32 
cooperation and an equivalent return from the colleges; that, since military 
instruction is the end sbughl by the law and by those who are charged with the 
administration of it on behalf of the Government, that instruction should be 
made efficient, and the colleges should, as far as necessary, organize theii 
schedules of work accordingly; and. still further, that, while these details are 
of great advantage to the individual officers concerned, and thus to the entire 
military establishment, yet the primary need of the Army is to have its officers 
directly at work with their respective commands. The force of this last consid- 
eration will appear when it is stated that 20 per cent of the officers of the Army 
are now absent on detached service, and it can be well understood that this fact 
is an occasion of very grave concern to the bead of the Army. It also serves to 
explain the reasons for wishing to detail to colleges no officers but those on the 
retired list, a policy which, however desirable from the point of view of the 
Army, is utterly impracticable from the point of view of the colleges. There is 
one other point upon which the otficers of the Department feel that the necessi- 
ties )i' the situation are not always sufficiently considered by the colleges; that 
is, colleges in a few instances have insisted that if they could not have some 
particular officer detailed they would prefer to have none at all ; and, while the 
Department is desirous of considering the wishes of the colleges as far as pos- 
sible in each case, it feels that a specific insistence of that kind, without regard 
to conditions which may exist in the service, is not reasonable or justifiable. 
In response to a suggestion from the chairman of the committee 1 that a meet- 
ing of the committee of the association with the Chief of Staff and other officers 
of the War Department might result in a better understanding and more har- 
monious action. General Chaffee expressed his very cordial assent and his 
willingness to arrange for such a meeting. 
Geo. W. Atherton. Chairman. 
II. C. White. At the last convention the following matters were referred to 
the committee on military instruction : 
Resolved, That the committee on military instruction is directed to try and 
secure some modification of War Department General Orders, No. 94. relating 
to military instruction in the land-grant colleges, abolishing the fixed five-hour 
per week requirement for military instruction, and allowing such colleges larger 
liberty in arranging their programme of weekly exercises. 
Resolved, That the committee is further directed to submit to the association 
at its next convention a draft of recommendation to be, if approved, urged upon 
Congress looking to more complete provision for the military instruction 
required of the land-grant colleges. 
The report was received and referred to the section on college work and 
administration for consideration (see p. 91). 
Indexing Agricultural Literature. 
In the absence of A. C. True, chairman of the committee on this subject, his 
report was presented by W. M. Hays, of Minnesota, as follows: 
W. M. Hays. I want to premise this written statement prepared by Doctor 
True by stating that this committee has been in existence twelve years, and 
two of its main objects have been achieved. One is to secure within the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture a scheme of indexing agricultural literature; the other is 
to have the Library of Congress do the printing, so that institutions and indi- 
viduals desiring indexes of different classes of agricultural literature may 
secure them at a nominal cost. 
The formal report of the committee follows : 
The past year has been marked by two important events in the progress of 
the work of indexing the literature of agriculture and agricultural science 
by the Department of Agriculture: (1) The printing of the first installment of a 
card index of agricultural periodicals by the Department Library, and (2) the 
publication of a general index to the first 12 volumes of the Experiment Station 
Record and Experiment Station Bulletin No. 2. by the Office of Experiment 
Stations. 
The card index of agricultural periodicals comprises author and subject 
iudexes and already about 7,000 cards have been printed. The periodicals thus 
