THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 229 



"Topeka, Kansas, 1912. 

 "F. W. Beckman, Ames, Iowa. 



"Dear Sir: Your letter of November 25th is at hand, and I have gath- 

 ered up a few samples of booklets, brochures, and the like, typical of the 

 sort of advertising literature we have been disseminating ever since I 

 have been secretary of the board, for nineteen years. There is no regu- 

 larity about the issuance of these, and in fact, under the law, it is no 

 part of our work. Neither are we provided with any funds for the pur- 

 pose, and hence it might quite appropriately and truthfully be called 

 "a work of love." 



"The state has no officially designated 'Advertising Bureau' or 'Immi- 

 gration Department,' and while the work of this board is mostly in be- 

 half of the farmers who are here, I see so many ways to favorably ex- 

 ploit our resources, productions, possibilities and advantages, I cannot 

 resist the temptation to let the world know about it, as often as I can 

 spare time for that purpose. Doing something of this sort, that is not re- 

 quired of me officially, is in fact my recreation, and is thrown in with my 

 other duties for good measure. We also issue a lot of short mimeograph 

 articles about some feature of Kansas and her agriculture, which are sent 

 to the agricultural and other papers throughout the nation, and abroad, 

 and it is surprising what a large percentage use the material. This space 

 of course costs us nothing, more than the labor of compiling the matter 

 and the two-cent stamp for mailing it. 



"Back of most of our advertising, stands our annual statistics, which 

 the board of agriculture has gathered and compiled from the beginning, 

 making a half-century record that affords a w^onderfully prolific source of 

 most excellent advertising matter, in showing advancement, growth and 

 prosperity. The record has been consistently kept, without change of sys- 

 tems, and hence it is uniform for the whole period, making it of the very 

 greatest possible value. It has of course been improved, that is, the 

 method has been improved from time to time, but the whole scheme of 

 our statistical work remains practically on the foundation on which it 

 was first laid out. 



"The real big work of the board, however, has been in its helpfulness 

 to the man who is tilling our fertile prairies. The department, from its 

 beginning as the state agricultural society in 1862, has issued quarterly 

 and biennial reports, and these contain information of much value to the 

 farmer. The biennial reports, for instance, are large, bound, illustrated 

 volumes, in editions of 20,000 copies, but the supply is exhausted by the 

 time the printer makes the delivery of the last installment. I presume 

 you are familiar with these reports, or rather their appearances, anyway, 

 and if not, and you wish to examine them, you will find them in the 

 library of your college. 



"I regret to say I cannot estimate the results of our publicity work, 

 for I have no way of gauging that except in the immense mail it brings 

 here, making request for more detailed information. We respond to these 

 so far as possible by letter, and also mail a copy of our report entitled 

 'Kansas — Facts and Figures.' But, our office force is limited, and is 



