STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 579 



Throughout the course of this administrative control the effort 

 has been to lead through the force of influence rather than to require 

 by administrative action. Occasionally the veto power has been 

 necessary, but for the most part the largest measure of local initia- 

 tive and judgment has been encouraged. The advantage of this 

 course has been steadily demonstrated with advancing years. The 

 cordial and sympathetic relations which have prevailed with the 

 stations have made suggestions welcome and have made it possible 

 to bring about changes where desirable without reference to the 

 authority provided by law. Occasionally, however, progress has 

 seemed so lacking and public sentiment so inadequate of expression 

 as to necessitate more affirmative action. 



A case in point, which illustrates anew the disregard of the essen- 

 tials to productive research, occurred the past spring in Oklahoma. 

 The overthrow of the president of the college after only a two-year 

 period of service has been accompanied by the practical disruption 

 of the station forces and the jeopardizing of its investigations. The 

 requirements of a successful and efficient station have not yet been 

 realized, and hence after all these years it is not immune to danger 

 from such instability. Research is from its nature the first branch 

 to be seriously affected by change and uncertainty, and the effects are 

 more far-reaching than in any other branch of the college. Since 

 1900 there have been 10 changes in directorship at that station, 

 which in itself illustrates the impossibility of any fixed continuous 

 policy. These and the many changes in staff have resulted in proj- 

 ects becoming well-nigh sterile, with little real progress from one 

 period to another and a frequent losing sight of the original 

 objective. 



Fortunately, these conditions are very exceptional. For the most 

 part the stations have made steady advancement in the past few years 

 in strengthening their forces and their work and raising their in- 

 vestigation to a higher level. Although few of them have received 

 material increase in State appropriations since the close of the war, 

 they have, by the reorganization of their work and a reduction in 

 the number of leading projects, placed themselves in a stronger posi- 

 tion for advanced inquiry. Their means are in many cases quite 

 inadequate to the needs, but to meet the situation this office has urged 

 a revision of the programs of work, careful study of the field to 

 determine the more important lines of operation, and a scrutiny of 

 long-time projects to determine their exact status and the further 

 steps warranted. 



The publication from year to year of the program of work of the 

 experiment stations, consisting of a classified list of the projects of 

 all the stations, has had the effect of calling this matter forcefully to 

 mind. The request for the list of active projects, sent out in connec- 

 tion with the annual revision of this program, ;ind the correspondence 

 following it have led to modifications of title, frequently a narrowing 

 of scope, and the giving of more definite direction to projects which 

 had become largely routine. 



During the year a revision of the list of projects has been nearly 

 completed, which when issued will constitute the fourth of the series. 

 There has been increasing call for this document as it has come to the 

 attention of workers. This call is not confined to investigators in the 

 experiment stations or, indeed, to this country, but the list has seemed 



