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Show DIFFICULTY OF RETAINING MEN WASHINGTON. June 4 Some Indication Indi-cation of the difficulties experienced by the department of agriculture in Its efforts to stimulate production; to assist as-sist the farmers of the nation in Improving Im-proving and extending then operations. opera-tions. In combating animal and plant diseases and Insect posts and In other directions? to maintain the efficiency of the meat inspection service and of the national forest organization, and properly to administer the thirty-one regulatory laws under its Jurisdiction, is given in a statement issued by the depart ment. According lo this statement, 6048 regular members of the department hnv left the service tn en"nce in nihpr occupations or have entered the military mili-tary or naval service since the declaration dec-laration of a state of war with Germany Ger-many on April 6. 1917. Of this number, num-ber, 1537 have joined the military and naval forces, and the services of 4511 employes. Including 958 women, have been lost to the department In other ways. The state relations service, for inntance. which supervises the agricultural-extension work in co-operation with the state agricultural col-le-f s, h;is lost 867 men and 550 w om en, the forest service 729 men and 89 women, the bureau of animal Industry Indus-try 1312 men and 55 women, the bu-reSU bu-reSU Of markets 293 men nnd 47 women, wom-en, and other branches, such as the bureau of chemistry, the bureau of plant Industry, and the weather bureau have been heavily drawn upon Most of these employes are experts in their particular fields and were performing Important duties In the department which required long training and peculiar pe-culiar qualifications some of them very special technical qualifications, I'nder the food production act of August 10, 1917, the congress made available to the department an additional addi-tional appropriation of $11 346,400 for the extension and development of its activities in many directions and directed di-rected the department to carry out its Intentions in this respect. The department, depart-ment, therefore, has been in the p,, sltion of having to Increase its forces very considerably when, at the lame time, It has been losing large numbers num-bers of Its most effective and trained employes. The difficulties in securing men of the requisite training and of retaining those already In the service have been very great. |