Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



97 



This grant of power is broad enough to cover virtually 

 any activity in the field of public health, but specific 

 grants of power with respect to particular diseases 

 have from time to time been added as new appropria- 

 tions have been made. Among these may be noted the 

 authority to "study and investigate the cause, treat- 

 ment, and prevention of venereal diseases" provided in 

 1918 (40 Stat. 886), and a grant of power in 1937 to 

 "conduct, assist, and foster researches, investigations, 

 experiments, and studies relating to the cause, preven- 

 tion, and methods of diagnosis and treatment of can- 

 cer * * *" (50 Stat. 148). 



Agricultural Research. — The basic act with respect 

 to agricultural research is the statute creating the De- 

 partment of Agriculture in 1862. This act directs the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture — 



* * • to acquire and preserve in his Department all infor- 

 mation coucerning agriculture which he can obtain by means 

 of books and correspondence, and by practical and scientiflc 

 experiments (accurate records of wliich experiments shall be 

 kept in his office), by the collection of statistics, and by any 

 other appropriate means within his power ; to collect seeds and 

 plants ; to test, by cultivation, the value of such of them as 

 may require such tests; to propagate such as may be worthy 

 of propagation, and to distribute them among agriculturists 

 (12 Stat. 367). 



This general authorization has been extended and am- 

 plified by munerous succeeding acts creating new fimc- 

 tions and new institutions, or providing additional ap- 

 propriations for carrying on existing activities. 



The first extension came with the creation in 1884 of 

 the Bureau of Animal Industry, the chief of which was 

 directed to — 



* * * investigate and report upon the condition of the do- 

 mestic animals and live poultry of the United States, their 

 protection and use, and also inquire into and report the causes 

 of contagious, infectious, and communicable diseases among 

 them, and the means for the prevention and cure of the same, 

 and to collect such information on these subjects as shall be 

 valuable to the agricultural and commercial interests of the 

 country • * • (23 Stat. 31). 



This was followed in 1887 by the Hatch Act (24 Stat. 

 440), extending Federal support to the States for ag- 

 ricultural research. The act set up Federally sup- 

 ported State agricultural experiment stations in con- 

 nection with the land-grant colleges and enumerated 

 in detail the types of research for which the grant of 

 fluids might be used. Section 2 declares that — 



* * * it shall be the object and duty of said experiment 

 stations to conduct original researches or verify experiments on 

 the physiology of plants and animals ; the diseases to which 

 they are severally subject, with remedies for the same ; the 

 chemical composition of useful plants at their different stages 

 of growth ; the comparative advantages of rotative cropping 

 as pursued under the varying series of crops ; the capacity 

 of new plants or trees for acclimation ; the analysis of soils 

 and water ; the chemical composition of manures, natural or 

 artificial, with experiments designed to test the comparative 



effects on crops of dilTerent kinds ; the adaptation and value 

 of grasses and forage jilants ; the composition and digestibility 

 of the different kinds of food for domestic animals; the scien- 

 tific and economic questions involved in tlie production of 

 butter and clieese ; and sucli other researches or experiments 

 bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United 

 States as may in each case be deemed advisable, having duo 

 regard to the varying conditions and needs of the respective 

 States and Territories. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture was required by 

 section 3 of the act to "furnish forms, as far as prac- 

 ticable, for the tabulation of results of investigation 

 or experiment ;" and to "indicate from time to time 

 such lines of inquiry as to him shall seem most im- 

 portant, and, in general, to furnish such advice and 

 assistance as will best promote the purpose of this 

 act. * * *" 



The Adams Act of 1906 provided an additional allot- 

 ment of Federal funds for the experiment stations, to 

 be used for "paying the necessary expenses of conduct- 

 ing original researches or experiments bearing di- 

 rectly on the agricultural industry of the United States, 

 having due regard to the varying conditions and needs 

 of the respective States or Territories" (34 Stat. 63). 

 The Purnell Act of 1925, which again increased the ex- 

 periment station funds, broadened the scope of the au- 

 thorized research to include "such economic and socio- 

 logical investigations as have for their purpose the de- 

 velopment and improvement of the rural home and 

 rural life * * *" (43 Stat. 970). 



The most recent authorization to conduct agricul- 

 tural research of a broad and general nature is con- 

 tained in the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935, which is at 

 once an amendment to the experiment station and land- 

 grant college acts and a new departure in legislative 

 provision for research. Section 1 of the act authorizes 

 and directs the Secretary of Agriculture — 



* * * to conduct research into laws and principles un- 

 derlying basic problems of agriculture in its broadest a.spects ; 

 research relating to the improvement of the quality of, and the 

 development of new and improved methods of production of, 

 distribution of, and new and extended uses and markets for, 

 agricultural commodities and byproducts and manufactures 

 thereof; and research relating to the conservation, develop- 

 ment, and use of land and water resources for agricultural 

 purposes. Research authorized under this section shall be in 

 addition to research provided for under existing law (but 

 both activities shall be coordinated so far as practicable) and 

 shall be conducted by such agencies of the Department of 

 Agriculture as the Secretary may designate or establish. 



Forty percent of the total appropriation is made 

 available for the purposes of section 1, and is desig- 

 nated as the Special Research Fund, no part of which 

 "shall be used for the prosecution of research hereto- 

 fore instituted or for the prosecution of any new re- 

 search project except upon approval in writing by the 

 Secretary." One-half of this Special Research Fund 



