134 THE COUNTY AGENT'S SERVICES 



comes to few young men. Several thousand have accepted 

 the challenge of this opportunity in the last few years, a 

 few to fail, but the great majority successfully. 



A large proportion of young men from the farms, espe- 

 cially those graduating from the agricultural colleges, nat- 

 urally desire to return to the farm for a life work. Many 

 are prevented from doing this at once by lack of capital and 

 by debts acquired in obtaining an education. To these 

 county agent work especially appeals not only as a means 

 of earning money but as an opportunity for valuable ex- 

 perience both in public service and in farm management. 

 A county agent has or must soon acquire the community 

 point of view. He soon learns the need for and the value 

 of community spirit and service. This makes him a more 

 useful citizen later in his own community. Moreover, he 

 has an unexcelled opportunity to come into close contact 

 with and for observation of the methods of the best farm- 

 ers in his county. If he is alert and receptive this expe- 

 rience may be of greater personal value to him than years 

 of graduate study. 



The salary or income advantage of county agent work is 

 excellent. Very few agents have to begin their work at 

 less than fifteen hundred dollars a year, and in most states 

 assistant agents begin at this or a larger salary. Coun- 

 ties which pay less than $2,000 are usually strictly rural, 

 the county seat is a small town and rents and other living 

 costs are proportionately low. The average county agri- 

 cultural agent receives between $2,500 and $3,000 a year. 

 Many county agents receive from $3,500 to $5,000 annually. 

 The salaries of home demonstration and boys' and girls' 

 club agents have about the same range with a lower upper 

 limit and an average perhaps twenty per cent less. 



Salaries are usually less in the poorer and more exclu- 

 sively agricultural counties with less taxable wealth and 



