38 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



economics. So far, resoarch al()ii<i: this line has proceeded slowly and 

 in a small way. The Office of Home Economics of the department is 

 the larfjest single organization devoted to such work and has 

 made many important contributions to our knowledge on home 

 economics subjects. It can not prosecute its activities on an adequate 

 scale, however, because of the lack of funds. The success of our 

 newly established system of vocational education in home economics, 

 provided for by the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, as well as of the 

 home demonstration work, depends in no small measure upon the 

 maintenance of adequate agencies for home economics research. 



PUBLICATION A>D INFORRIATIOIV WORK. 



The organic act creating the Department of Agriculture not only 

 directs it to " acquire " useful information on subjects connected with 

 agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of the 

 word, but also to " diffuse " such information among the people of the 

 United States. To meet this responsibility, increased attention has 

 been given to the strengthening of the publication and information 

 activities of the department. The first step involved the consolida- 

 tion, in the Division of Publications, of all publication and informa- 

 tion functions serving the department as a whole. This necessi- 

 tated the transfer of the Office of Information, the Office of Exhibits, 

 and the Office of Motion Pictures from the Office of the Secretary, 

 combining under one administrative head these three related activi- 

 ties with those of editing, printing, and distribution. The next 

 step was the designation of a Director of Information, whose duty 

 it would be to exercise general supervision over all the publica- 

 tion and information activities of the department, both in Wash- 

 ington and in the field, and to bring about the closer correlation 

 of such activities in the various bureaus with those of the Division 

 of Publications. The advantages of this reorganization are apparent 

 not only in more efficient administration and supervision but in the 

 more complete coordination and concentration of effort. 



The department is in a better position than ever before to serve 

 the public in this important field of its work. The responsibility 

 resting upon it is clear. It is its duty to keep the public informed 

 regarding the results of its investigations and experiments and the 

 administration of the various regulatory statutes entrusted to it for 

 enforcement. Under existing conditions, however, it is compelled 

 to reservoir much valuable information which should be made avail- 

 able to the public. At one time during the past year, there were 267 

 important manuscripts which it was necessary to withhold from pub- 

 lication because of the lack of funds for printing. A deficiency ap- 

 propriation relieved this situation somewhat, but there are still on 

 hand many valuable manuscripts which can not be published. This 



