2 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 40 



requirements. But they are nevertheless to be taken account of and 

 need to be corrected in the interest of the welfare of the whole 

 agricultural system. 



The general movement started several years ago looking to the 

 standardization of public business on a new basis of economy and 

 efficiency has become one of the sources of difficulty in several States. 

 The legislation enacted as a result of this movement has been general 

 in character and thus has applied to all classes of institutions, penal, 

 charitable, educational, and administrative alike. Insomecasesit has 

 evidently been drawn with little or no consideration of the peculiar 

 requirements of educational institutions. While not directed spe- 

 cifically at the stations, in sonic respects the requirements resl par- 

 ticularly hard on them because of the nature and conditions of their 

 work. 



These control measures take the form of requiring a rigid budge! 

 system, the fixing of salaries by statutory enactment, the purchasing 

 of supplies on Stale contracts, the securing of requisitions and au- 

 thorizations through sources outside the station organization, the 

 installing of standard methods of accounting with frequent reports 

 and returns to officers at the State capitol, and the like They fi 

 quently involve the personnel of the station, including their appoint- 

 ment and removal as well as promotion and salary. A result is to 

 subject certain important features of the station administration to 

 hoards or officers not connected with the station organization who 

 are mi familial- with its requirements, and thus to divide the respon- 

 sibility of the governing board for the general management of the 



station. 



In some cases easements have been provided the stations in such 

 matters a& strict application of State civil-service laws, while in 



others conditions have made it quite difficull to secure the type of 



men they need for their special work or to hold them against offi 

 of larger salaries from the outside. The Latter has been true reg ird- 

 less of how indispensable the services of such employes had become 

 to the progress of special lines of inquiry. The disadvantage of the 

 station is freely admitted when a case arises, but the laws or regula- 

 tions are inflexible and stand in the way of making any adjustment 

 of funds to meet the difficulty. 



This, of course, is diametrically opposed to true economy, for the 

 best use a station can make of its funds is to develop a strong, thor- 

 oughly trained and experienced staff of workers and to hold them to 

 their problems. As the invest igation becomes more highly specialized 

 its success depends increasingly upon such continuity. A change of 

 investigator not only delays the progress of Btudy but it \<t\ often 

 results in loss of ground and frequently may cause the temporary 



