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EDITOEIAL. 305 



eases, tuberculosis, nutritional problems and diseases, the food, milk, 

 and water supply, immunity and anaphylaxis, and similar problems. 

 One of the avowed objects of the congress was to promote closer 

 relations between the participating nations by making them more 

 familiar with each other's conditions and problems. Many of the 

 papers, therefore, took the form of reviews of the trend of recent 

 progress in the respective jfields. Another group of papers was pre- 

 pared with special reference to administrative problems, such as 

 plant and animal quarantines, the establishment of research organi- 

 zation in such branches as entomolog}' and forestry, the extension 

 of the meteorological service, and the feasibility of more effective 

 cooperation along these lines. There were also numerous papers 

 reporting results of research, notably along economic lines and in the 

 section on public health and medical science. 



The prominent recognition given to agricultural science is illus- 

 trated by the program of the section on conservation, of which Mr. 

 George M. Rommel, of the Bureau of Animal Industry of this 

 Department, was chairman. About eighty papers were presented 

 before this section, of which over sixty dealt directly with agri- 

 culture. These papers covered a wide range of subjects, but gave 

 special attention to the lines of animal industry, the marketing of 

 agricultural products, irrigation, and forestry. 



The function of live stock in agriculture was described by Mr. 

 Rommel to be sevenfold, including the maintenance of soil fertility, 

 the rendering more salable or more profitable the feeding stuffs 

 produced on the farm, the supplying of motive power, the provision 

 of a major source of income, the improving of the farm business 

 organization, the furnishing of meat to the farm table, and the 

 increasing of the attractiveness of farm life. Prof. B. H. Rawl, of 

 the Dairy Division, maintained that dairying more nearly meets 

 the requisites of a permanent industry than any other system of 

 agriculture, since it gives opportunity for the steady employment 

 of intelligent labor and maintains the fertility of the soil, and when 

 properly managed it is also profitable. 



Prof. F. R, Marshall, likewise of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 discussed the relation between wool and mutton production in the 

 sheep industries of North and South America; Prof. H. W. Mum- 

 ford, of tiie University of Illinois, the relation of feed and environ- 

 ment to the profitable fattening of cattle; and President H. J. 

 "Waters, of the Kansas College, took up the question of how an 

 animal grows. The principles and system followed in the govern- 

 ment control of grazing on the public lands were outlined by Mr. 

 A. F. Potter, of the Forest Service, and the marketing of live stock 



