NOTES. 497 



The presidential address by C. A. Whittle, of Georgia, had for its subject 

 The Status of the Agricultural College Editor. In his opinion the mission of 

 the agricultural college editor is to reach the individual farmer, and in order 

 to render him adequate service the editor must see, feel, and think the same 

 way. The greatest defect in editorial work at present was thought to be the 

 limit of the power of the " blue pencil." He believed that editors must be 

 vested with full editorial powers, but that when these powers are given they 

 must be used wisely and very carefully. He also advocated conferring upon 

 them full professorial rank. 



Dr. B. E. Powell, of Illinois, in his report as secretary-treasurer reviewed the 

 history of the organization. He called attention to the large demand for the 

 proceedings of the last meeting, although these could not be published because 

 of the lack of available funds. Subsequently provision was made by the asso- 

 ciation for the publication of the proceedings of the 1915 meeting. 



G. W. Wharton, chief of the Office of Information of this Department, dis- 

 cussed Getting Information to the People Who Can Use It. He cited as obstacles 

 to the successful dissemination of agricultural information, (1) overtechnical 

 statements, (2) attempts to mix both popular and technical matter in the same 

 bulletin, and (3) the tradition of form, size, type, etc. He advocated the use of 

 posters, colors, cards, and general follow-up methods. He much preferred the 

 term "information" instead of "publicity" in such work, as "publicity" has 

 come to be associated with " press agency " with which a properly defined 

 information service can have no connection. The most efficient medium for the 

 dissemination of agricultural information he thought to be the farm press, 

 and the next the daily and weekly newspapers. In any case those issuing infor- 

 mation material must write from the viewpoint of both the editor and the 

 farmer. 



Mr. Wharton stated that while, of course, it was impossible to attribute the 

 increase to any one specific cause, the circulation of the Department's bulletins 

 since the establishment of the information service had, according to last year's 

 figures, increased 40 per cent. Inasmuch as the press notices contain fairly 

 complete summaries and practical advice, he believed that those who now v/rite 

 in for the bulletins as a result of these notices do so because of a real need, 

 and it is probable, therefore, that the notices assist in reducing waste circulation. 

 He described in detail the activities of the Office of Information, explaining 

 especially the method of limiting the press material to the class of papers or 

 the geographical district to which it would be of direct application. He believed 

 that the press material should be deemed an official output of the institution 

 as well as its bulletins or other permanent publications. It should concern itself 

 merely with conveying practical information and recommendations and be kept 

 scrupulously free from any partisan tinge. Mention of individuals or institu- 

 tions should be limited to what is necessary to establish the authority of the 

 facts or advice. One great advantage of mimeographed press information 

 sheets, he pointed out, is that they can be issued in cases of emergency and 

 through the cooperation of the press reach those affected far more quickly than 

 ordinarily would be possible in the case of formal publications. 



Frank C. Dean, of Nebraska, read a paper on The Efficiency of Press Matter 

 for Newspapers, defining efficiency as the ability to get a thing published. He 

 considered the preparation of press matter the most important of the agricul- 

 tural college editor's duties. Items of ten lines or less have been found most 

 useful for newspapers, and 95 per cent of the papers to whom he has furnished 

 news material have used only about one column per week. 



In a paper on Some Common Inconsistencies of Typography of Bulletins, O. M. 

 Kile, of West Virginia, presented the tabulated replies from about 25 editors in 



