EEPOET OF THE SECRETAEY OF AGEICULTUEE. 45 



(3) Continuation of the present policy of Federal participation 

 in road building, through the appropriation, if the financial condition 

 of the Nation permits it, of $100,000,000 for at least each of the four 

 years beginning with the fiscal year 1922, to be expended under the 

 terms of existing legislation. 



(4) The regulation and control of stockyards and packing houses. 



(5) Federal legislation further to protect consumers against mis- 

 branded, adulterated, and "worthless feeds entering into interstate 

 commerce. 



(6) Similar legislation dealing with fertilizers. 



(7) Increased support_by States for rural schools and more defi- 

 nite direction of their instruction along lines related to rural prob- 

 lems and conditions. 



(8) The requisite legislation for the improvement of the sanitary 

 conditions in rural districts and for the building up of the needed 

 hospital and medical facilities. 



NEED rOR BROAD SURVEY OF RURAL CONDITIONS. 



Present conditions, and particularly present states of mind, indi- 

 cate the need of a fresh, broad survey of rural life, of its special 

 problems, and of its relationships. It should be viewed as a whole. 

 A comprehensive flexible program should be developed for the guid- 

 ance of the different agencies, each of which has its peculiar func- 

 tions and responsibilities. Furthermore, the principles and purposes 

 governing agricultural life and agencies should be set forth for the 

 education of the American public, particularly the urban part of it. 

 The Nation as a whole needs a fuller appreciation of its basic indus- 

 try, and a more definite sense of direction of its efforts to foster it. 

 Many agencies are now following more or less well defined, helpful 

 plans of their own devising, but these are at best piecemeal, and 

 there is confusion of leadership and objectives. A program made 

 by any one element would be partial and unsatisfactory. We should 

 have a meeting of minds of all those directly concerned, of farmers, 

 of agricultural leaders, and of business men. 



You have already indicated your intention to call a conference at 

 which the-re will be not only a generous representation of farmers 

 but also of agricultural agencies and organizations and of business 

 interests which have an intimate relation to farm problems. I be- 

 lieve that, because of changed conditions here and elsewhere, of 

 existing uncertainties, and of disturbed states of mind, this confer- 



