RKPOKT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 19 



Another order was issued by the department in August, 1920. 

 declaring the rates charged by the commission men at Chicago. Kan- 

 sas City, Omaha, and East St. Louis for handling car lots having 

 more than one owner to be unjust, unreasonable, discriminatory, 

 and unfair, and substituting a different and equitable schedule of 

 rates. This action was taken on the basis of information in the 

 possession of the department and after a hearing held in Chicago on 

 April 12 and 13, 1920, at which seven commission firms operating 

 under Federal licenses appeared. The order of the department was 

 complied with at Chicago and the lower rates made effective there, 

 but it is being contested at the other points in conjunction with the 

 suits involving the rates for single-owner shipments. 



FARM MANAGEMENT AND FAR3I ECONOMICS. 



The economic problems of agricultural production have long been 

 uppermost in the minds of American farmers. They are pressing for 

 solution and their importance has been sharply emphasized by the 

 recent price declines. In spite of many handicaps, the Office of 

 Farm Management and Farm Economics is dealing actively with 

 these problems, giving special attention to matters relating to cost 

 of production and farm organization, farm labor, farm finance, 

 land economics, including land settlement and colonization, and the 

 social side of rural life. , Following the reorganization of the office 

 in 1919, there was submitted to the Congress a revised estimate calling 

 for additional funds for the development of its activities along 

 the lines recommended by the committee on reorganization. The 

 Congress, however, did not take favorable action on the proposal and 

 no increase was granted. The recommendation was renewed in the 

 estimates of the department for the fiscal year 1921, but the Congress 

 again failed to provide the amount suggested, although it did grant 

 a small increase over the appropriation for the fiscal year 1920. 



In the estimates for the next fiscal year, I am recommending that 

 an adequate sum be made available to the Office of Farm Manage- 

 ment and Farm Economics for the prosecution and development 

 of the important projects upon w^hich it is engaged. I am recom- 

 mending, also, that the name of the office be changed to " Bureau " 

 of P^arm Management and Farm Economics. If the necessary ap- 

 propriation is granted, it is proposed to expand materially the studies 

 of the cost of producing farm products and also to develop the other 

 lines of work under way. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



Several valuable contributions to the availal)le data regarding 

 the cost of producing farm products, particularly cotton, wheat, and 

 beef cattle, already have been made. There has been a constant 



