1919] EDITORIAL. 9 



certain repairs to equipment and the termination of the frost pro- 

 tection studies in progress for several years. 



The Bureau of Crop Estimates receives $371,102, in lieu of $346,- 

 232 in the previous act and $234,540 from the emergency act; the 

 Bureau of Soils, $491,235; the Division of Accounts and Disburse- 

 ments, $44,620; the Division of Publications, $240,590, an increase 

 of $25,850; and the Library, $50,160. For the enforcement of the 

 Insecticide Act the Department is granted $123,940; for demonstra- 

 tion work on reclamation projects, $48,600; and for miscellaneous 

 expenses, $175,500. For rent of buildings in the District of Colum- 

 bia $100,000 is provided, in addition to $41,509 allotted in the Sundry 

 Civil Act. This is a reduction of $17,180 from the previous year, be- 

 cause of the occupancy by the Department of space in some of the 

 temporary buildings erected by the Goverimient for the war emer- 

 gency. 



A specific appropriation of $100,000 is granted to enable the De- 

 partment to make exhibits at State, interstate, and international 

 fairs. Of this amount not to exceed $25,000 may be used in connec- 

 tion with the National Dairy Show at Chicago, and not over $5,000 

 for any other one fair. The President is authorized to extend invita- 

 tions to other nations to appoint delegates to the International Farm 

 Congress at Kansas City in September, 1919, and the World Cotton 

 Conference at New Orleans, October 13-16, 1919. 



From the foregoing exposition it is hoped that a general idea of 

 the prospective major activities of the Department during the prese)it 

 fiscal year may be obtained. It may be said, by way of summary, 

 that provision has been made for most of what may be termed the 

 routine activities of the Department; for the continuance, although 

 in most instances on a reduced basis, of many of the projects insti- 

 tuted under the Food Production Act and supplementary legislation; 

 and for notable increases in expenditures in several of the regulatory 

 functions of the Department and in the combating of injurious in- 

 sects and plant diseases. Attention should again be directed to the 

 fact that the new appropriation act, though finally passed late 

 in July, was originally formulated in January, and probably reflects 

 as a whole conditions then prevailing rather than those operative 

 today. None the less, it constitutes the first expression by Congress 

 regarding the work of the Department since the cessation of hos- 

 tilities, and in view of the universal desire for retrenchment in the 

 enormous expenditures of the Government the action taken may well 

 be regarded as significant of the country's appreciation of the De- 

 partment and its proposed lines of development. 



