Obligation of the Commonwealth 99 



their own institutions to federal institutions 

 alone, they lose opportunity and power to help 

 themselves. The people and the states are at 

 fault in calling to Congress when they should 

 call first to their own legislatures. 



I conceive of only two usual reasons why the 

 national Department of Agriculture should 

 now be called on by the states to undertake 

 technical agricultural work in the states: (i) 

 When the institutions in the states cannot or 

 will not undertake the work themselves ; (2) 

 when the problems seem to be regional 

 phases of questions that have governmental 

 bearings. 



(i) In the first set of cases, it is equally 

 the obligation of the state to handle its 

 own special problems whether or not its 

 institutions are able or willing to do so; but 

 when the states are new or undeveloped, or 

 when the neglect of the problems is likely 

 to entail serious consequences on neighbor- 

 ing states or even on its own people, then 

 it may be necessary to call on the federal 

 government directly to aid or to interfere. 



