ROSA: SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE! GOVERNMENT 349 



mental functions 3.2 per cent, and research, education and 

 developmental work i per cent. The population of the country 

 being about 1 10,000,000, the total budget is about fifty dollars per 

 year per capita, of which fifty cents per year per capita is expended 

 for the wide range of research, education and development work 

 included in Group VI. That is, of the fifty dollars per year per 

 capita collected for all purposes, a dollar and a half per year per 

 capita is spent for what is here called the primary functions of 

 government; nearly as much more is put into public works, and 

 fifty cents per year is put back into research, educational and 

 developmental work, to promote scientific research, to increase 

 production and efhciency, to develop wealth, to promote the 

 public health, and to conserve our natural resources. This is 

 a very small part of the total, hardly enough to be regarded as a 

 burden on the nation. Indeed, one is led to wonder whether the 

 total burden of taxation would not be lighter if the expenditure 

 for scientific and developmental work were increased; if, for 

 example, it were one dollar per year per capita instead of fifty 

 cents. In other words, if $110,000,000 were expended annually 

 for this creative and productive work, w^ould it not be easier to 

 collect the five and a half billions for other purposes ? To answer 

 this question intelligently, it will be well to look a little closer 

 into how the fifty cents per capita is expended and what is accom- 

 plished thereby. 



WORK OF THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT 



9. Nearly two- thirds of all the expenditures made under 

 Group VI are for the work of the Agricultural Department. 

 Agriculture is the most important industry of the nation. Agri- 

 cultural and animal products amount possibly to twenty-five 

 billions of dollars per year. Food has risen in price in recent 

 years along with other products, partly because of higher wages 

 and higher cost of machinery and supplies used by farmers, but 

 largely because the urban population has increased faster than 

 the rural and the demand for food products has increased faster 

 than the supply. It is of prime importance to city dwellers that 

 food products be produced in greater quantity, and this requires 



