344 ANNUAL KKPOKTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



As a result, the demands from many directions for increased activi- 

 ties on the part of the bureau far exceed tlie ])ossn)ilities of meetin<^ 

 them -with the funds nvaihible. As in other branches of the Govern- 

 ment, the bureau sulfers from the loss of skilled employees due to 

 larger salaries paid outside the service and from the necessity of pay- 

 ing higher prices for services and material. 



• 



ECONOMIC INVESTIGATIONS. 



With the rising values of all food products and the urgency of 

 increased production, the suppression of crop and stock destroying 

 pests becomes increasingly' important. At the time this work was 

 launched on a large scale in 1917 it was estimated that injurious 

 native rodents, as ground squirrels, prairie dogs, pocket gophers, 

 jack rabbits, and field mice, each year destroyed crops and forage in 

 the United States valued at approximately $300,000,000; house rats 

 annuall}' destroyed about $200,000,000 worth of food products and 

 other property; while predatory animals were killing live stock 

 having a value between $20,000,000 and $30,000,000. Recent inves- 

 tigations of some of the smaller rodents, as kangaroo rats, show that 

 the myriads of these animals also, which are largely seed and root 

 eaters, have a far greater destructive effect on both cultivated crops 

 and native forage grasses than has been realized. 



The Biological Survey has demonstrated the possibility of elimi- 

 nating the larger part of these losses. The destruction of mammal 

 pests has been so successful that farmers and stock growers of the 

 West, where such losses are greatest, are increasing their demands 

 upon the bureau for more extended work to a degree which becomes 

 embarrassing, in view of the limited Federal funds available. The 

 fact that the unoccupied lands of the public domain are the main 

 harboring and breeding places of these pests makes the need for 

 added funds more pressing, since private landowners undertake to 

 destroy the pests on their holdings and ask that the Government de- 

 stroy' them on public lands adjoining. 



The reduction of available funds by the discontinuance of the war 

 emergency fund on June 30, 1919, together with a steady increase 

 in the wages of men and in the cost of materials, has handicapped 

 the bureau in its work. The amount of money being appropriated 

 for cooperative undertakings by States, counties, associations, and 

 individuals has rapidly increased until during the present year it has 

 reached the sum of $1,114,000. This tangible evidence of appreci- 

 ation of the practical value of the work is due to actual demonstra- 

 tion of increased forage and stock production on the ranges and of 

 additional crop yields on farms through the cliniination of mammal 

 pests at a reasonable cost. A conservative estimate of the saving 

 effected during the year from the campaign against rodents amounts 

 to about $10,000,000, and from operations against predatory animals 

 to about $6,000,000. 



The predatory-animal and rodent-pest suppression work is defi- 

 nitely organized in 14 districts covering 18 States, the districts being 

 in charge of inspectors with trained assistants cooperating with the 

 States Relations Service, State and county officials, and community 



