National Department of Agriculture 79 



It now (1908) has disbursement of some $10,- 

 000,000; and every patriot, I hope, wants 

 to see this sum greatly increased. Persons 

 frequently remind us that this is a vast sum, 

 forgetful or unmindful of the fact that it 

 represents vast and fundamental interests. I 

 prefer, rather, to think of it as a wholly inade- 

 quate sum, when I compare it with the $72,000,- 

 000 spent for the support of the army and the 

 $102,000,000 expended by the naval service; 

 for we must look for a time when departments 

 that stand for peace by means of preparation 

 for war will cease to exist, and when their 

 regulatory and statecraft work will be dis- 

 tributed in those departments that rest on 

 economic and social development. 



The agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations present a decided recrystallization of 

 agricultural ideals, constituting centers of influ- 

 ence more or less remote from localities, and 

 representing a distinct centralization of power 

 and of leadership within the states. They are 

 rapidly becoming the centers of a new agricul- 

 tural system. 



