312 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



''The real objection, however, to advertisements in station publica- 

 tions lies against tbe recommending of miscellaneous manufactured 

 articles used by fanners which have not been the subject of experiment 

 or investigation by stations in any true sense." Eecommendations, 

 based upon insufficient experimental data, reduce the station to a pur- 

 veyor of miscellaneous information obtained more or less at haphazard, 

 and which if proven incorrect may subject the institution to the charge 

 of unfairness or favoritism. 



"This is of course :i piactisal question, and we must not draw too fine distinctions, 

 but I am persuaded that in almost every case where advertising has been introduced 



into station publications statements more or less general in character would have 

 answered just as well and tbe charge of favoritism have been avoided. Even in the 

 matter of illustrations a little ingenuity will secure the publication of the informa- 

 tion which is really desirable without the use of the cuts furnished by the manu- 

 facturers." 



A. W. Harris, of Maine, representing tbe committee appointed on tbe 

 collective exhibit at the Paris Exposition, reported as follows: 



"Your committee, appointed to consider the desirability of a collective experiment 

 station exhibit at the Paris Exposition, and to recommend a plan for its preparation 

 and care, beg leave to report that they have considered carefully the matters referred 

 to them and are of the opinion (1) that a collective experiment station exhibit at the 

 Paris Exposition is desirable, and (2) that such an exhibit is practicable provided 

 the Association can obtain from the Office of Experiment Stations assistance in the 

 preparation and care of the exhibit and in the payment of expenses upon a plan like 

 that on which the Chicago exhibit was prepared, and your committee recommend (1) 

 that the executive committee lie directed to confer with the Honorable Secretary of 

 Agriculture to determine what assistance the Department of Agriculture will give, 

 (2) that a special committee of 5 persons be appointed, of whom the director of the 

 Office of Experiment Stations shall be one, to prepare the exhibit, and (3) that the 

 executive committee be instructed to pay the necessary expenses of the special 

 committee." 



C. Northrup, of Minnesota, called attention to tbe difficulty of making 

 a satisfactory exhibit of the kind contemplated, pointing out that the 

 smaller things might be exbibited with comparative ease, wbile it 

 would be impossible to " exhibit the progress of intellectual life that is 

 going on under the processes of education." The best work and best 

 results could not possibly be exhibited. He stated that unless it could 

 be shown (1) that we have something very desirable to exhibit and (2) 

 that the results are likely to be compensating he should feel constrained 

 to vote against tbe exhibit. 



The views of J. H. Cantield, of Ohio, agreed in the main with those 

 of the previous speaker. J. H. Washburn, of Khode Island, and W. H. 

 Jordan, of New York, expressed tbe opinion that this was largely a 

 question of representation and that it was extremely desirable that the 

 stations should be properly represented at the Exposition. A. C. True 

 thought an exhibit feasible and desirable, and urged that there should 

 be no delay in the appointment of a committee and the formulation of 

 a plan. 





