
 production. They greatly increased the number of all classes of live 
 stock in 191 "7 and all indications point to the fact that there has been 
 a still further increase during the current year, although final figures 
 are not yet available. 
 
 LARGE DEMAND FROM EUROPE. 
 
 Undoubtedly the demand from Europe for available foodstuffs until 
 the next harvest season will be greater. England's food production 
 has increased during the war, but England still is, and will continue 
 to be, an importer of foodstuffs. France's production increased this 
 year over last year, but did not return to normal. She will need 
 unusually large supplies. Belgium, Poland, Holland, Norway, Switzer- 
 land and other countries whose production has been greatly disturbed, 
 or which normally import foodstuffs, will call upon us; and it seems 
 clear that contributions must be made, in no inconsiderable measure, 
 to the peoples of Austria and to some extent, of Germany. Even 
 our former enemies must be considered if for no higher motives than 
 those of enlightened selfishness. The world can not afford to have 
 a prevalence of chaos and riot in any part of it if it can be prevented. 
 Hungry people are dangerous, and reasonable sustenance is a pre- 
 requisite to the return of normal conditions and the securing of 
 democratic institutions. Unquestionably, there are considerable sup- 
 plies of foodstuffs in parts of Germany, in Southeastern Austria, and 
 in the Ukraine, but the conditions are disturbed and especially the 
 means of transportation. The problem in these countries primarily 
 is one of mobilizing supplies and of transporting and distributing them. 
 
 DIFFICULT TO FORECAST SITUATION YEAR HENCE. 
 
 The foreign demand will be for a great variety of foods and feed- 
 stuffs, but especially for certain kinds of fats. It is, therefore, highly 
 probable that prices for current supplies for the harvests of this 
 
9 
 
 year, both because of large foreign needs and of continuing domestic 
 demands, will remain reasonably high and remunerative to producers. 
 When we come to consider the situation which will prevail a year 
 from now and what should be done in respect to further production, 
 particularly in planning planting operations for next spring, we 
 encounter more difficulty in making a forecast. There are too many 
 unknown factors. We must remember that European nations will 
 omit nothing to produce those things with reference to which they 
 can get a prompt response; that is, bread grains and feedstuffs. If 
 conditions settle down and order is restored, all pains will be taken 
 to systematize production and to have those countries become as 
 fully self-sustaining as possible. Again, in all probability, restrictions 
 on trade movement will gradually be removed and ocean as well as 
 land transportation will return to normal in due course. They will 
 doubtless improve in the near future. Foreign nations will more and 
 more look to their former distant sources of supply. We know that, 
 while the Argentine crop this year was not as good as it has been, 
 it was reasonably large. Argentina also had a surplus. The Aus- 
 tralian crop was satisfactory and there, too, were considerable surplus 
 stores. Algeria, I am told, has a 25,000,000-bushel exportable surplus of 
 wheat. We have witnessed in this country, as I have said, a record 
 fall planting of wheat and the sowing of a large area of rye. We do 
 not know how these crops will come through the winter. If the con- 
 dition should be favorable, we shall, of course, realize an unusual 
 harvest. We shall not have available until after the beginning of 
 the new year the estimates of live stock in this Nation. 
 
 TOO EARLY TO SUGGEST SPRING PROGRAM. 
 
 It is clearly, therefore, too early to make detailed suggestions for 
 the spring planting, and I know of no one who is wise enough to say 
 what the supply and demand will be and the prices which will prevail 
 a year from now. The Department of Agriculture and the agricul- 
 tural colleges and other organizations will continue to study the 
 situation, keep close track of developments and, at the proper time, 
 in advance of the next planting season, will be in a position to offer 
 suggestions. In the meantime, we must not fail to adopt every feasi- 
 ble means of relieving the farmers of economic burdens. We are taking 
 active steps to perfect the local organizations cooperating with the 
 Federal and State agencies, so that we may more effectively execute 
 any well considered plan that later may be devised. 
 
10 
 DEMOBILIZATION OF ARMY. 
 
 Much interest naturally attaches itself, now that fighting has 
 ceased, to the matter of reconstruction or readjustment of industry 
 and of agriculture. This involves, of course, the demobilization of 
 the Army and the return not only of millions of men from military 
 life to their former civilian pursuits, but also the release of a great 
 number of laborers from industrial establishments which were greatly 
 expanded to meet special war requirements. The process of demo- 
 bilization is under way. Plans are on foot to vacate the camps in 
 this country and to send back within a very few days a quarter of a 
 million men. I can not speak officially as to the time or method of 
 withdrawing men from France. How many men we shall have to keep 
 there for a considerable period, I do not know. The war is not yet 
 over. We are still in a state of war. We shall have to assist in the 
 military occupation of German territory. Even if there were no work 
 for any part of the Army in France, we probably could not get all 
 our men back, under the most favorable transportation conditions, in 
 much less than a year. We must expect that they will be returned 
 by installments. Naturally those outside of the regular Army who 
 have been abroad longest will be brought back fust. This, I assume, 
 will be the guiding principle. It would be impossible to act exclu- 
 sively on the principle of returning men by occupations. Such a 
 plan would disrupt the Army units, but, within all possible limitations, 
 in withdrawing men due regard will be had to essential occupations, 
 including agriculture. 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES MUST BE GIVEN RETURNING SOLDIERS. 
 
 What shall we do with the men when they return from France 
 and what will become of those engaged in specialized war industries? 
 Is it likely that we shall have to be concerned with the larger per- 
 centage of our boys? Will not those who have come from the farms, 
 who own farms, or who lived on their father's farms, as a rule, return 
 to them as quickly as possible? Certainly the farms need them. 
 Many others have professions, trades, or occupations awaiting them. 
 The experience of some of the nations to date, especially Canada, 
 would seem to indicate that the greater percentage of the returning 
 men will not call for special action on the part of the Government. 
 Canada has been in the war nearly five years. Many men have 
 returned who could not be sent back to the Army. A Canadian 
 official recently told me that 90 per cent of the returning men did 
 not wish to be bothered and that they had to interest themselves, 
 therefore, in only approximately 10 per cent. However, no one will 
 hesitate to say that every consideration must be given to returning 
 soldiers who have no places waiting for them and who will be seeking 
 
11 
 
 new tasks. They deserve well of the Republic, and those who wish 
 to go into farming, who have had any experience which would make 
 such an occupation probably profitable for them, must be furnished 
 every opportunity. The Nation and the states will unquestionably 
 come to their assistance and every feasible thing will be done to secure 
 for them the opportunities they seek somewhere in industry or in 
 agriculture. 
 
 STILL PIONEERING THE COUNTRY. 
 
 Of course, this country is not yet filled up. In a sense, we are still 
 pioneering it. It is estimated that there are 1,140,000,000 acres of 
 tillable land in the United States and that only 367,000,000 acres are 
 actually in cultivation. Of course, much of the best land, especially 
 that most easily brought under cultivation and in reasonably easy 
 reach of large consuming centers, is in use, though much of it, possibly 
 85 per cent, is not yielding full returns. Extension of the farmed 
 area will consequently be made with greater expense for clearing, 
 preparation, drainage, and irrigation, and for profitable operation will 
 involve marketing arrangements of a high degree of perfection and the 
 discriminating selection of crops having a relatively high unit value. 
 
 We must consider this whole question in the light of tha recent past 
 and of the probable future developments. Many people think too 
 much in terms of today. How many of you realize that this Nation, 
 in the 15 years from 1900 to 1915, gained a population of 22,000,000, 
 nearly three-fifths that of the Republic of France, a Nation with 
 producing and consuming power probably greater than that of any 
 South American country. It is estimated, also, that since the Euro- 
 pean war broke out our population has further increased nearly 
 3,250,000, largely through natural growth. We have taken care of 
 this population. Those who have wished to farm have found places. 
 Doubtless we shall gain 15,000,000 or 20,000,000 in the next fifteen 
 years, and these, too, we shall take care of. These, too, will benefit 
 from agencies working for the betterment of rural life which, in point 
 of scope, personnel, financial support and effectiveness, excel those 
 of any three nations in the world combined. It is an urgent duty of 
 all these agencies to assist those who are entering upon agriculture 
 for the first time. 
 
 PROBLEM ONE OF EMPHASIS AND SELECTION. 
 
 What else stands out for consideration in the field of readjustment? 
 I am now thinking, of course, of agriculture. Is it likely that many highly 
 promising, novel, and original things can be suggested and put into 
 practice? Agriculture probably was the best prepared interest in the 
 Nation when the war came on. Through wise provision the country 
 had secured an organization which was ready to function in all 
 
12 
 
 directions. The problem was one of emphasis and selection rather 
 than one of new departure. And for the future, is it not likely that 
 it will continue to be one of emphasis and selection rather than of 
 novel enterprises? I have sought light on this problem from many 
 sources. I have asked for suggestions in many directions and, for 
 the most part, all that I have received to date confirm the view that 
 we shall continue the process of selection and emphasis rather than 
 attempt novel things. 
 
 CONSTRUCTIVE LEGISLATION IN LAST FIVE YEARS. 
 
 The last five years were especially fruitful of legislation helpful to 
 agriculture. The first striking achievement was the adoption of the 
 Federal Reserve Act and the organization of the system. Anything 
 that improv3s the finances of the Nation, that makes them sound 
 and enduring, helps every citizen. It seems providential that the 
 Reserve system should have been inaugurated before the breaking 
 out of the European war. This war involved financial burdens and 
 strains such as no economist imagined any country could stand; and 
 yet this Nation has, by reason of the operations of the Federal Reserve 
 Board and of the reserve banks, proceeded in orderly fashion with 
 its finances. It has met its own needs and has come to the rescue 
 of the countries with which we are associated. In no former period, 
 either of war or of peace, were we able to weather any considerable 
 financial storm. During the Revolutionary War our finances were 
 chaotic. We promptly suspended specie payments at the beginning 
 of the war of 1812, and also when our Civil War came on. During 
 the period of expansion in the '30s, we suspended specie payments 
 and did not resume them for a number of years. In 1873, by reason 
 of the over-trading following the Civil War, we had a suspension 
 within a suspension. Twenty years later we were in trouble again, 
 and in 1907 we had difficulties of a special and peculiar nature. What 
 would have been the course of things if we had been less fortunately 
 situated in this war no human being can tell. 
 
 The Federal Reserve Act not only enabled us to sustain our whole 
 financial structure and to permit all industries to survive the financial 
 crisis, but it took special note of the farmers' needs. It permitted 
 national banks to lend on real estate and gave to farm paper a matur- 
 ing period of six months. Later came the Farm Loan Act,with whose 
 terms and operations you are familiar. Notwithstanding the fact that 
 this measure was passed and the system put into operation in a time 
 of great stress, it has made marked headway and furnished great 
 relief. Other measures, well known to you, are the cooperative Agri- 
 cultural Extension Act, the Federal Aid Road Act, and the Grain 
 Standards, Cotton Futures, and Warehouse Acts. I might add to 
 
13 
 
 this list the provision creating a Bureau of Markets, under which has 
 been developed the most effective organization of its kind in the 
 world, with available funds this year of $4,000,000 or $5,000,003. 
 The Bureau is rendering valuable service to agriculture in very many 
 directions. Particularly significant and helpful are its Market News 
 Services, which are furnishing information of great value daily to 
 producers throughout the Union and have, in some sections, con- 
 verted hazardous agricultural enterprises into successful businesses. 
 
 RESUMPTION AND EXTENSION OF HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 There remain other things to do. I can only sketch them. We 
 must resume as quickly as possible, in full measure, the operations 
 under the Federal Aid Road Act. You understand why they had to be 
 contracted during the war. It is highly important that they be 
 resumed. I need not emphasize before you the fact that good roads 
 are prerequisite for better agriculture, for orderly distribution, and 
 for a healthful and attractive country life. From unexpended balances 
 of Federal appropriations for the last few years, from State funds 
 beyond what was necessary to meet the Federal allotments, and from 
 amounts available during the current fiscal year, we shall have for 
 expenditure during the calendar year approximately $75,000,000. 
 Next year, if all the balances should be expended during this year 
 and we should have to rely solely on the funds accruing next year, we 
 shall have from Federal appropriations about $20,000,000 and proba- 
 bly more than this amount from state sources. The states, in addi- 
 tion, will expend sums in excess of what they have assigned, or will 
 assign, for Federal aid road projects. Still, it seems to me that we 
 should take a further step — take this step not only because of the 
 importance of good roads, but also because of the desirability of 
 furnishing worthy projects on which unemployed labor during the 
 period of readjustment may be engaged. There will be many things 
 suggested for which Federal and state funds will be sought. Some 
 of these will be unworthy. Clearly such public works as roads are 
 worthy, and it would be in the public interest to make available larger 
 appropriations from the Federal treasury, to be used separately or in 
 conjunction with State and local support. 
 
 NECESSARY MACHINERY ALREADY EXISTS. 
 
 There need be no delay in the executiDn of such a program. The 
 Nation has already provided the machinery in the Department of 
 Agriculture and in the state highway commissions. The Federal Aid 
 Road Act was fruitful of good legislation and each state in the Union 
 now has a central highway authority with power and funds to meet 
 the terms of the Federal Act. The two agencies, in conjunction, 
 
14 
 
 have been engaged in devising well-considered road systems and in 
 making surveys, plans, and specifications. The task will be one of 
 selection and those roads should be designated for improvement 
 which are of the greatest economic importance, with due regard to 
 such military and other needs as are proper for consideration. There 
 is no necessity for any departure from this scheme. The suggestions 
 made have been canvassed with the President, the Secretary of 
 War, and the Postmaster-General, and they are in accord with the 
 view that additional funds should be made available to this Depart- 
 ment and that they should be expended through existing machinery. 
 
 PERSONAL CREDIT UNIONS. 
 
 Another task remaining in the field of finance is to provide a proper 
 system of personal credit unions, especially for the benefit of indi- 
 viduals whose financial circumstances and scale of operations make 
 it difficult for them to secure accommodations through ordinary 
 channels. I am not oblivious to the fact that banks now make short 
 term loans of a great aggregate value to farmers possessing commer- 
 cial credit, but there are those who can not easily avail themselves 
 of the facilities they offer. This would appear to be a matter primarily 
 for state consideration and state action. Such course has been 
 approved by many of the best economists and seems to have been 
 that sanctioned by the Joint Committee of Congress. The Depart- 
 ment has formulated a tentative model law for personal credit unions 
 and is ready to place itself at the service of any state which is ready 
 to undertake legislation in this field. A number of states already 
 have adopted laws for personal credits. In most cases, however, the 
 associations formed under them are composed of urban workers. 
 The North Carolina law apparently has had more fruitful results in 
 respect to rural associations. This is due, in no small measure, to 
 the provision made for educational activity. 
 
 The foundation for effective work in this field is the promotion of 
 cooperative associations among farmers in general — associations of 
 people who have a very definite difficulty to overcome. This Depart- 
 ment has labored steadily to advance this movement and will continue 
 its efforts to the limit of its powers and available funds. 
 
 LAND SETTLEMENT. 
 
 I have already directed attention to a phase of the problem of 
 land settlement. I have pointed out that we are still, in a measure, 
 pioneering the country and that we shall be called upon to take care 
 of many more millions of people. Of course, we cannot induce people 
 to stay in the country districts or to take up farming unless we make 
 rural life profitable, healthful, and attractive. Farmers can not 
 
15 
 
 produce merely for the love of it. They must consider their bank 
 balance just as other business men do. In the long run, as many 
 people will engage in farming as are necessary to produce the sup- 
 plies needed by society and taken by society at a price which will 
 justify the operation. Farming must pay and that is a prerequisite 
 to its extension. The task of the organized agricultural agencies of 
 all sorts is to improve rural life so that it will be profitable to the 
 present farmers and attractive to those seeking new enterprises. 
 They must omit nothing to improve processes, to promote economies, 
 and therefore to relieve farmers of economic burdens in production, 
 to control and eradicate animal and plant diseases and insect pests, 
 and to better distribution and marketing. 
 
 It would be desirable to facilitate land settlement in more system- 
 atic fashion. This has too long been left to the haphazard intervention 
 of private enterprises, and the Nation has suffered not a little from 
 irresponsible private direction. I think it is high time for the Federal 
 and state governments both, as well as local communities, to seek 
 to aid in land settlement by furnishing actual facts, reliable informa- 
 tion, and agricultural guidance to beginning farmers and to promote 
 well-considered settlement plans. 
 
 OWNERSHIP OF FARMS SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED. 
 
 It is particularly vital that the process of acquiring ownership of 
 farms be encouraged and hastened. This is now the process. Tenancy 
 has its dark sides, but it also has its bright sides. In no inconsiderable 
 measure, it is a step towards ownership. It is a stage through which 
 many of our owners have passed and are passing. It is a stage at 
 which the young farmer, in many instances, begins his career. The 
 statistics indicate that 76 per cent of farmers under 25 years of age 
 and that only about 20 per cent of those over 55 are tenants. With 
 few exceptions, in the older sections of the Union owning farmers 
 form the largest percentage of the farming population. Characteristic 
 exceptions are found in such states as Illinois, where, for peculiar 
 reasons, a high degree of tenancy and of absentee ownership exists. 
 On the whole, the conditions do not furnish ground for pessimism. 
 Still, it is incumbent on us to take every feasible means of expediting 
 the process from tenancy to ownership. A helpful influence in this 
 direction is the farm loan system and especially its practice of having 
 vendors of land take second mortgages subordinate to the first mort- 
 gage of the land bank, enabling the farmer to secure a better rate of 
 interest and to make payments over a long term of years. I have no 
 doubt that the development of the principle of cooperation, especially 
 in respect to personal credit unions, would be a further step for 
 hastening this process. In the meantime, let us study carefully the 
 
16 
 
 terms of tenancy with a view to secure to the tenant such interest as 
 will permit soil development and assure to him a reasonable share of 
 the returns. 
 
 STOCK YARDS AND PACKING HOUSES. 
 
 The matter of the supervision of stock yards and packing houses 
 presents a problem about which there has been much discussion. 
 The restoration and maintenance of conditions which will justify 
 confidence in the live stock markets and the meat packing industry 
 is the greatest single need in the present meat situation in the United 
 States. As you know, the Department, at the direction of the Presi- 
 dent, is now administering under license the control of the stock 
 yards and related industries. The important results already accom- 
 plished under this authority clearly demonstrate its usefulness and 
 emphasize the desirability of continuing it or some other adequate 
 form of supervision. 
 
 The question also of exercising similar authority over the slaughter- 
 ing, meat packing and related interests is one for serious consideration. 
 The Food Administration has placed limitations on profits on meat 
 and by-products handled by these establishments and has required 
 the installation of uniform accounting systems. In this way the 
 centralization of control by a small group of packers has been materi- 
 ally checked. The economic welfare of meat production and distri- 
 bution would be promoted by the continuation and development in 
 some form of the supervision over the packing industry. Such con- 
 trol, of course, should be closely coordinated with that of the live 
 stock markets, and there should also be established a central office 
 to which packing concerns should be required to report currently in 
 such form and detail that it would be constantly informed concerning 
 their operations. The necessary legislation should be enacted at the 
 earliest possible moment. 
 
 The situation apparently requires three remedies, namely, regula- 
 tion, information, and voluntary cooperation. Federal regulation, 
 organized and administered as indicated and exercised in close har- 
 mony with the regulatory bodies of the various states, is the most 
 essential feature. Constant publicity, under Government direction, of 
 current market prices, supplies, movement, and other conditions per- 
 taining to the marketing of live stock, meats and animal by-products 
 would materially increase its effectiveness. It would also be a means 
 of stabilizing the marketing of live stock and its products and of 
 making available the information required by producers and dis- 
 tributors in the marketing of their products. A beginning already 
 has been made in the creation of machinery for such service at market 
 centers and legislative authority for its further development should 
 be continued and extended. Furthermore, better organization of 
 
17 
 
 live stock producers and closer cooperation between their organiza- 
 tions and those representing the different classes of intermediaries, 
 working in harmony with appropriate Government agencies, would 
 also add to the effectiveness of regulation and would be beneficial 
 to the packers and distributors as well as to the producers and 
 consumers. 
 
 FEDERAL FEED AND FERTILIZER LAWS. 
 
 Some complaints have reached the Department recently regarding 
 commercial feedstuff's. We have been studying the situation and it 
 seems to me that it would be desirable to have a comprehensive 
 Federal feed law placed upon the statute books. At present, in 
 order to secure for the public the benefits of the provisions of the 
 Federal Food and Drugs Act with reference to animal feeds, it is 
 necessary to rely on the appropriate statutes of the different states. 
 These are not uniform and there are a few states which have no 
 laws that can be invoked. Under a Federal law, framed along right 
 lines, it should be possible for the Government to proceed in a uniform 
 manner and to secure to consumers protection against misbranded, 
 adulterated, and worthless feeds entering into interstate commerce. 
 Similar legislation with reference to fertilizers passing into interstate 
 commerce probably would be feasible and valuable. At the same 
 time, it would be wise to make provision for securing comprehensive 
 and reliable information regarding commercial fertilizers. I am con- 
 vinced that there is much indiscriminate use of them at present and, 
 therefore, much waste of money. This arises from the lack of avail- 
 able, satisfactory data. As the matter is one of importance to the 
 whole Union, I believe the Department should participate in the 
 work and that the requisite funds should be provided for cooperative 
 experiments with State institutions. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF EMERGENCY ACTIVITIES. 
 
 Under the Food Production Act of August 10, 1917, the activities 
 of the Department have been expanded in many directions. This is 
 particularly true of the extension forces, including the county agents, 
 the work relating to the control and eradication of animal diseases, 
 and the market news services. That the efforts of the Department 
 in emergency directions have produced valuable results is indicated 
 by expressions coming from all sections of the Union. If the finances 
 of the Nation permit it, it seems clear that adequate provision should 
 be made for the continuance of at least a part of the work after 
 the end of the present fiscal year. I have already transferred to the 
 regular bill the estimates for some of the emergency work of the 
 Bureau of Markets. It would also be wise, I think, to anticipate the 
 amount that will accrue under the Agricultural Extension Act when 
 
18 
 
 it reaches its full development in 1922 and to make such further 
 provision as may be necessary for the continuance of agents of proved 
 efficiency already on the rolls, as well as to continue the intensive 
 work for the more speedy control and eradication of tuberculosis, hog 
 cholera, and the cattle tick, and other important lines of work. 
 Expenditures for these activities are investments. 
 
 RURAL HEALTH AND SANITATION. 
 
 The question of rural health and sanitation is one to which I have 
 given a great deal of thought. It seems to me that we should omit 
 no effort to see to it that the benefits of modern medicine accrue 
 more largely to the scattered populations of the rural districts. The 
 economic waste from insanitary health surroundings and from disease 
 is enormous. It is impossible to estimate its extent. It is even 
 more impossible to assess the amount of existing, preventable human 
 misery and unhappiness. The remedy is difficult. Many agencies, 
 including some private enterprises, are working for improvement, 
 and states and medical societies are contributing. The extension and 
 improvement of agriculture, including the drainage of lands, the 
 clearing of swamps, and the construction of good roads, make for 
 betterment. The Department of Agriculture, through its home 
 demonstration service, is giving valuable aid and the public health 
 service is increasingly extending its functions. A vast deal, however, 
 remains to be done to control such pests as mosquitoes and the hook- 
 worm, to eliminate the sources of typhoid fever, and, even more, to 
 give the country districts advantages of modern hospitals, nursing, 
 and specialized medical practice. To what extent the further pro- 
 jection of effort is a matter for state or local action remains to be 
 determined, but it seems clear that there should be no cessation of 
 activity until there has been completed, in every community of the 
 Union, an effective sanitary survey and, through the provision of 
 adequate machinery, steps taken to control and eliminate the sources 
 of disease and to provide the necessary modern medical and dental 
 facilities easily accessible to the mass of the people. 
 
 FARM ECONOMICS AND FARM MANAGEMENT. 
 
 I have also been keenly interested all my life in the economics of 
 agriculture, and I have therefore not only emphasized in my mind 
 the necessity for developing a strong and effective Bureau of Markets, 
 but also an organization here for the satisfactory study of the difficult 
 problems of farm economics and farm management. I have by no 
 means been satisfied with some of the work of the present Office of 
 Farm Management. I refer especially to the studies of the cost of 
 farm crops. It is unnecessary for me to point out the difficulties of 
 
19 
 
 securing accurate statistics on the cost of producing an agricultural 
 commodity. Corn, for instance, is produced by perhaps 6,000,000 
 farmers over a continental area. It is difficult enough to acsertain 
 the cost of producing corn on a single farm where there are complex 
 operations. It is equally difficult to secure averages in a given area 
 that are helpful guides. It is even more difficult where a tenant is 
 involved. Still, averages are the best that we can get. A prerequisite, 
 however, is that they shall be based on actual and distinct studies on 
 many individual farms and that the facts shall be tabulated, carefully 
 interpreted, and set out under the proper limitations. This is not 
 true with reference to the studies recently much discussed. Com- 
 petent, impartial economists and students of the subject, after careful 
 investigation, reported that the studies were little more than expres- 
 sions of opinion based on impressions received from conversations 
 with farmers, that the interpretations and expositions were highly 
 unsatisfactory, and that the conculsions as given were misleading. 
 
 I have the whole problem actively in mind. I am calling into 
 conference the best students of farm economics in the Nation, includ- 
 ing the heads of state farm management departments, some of which 
 have developed programs superior to parts of ours, and I shall hope, 
 at the proper time, to lay before Congress a carefully considered 
 series of projects for an enlarged Office of Farm Management. I shall 
 ask for sufficient authority and funds to secure the services of the 
 best staff available and shall plan to work in close cooperation with 
 well-equipped departments in state colleges and universities. It is 
 my hope that the Nation shall not again be caught without adequate 
 and reliable cost of production data as a basis for its thinking and 
 acting. Of course, I realize that farm management is much more 
 than mere studies of costs. It involves land settlement, studies of 
 ownership and tenancy, of the relation of crops, of domestic and 
 foreign supplies in relation to domestic and foreign demand, and 
 many other things. 
 
 I have in mind, I trust, not only further concrete principles for 
 the improvement of the agriculture and rural life of the Nation, but 
 a vision of rural life towards the realization of which I hope to see 
 the Department, the colleges, agricultural organizations, farm papers, 
 and all other agencies in the country steadily work. 
 
... 
 
 I 
 
 ■■■■:■ 
 
 ;;;!!; 
 
 ::•:■::: 
 
 "•■! ! 
 
 
U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CDMSfi3^L^ 
 
 ;