502 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The rapid increase of various forms of agricultural extension work 

 has brought with it many important questions in regard to its rela- 

 tion to the station work and staff. It has been quite clear for some 

 time that the institutions engaging in such enterprises should as 

 rapidly as possible provide a definite and separate organization for 

 the work, and endeavor to obtain adequate funds other than those 

 now provided by federal appropriation, in order that it might be 

 maintained without encroaching upon either the station work or 

 funds on the one hand, or upon the regular instruction work of the 

 college on the other. 



A clear differentiation of extension work from the accepted forms 

 of station activity is not always a simple matter, and great confu- 

 sion has often been produced in the public mind by the fact that 

 special appropriations for extension work have been put under the 

 control of the stations. This has fostered a feeling that such work 

 is a legitimate function of the stations, and that they should retain 

 and foster it. Under such circumstances, there is constant pressure 

 to use the federal funds which are given to the stations for experi- 

 mental work directly or indirectly for the promotion of the extension 

 features. This takes the form of demands on the time of station 

 officers who are paid from federal funds, the printing and franking 

 as station bulletins or publications which are really extension docu- 

 ments, and various miscellaneous expenses which would not have 

 been incurred except for the pressure for extension work. 



The magnitude of the enterprise and the difficulties in the way of 

 its proper administration were recognized in the report of the com- 

 mittee on extension work, and in the action of the association upon 

 the suggestions and recommendations of the committee. The associa- 

 tion indorsed the recommendations of the committee that (1) each 

 land-grant college should organize a " department " or " division " 

 or " school " of extension work, i. e., should organize the work as a 

 definite part of the institution and clearly define extension work; 

 and that (2) efforts should be made to secure a national appropria- 

 tion for extension work by the colleges and by this Department, and 

 to extend the franking privilege to extension publications. 



\^^iile extension work is strictly educational in character and there- 

 fore should be organized as a department of the college rather than 

 as a station enterprise, it should be so organized and conducted as to 

 utilize to the fullest possible extent the results of station work, keep- 

 ing its teaching strictly in harmony with those results and giving the 

 widest publicity to the work of the station. 



It has sometimes been felt that the extension departments if sepa- 

 rated from the stations and organized with a distinct corps of 

 workers would tend to separate the station workers from close touch 



