■ 32 



cooperation and an equivalent return from tlie colleges ; that, since military- 

 instruction is the end sought Ijy the law and by those who are charged with thfr 

 administration of it on behalf of the Government, that instruction should be 

 made efficient, and the colleges should, as far as necessary, organize tlieii 

 schedules of work accordingly ; and, still further, that, while these details, are 

 of great advantage to the individual officers concerned, and thus to the entire 

 military establishment, yet the i)rimary need of the Army is to have its officers 

 directly at work with their respective connnands. The force of this last consid- 

 eration will appear when it is stated that 20 per cent of the officers of the Army 

 are now absent on detached service, and it can be well understood that this fact 

 is an occasion of very grave concern to the bead of the Army. It also serves to 

 explain the reasons for wishing to detail to colleges no officers but those on the 

 retired list, a policy which, however desirable from the point of view of the 

 Army, is utterly iiuprnctic.ible from the point of view of the colleges. There is 

 one other ]i(iint upon which the officers of the Department feel that the necessi- 

 ties 01 the situation are not always sufficiently considered l>y the colleges ; that 

 is, colleges in a few instances have insisted that if they could not have some 

 particular officer detailed they would prefer to have none at all ; and, while the 

 Department is desirous of considering the wishes of the colleges as far as jjos- 

 sible in eaclr case, it feels that a specific insistence of that kind, without regard 

 to conditions which may exist in tlie service, is n:»t reasonal)le or justifiable. 



In response to a suggestion from the chairman of the committee that a meet- 

 ing of the committee of the association with the Chief of Staff and other oflicers 

 of the War Department might result in a better understanding and more har- 

 monious action. General Chaffee expressed his very cordial assent and his 

 willinj.>-ness to arrange for such a meeting. 



Geo. W. Atherton, Chairman. 



11. C. White. At the last convention the following matters were referred to 

 the committee on military instruction: 



Resolved, That the committee on military instruction is directed to try and 

 secure some modification of War Dei^artment General Orders, No. 94, relating 

 to military instruction in the land-grant colleges, abolishing the fixed five-hour 

 per week i-efpurement for military instruction, and allowing sueli colleges larger 

 liberty in arranging their programme of weekly exercises. 



Resolved, That the conunittee is further directed to submit to the association 

 at its next convention a draft of recommendation to be. if approved, urged upon 

 Congress looking to more complete provision for the military instruction 

 j-equired of the land-grant colleges. 



The report was received and referred to the section on college work and 

 iidministration for consideiation (see p. 91). 



Inoexing Agricultural Literature. 



In the absence of A. C. True, chairman of the committee on this subject, his 

 report was presented by W. M. Hays, of Minnesota, as follows : 



W. M. Hays. I want to ])remise this written statement prepared by Doctor 

 True by stating that this committee has been in existence twelve years, and 

 two of its main objects have been achieved. One is to secure within the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture a scheme of indexing .agricultural literature: the other is 

 - to have the Library of Congresss do the printing, so that institutions and indi- 

 viduals desiring indexes of different classes of agricultural literature may 

 secure them at a nominal cost. 



The formal report of the committee follows : 



The past year has been marked by two important events in the progress of 

 the work of indexing the literature of agriculture and agricultural science 

 |jy the Department of Agriculture: (1) The printing of the first installment of a 

 fj-ird index of agricultural periodicals by the Department Lilirary, and (2) the 

 publication of a general index to the first 12 volumes of the Experiment Station 

 Record and Experiment Station Bulletin No, 2, by the Ortice of Experiment 

 Stations. 



The card index of agricultural periodicals comprises author and subject 

 indexes and already about 7,000 cards have been i)rinted. The periodicals thus 



