two, stations had been established by the States of Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York at Cornell University, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin."

Federal Legislation

Hatch Act.-The Hatch Act, providing Federal aid for the support of agricultural experiment stations in each State, was passed by Congress in 1887. This Act states that "the sum of fifteen thousand dollars per annum is hereby appropriated to each State, to be specially provided for by Congress in the appropriations from year to year . . . The five distinctive features of the Hatch Act legislation are:

15

1. The statement of purpose, which is phrased as follows: That in order to aid in acquiring and diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects connected with agriculture, and to promote scientific investigation and experiment respecting the principles and applications of agricultural science, there shall be established, under direction of the college or colleges or agricultural department of colleges in each State or Territory established, or which may hereafter be established, in accordance with the provisions of an act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled “An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," or any of the supplements to said act, a department to be known and designated as an "agricultural experiment station." 6

2. Suggestions regarding the types of investigation to be made:

. . . it shall be the object and duty of said experiment stations to conduct original researches or verify experiments on the physiology of plants and animals; the diseases to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth; the comparative advantages of rotative cropping as pursued under a varying series of crops; the capacity of new plants or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils and water; the chemical composition of manures, natural or artificial, with experiments designed to test their comparative effects on crops of

4 Ibid.

5 Sec. 5. For text of Act see Appendix A.

6 Sec. 1.

different kinds; the adaptation and value of grasses and forage plants; the composition and digestibility of the different kinds of food for domestic animals; the scientific and economic questions involved in the production of butter and cheese; and such other researches or experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States as may in each case be deemed advisable, having due regard to the varying conditions and needs of the respective States and Territories. 7

The Appropriation Act of 1889 added the following duty to the work of the stations:

...

as far as practicable, all such stations shall devote a portion of their work to the examination and classification of the soils of their respective States and Territories, with a view to securing more extended knowledge and better development of their agricultural capabilities.

The Appropriation Act of 1901 made provision for the stations to cooperate with the Secretary of Agriculture. .. "in establishing and maintaining experimental grass stations . . . ."9

3. Relationship to the United States Commissioner of Agriculture (now the Secretary):

That in order to secure, as far as practicable, uniformity of methods and results in the work of said stations, it shall be the duty of the United States Commissioner of Agriculture to furnish forms, as far as practicable, for the tabulation of results of investigation or experiment; to indicate, from time to time, such lines of inquiry as to him shall seem most important; and, in general, to furnish such advice and assistance as will best promote the purposes of this Act. It shall be the duty of each of said stations, annually, on or before the first day of February, to make to the governor of the State or Territory in which it is located a full and detailed report of its operations, including a statement of receipts and expenditures, a copy of which report shall be sent to each of said stations, to the said Commissioner of Agriculture, and to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.10

In this connection a later section of the Act should be noted. It is as follows:

nothing in this act shall be construed to impair or modify the legal relation existing between any of the said colleges and the government of the States or Territories in which they are respectively located.11

4. The use of annual grants. The financial aid that had been given to States prior to 1887 was in the form of land or lump sums of money and was in the nature of an endowment, which is the term used in the First Morrill Act.

5. Dissemination of the research done by the stations: ... bulletins or reports of progress shall be published at said stations at least once in three months, one copy of which shall be sent to each newspaper in the States or Territories in which they are respectively located, and to such individuals actually engaged in farming as may request the same, and as far as the means of the station will permit."

These provisions introduce possibilities of a larger measure of Federal control than was provided for under the First Morrill Act. These possibilities are in the discretionary authority to be exercised by the Commissioner of Agriculture (now Secretary); the provision for annual grants; the definite statement of purpose; and the detailed statement regarding the types of investigation to be undertaken with the funds.

Adams Act. In 1906 Congress passed the Adams Act, authorizing $5,000 a year to each State and Territory for the experiment stations organized under the Hatch Act. Beginning with the second year this sum was increased at the rate of $2,000 a year until the total for each State and Territory became $15,000. This Act differed from its predecessor. Expenditure was limited to "... original researches or experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States. . . ." 13 The responsibility for "the proper administration" of the law was placed in the hands of the Secretary of Agriculture. The Adams Act limits more rigidly than does the Hatch Act the type of investigation that may be undertaken by the experiment stations, and this difference is recognized in the administration of the two Acts. In actual operation the "projects" are approved by the Office of Experiment Stations of the Department of Agriculture in advance of the expenditure of funds. 15

Purnell Act.-Under the maximum provisions of the Hatch Act and the Adams Act, each State and Territory received $30,000 annually from Federal sources for the support of an

12 Sec. 4.

13 Sec. 1. For text of Act see Appendix A.

14 Sec. 4.

1 True, op. cit., p. 233.

agricultural experiment station. The Purnell Act, passed in 1925, increased these funds by $20,000 for the year ending June 30, 1926, and provided for increases of $10,000 annually until the year ending June 30, 1930, when the amount from all Federal sources reached the sum of $90,000 annually for each State and Territory.16

The main difference between the Purnell Act and its two predecessors lies in the new fields in which investigations were to be encouraged. The two earlier acts were concerned almost exclusively with the productive phases of agriculture. The Purnell Act had the further provision that development of research in marketing, rural sociology, and home economics was to be stimulated. The phrasing of the Act as to scope of the investigations follows:

. . conducting investigations or making experiments bearing directly on the production, manufacture, preparation, use, distribution, and marketing of agricultural products and including such scientific researches as have for their purpose the establishment and maintenance of a permanent and efficient agricultural industry, and such economic and sociological investigations as have for their purpose the development and improvement of the rural home and rural life, and for printing and disseminating the results of said researches."

This legislation clearly recognizes the need for a broader base than is provided in the Hatch and Adams Acts for the determination of the character of investigations to be undertaken by the stations. Certain social and economic aspects have been incorporated. In one respect, however, it is strangely deficient. Although representatives of the landgrant colleges were instrumental in the formulation of this legislation and although it became effective barely a decade. ago, it makes no specific provision for research in a subject that has for a generation been one of the most pressing of rural problems-the school.

Bankhead-Jones Act.-On June 29, 1935, the BankheadJones Act was approved. Under the provisions of Title I, funds were made available to the United States Department of Agriculture

to conduct research into laws and principles underlying basic problems of agriculture in its broadest aspects; research relating to the 16 Sec. 1. For text of Act see Appendix A.

17 Sec. 1.

improvement of the quality of, and the development of new and improved methods of production of, distribution of, and new and extended uses and markets for agricultural commodities and byproducts and manufactures thereof; and research relating to the conservation, development, and use of land and water resources for agricultural purposes.18

Under the provisions of the Bankhead Jones Act, $1,000,000 was authorized to be appropriated for the first fiscal year after the passage of the Act, with an increase of $1,000,000 a year until the annual appropriation becomes $5,000,000.19 These sums are to be divided so that 40 percent goes to the United States Department of Agriculture and 60 percent to the experiment stations.20 The allotment to the experiment stations is to be apportioned among the States and Territories and Puerto Rico on the basis of the ratio between the rural population of each State or Territory and Puerto Rico and the aggregate rural population of the United States.21 The Act specifies that:

Sums appropriated in pursuance of this title shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for . . . sums appropriated or otherwise made available for agricultural experiment stations.22

The Act also requires that allotments be matched by the expenditure of equal sums for experiment station work by the State, Territory, or Puerto Rico. The phraseology of the Act is as follows:

No allotment and no payment under any allotment shall be made for any fiscal year in excess of the amount which Puerto Rico or the State or Territory makes available for such fiscal year out of its own funds for research and for the establishment and maintenance of necessary facilities for the prosecution of such research.23

Administration of the

Experiment Station Acts

The Hatch Act provided that the experiment stations should". . . be established, under direction of the college or colleges or agricultural department of colleges. . . established, in accordance with the provisions of an act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two" 24. Already