DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE AGRICULTURAL

EXTENSION WORK

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1935

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met, pursuant to call, in the committee room, 324 Senate Office Building, at 10 a. m., Senator John H. Bankhead presiding.

Senator BANKHEAD. Gentlemen of the committee, Senator Smith is detained by illness this morning and has asked me to preside. We will take up S. 2228, to provide for the further development of cooperative agricultural extension work and the more complete endowment and support of land-grant colleges and agricultural-experiment stations.

(S. 2228 is here printed in full as follows:)

[S. 2228, 74th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide for the further development of cooperative agricultural extension work and the more complete endowment and support of land-grant colleges and agricultural experiment stations

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order to further develop the cooperative extension system as inaugurated under the Act entitled "An Act to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the several States receiving the benefits of the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and all Acts supplementary thereto, and the United States Department of Agriculture", approved May 8, 1914 (U. S. C., title 7, secs. 341-348), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying the expenses of cooperative extension work in agriculture and home economics and the necessary printing and distribution of information in connection with the same, the sum of $8,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act, and for the fiscal year following the first fiscal year for which an appropriation is made in pursuance of the foregoing authorization the additional sum of $1,000,000, and for each succeeding fiscal year thereafter an additional sum of $1,000,000 until the total appropriation authorized by this section shall amount to $12,000,000 annually, the authorization to continue in that amount for each succeeding fiscal year. The sums appropriated in pursuance of this section shall be paid to the several States and the Territory of Hawaii in the same manner and subject to the same conditions and limitations as the additional sums appropriated under the Act of May 8, 1914; except that (1) the allotments to the several States and the Territory of Hawaii shall be in the proportion that the farm population of each bears to the total farm population of the several States and the Territory of Hawaii, as determined by the last preceding decennial census; and (2) the several States and the Territory of Hawaii shall not be required to offset the allotments authorized in this section. The sums appropriated pursuant to this section shall be in addition to, and not

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in substitution for sums appropriated under such Act of May 8, 1914, as amended and supplemented, or sums otherwise appropriated for agricultural extension work. Allotments to any State or the Territory of Hawaii for any fiscal year from the appropriations herein authorized shall be available for payment to such State or the Territory of Hawaii only if such State or the Territory of Hawaii complies, for such fiscal year, with the provisions with reference to offset appropriations (other than appropriations under this section) for agricultural extension work.

SEC. 2. In order to provide for the more complete endowment and support of the colleges in the several States entitled to the benefits of the Act entitled "An Act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts", approved July 2, 1862, as amended and supplemented (U. S. C., title 7, secs. 301328; Supp. VII, sec. 304), there are hereby authorized to be appropriated annually, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the following amounts:

(a) For the fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act, and for each fiscal year thereafter, $960,000; and

(b) For the fiscal year following the first fiscal year for which an appropriation is made in pursuance of paragraph (a) $500,000, and for each of the two fiscal years thereafter $500,000 more than the amount authorized to be appropriated for the preceding fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter $1,500,000. The sum appropriated in pursuance of paragraph (a) shall be paid annually to the several States in equal shares. The sums appropriated in pursuance of paragraph (b) shall be in addition to sums appropriated in pursuance of paragraph (a) and shall be allotted and paid annually to each of the several States in the proportion which the total population of each such State bears to the total population of all the States, as determined by the last preceding decennial census. Sums appropriated in pursuance of this section shall be in addition to sums appropriated or authorized under such Act of July 2, 1862, as amended and supplemented, and shall be applied only for the purposes of the colleges defined in such Act, as amended and supplemented. The provisions of law applicable to the use and payment of sums under the Act entitled "An Act to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges, for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts, established under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two", approved August 30, 1890, as amended and supplemented, shall apply to the use and payment of sums appropriated in pursuance of this section.

SEC. 3. In order to further develop the agricultural research systems in the several States and Territories as inaugurated under the Act entitled "An Act to establish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the colleges established in the several States under the provisions of an Act approved July 2, 1862, and of Acts supplementary thereto ", approved March 2, 1887, (24 Stat. L. 440), and amended June 7, 1888, (25 Stat. L. 176), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying the expenses of agricultural research work and the necessary printing and distribution of information in connection with the same, the sum of $1,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936, and for each of the four fiscal years thereafter $1,000,000 more than authorized for the preceding fiscal year, and $5,000,000 for each fiscal year thereafter. The sums of money appropriated in pursuance of this section shall be available under the same terms and conditions set forth in the Hatch Act, approved March 2, 1887, and amended June 7, 1888, except that the allotments to the several States and Territories shall be in the proportion that the farm population of each bears to the total farm population of the several States and Territories as shown by the last preceding decennial census. The sums appropriated in pursuance of this section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for sums appropriated under such Act of March 2, 1887, as amended and supplemented, or sums otherwise appropriated for agricultural research work.

This day was set for hearing before the full committee on this bill. I am going to ask Mr. Edward A. O'Neal, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, to first make a statement himself or present any representatives of the farmers organizations that he cares to present on the bill.

STATEMENT OF EDWARD A. O'NEAL, PRESIDENT AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION

Mr. O'NEAL. Senator Bankhead and gentlemen of the committee, my name is Edward A. O'Neal, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. I am a farmer in north Alabama. Our headquarters are in Chicago, Ill. My remarks will be short. I want to say that I think this bill-S. 2228-is one of the most fundamental measures before the Congress. We farmers feel that this is our great agency, that it has served agriculture in this country over the years so splendidly, bringing to the farm people all the scientific information and guidance for their welfare. I know that as a farmer in Alabama I did not have the advantage of having an agricultural education. My people thought that I should be a lawyer, but I loved the land and went back to the farm, and there have spent my life, my life's work. I grabbed the county agent, the first one that appeared in my county, and I have lived close to them, to my own college in Alabama and its scientific teachings and training and have tried to apply them as far as I could to my own farming methods. I can say personally that I do not think anything has ever been done by the Federal Government that has been more helpful to farm people than has been the work of the land-grant colleges and their agencies, the experiment station extension work.

We have some very distinguished witnesses here that will give you full information about this matter.

Senator CAPPER. Mr. O'Neal, will you tell us briefly what this bill attempts to do?

Mr. O'NEAL. I will say this, Senator Capper, in brief, and I will leave the details to the other witnesses, because I think they can handle it better than I can. I can say that one of the principal things the bill does is to increase appropriations for this work, but our whole objective is to put on a permanent basis in every agricultural county of the United States a county agent, a home-demonstration agent, and a boys' and girls' club leader. I think this bill will do that. That is the intent and purpose of it, and back of that to strengthen the college so as to train the forces that will do the work, so that the farmers can get the benefit of it.

Senator POPE. How much are the appropriations increased and what are the additional duties imposed under this bill?

Mr. O'NEAL. Senator Pope, if you do not mind I think that we have a very distinguished group of land-grant-college people here that can go into the detail of that much more effectively and thoroughly than I can. Each of you know in your own State what these institutions mean to the farm people of the country. I can say unqualifiedly that most of them are very enthusiastically, heartily for this bill. I know that in my own organization, the American Farm Bureau Federation, it has been our pride that we have tried to work and have worked closely with these agencies in all the States in which we have an organization, and we think it is very fundamental that they be put on a permanent basis. I want to say right there, that through these new programs that the Congress has given us, these boys and these women have gone out whole-heartedly and done this fine piece of work. It has been remarkable to me to see under our Agricultural Adjustment Act, how effectively and how

thoroughly farm people were organized in the short period of time. And I know these boys; I know how thoroughly and effectively they work organizing the farm people, for I go all over the United States. I think it is a remarkable record to have organized a far-reaching program as was done in 1933 involving 62 million farm folks all over the United States within such a short period of time.

As spokesman for organized agriculture, it has been my privilege to appear before this committee on many different occasions. I need not express my grateful appreciation to this committee for the many courtesies extended to me. The committee knows how much I value its friendship and cooperation.

On all different occasions when I have come before this committee, pleading for aid for American agriculture, none has been more important than this. Today, I bring to your attention the sentiments and desires of American agriculture on a matter basically fundamental to the welfare of agriculture, economically, socially, and spiritually.

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It may be bromidic to say that there is no substitute for education. It may be as equally commonplace to say that, the greater the facilities provided for education, the greater the progress of man. providing facilities and opportunities for agricultural education, Congress always has been most benevolent and generous. This benevolence and generosity has been most highly appreciated by American agriculture. The wisdom of Congress, in this direction, has yielded splendid dividends in a richer, more prosperous, and a fuller rural-farm life.

Three great foundation acts symbolize the interest of Congress in the educational welfare of the American farmer. First, there was the Morrill Act, of 1862, by which the land-grant agricultural colleges, one in each State, were established. Second, there was the Hatch Act, of 1887, establishing the agricultural experiment stations. Third, there came the Smith-Lever Act, of 1914, providing for agricultural extension service work. To these, we must add the Smith-Hughes Act, of 1916, which gave the impetus for teaching agriculture in high schools.

The sequence of these legislative measures was natural. Each dovetailed into the general program of providing opportunities for farmers and their families to acquire the technical and practical knowledge necessary for successful farming.

Under the Morrill Act, the opportunity was provided for going to college to study the science and practice of agriculture. But, because of the very fact that agriculture is a science, the practices of which change correspondingly as new facts are established, the Hatch Act was inevitable. If the teaching of agriculture and correlated sciences was to prove practical, it had to be founded on research, experimentation, and discoveries of new facts.

In themselves, neither the Morrill Act nor the Hatch Act would have completed the picture of a satisfactory agricultural education for American agriculture. Only a comparatively small number of farm men and farm women, particularly farm youth, could go to college to study agriculture. Then followed, naturally, the SmithLever Act, which brought the agricultural college and its agricultural experiment station to the front door of the farmer and his family.

These agricultural colleges and their agricultural experiment stations and agricultural extension services, bequeathed to agriculture by Congress, are the farmers' own institutions. The farmers feel, and rightfully so, that they own these institutions. That is as it should be. These agricultural colleges represent, in my judgment, the best investment by the United States in education for the people.

Above all, these agricultural colleges provide the greatest safeguards for preserving our American civilization. They are the bulwarks for our constructive and yet progressive conservatism. The key to that conservatism is a successful and prosperous agriculture. Its success and prosperity are indelibly associated with agricultural education.

As agricultural extension service work developed, it tied the agricultural colleges right to the farms, in a way that could not be done through any other type of educational procedure. By bringing the findings and teachings of the agricultural colleges and their agricultural experiment stations directly into the farm homes, has been laid the beginning and foundation of a real national policy for American agriculture. Through this medium, John Jones' farm is now irrevocably tied to this policy of national agricultural improve

ment.

I come before you today, in the name of the American Farm Bureau Federation, asking your support for the measure which is before you, the enactment of which will provide additional funds for expanding agricultural education to meet the exactness of modern conditions of farm life and farm living. I believe the provision of these additional funds would again represent, as it did in the past, the best and the most substantial investment for the future which the Federal Government could make. Now, it is not my purpose today to present to you the details of administration by agricultural colleges, involving their resident teaching of agriculture and home economics, their conduct of investigational and experimental work in agriculture and its related sciences, and their methods of projecting agricultural extension service work. All this, as well as the appropriation requirements now needed to expand these various educational services to meet the demands of modern agriculture, will be discussed with this committee by the eminent agricultural educators whom I have invited to appear before you. These distinguished men are most competent to discuss these subjects. I am sure that in saying this, I reflect the committee's opinion.

I think it is appropriate, at this time, to call the committee's attention to the resolution adopted at the sixteenth annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation, held December 10, 11, and 12, 1934, in Nashville, Tenn. The resolution follows herewith:

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The Extension Service of our land-grant colleges has definitely proven itself the best qualified agency to carry out the educational work in connection with Federal programs affecting rural people. Recovery measures brought about by the new deal", particularly agricultural-adjustment activities, rehabilitation of rural families, expansion of soil erosion control activities, and rural finance, have enormously expanded the program of the Extension Service and its educational work. To execute these programs most effectively there must be added personnel in extension organizations.

We, therefore, favor an increase in Federal extension appropriations in sufficient amount to carry this greatly expanded program in counties where