8 CIRCULAR NO. Ill, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



lost sight of that problems have arisen and will continue to arise which, 

 while actually local, concern the whole or a large part of the common- 

 wealth, such as the boll-weevil problem of the South, the chestnut-tree 

 bark disease problem, or, to draw examples from other bureaus, the 

 cattle-tick problem, the gypsy-moth problem, and others of a similar 

 nature. In cases of this kind national interests are at stake, and the 

 Federal Government should act promptly and continue to act until 

 the emergency is past. 



In our research activities and in our experimentation there would 

 appear to be no necessity for close relationship with State institutions, 

 except in so far as to avoid duplication of work and an unwarranted 

 transgression on the rights of colleagues engaged in problems similar 

 to our own. In our demonstration work, however, I think we should 

 strive to operate through the recognized avenues within the State, and 

 these are, first, of course, the agricultural colleges and experiment sta- 

 tions. As coordinated branches of the Government service it is 

 proper and just that in all cases where work is to be done within the 

 States, the State agricultural colleges and experiment stations should 

 have first consideration, only passing to other institutions when rela- 

 tions with the first two can not be established. 



After more than two decades of effort, public sentiment is now 

 aroused as to the necessity for doing all sorts of things for the farmer. 

 Merchants and bankers, ministers and lawyers, are vying with each 

 other in their anxiety to give the farmer help. In true American 

 fashion we are rushing, or being rushed, into procedures and forms 

 of activity many of which are open to doubt as to their real effective- 

 ness and permanent value in upbuilding agriculture. It would seem 

 highly important that as an organization we endeavor to keep our 

 vision unobstructed and not allow it to become clouded by the many 

 things being proposed from all sides. We might liken the American 

 farmer to a man lost in a maze of city streets who receives so many 

 complex and conflicting instructions that he is more bewildered as 

 he proceeds and endeavors to find his way. If he had been told, per- 

 haps somewhat dogmatically, what to do in the first place, he would 

 in all probability have reached his destination without difficulty. The 

 great success of the bureau's efforts in the South through the farmers' 

 cooperative demonstration work lies in the almost dogmatic reitera- 

 tion of a comparatively few simple fundamental truths. 



Just here it may do no harm to speak a word of warning regarding 

 these various agencies that have so quickly sprung into prominence. 

 I think it behooves the bureau to go very cautiously in the matter of 

 establishing relationships with some of these agencies. Those behind 

 the movements are well meaning, but as a rule they have been asso- 

 ciated with activities so radically different from those belonging to 



[Cir. 117] 



