5^2 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



In my opinion, this system is the cornerstone, the secret, the 

 reason of the transcendent strength, of the German Empire. Let 

 us not be mistaken; the great strength of the German Empire 

 does not come from the "goose step" of her soldiers nor from her 

 Krupp guns; it comes as a direct and indirect result of her Landwirt- 

 schaftsrat system for the scientific distribution of her agricultural 

 products, of the food products of Germany, all of which is reinforced 

 by her effective and efficient rural-credits system. 



I will now take up the details of the Landwirtschaftsrat and its 

 adaptation in the United States. There is to be a series of organiza- 

 tions of various degrees, all federated into one great organization 

 semi-official in character. Like in a pyramid, it will consist, as it were, 

 of different layers. Beginning with the apex there will be the national 

 commission; then the wider layer below that, the state commissions; 

 or the still wider layer below that, the county commissions; with the 

 widest layer at the base, the township commissions. 



There is, first of all, to be a national commission, say, of fifteen 

 able representative farmers and fourteen other men not necessarily 

 farmers, but leading men. Let us say that one is an eminent carrier, 

 the president of a railway company; then, say, an eminent financier, 

 a well-known banker; then, an eminent man having a knowledge of 

 interstate-commerce relations, an Interstate Commerce Commission 

 man; then, an ex-postmaster-general, say, with a knowledge of parcels 

 post; and others, captains of industry, men who deal in large matters 

 of business. Thus the fifteen farmers and these fourteen business men 

 would compose a national commission of twenty-nine. 



This commission, say, with headquarters in Washington, would 

 meet in session for a few days, say, once or twice a year, passing upon 

 all measures and by-laws necessary to govern the national organiza- 

 tion. Under this commission there is to be a secretary-general with 

 his staff, who are to constitute the working bureau. This bureau is 

 to have its headquarters in which to carry on the work the year round. 

 It is this secretary, with his staff of assistants, these bureaus, who are 

 to do the work. 



A similar commission to this national commission, with its secre- 

 tary and working force, is to be constituted for each state in the 

 Union ; that would be the wider or second layer of the pyramid . 



The third and still wider layer is a similar commission for each 

 county in each of the states of the Union. And, finally, the last and 

 widest layer is a similar commission for each of the townships in each 



