228 BACKGROUND AND MEANS OF SERVICE 



on the part of the public in placing its confidence in the 

 movement, by the development of some jealousies on the 

 part of some farm organizations and by Congressional in- 

 vestigations into the work. How much these things will 

 amount to remains for the future to determine. It is a 

 fair question to ask whether what has been gained is worth 

 the price. Fees had to be raised of course as the program, 

 was enlarged and as costs increased. The real question is 

 not the size of the fee but its relation to the program of 

 work and the results which affect the individual member 

 of each association. 



THE HOME BUREAU 



Just as in the case of agents, the farm bureau's work 

 with women was in most instances not differentiated from 

 that with men, but was carried on by the same agencies. 

 The farm bureaus at first appointed project committees 

 on women's problems which were comparable with its proj- 

 ect committees on poultry or on farm drainage, for ex- 

 ample. This, it seemed to the bureaus in some states, was 

 too meager a recognition of women's work, which though 

 perhaps less spectacular and less in the public mind, never- 

 theless, probably occupies a good half of the range of 

 farm problems. 



Economic problems just now loom large. But the prob- 

 lems of the home; its social life and contacts, as a place 

 tj rear farm children, and its efficiency, especially in rela- 

 tion to its equipment and conveniences are not all these, 

 after all, equal in importance with the problems of pro- 

 duction and marketing? It is usually the farm woman 

 who gives most thought to rural social and community 

 problems and to the needs of the children, because this is 

 her natural field and she is more sensitive to the need of 



