THE BEGINNINGS OF COUNTY AGENT WORK 169 



Other states soon followed, and the next year several states 

 still further recognized the county agent work by making 

 available state appropriations for its support. These in- 

 cluded New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, 

 and New York. Indiana had made funds available through 

 its state college for this purpose as early as 1911. 



In addition to this public recognition and aid to county 

 agent work, the support received from private sources had 

 much to do with the successful launching of the movement 

 at this time. Without doubt, the movement would have 

 been much slower in getting started had it not been for 

 the encouragement and financial support of Chambers of 

 Commerce and certain railroads. Chambers of Commerce 

 saw an opportunity to develop their rural territory and 

 some of them made the mistake of attempting to control and 

 to make the work a part of their own organization, which 

 handicapped both them and it. Railroad corporations be- 

 came interested in the movement as a means of stimulating 

 agricultural development along their lines. In this the 

 Lackawanna and the New York Central systems in the East 

 and the Great Northern Lines in the West were the leaders. 

 Philanthropists also became interested in the movement. 

 Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, through the Council of 

 Grain Exchanges, made available one hundred thousand 

 dollars, at the rate of one thousand dollars per county for 

 the first one hundred counties to organize. This offer, in 

 connection with the local enterprise of Chambers of Com- 

 merce, was undoubtedly no small incentive in securing the 

 appointment of agents in many counties. 



Federal aid was made definite and the government fully 

 and permanently committed to the support of the move- 

 ment in cooperation with the states by the passage of the 

 Smith-Lever Act by the Congress in 1914. Briefly the ob- 

 ject of this act is "to disseminate useful and practical infor- 



