BUREAU OF MARKETS. 557 



ing agencies were mentioned in last year's report. These courses 

 were prepared and the number of students who are recorded as en- 

 rolled for study is now 195, It is known that five colleges are giving 

 such courses and, from indirect reports, evidence is at hand that sev- 

 eral other institutions have used the material sent to them. 



As a practical demonstration the accounting force installed sys- 

 tems of accounts in six creameries and in five grain elevators. Other 

 installations were made for experimental purposes. 



COOPERATION WITH THE STATES IN MARKETING WORK. 



During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, the Bureau of Markets" 

 cooperated with 31 of the 48 States in the conduct of marketing 

 work — a larger number than ever before. These States were : Arkan- 

 sas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, 

 Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missis- 

 sippi. Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico^ 

 North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South 

 Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wash- 

 ington. 



In 21 States cooperative arrangements were made with the agricul- 

 tural college ; in 6 with the State division of markets or State depart- 

 ment of agriculture ; and in 4 with both the agricultural college and 

 the State division of markets. 



The work in each State is performed under the immediate leader- 

 ship of an agent in marketing, whose function it is to assist in co- 

 ordinating the marketing activities of the various agencies in the 

 State in which he is located and to give practical assistance in solving 

 the marketing problems of his territory. The majority of these 

 agents have assistants engaged on special phases of marketing. The 



freat importance of this work lies in the fact that it affords a means 

 or developing a consistent national marketing policy. Viewed as a 

 whole, distribution is fundamentally an interstate activity and should 

 be handled on a national basis. Marketing work has been taken up 

 at a very recent date, relatively speaking, and State officials, in com- 

 mon with others, are anxious to develop it along lines that will bring 

 substantial benefits both to producers and consumers. Leaders seem 

 to be agreed that the most promising line is one looking toward a 

 consistent, interknit, national policy that will prevent duplication 

 of effort, cross-purposes, and conflicting currents of trade. Many 

 States also wish to coordinate existing official marketing agencies 

 within their borders. The Federal agents bring to the agencies 

 within the States information relative to the work done by the Fed- 

 eral Bureau of Markets and constitute a channel for making this 

 information available in a prompt, concrete, and direct way. They 

 encourage cooperation within the States themselves and make avail- 

 able to the Federal bureau the results of the work done in the States. 

 While complete figures are not available relative to tlie work of 

 the agents in marketing, those at hand show that they assisted pro- 

 ducers to form 183 marketing organizations, including 50 live-stock 

 shipping associations; 57 fruit and vegetable associations; 12 credit 

 unions; and 19 federations of existing associations. One hundred 

 and thirty-eight groups of producers were assisted in making cooper- 



