as soybeans, Smyrna figs, Sudan grass, and du- 

 rum wheat. 15-^ 



Many States were also active in agricultural 

 research, and from the beginning the Department 

 worked with them. Experiment stations were es- 

 tablished to provide the land-grant colleges with 

 facilities for research, and the Hatch Act of 1887 

 linked the Department to the States" operation of 

 these semi-autonomous experiment stations. i''4 

 Cabinet status for the Department came in 1889. 

 For many years most of the men chosen as secre- 

 taries had had extensive land-grant college experi- 

 ence. '55 



By 1916 the Department of Agriculture had 

 grown into an awesome organization. Dupree 

 summarizes its status: 



. . .no other great economic interest in the 

 United States could boast such a research es- 

 tablishment for the application of science either 

 in or out of the government. . . . Indeed, no 

 comparable agricultural research organization 

 existed anywhere else in the world. 156 



Dupree also describes the administrative ad- 

 vancements in the Department of Agriculture: 

 The Department of Agriculture became a labora- 

 tory experimenting on the nature of a scientific 

 bureau, gradually perfecting a standard form 

 adapted to its particular problem, its position 

 within the government framework, and its need 

 for communication with the world of science 

 outside. '57 



The Bureau of Chemistry, for example, adminis- 

 tered the Pure Food and Drug Act from 1906 to 

 1940. Similarly, the Bureau of Entomology estab- 

 lished programs on the European corn-borer, the 

 Japanese beetle, and the pink boll worm.'5S 

 Shortly after the war. Agriculture entered the so- 

 cial sciences with the creation of the Bureau of 

 Agricultural Economics in 1922. This change 

 helped to bring about other bureaus, chiefly in the 

 thirties. '59 



Edwin T. Meredith became Secretary in 1920 

 and he tried to increase the emphasis on research. 

 He stated that "research is the foundation of agri- 

 cultural progress. Without it most of our agricul- 

 tural activities could not exist." 'wi His etforts 

 were thwarted by the postwar congressional econ- 

 omy drive and the recession of the early 1920's. 



'■'-'Ibid., p. 168; Century of Service, op. cit.. p. 46. 



"''Dupree, pp. 169-170; Century of Service, op. cil., p. 24. 



"'Dupree. p. \13. 



I5*lbid.. p. 18.1. 



'"Ibid., pp. 289-290. 



^^^Century of Service, op. cil., pp. 84-85. 



'■^■'Dupree. pp. 335-336. 



However, in 1928, the McSweeney-McNary Act 

 authorized a broad program of forest research for 

 which 12 forest experiment stations were estab- 

 lished. 161 



Agriculture — 1930 - Present 



The Great Depression of the 1930's and the 

 New Deal had substantial impacts on Agriculture. 

 Secretary Wallace was the most scientifically 

 grounded member of the Roosevelt administra- 

 tion. He took an important step to promote re- 

 search in the natural sciences in 1934, when he 

 began building up a great central research institu- 

 tion in Beltsville, Md.'^"- Overall research budgets 

 improved after 1935; the Bankhead-Jones Act of 

 that year provided additional annual funds for 

 scientific, technical, and economic research, and 

 for other research in basic agricultural problems. 

 "In thus appropriating funds for basic research, 

 in addition to funds for highly specific problems. 

 Congress recognized that fundamental research 

 may often be more practical than short-cut re- 

 search." 1^3 To carry out the provisions of the 

 law, the Department of Agriculture established 

 nine regional laboratories, normally associating 

 each with a land-grant college. 'm About this same 

 time Agriculture also became heavily involved in 

 conservation, following the great midwest dust 

 storms, if'^ Successes in the thirties included a vac- 

 cine against hog cholera and the introduction of 

 some 50 improved varieties of wheat. '^ 



Four more regional research laboratories were 

 established as a consequence of the Agricultural 

 Adjustment Act of 1938, which was concerned 

 with the disposal of large agricultural surpluses. 

 These laboratories were excellently adapted to 

 serving the country during World War 11. They 

 invented a variety of products made from agricul- 

 tural materials. (One such product was mass- 

 produced penicillin.) in addition, they contributed 

 to food production, aerial photography, and map- 

 ping techniques, insect control research, which 

 resulted in the 1940 development of aerosols, also 

 proved valuable for military land operations dur- 

 ing the war. '^7 



"^Meredith. E. t.. "My Year in the Department." Country 

 Genf/eman.86(9), quoted in Cenfury of Serv/ce. op. cit. p 100. 

 '" Century of Service. op. cit., pp. 129, 2.36. 

 "■-Dupree, pp. 348-350, 365. 



"-'Secretary of Agriculture, Report for 1935. p. 86; as quoted in 

 Dupree, p. .364. 

 ""•Dupree. p. .365; Century of Service, op. cit., 226-2'>7 

 "■■^Dupree. pp. .363-364. 

 "^'Century of Service, op. cit.. p. 234. 

 ""'Ibid., p. 290. 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 341 



