Ogden Daily Standard | 1918-12-05 | Page 2 | Extension Service Growth is Shown

Extension Service Growth Is Shown It has been amply demonstrated, I Secretary ot Agriculture Houston saya in his annunl report, that the most effective means of getting information to farmers and their families and of securing application of the best scientific sci-entific and practical processes is through the direct touch of well-trained well-trained men and women. Tho war-time growth of the agricultural agricul-tural extension service was made possible pos-sible by emergency appropriations, and was brought about through active-steps active-steps by tho department in co-oporea-tiqn with the state colleges. In April, 1917, when this nation entered the 1 war, 2149 men and women were em- : ployed in county, home demonstration, 1 and boys' and girls' club work, dlstrib- , uted as follows: County agent work, 'f 1461; home-demonstration work, 545; to boys' and girls' club work, 143. In No- T vember of this year the number had J. increasod to 5218, of which 1513 belong j to the regular staff and 3705 to the t emergency force. There were 2732 in ' the county agent service, 1724 in the home-demonstration work, and 762 in the boys' and girls' club activities. This docs not include the large number num-ber of specialists assigned by the department de-partment and the colleges to aid the extension workers in the field and to supplement their efforts. "It would be almost easier to tell what these men and women did not do Minn ir i Tl H & r 1 1 r 1 r irorinfv nn1 nvtnnf M of their operations," says the secre- fary. "They have not only actively ! labored to further the plans for in- creased economical production alon? , all lines and carried to the rural popu- ? : lation the latest and best information ' bearing on agriculture, but al.so to se- cure tho conservation of foods and , feeds on the farm; and, In addition, j many of them have aided In the task of t promoting the better utilization of ' food products in the cities. They con- I stitute the only federal machinery In I ( intimate touch with the millions of ' people in the farming districts. They 1 ; hace, therefore, been able to render 1 : great service to other branches of the government, such as the treasury in its ' Liberty loan campaigns, tho Red Cross, . the Young Men's Christian association, ; ; and other organizations in their war 1 activities, and the food administration 1 in its special tasks." ' ;(