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that its passage was prevented purely by parliamentary obstruction, and the belief 
of your committee that it would secure the approval and support of the present Con- 
gress lead the committee to recommend that this convention consider the question 
of bringing the measure before the present Congress in an appropriate manner. 
By resolution of the association, the executive committee was "instructed to use 
its best efforts" to secure action by Congress ensuring the annual and prompt printing 
of a suitable edition of the Annual Report of the Office of Experiment Stations of 
the r. S. Department of Agriculture for distribution to the officers of the colleges 
and stations. Your committee accordingly appeared before the Committee on Print- 
ing of the House of Representatives and secured the promise of introduction and 
support of a proper resolution meeting the wishes of the association. 
In pursuance of the assurance of the association, expressed by resolution, of its 
desire to cooperate actively with the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States in 
his plans for the promotion of the interests of farmers' institutes throughout the 
country, your committee appeared before the House Committee on Agriculture and 
urged, respectfully, a specific appropriation to the Department of Agriculture for the 
purpose. The House Committee recommended an annual appropriation of $5,000, 
which was subsequently made by Congress. 
Your committee was "charged with the duty of soliciting from Congress the sum 
of $60,000 to meet the expense of installing and maintaining an exhibit of the dis- 
tinctive work of the land-grant colleges and experiment stations at the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition." Your committee discharged this duty by appearing before 
appropriate committees of the House and Senate and otherwise, and, as a result 
Congress appropriated $100,000 for the purpose indicated. For the generous response 
made to their solicitations, the committee and the association are especially indebted 
to the courtesy and interest of Hon. J. A. Tawney, chairman, and Hon. C. L. Bart- 
lett, leading minority member of the House Committee on Industrial Arts and Expo- 
sitions; to Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, then chairman of the House Committee on 
Appropriations, and to Senators Harris, Proctor, and Cockrell. After the appropri- 
ation was secured your committee notified the association committee on collective 
exhibits at St. Louis, who thereupon assumed charge of the association's interests in 
the premises. The report of this committee will be laid before the convention in 
due season and the executive committee ask for it the careful consideration of the 
association. 
Your committee was instructed, "in its discretion," to urge upon Congress an in- 
crease in the appropriations to the several experiment stations by the sum of $15,000 
annually. On consideration, the committee decided it would be unwise to attempt 
to secure action of this character by the Fifty-seventh Congress. By way of laying 
a foundation for possible effort in the Fifty-eighth Congress, however, the commit- 
tee, under the dates given, addressed the following communications (which are self- 
explanatory) to the officers named of the U. S. Department of Agriculture: 
"Athens, Ga., July 17, 1903. 
"Director A. C. True, 
' ' Office of Experiment Stations, Washington, D. C. 
"Dear Sir: The Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
Stations, at the annual meeting held in Atlanta, Ga., October, 1902, instructed by 
resolution the executive committee of the association to secure, if practicable, an 
increase by Congress of the annual appropriations made for the support and main- 
tenance of the agricultural experiment stations in the several States and Territories. 
At a meeting of the executive committee held in Columbus, Ohio, June 22, 1903, I 
was instructed to communicate with you and request, in behalf of the committee 
and the association, that, in your forthcoming report (for 1903) of the Office of Ex- 
periment Stations to the Secretary of Agriculture, you will present, in as much 
fullness of detail as may seem to you desirable and appropriate, an account, founded 
upon the inspections and examinations made through your office, of the present 
condition and work of the several stations, their capabilities for increased work of 
value to agriculture, and of the need (if it exists) of additional resources to enable 
such increased work to be undertaken. It is the purpose of the committee to address a 
communication, subsequently, to the Secretary of Agriculture, asking his special 
considerationof the report from your office and requesting him, if the statement of facts 
made by you should warrant, to recommend, in his annual report, an appropriate 
increase in the appropriations now made by Congress to the stations. Asking your 
kind consideration of this communication, I have the honor to be, 
" Very respectfully, yours, 
"H. C. White, 
"Chairman Executive Committee. 
