330 THE COUNTY AGENT 



not impressed with what they see done on " demonstration farms," 

 operated with public money and not on a self-sustaining basis. 

 But they are impressed by what they do themselves. Hence the 

 success of the Demonstration Agent in the South he brought 

 about a high degree of self-help. The County Agent movement 

 was the second phase of this demonstration work, and soon spread 

 to all parts of the country. Now there is one County Agent in 

 nearly every one of the three thousand counties of the United 

 States. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 strengthened the basis of 

 the work from both the financial and the administrative stand- 

 point. It is to be hoped, of course, that as the movement strikes 

 its roots into the soil, the central control from Washington may 

 become less bureaucratic and the local control may become more 

 dominant and develop more initiative. 



Functions. The function of the County Agent is to influence 

 farmers by any and all wise means within his power, both as 

 individual farmers and as groups of farmers. Primarily his aim 

 is to increase the farmer's net income. He is also to serve as a 

 protector of the farmer's interests in all legitimate ways. 1 In a 

 broader and more social way, he is to elevate and dignify country 

 life and make it more worth while (Fig. 67). 



Farm Bureau Defined. A definition of a Farm Bureau formu- 

 lated by the States Relation Service, although a lengthy one, is yet 

 a comprehensive statement of the functions of such a bureau. 2 

 It runs as follows: 



"A County Farm Bureau is an association of people interested in rural 

 affairs, which has for its objects the development in a county of the most 

 profitable and permanent system of agriculture, the establishment of commun- 

 ity ideals, and the furtherance of the well-being, prosperity, and happiness 

 of the rural people, through cooperation with local, State and national agencies 

 in the development and execution of a program of extension work in agriculture 

 and home economics." 



1 A County Agent in Clay County, Minnesota was approached by a 

 creamery promoter, and offered four hundred dollars for his support in foisting 

 a creamery on a non-dairy community. The County Agent advised the farmers 



farmer concerning 

 ig sold by a solicitor. The 

 County Agent advised that the "patent treatment" cost five times as much as, 

 and required twice the work of the simple formaldehyde treatment, with no 

 better results. 



Fake schemes are becoming difficult to work among farmers, now that the 

 County Agent has the agricultural forces mobilized for protection against 

 frauds and fakes. 



2 Circular 13, Office of Extension Work, North and West, States Relation 

 Service, January, 1919. 



