454 ANNUAL, REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and State appropriations for the State experiment stations. The 

 Federal appropriation remained stationary, and the allotments made 

 by the States increased in the six-year period by less than $160,000, 

 or quite within the fluctuations of the total State appropriation from 

 year to year. Durin*; the fiscal year several of the State legislatures 

 made more ample provision for the stations, but the aggregate wa^ 

 relatively small, and there was no general measure of relief by such 

 a<;tion because the increases were limited to a comparatively few 

 States. Some of the stations in the greatest need of assistance and 

 whose AvorK is of national importance did not receive any increase 

 in financial support. 



The last provision for Federal aid of the stations was carried in 

 the Adams Act of 190G, 14 years ago. The States have met this 

 twice over in the aggregate, as they have the previous provision under 

 the Hatch Act of 1887. These two Federal acts provide a total of 

 $1,440,000 a year, while the States in the fiscal year 1919 contributed 

 a total of $2,734,000. The total for the fiscal year 1920 Avould prob- 

 ably amount to $3,000,000. 



Up to 1914 the States had been doubling their total appropriation 

 about every five years. This policy ceased with the outbreak of 

 the war, and the cessation is likewise coincident with the passage of 

 the Smith-Lever Act for agricultural extension. The latter fact 

 presents a remarkable anomaly — that of providing a vast and grow- 

 ing system for the po])ular dissemination of information Avhile halt- 

 ing the growth of the agency on which it must depend for its very 

 stock in trade. The effect lias been that the research work as repre- 

 sented by the stations has fallen steadily behind the growth of other 

 activities of the college, and thus has lost in force and effectiveness. 



The stations as a group, therefore, came to the period of inflated 

 l^rices with only a prewar revenue to Avork upon, and with very 

 unusual difficulties to face, not the least of Avhich Avas the keen com- 

 petition for Avorkers. While relief has been provided in a feAV of 

 the States, the conviction is forced beyond doubt that the great 

 body of the stations have reached the limit of their ability to main- 

 tain a satisfactory output and keep step Avith the advance in the 

 demands of teaching and extension. The price Avhich is being paid 

 as a result of their present condition is a heavy one, as has been 

 develoj^ed by the survey Avhich the office has maintained of the entire 

 country. It is expressed in a sloAving up of research, a diminished 

 force of attack, attention to questions of smaller range or simpler 

 character, and a falling off in publications. 



The station forces have suffered severely, from the administratiA^e 

 head doAvuAvard. Since 1914 the directors of half the stations haA^e 

 changed, several of them more than once. In eight instances the 

 directorship, which was formerly separate, has been combined with 

 other offices, that of president of the college, dean, or director of 

 extension. The effect of these combinations, frequently made in the 

 interest of economy, has been to quite materially decrease the ad- 

 ministrative supervision of the station affairs, and in some cases to 

 provide less expert superAasion of its work. The total number of 

 separations from the stations in the last six years represents an ap- 

 proximate turnover in the personnel of about 80 per cent. Of those 

 who left, 370 ranked as heads of departments or project leaders, the 



