19171 EDITORIAL. 303 



is authorized "to cooperate with such State and local officials, and with 

 such public and private agencies or persons, as he finds necessary." 



The appropriations contained in the act are made for the period 

 ending June 30, 1918. They thus supplement those carried in pre- 

 vious appropriations for this period, a summary of which has already 

 appeared in these columns.^ 



The aggregate amount carried by the act is $11,346,400. This is 

 not a large sum as compared with many of the emergency appropria- 

 tions. The Food Control Act, for instance, appropriates $162,500,000, 

 of which $10,000,000 is placed at the disposal of the President for 

 the purchase and sale of nitrate of soda under certain conditions for 

 agricultural production. None the less, it represents a total sub- 

 stantially equivalent to that carried in the regular appropriation act 

 for the Department for the fiscal year 1908, and is larger than that 

 for any earlier year. It increases the total funds for the Depart- 

 ment's work to $55,160,513, of which $26,579,113 is carried in routine 

 appropriation acts, and $17,235,000 as permanent and indefinite ap- 

 propriations, chiefly under the Federal-aid Eoad Act, the meat-in- 

 spection provision, and the Extension Act. As compared with the 

 preceding fiscal year, this constitutes a net increase of $20,007,661. 



The principal items of expenditure authorized are for educational 

 and demonstration work, food surveys, marketing and distribution 

 studies and advice, the procuring and sale of seeds, aiding in the 

 supply of farm labor, stimulating live stock production, combating 

 insect pests and plant and animal diseases, and promoting the con- 

 servation and utilization of plant and animal products. Most of the 

 projects provided for will be an extension of present activities on a 

 larger scale, but some will represent new undertakings. 



The largest single appropriation is $4,348,400 for increasing food 

 production and promoting the conservation of food b}'^ extension 

 teaching and demonstration throfigh country, district, and urban 

 Federal funds for these purposes, the annual appropriations to the 

 States Eelations Servive for cooperative demonstration work for the 

 year aggregating $1,237,800 and the appropriations under the Ex- 

 tension Act $2,080,000. It is expected to use the increased funds 

 largely for county agents, home demonstration, and boys' and girls' 

 club work. 



Plans have been made to expand immediately the cooperative ex- 

 tension work of the Department and the State agricultural colleges 

 by a large increase in the number of county agricultural agents and 

 home demonstration agents. Approximately fourteen hundred men 

 and five hundred women are at present employed, and the number 



»E. S. R,, 36, p. 401. 



