14 



projects for which contracts are made are sometimes 

 suggested by research workers in the States, sometimes 

 by scientists in the Department of Agriculture. The 

 States supplement the funds given for research proj- 

 ects by the Federal Government. 



Great wisdom is being shown in Ihe management of 

 the relations between the Department of Agriculture 

 and the experiment stations. The Department of Agri- 

 culture as a scientific agency of the first order has ex- 

 perts in many lines. The services and findings of 

 these experts are always available to the experiment 

 .stations and to other divisions of the land-grant col- 

 leges. The institutions have derived valuable assist- 

 ance fi-om the Department. They in turn have per- 

 formed the important function of making State legis- 

 latures and the people of the country, especially the 

 people in rural areas, aware of the value of research. 



Complications Arising from Decentralization 



There are two problems that have arisen in connec- 

 tion with the land-grant colleges which are not yet 

 solved. The first of these has to do with the participa- 

 tion or nonparticipation of the extension divisions of 

 the land-grant colleges in the administrative activities 

 of the Department of Agriculture. 



In recent years the Department of Agricidture ha^ 

 been made responsible by the Congress for a vigorous 

 action program. In the execution of this action pro- 

 gram the Department has had fi-equent occasion to 

 deal with the people in the States. The people in the 

 States are accustomed to thinking of tlie land-grani 

 colleges, without distinguishing between the various 

 divisions of the institutions, as the intermediaries in 

 many important undeitakings between themselves and 

 die Department of Agriculture. When the action pro- 

 gram of the Department is in any measure adminis- 

 tered through the extension divisions of land-grant 

 colleges, the question arises in the minds of many per- 

 sons inside and outside the colleges whether research 

 and administration can be carried on in one and the 

 same institution without prejudice to research. 



There is a sharp difference of opinion among the 

 land-ffrant institutions themselves as to their relation 

 to the action i>rogram. All the institutions are in 

 agreement with respect to the research program of the 

 Department of Agriculture. They are satisfied with 

 the arrangements imder which research projects are 

 carried on. and they welcome the helpful cooperation 

 which they receive from the Department in the conduct 

 of these projects. Some of the land-grant colleges in- 

 sist that their institutions gain by allowing their ex- 

 tension divisions to serve as agents of the Department 

 in enforcing the requirements of the action program. 



National Resources Committee 



They maintain that their services as agents of action 

 have prevented the invasion of their States by the 

 spoils politics which might otherwise have become 

 a part of the action program. 



While some land-grant colleges have for the reasons 

 given participated in the action program, others have 

 flatly refused to do so. The institutions which have 

 refused explain their attitude by saying that their re- 

 search activities would be disturbed and their relations 

 to the people of the State would be perverted if they 

 turned themselves into administrative arms of the 

 Federal Government. 



There seems to be some element of regionalism in the 

 dispute which has thus arisen. The southern land- 

 grant colleges more generally favor participation in 

 the action program than do institutions in the northern 

 States. 



The second problem which has arisen because of the 

 established relation between the Government and the 

 land-grant colleges results from the insistence that 

 there be substantial increases in Federal subventions 

 to these colleges. 



It has been urged in recent sessions of the Congress 

 that there be established at the land-grant colleges 

 engineering experiment stations similar to the agricul- 

 tural experiment stations. Although it is pointed out 

 that many of the States now have strong erigineering 

 schools at institutions other than the land-grant col- 

 leges, the Association of Land-Grant Colleges insists 

 that the act of the Congress creating these colleges des- 

 ignated them as centers for both agriculture and the 

 mechanic arts. Therefore, it is argued, the Govern- 

 ment is imder obligation to make possible the complete 

 development of the program described in the original 

 act. 



The State universities which do not include land- 

 grant colleges are becoming vocal in the contention that 

 the land-grant colleges are taking advantage of their 

 relations with the Department of Agriculture to mag- 

 nify their own importance unduly and to gain advan- 

 tages over other educational institutions in a way which 

 is not to the best interests of the States and the Nation. 



The problems which are discussed in the immediately 

 preceding paragraphs are problems of general impor- 

 tance. If the Government is to extend its research 

 work, there will undoubtedly be increasingly intimate 

 relations with agencies outside the Federal Govern- 

 ment. The methods of developing these relations must 

 be planned with care and wisdom. 



Further Examples of Decentralized 

 Research 



The Temiessee Valley Authority has secured the 

 cooperation of institutions and individuals throughout 



