20 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



nence, including the President and Ex-Presidents of the 

 United States, were interested enough in its work to read 

 and contribute to its publications, and to address its meet- 

 ings. During the ten years of its existence (1852-1862), 

 tTiis society was without doubt by far the most potent factor 

 in directing attention, both official and private, to the agri- 

 cultural needs of the time. The society recorded itself, time 

 after time, as favoring the establishment of a national de- 

 partment of agriculture to be equal in every respect to the 

 other great executive departments. Presidents, in their 

 messages to Congress, had frequently renewed the request 

 of Washington, that some governmental machinery should 

 be established to care for and promote the interests of agri- 

 culture ;-° but it is to the work and influence of the United 

 States Agricultural Society, more than anything else, that we 

 are indebted for the passage on May 15, 1862, of an Act 

 establishing an independent organization called the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



This measure, like so many others passed by Congress, 

 was a compromise between two contending forces. While 

 the new establishment was called a department and was 

 independent of any of the existing administrative units, it 

 was to be under the direction of a Commissioner, appointed 

 by the President. It did not rank with the so-called execu- 

 tive departments, and its principal officer was not entitled 

 TO a place in the President's Cabinet Council. To this 

 extent it fell considerably short of the expectations of the 

 most enthusiastic proponents of the scheme. Nevertheless, 

 all were agreed that the action taken was a long step toward 

 the proper recognition of the great agricultural interests of 

 the country, and marked the beginning of a new era for this 

 industry. 



It is remarkable that such legislation could have been 

 exacted from Congress during what was, perhaps, the most 



" President Taylor in 1849, Messages and Papers, vol. v, p. 18, 

 President Fillmore in 1851, Ibid., vol. v, p. 127, and President Lin- 

 coln, Ibid., vol. V, p. 398. 



