62 AN. MAI. i;i:p()rts or ukpartment ok aoricl'ltuke. 



A review of the uctivities of the departmcMit during the past year 

 clearly indicates not only that it will be unable to give proper study 

 and attention to the new and vital matters of national concern now 

 demanding its attention and action, but that it can not even maintain 

 its present standard of service to American agriculture, and through 

 agriculture to the people of the country, without more adequate sup- 

 port. Unless a considerably increased appropriation is granted for 

 the next fiscal year, it will be impossible for this great organization 

 to deal effectively with the problems before it and it will be com- 

 pelled, in many vital jDrojects, to mark time. I recognize full well 

 the necessity for economy in governmental expenditures, especially 

 in view of the great financial burdens thrust upon us by the war and 

 the present unsettled conditions; but, in my opinion, it is not true 

 econom3\to fail to provide the necessar}' facilities and personnel for 

 this productive branch of the Government, which is returning to the 

 Nation manyfold, in terms of wealth created or saved, the expendi- 

 tures made by it. 



I have already discussed briefly the personnel situation in the de- 

 partment, but I Avish to reemphasize it here. Important units are in 

 danger of going to pieces because of the lack of funds to prosecute 

 the work at hand or because present limitations on salaries make it 

 impossible to maintain a sufficient personnel to conduct their opera- 

 tions effectively. This is no exaggeration. In one of the most im- 

 portant bureaus — one dealing with serious economic problems — 8 of 

 the 16 divisions are without directing heads because the vacancies 

 could not be filled at the available salaries. One-half of the work of 

 the bureau is now without adequate leadership. A similar situation 

 exists in many other bureaus of the department, and unless it is 

 shortl}' remedied stagnation will be the inevitable result. Hope of 

 early justice in the matter of salaries and better equipment for work 

 have encouraged man3^ men and women to stay with the department 

 so far, but they can not be held indefinitely if they are to meet with 

 repeated disappointments. 



I am confident that no citizen of this country, in private or public 

 life, who has an understanding of the work of the department, of the 

 handicaps under which our present-day agriculture is laboring, and 

 of the national problems involved in maintaining supplies of food and 

 raw materials sufficient for our constantly increasing population, will 

 fail to give his sympathetic support to measures which promise in- 

 creased strength to the Nation in its most basic industry, the founda- 

 tion of all other industries — agriculture. 



Eespectfully, 



E. T. Meredith, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 

 The President. 



