RURAL AMERICA 



through its Agricultural Department, the forty-eight states 

 through their Agricultural Departments, Colleges of Agricul- 

 ture and Experiment Stations, the almost three thousand coun- 

 ties, and the many institutions, organizations and individuals 

 not connected with the Federal Government or any of its 

 political subdivisions, cooperated to a greater or less extent in 

 the interest of a better rural life. Bulletins were issued in 

 great number, agricultural trains were run, short courses were 

 given, movable schools were put into operation, extension work 

 of a varied character was conducted, county agricultural 

 agencies for a third of the counties of the nation had been 

 established, boys' and girls' clubs were organized all over the 

 country, and many other things were done. 



This act welds into unity practically all the agencies con- 

 tributing to agricultural progress through the establishment 

 of a permanent national system of agricultural extension 

 v work, work that will carry innumerable benefits to the very 

 door of every farm home. And since all the forty-eight states 

 have assented to the provisions of the act, agricultural progress 

 will henceforth be nation-wide in its character. The work is 

 being done through the State Agricultural Colleges. The 

 Smith-Lever Act appropriates $10,000 of federal funds an- 

 nually to each of the forty-eight states and increases the 

 amount yearly until 1923, when the annual Government 

 appropriation will be $4,580,000. The additional appropria- 

 tion is divided among the states in the proportion that the 

 rural population of each state bears to the total rural popula- 

 tion of the states. Any state, however, to share in this 

 extra federal Smith-Lever fund must appropriate and spend 

 in extension work at least an equal amount of money from 

 sources within the state. 



In addition to the Smith-Lever funds, the Department of 

 Agriculture during 1916 will expend from its own appropria- 

 tions over $1,025,000, and the states will raise $2,650,600. This 

 will make a grand total of $4,750,000, including the Smith- 

 Lever fund, to be spent in the fiscal year of 1915-16 in 

 bringing practical and helpful instruction to the farmer and 



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