402 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



and are called upon for so wide a range of service that they are 

 under great pressure for time. This is one of the results of the rapid 

 turning of the tide in the direction of the stations, the position they 

 now occupy in the development of agricultural affairs in their States, 

 and the difficulty in getting experienced men for their work. But 

 this difficulty is a quite common one, and can hardly be said to be 

 peculiar to stations which have failed to provide a record of progi-ess. 



It would seem that the desirability of such a report, apart from 

 the federal requirements, would appeal to the States as a matter of 

 efficient administration; and this was evidently the supposition on 

 which the provision was written into the Hatch Act. The report 

 was to be a state document, and the governor was empowered, 

 through the state's acceptance of the provisions of the Hatch Act, 

 to require such a report. The method of its publication, which 

 frequently involves considerable delay in issuing the report for a 

 given year, has resulted in leaving it with the States to see that 

 ultimately the obligation was met. But apparently many of the 

 States have paid little attention to the matter. This is the more 

 surprising as the station is a state institution, now receiving large 

 amounts of money. The people are entitled to an accounting of some 

 sort other than that which the bulletins supply, and the wisdom of 

 failing to provide any continuous record of so important an institu- 

 tion seems very questionable from every standpoint. 



Twenty-five years ago this spring a national system of experiment 

 stations was provided for by Congress. The beginnings of these 

 institutions and their development are already matters of consider- 

 able historic interest. But where the annual report is lackmg or is 

 so brief as to furnish little information, there are no systematic 

 records available for tracing the history and evolution of many of 

 these stations and their public support. The stations as a system 

 are growing in importance year by year, the character and scope of 

 their activities are undergoing steady change, new departments are 

 being formed, their work differentiated, new buildings and other 

 facilities provided, new appropriations placed at their disposal, and 

 important changes made in personnel and management. The record 

 of these activities and developments has a distinct historical as well 

 as current interest. How otherwise is the history of an institution 

 to be traced, or the occurrence of important events to be fixed ? 



There is clearly a place for such a document, and a need which 

 warrants the expense and effort of its preparation. While the sta- 

 tion publications have increased in number and in kind, and have 

 been differentiated to meet the needs of different classes of readers, 

 nothing has been provided to take the place of such a review. As a 

 leading public institution each station is entitled to a public record, 

 a means of recording for its own benefit, as well as for the State and 

 the student, the service it is rendering to the public welfare. It 



