CHAPTER X 



STATE ORGANIZATIONS FOR AGRICULTURE-FARMERS' 

 INSTITUTES 



Perhaps no other offices concerned with the public business 

 of various states include so wide a range of activities, duties, 

 aims, and methods as do the state organizations for agriculture. 

 One state commissioner of agriculture says of his department : 



If I were asked to supply a name, it would be called the Dumping 

 Ground for a Legislature to place all subject-matter that body finds neces- 

 sary to frame into law. 



The justice of this observation will be more readily appre- 

 ciated by reference to the following constitutional provisions for 

 his office: 



He shall perform such duties in relation to agriculture as may be pre- 

 scribed by law, shall have supervision of all matters pertaining to the public 

 lands under regulations prescribed by law, and shall keep the Bureau of 

 Immigration. He shall also have supervision of the State Prison, and 

 shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law. 



Some state organizations for agriculture have even a wider 

 range of duties. On the other hand, there are some in which 

 the duties of this office are limited to the supervision of the 

 state agricultural college, or to the management of the state 

 fair. 



There are five forms of organization. The first includes those organi- 

 zations known as "Departments 1 ' and consists of a commissioner and one 

 or more assistants. The second form comprises the boards, which are com- 

 posed of a varying number of members, some appointed by the governor 

 and others being members of the board by virtue of their official position 

 in the state. The third includes bureaus which are essentially the same 

 as the boards. The fourth form is a combination of the first and second ; 

 the regular department is supervised by a board of agriculture. The fifth 

 and final form is that known as the Michigan organization, under which 

 the state board of agriculture is merely a board of trustees for the state 

 agricultural college (122, p. 328). 



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