No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 157 



ADDRESS OF PROF. STEVENS 



Mr. President, I am glad you called on me for a few words, be- 

 cause I am hardly prepared to speak at this time; we have not yet 

 been to the gas oflBce. 



I want to take this occasion to speak just a word or two on Agri- 

 cultural Extension work as it is carried on by the various agencies 

 that are engaged in that work. I don't like to flatter people. That 

 is farthest from my make-up; but it is safe always to keep within 

 the truth, and I can, therefore, say that I think the corps of Insti- 

 tute workers and their leader are to be congratulated for the type 

 of work carried on by the type of men and women by whom it is 

 being carried on in this State of Pennsylvania. It has been my 

 privilege, in times gone by, to do work in other states of the Union. 

 I have come in contact with agricultural workers in other states, and 

 I have come into direct contact with them outside of their work, and 

 I can say without stretching my conscience in the least, that the type 

 you have here in Pennsylvania is second to none. 



Now other agencies have come into the work. We have other 

 State agencies ; we have a Railroad Department of Agriculture, with 

 which I am connected, and those of you with whom I have come 

 in contact the past five years know that it has been my wish to work 

 in conjunction with you, in the solution of all these farm problems, 

 so that we may do all that is possible for the advantage of each other. 

 That is, the railroad has been for some years in this extension work ; 

 it is not to come in conflict with your work, but to parallel it — to 

 run alongside of it and in the same direction. As time goes on, and 

 funds make it possible for this great work to be extended, I expect 

 that our work will be more with you than in the past. In other 

 words, our work will be to assist you who are doing this work in 

 every way possible. To be explicit: we find conditions now facing us 

 which we cannot dodge. One of them is the extension of our work into 

 Federal legislation. That is effective in New York State, and it will 

 be in this State, by the appointment of so-called "County Agents." 

 We want to work with them. We have placed these county agents on 

 our pay roll, where their work adjoins ours, in New York State, for 

 a nominal sum, and extended to them the courtesy of transportation 

 and a free use of our wires. 



MR. SEAMANS : How much do you pay them for a month ? 



PROF. STEVENS: Five dollars a month— merely a nominal 

 sum and we have fertility tests, seed tests, etc., for them. Now 

 we want to extend to the workers of this State the same privileges 

 that we do to these County Agents; we want to keep in touch with 

 them more tlian we have in the past, in the performance of this 

 work. 



Some question has been raised as to the reason for our interest 

 in this work; most of you here know what this work is. We have got 

 in touch with the purchasers in other lines of business but until 

 recently we have not come into contact with the farmer. The pros- 



