lO-'O] EDITORIAL. 100 



have authorized the Confjressional Joint Committee on l*rintin<!: to 

 (liscontiniie these periodicals at any time. 



The Avork of the remainin<^ branches of the Department was pro- 

 vided for substantially as at present. The Weather Bureau receives 

 $l.S7().r)r)() instead of $1.<S8(),21(), and there are sli<,dit chan<;es in the 

 phraseolojry of some of the allotments. The Division of Accounts 

 and Disbursements was granted $49,820 and the Library $54,480. 

 For the miscellaneous expenses of the Department $ir>G,000 was 

 made available, besides $1G4,GC6 for rent in the District of Columbia. 



As usual the act contains considerable general legislation. In addi- 

 tion to items already referred to, provision was made for the appoint- 

 ment of a Congressional Short-time Rural Credits Coimnittee to re- 

 port on the practicability of this type of credit legislation. This com- 

 mittee is composed of the chairman and two other members of the 

 Senate and House committees on agriculture and banking, and $5,000 

 is appropriated for its expenses. A yield of 5 ]ni. or less per acre of 

 wheat in drought stricken regions was declared to be a crop failure, 

 releasing farmers who had borrowed from the Government to pur- 

 chase seed wheat. 



The Secretary of Agriculture was authorized to acquire or purchase 

 at a nominal price the tracts now occupied by four of the Depart- 

 ment's field stations for the propagation, testing, and distributing of 

 new crop plants. These tracts include about 80 acres at Chico, Cal., 

 GO acres at Bellingham," Wash., 25 acres at Buena Vista, Fla., and 46 

 acres at Savannah, Ga. A commission consisting of the Secretary and 

 three other members of the Cabinet was appointed to report on the 

 feasibility of utilizing the property formerly occupied by the Weather 

 Bureau at Mount Weather, Va., as a sanitarium or home for disabled 

 ex-service men or for other governmental purposes. 



An element of special interest attaches to the new act in that it is 

 probably the last to be made up by the House Committee on Agricul- 

 ture. Under a recent change in. the House rules tlie privilege of re- 

 porting measures making appropriations will henceforward be cen- 

 tralized in the Committee on Appropriations. This committee is to 

 be enlarged to thirty-five members, and it is expected that to a sub- 

 committee will be delegated the preparation of future agricultural 

 appropriation bills and their management in the House. The Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture, which has performed this function continu- 

 ously since the establishment of the Department and has exercised a 

 very great influence on its development, is thus relieved of jurisdiction 

 hereafter except as regards matters of new legislation. The change 

 is hence a radical one, and its workings will be observed with nnich 

 interest. 



