THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 95 



To show that I do not stand alone in my opinion of 

 the wonderful theory advanced by the Department of 

 Agriculture, I would refer you to pages 339 and 340 

 in " Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture," in 

 which it will be seen that in a canvass of 104 agricul- 

 tural chemists, agronomists, professors of agriculture, 

 soil specialists, etc., but two were found willing to 

 endorse these theories, and, as quoted, " These two 

 are from minor or branch institutions, however, not 

 one of the Land-grant Colleges or State Experiment 

 Stations being willing to accept or teach them in the 

 sense in which they have been put forward by the Bu- 



reau/' 



Where is the fault, and what the remedy? There 

 is, I think, no grounds for suspicion of fraud or prof- 

 iteering either in the Department of Agriculture or the 

 Agricultural Institutions throughout the land. In all 

 of these are many earnest and able scientific men, 

 whose research and experiments should be of inestima- 

 ble value to agriculture ; but those directing the affairs 

 of these institutions have seemingly failed to appreci- 

 ate the seriousness of their work, the enormously im- 

 portant part that they should play in the economic, as 

 well as the every-day life, of the nation. Hence, they 

 have permitted inefficients, impractical theorists, fad- 

 dists and sensationalists to occupy too prominent a 

 part in these institutions. Since commercial and po- 

 litical interests began to look upon these institutions 

 simply as organizations, " going concerns," which they 

 could use to pecuniary and political advantage, these 

 ills have multiplied. Congress is not blameless in fail- 

 ing to observe and correct these evil tendencies. An 



