CHAPTER X 



THE PRESENT ORGANIZATION AND STATUS OF 

 COUNTY AGENT WORK 



BY provisions of law and by general public acceptance, 

 county agent work has become an integral part of the co- 

 operative extension service of the state agricultural colleges, 

 and a local agency for the conservation, development and 

 protection of farm resources, in which farmers are directly 

 and vitally interested. As such, it functions in cooperation 

 with these colleges which also represent the United States 

 Department of Agriculture in their respective states. All 

 public agricultural educational agencies, county, state and 

 national, are related to one another and function in co- 

 operation with each other as a part of the national agricul- 

 tural system. Before one can fully understand the func- 

 tioning of a particular part of this system, like the county 

 agent work, he needs to call to mind the other parts and 

 other public functions and properly to differentiate the sev- 

 eral kinds of institutions and their functions. 



FOUR PUBLIC FUNCTIONS 



In general, the state exercises four special relations or 

 obligations toward agriculture, both in the interest of farm- 

 ers and for the benefit of the general public. These are: 

 (1) law enforcement or administration, (2) research or in- 

 vestigation, (3) resident teaching at state schools and col- 

 leges, and (4) the extension teaching function. All of these 

 have been established by law and are annually provided for 



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