PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 253 



abused. Interstate and international arrangements af- 

 fecting farmers must of course be made by the federal 

 government. Land development projects, if under 

 private auspices, should be regulated in the public in- 

 terest. The exploitation of would-be settlers should 

 never be permitted; if necessary, the government itself 

 should control absolutely the redemption of unused 

 lands and their sale to farmers. Local government in 

 rural areas is capable of greater efficiency and particu- 

 larly may enlarge in functions for the public good. 



While laws lie back of all governmental activity, as 

 public agencies multiply and enlarge, administrative 

 rules and policies increase in importance. The ques- 

 tion of administrative efficiency therefore becomes of 

 prime consequence. Unless able, well-trained, honest 

 and far-visioned men are in control of public agencies 

 and are encouraged and aided by the farmers them- 

 selves, governmental effort must necessarily be weak 

 and ineffective. These officials must have a measure 

 of freedom as well as of responsibility. Petty restric- 

 tions of a clerical sort cost terribly in real efficiency. 



The United States Department of Agriculture, with 

 its cooperating allies, the agricultural colleges and the 

 county farm bureaus, has become a gigantic institution. 

 Its responsibility for leadership is as great as its size. 

 It should assist the farmers to determine policies. It 

 should keep men in all countries studying tendencies and 

 methods. It may well seek to secure unity of effort on 

 behalf of big projects of improvement. 



Government has its limitations. These should be 

 frankly recognized and so far as possible removed. 

 The tendency is for the methods of government to be- 

 come bureaucratic, dilatory, inflexible, unadaptable. 

 Laws themselves are often unwisely drawn, and limit 



