STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 557 



Service have been published. Among these are the large monographs 

 on the chemical composition of American food materials (Bulletin 

 28), first published in 1896 and repeatedly revised since; the cotton 

 plant (Bulletin 33), published in 1896; a digest of metabolism 

 experiments with men and domestic animals (Bulletin 45), pub- 

 lished in 1897; and the history of the agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions up to 1900 (Bulletin 80). 



DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS WITH THE STATIONS. 



The Hatch Act made no provision for Federal administration of 

 the funds granted to the stations beyond the requirement that each 

 station should annually make " a lull and detailed report of its 

 operations, including a statement of receipts and expenditures," 

 to the governor of the State or Territory, a copy of which was to 

 be sent to the Commissioner (now Secretary) of Agriculture and 

 to the Secretary of the Treasury. There was much variety of 

 opinion among governing boards and administrative officers in the 

 States regarding the proper functions of agricultural experiment 

 stations. Particularly the phrase used in the first section of the 

 Hatch Act with reference to " diffusing among the people of the 

 United States useful and practical information on subjects con- 

 nected with agriculture " was often interpreted to permit station 

 officers to engage in teaching or extension work or to carrj' on sub- 

 stations or cooperative work with farmers in which the experimental 

 fields were little more than demonstration farms. Allegations of 

 diversion or looseness in the expenditure of the Federal funds came 

 from time to time to the department. These attracted the attention 

 of J. Sterling Morton in the early days of his administration 

 as Secretary of Agriculture. He therefore appealed to Congress 

 for authority to inquire into the expenditure of the Hatch funds. 

 The result was that in the appropriation act for the department 

 for the fiscal year 1894 and each succeeding year there has becu <v 

 provision that the Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe the lonn 

 of the annual financial statement of the stations required in the 

 Hatch Act, shall ascertain whether the expenditures have been in 

 accordance with the provisions of that act, and shall make report 

 thereon to Congress. Under this authority the Office of Experiment 

 Stations began in 1894 to make an annual inspection of the station 

 work and expenditures in each State. 



It was determined at the outset not to employ special officers as 

 inspectors, but to have this duty performed by the director of the 

 office and his principal scientific assistants, who were constantly fol- 

 lowing the publications of the stations in connection with the 

 preparation of Experiment Station Record. At first only the di- 

 rector and assistant director engaged in this work and thereafter 

 were assisted by only two or three of the most experienced members 

 of the staff. This enabled the pursuance of a consistent policy of 

 administration and brought the office a thorough acquaintance with 

 the conditions, requirements, and needs of the several stations. 



The examination of accounts became only a small part of the 

 business transacted during visitations of the stations. These visits 

 have been very largely conferences with administrative officers and 

 the scientific staff of the station regarding their lines of work, ma- 



