Community Civics and Rural Life Part 20

Lesson 28, The worker in our society.

Series B: Lesson 8, Finding a job.

Lesson 11, The work of women.

Lesson 28, Women in industry.

Series C: Lesson 9, Inventions.

Lesson 11, The effects of machinery on rural life.

Lesson 21, Before coins were made.

Lesson 22, The minting of coins.

Lesson 23, Paper money.

Lesson 24, Money in the community and the home.

Lesson 29, Child labor.

In Long's American Patriotic Prose:

Frank A. Vanderlip, "Service Leads to Success," pp. 347-348.

Charles M. Schwab, "Opportunity is Plentiful in America," pp. 348- 350.

Tufts, The Real Business of Living, Chapters viii-x; xv-xxviii.

The following books relating to vocational life may be helpful and stimulating if available:

Gowin and Wheatley, Occupations (Ginn & Co.).

Giles, Vocational Civics (Macmillan).

Gulick, The Efficient Life (Doubleday, Page & Co.).

Reid and others, Careers for the Coming Men (Saalfield Pub Co., Akron, Ohio).

Marden, Choosing a Career (Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis).

Marden, Talks with Great Workers (Thos. Y. Crowell).

Bok, Successward (Doubleday, Page & Co.).

Williams, How it Is Made, How it Is Done, How it Works (Thos.

Nelson & Sons).

Fowler, Starting in Life (Little, Brown & Co.).

Parsons, Choosing a Vocation (Houghton Mifflin Co.).

Carnegie, The Empire of Business, (Doubleday Page & Co.).

CHAPTER XII

GOVERNMENT AS A MEANS OF COOPERATION IN AGRICULTURE

GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

According to the census of 1910, somewhat more than 38 million of the 92 million people of our country at that time were engaged in "gainful occupations"; that is, in earning their living and that of the remaining 54 million people who were dependent upon them.

Of the 38 million, more than 13 1/2 million were producing wealth directly from the land, in agriculture, forest industries, mining industries, and fis.h.i.+ng. About 10 1/2 million were engaged in manufacturing and mechanical trades, by which the materials extracted from the land are transformed into articles of use. The remainder of the "breadwinners" were engaged in trade and transportation, and in professional, personal, and public service.

IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE

Of the 13 1/2 million people gaining their living directly from the land, more than 12 1/2 million were engaged in agricultural pursuits. At the present time (1919) probably one half of the population, including women and children, is directly dependent upon agriculture as a means of livelihood, while the other half, as well, is dependent upon it for food supply and the materials for clothing.

In view of the fact that agriculture is the source of the nation's food supply and of a large part of the national wealth, and that so large a part of the people are engaged in it as a means of livelihood, it is not surprising to find our government deeply interested in it and performing a vast amount of service for its promotion.

STATE DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

The government of every state in the Union has an organization to protect and promote the farming industry and the welfare of the farmer. This organization differs in its form and in the extent of service performed in the several states, due partly to the varying importance of agriculture in the different states, and partly to the varying success with which the people and their representatives have dealt with the problem. In some of the states there are departments of agriculture, equal in dignity and power with the other main divisions of the government. In others agricultural interests are placed in the hands of subordinate boards, bureaus, or commissions. In some cases the officials in charge of the organization, such as the commissioner of agriculture, are elected directly by the people, while in others they are appointed by the governor of the state or by the legislature. Often the department is organized in numerous branches with specialists at the head of each. Thus, there are dairy commissioners, horticultural boards, livestock sanitary boards, foresters, entomologists (specialists in insect life in its relation to agriculture), and others, to look after every aspect of farming. In a constantly decreasing number of states the powers of the agricultural officers are slight and their work ineffectual; but in others the organization is thorough and the work efficiently done and of the greatest value to the state.

DUTIES OF STATE DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

In general, state departments of agriculture have had two kinds of duties: first, regulative and administrative duties, such as the enforcement of laws relating to agriculture pa.s.sed by the state legislature, enforcing quarantine against diseased animals, establis.h.i.+ng standards for the grading of grain, making and enforcing rules for the control of animal and plant diseases, and similar matters. Second, investigative and educational duties, such as the investigation of animal and plant diseases, crop conditions, and other agricultural problems; and the distribution of information to the farmers and to the people of the state generally, relating to agricultural matters. Reports and bulletins on special subjects are published and farmers' inst.i.tutes are conducted.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS

The practice is growing, however, to transfer the work of investigation and education to the STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS which have been established and are conducted with the cooperation of the national Department of Agriculture.

These inst.i.tutions have a corps of highly trained specialists and educators and are equipped with laboratories and experimental farms where research may be carried on under the most favorable conditions. The agricultural colleges not only educate young men and women within their walls in agriculture and related subjects, but carry on EXTENSION WORK throughout the state for the benefit of the farmers and the people of rural communities. With the development of these inst.i.tutions the state department of agriculture is left with almost purely administrative and regulative duties. This seems to be the wiser plan of organization.

Write to your state commissioner of agriculture or to the secretary of your state board of agriculture for a copy of the law, or other published doc.u.ment, containing a description of the organization of your state department of agriculture and its work.

Also ask for, if available, a list of publications issued by the department, from which you may later select such as may seem to be useful.

Write to your state agricultural college, or to the experiment station, for its latest report showing the work that it has done, and for a list of available publications.

In writing to public officials for materials for cla.s.s use, it is well to send but ONE letter for the cla.s.s or school, and to request THE SMALLEST NUMBER OF COPIES that will serve the purposes of the cla.s.s. Public officials are busy people, and the publications for which you ask cost the people of the community money.

The members of the cla.s.s may compete, if desired, in formulating a suitable letter, and a cla.s.s committee may select the best, or formulate one on the basis of suggestions from the cla.s.s.

Materials collected in this way should become school property, and the cla.s.s should be conscious that it is acc.u.mulating a library for later cla.s.ses as well as for themselves. Study and report on the following:

The organization of your state department of agriculture, its officers and how chosen, its divisions and their work.

The work done at your state experiment station (individual reports may be made on the several important lines of work, or on particular investigations or discoveries of interest).

The character of the extension courses offered by your state agricultural college. Courses given in your own community.

Instances of regulative work done in your state and county by your state department of agriculture.

Instances in which your county or locality has been served by your state agricultural college or by the experiment station.