THE ORGANIZATION OF RURAL INTERESTS 515 



C. NATIONAL ORGANIZATION 



WORK OF THE OFFICE OF MARKETS AND RURAL 

 ORGANIZATION 1 



CHARLES J. BRAND 



IT is believed that effective and economical methods for dis- 

 tributing and marketing farm products should go hand in hand 

 with scientific methods of production, as it profits little to im- 

 prove the quality and increase the quantity of our crops if we 

 can not learn when, where, and how they may be sold to ad- 

 vantage. To provide for a study of the problems involved, 

 Congress during the spring of 1913 appropriated funds for the 

 establishment and operation of the Office of Markets .of the 

 Department of Agriculture. The Office of Rural Organization 

 was established by Congress a year later, in order to determine 

 the possibilities and encourage the use of organized cooperative 

 effort in removing rural conditions. These two Offices were com- 

 bined on July 1, 1914, and the combined unit is known as the 

 Office of Markets and Rural Organization. 



The authority conferred by Congress in appropriating funds 

 for the maintenance of this Office provides "for acquiring and 

 diffusing among the people of the United States useful infor- 

 mation on subjects connected with the marketing and distribut- 

 ing of farm and nonmanufactured food products and the pur- 

 chasing of farm supplies," and the study of cooperation among 

 farmers in the United States. So far as marketing work is con- 

 cerned, the activities of the Office, therefore, are limited to the 

 collection and distribution of information. For example, it has 

 no authority to prosecute cases of alleged dishonesty on the part 

 of producers, carriers, dealers, or buyers. It has nothing what- 

 ever to do with the problems of production. 



Owing to the complexity and wide scope of the work, up to the 

 present time it has been impossible to undertake a comprehen- 

 sive study of more than a few of the most urgent and important 



i Adapted from Doe. Markets 1, 1915, p. 1. U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, Office of Markets and Rural Organization. 



