1916] EDITORIAL. 309 



issue licenses to competent persons to classify and weigh the products 

 to be stored in the warehouses, and to conduct warehouse investiga- 

 tions. The system of licensing is entirely voluntary, but provides 

 for Federal licenses, when desired, for warehouses in which cotton, 

 grain, avooI, tobacco, and flax may be stored for interstate or foreign 

 conmierce, or located in places under the exclusive jurisdiction of 

 the United States, or owned, operated, or leased by any State. Ap- 

 plicants must agree to comply with the act and the rules and regula- 

 tions prescribed under it and give bond to secure the performance of 

 their obligations. The form of receipt and manner of delivery of 

 products are prescribed in detail, and records and reports are sub- 

 ject to examination by the Department. All grain, flaxseed, or other 

 fungible products stored in these warehouses for interstate or foreign 

 commerce must also be inspected and graded by persons licensed for 

 the purpose. The licenses may be i-evoked for cause, and penalties 

 are provided for fraudulent transactions. The Warehouse Act be- 

 came effective at once and carries an appropriation of $50,000, avail- 

 able until expended, for its enforcement. 



In a discussion of the appropriation act as a medium for the 

 support of the Department of Agriculture, reference should also be 

 made to the funds administered by it but appropriated in other 

 ways. For the fiscal year under discussion, what are termed the 

 permanent appropriations under the Department will aggregate 

 $10,604,000, the largest items being those of $5,000,000 for the con- 

 struction of rural post roads under the law recently described (E. S. 

 R., 35, p. 200), of which not to exceed $150,000 may be used by 

 the Department for administering the act; $3,000,000 for meat in- 

 spection; and $1,580,000 under the Smith-Lever Extension Act; the 

 remainder being chiefly for payments to the States as their quota of the 

 receipts from the National Forests. There is also the appropriation 

 for the Department printing and binding, carried as usual in the 

 appropriation act for sundry civil expenses. This appropriation has 

 been increased from $500,000 to $600,000, of which $47,000 is for 

 the Weather Bureau and $177,500, an increase of $40,000, for use 

 in the publication of Farmers' Bulletins. 



Nor are the Federal appropriations for agricultural purposes con- 

 fined to the Department of Agriculture. The usual large appropria- 

 tions will be available for agricultural education in the land-grant 

 colleges under the Morrill and Nelson Acts, as well as the smaller 

 grants for the rural education work of the Bureau of Education, 

 demonstration work among the Indians, and the payment of the 

 country's quota toward the support of the International Institute of 

 Agriculture. The aid granted under the Federal Farm Loan Act 



