CHAPTER XIX 



NATIONAL AID 



WITH the rapid development of this 

 country in post-colonial days, it be- 

 came more than ever apparent that, whatever 

 America might do in manufactures, it was 

 preeminently an agricultural nation. From 

 time to time efforts were made to give this 

 fact national recognition, such recognition as 

 had for many years been demanded, but all 

 efforts were unavailing. In the midst of the 

 Civil War, when the interests of the country. 

 North and South, centered in that struggle, 

 the national Congress turned away from car- 

 nage long enough to establish, on May 15, 

 1862, the Bureau of Agriculture. The enact- 

 ment of the law providing for the bureau 

 said: 



" There is hereby established at the seat of 

 the government of the United States a De- 

 partment of Agriculture, the general designs 

 and duties of which shall be to acquire and 



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