528 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1196 



for instance, and while nothing should be 

 done to hinder individual initiative in pub- 

 lishing such books, it would seem that when 

 it was apparent that some branch of sci- 

 ence required such a monograph a national 

 society might very well approach well- 

 known workers in the field and request 

 them to write such a book, offering its as- 

 sistance in the matter of bibliography and 

 also offering to arrange for the publication 

 of the manuscript. The initiative in indi- 

 cating the need for such a book might come 

 in the form of suggestions from members 

 of the society or other scientific men. It is 

 quite true that at the present time the sci- 

 entific publishers are extremely active in 

 searching for suitable books to publish, but 

 necessarily they must consider the probable 

 demand rather than the actual need for a 

 book, and this leads to an over-production 

 of books dealing with those fields of science 

 which have a large following and an insuffi- 

 cient supply of books in those fields where 

 the workers are few, though for progress 

 the more sparsely worked fields would seem 

 to require almost as much representation 

 in literature as those which are of wider in- 

 terest. 



C. B. Kenneth Mees 

 Eeseakch Laboeatort, 

 Eastman Kodak Company, 

 eochbster, n. t., 

 October 26, 1917 



THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 AND THE FOOD SITUATIONi 



1A.CCORDING to the calendar it is almost 

 a year to the day since my last meeting with 

 you. Judged by the experiences through 

 which we have passed, it seems more like a 

 generation. Then this country was at peace, 

 thoxigh its patience was being sorely tried. 



1 From an address given by Secretary of Agri- 

 culture Houston, addressing the Thirty-first An- 

 nual Convention of the Association of American 

 Agricultural Colleges and Experimental Stations 

 in "Washington on November 14. 



Now it is at war for reasons which I need 

 not discuss before this body. It had no alter- 

 native. It either had to fight or to admit that 

 it had no honor, was not a free nation, and 

 would henceforth be subjected to a medieval 

 power that in the last analysis knows no law 

 but might. The nation was living on a peace 

 basis and was not fully prepared for war 

 in any respect; but it was fortunately circtmi- 

 stanced in the character of its agricviltural 

 organization and the ntimber and efficiency 

 of its expert agencies. 



The nation may well pride itself on the 

 fact that it had had the foresight generations 

 ago to lay deep its agricultural foundations. 

 I congratulate the representatives of the land 

 grant colleges on the fine opportunity for 

 service presented to them and on the splen- 

 did way in which they have seized it. The 

 Department of Agriculture has had great 

 comfort in the thought that these institutions, 

 ably planned and wisely directed, existed in 

 every part of the nation and stood ready not 

 only to place themselves at the service of the 

 national government but also to take the 

 initiative in a vast number of directions. 



When a state of war was declared on April 

 6, the food situation was unsatisfactory. The 

 need of action was urgent and the appeal for 

 direction was insistent. The nation looked 

 for guidance primarily to the federal depart- 

 ment and to the state agencies which it had so 

 liberally supported for many generations. It 

 was not disappointed. In a two-days' session 

 at St. Louis, the trained agi-icultural officers 

 of the country conceived and devised a pro- 

 gram of legislation, organization and prac- 

 tise the essential features of which have not 

 been successfully questioned and the sub- 

 stantial part of which has been enacted into 

 law and set in operation. This great democ- 

 racy revealed its inherent strength. 



To the normal forces of the government 

 leading with agriculture and rural problems 

 there has been added an emergency agency 

 with great and unusual powers, with enorm- 

 ous possibilities for good, and with a remark- 



