REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 



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Washington, D. C, November 15, 1916. 



Sir: The half of agriculture embracing the marketing of farm 

 products, rural finance, and rural organization has strikingly occu- 

 pied attention during the last three and one-half years. Before 1913 

 little systematic thought had been devoted to it and there did not 

 exist, either in the States or in the Nation, effective instrumen- 

 talities to furnish assistance and guidance to farmers in this field, 

 nor had the laws necessary to remedy abuses and control unfavor- 

 able conditions been formulated or enacted. In view of the com- 

 plexity and novelty of the problems, the accomplishments — legis- 

 lative and administrative — have been notable and significant. This 

 seems an opportune time to summarize them. 



Early in 1913 a program for the ensuing four years was devel- 

 oped. This program in large measure has been executed. In the 

 first place provision was made promptly for the creation of the 

 Office of Markets and Rural Organization. Beginning with a 

 modest sum, the appropriations for this office, including those for 

 enforcing new laws to promote better marketing, have increased to 

 $1,242,000. Quickly an effective organization was developed and to- 

 day the Nation possesses in this department the largest and best 

 trained and supported staff of experts dealing with the distribution 

 of agricultural commodities and rural organization to be found any- 

 where in the world. It is engaged in investigating all the larger 

 and more difficult problems confronting farmers in this new field. 



The matter of establishing standards for staple agricultural prod- 

 ucts, of supervising the inspection of grains shipped in interstate and 

 foreign commerce and the operations of cotton futures exchanges, of 

 devising financial machinery suited to the needs of the rural popula- 

 tion, of developing a better system of warehouses for agricultural 

 products, and of Federal aid in highway construction, received care- 

 ful attention. The result was the enactment of a number of highly 



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