322 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



held these colleges primarily responsible for the kind and amount of 

 work done by the stations, because the working staff is the first deter- 

 mining factor in station work, and it is to the colleges that we must look 

 for the fundamental training for this work. He urged the need of more 

 research work on the part of the stations, and declared that the lack 

 of the present limitations were largely due to the inadequate supply 

 of broadly trained men capable of planning highly scientific investiga- 

 tions. The speaker called specific attention to lines in which agriculture 

 is in need of investigation, to prevent losses of stock and products, and 

 to bring districts now largely wastes into more profitable cultivation. 

 These illustrations were presented to show that " it is the manifest duty 

 of this association, as representing both the colleges and the stations, 

 to see to it that provision is made for the specific training of investiga- 

 tors; for, all things considered, our progress has been measured and its 

 limits fixed by the available men, rather than by material equipment." 



The report of the executive committee, presented by Dr. H. C. 

 White, chairman, briefly reviewed the activities of the committee dur- 

 ing the year, notably in securing modification of the orders of the 

 War Department with reference to military instruction in the land- 

 grant colleges, and its efforts in behalf of the bills before Congress 

 for the increase of the experiment station appropriation and for the 

 establishment of mining schools. The committee believed that the 

 association should concentrate its efforts on a single bill, rather than 

 attempt the support of several measures. This suggestion led to con- 

 siderable discussion later in the meeting, which brought out the quite 

 general feeling that preference should be given to the Adams bill; but 

 to avoid embarrassing the executive committee by too rigid restric- 

 tions it was instructed to concentrate its efforts upon the bill apparently 

 in the most favorable condition for passage, provided the mining bill 

 be so modified as to recognize the land-grant colleges as the bene- 

 ficiaries. 



The executive committee suggested a reorganization of the stand- 

 ing committees of the association, and made recommendations in this 

 regard, which were referred to a special committee, whose report, 

 presented later, provided for four standing committees, viz, (1) instruc- 

 tion in agriculture, (2) graduate study, (3) extension work, and (4) ex- 

 periment station organization- and policy. These committees are to 

 consist of six members each, to be appointed bv- the retiring president, 

 and provision is made for a gradual rotation in the membership so that 

 the terms of only two members will expire each j-ear. Vacancies 

 occurring during the year are to be filled bj- the committees them- 

 selves. The appointments upon these committees, with the terms of 

 office, are as follows: Instruction in agriculture — A. C. True and T. F. 

 Hunt, three years; H. T. French and H. C. White, two 3 T ears; J. F. 

 Duggar and W. E. Stone, one year. Graduate study — L. H. Bailey 



