ORGANIZATION AND STATUS OF WORK 193 



by public appropriations. Each deserves a brief descrip- 

 tion here. 



LAW ENFORCEMENT 



The law enforcement or administrative function is exer- 

 cised by both federal and state governments. To the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture is entrusted the enforcement 

 of all federal laws specifically affecting agriculture and the 

 food supply, together with the administration of all funds 

 appropriated by the Congress for agricultural purposes. 

 In the same way, to the states' departments of agriculture 

 is assigned the administration of all the state laws directly 

 affecting agriculture and the food supply. 



The federal department was established on May 15, 1862, 

 and its head, the Secretary of Agriculture, was raised to the 

 rank of a cabinet officer in 1889. In sixty years it has 

 grown to large proportions, now employing more than fif- 

 teen thousand persons and having the supervision of the 

 expenditure of more than thirty million dollars annually. 

 Only a part of this is expended for law enforcement, how- 

 ever. The Department inspects meat, grain, canned goods 

 and other food commodities prepared for interstate ship- 

 ment, enforces federal pure food laws, administers the for- 

 est service, has charge of the protection of plants and ani- 

 mals from insects and diseases with quarantine powers, and 

 all other agricultural regulatory work of the federal gov- 

 ernment. In addition to these duties, it conducts the fed- 

 eral weather service, gathers and disseminates agricultural 

 statistics, including crop reports and administers federal 

 aid to road building. 



The functions of the state departments, while in general 

 regulatory, are less uniform in character and less clearly 

 defined. They enforce state laws relating to livestock, fer- 

 tilizers, feeds, human foods, the control of insect pests and 



