RELATION TO COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES 97 



plies throughout the year, and serve as a financial bridge be- 

 tween the manufacturer and the consumer as the dealer has done, 

 thus eliminating the dealer and making a shortcut between the 

 manufacturer and the consumer?" 



This inquiry, of course, represents an extreme fear not 

 warranted by the facts in the case. But it also indicates 

 a much more rational view of the problems which such 

 organizations create and a much more satisfactory ap- 

 proach to their solution. 



THE INTENT OP CONGRESS 



Since all discussions of this question sooner or later 

 come back to the original authority on which the work 

 of the county agent is based, it may be desirable to exam- 

 ine the law. The Smith-Lever act itself does not define 

 specifically the activities of county agents, but confers 

 broad authority to give "instruction and practical demon- 

 strations in agriculture and home economics." To deter- 

 mine then the real intent of Congress we must turn to 

 the discussions in that body when the bill was passed and 

 particularly to the report of the committee which intro- 

 duced the Smith-Lever Bill. The Honorable A. F. Lever, 

 Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, who, 

 perhaps more than any other one person, was influential 

 in shaping up this legislation and in securing its passage 

 through Congress, in the elaboration of his remarks on 

 the bill made it clear that its purpose included the eco- 

 nomic as well as the productive phases of farm life. He 

 said: 



"To teach the farmer the best methods of increasing production 

 is exceedingly important, but not more vitally so than is the im- 

 portance of teaching him the best and most economical methods 



