ject is extensively developed in separate textbooks usually entitled, "The Marketing of Farm Products." Marketing is only discussed from the point of view of policy on the part of both public and private agricultural organizations. Federal and state departments of agriculture, quite recently, have rapidly developed an extensive machinery which investigates marketing problems, demonstrates correct marketing methods, provides a market news service, and regulates certain commercial evils. The activity of farmers' organizations in the field of cooperative marketing is set forth with a view to point out mistakes and achieve

ments.

Considerable attention could be given to the sociological and psychological aspects of agricultural organization if it were not for the fact that the inclusion of these phases of the subject would make the study too large and probably too extensive for text book purposes. The social aspect has not been wholly neglected, but so far as causes of organization are concerned the emphasis has been laid primarily upon the economic motive.

Much more space has been given to the United States Department of Agriculture than to state departments or boards of agriculture. The reason for this is not only because the federal department is a great organization and performs functions that affect the welfare of every citizen of the country, but because a repetition of the discussion of all the functions of departmental organization under the head of state departments would be useless.

Organizers of farmers' organizations should find in this study a practical handbook. It points out to him the virtues and shortcomings of both previous and existing organizations and shows him how his private association is related to the public at large and to the state and federal agricultural organization.

The legislator may see in it a survey of forms of departments of agriculture and their history as well as a presentation of ideal public organization. It is hoped that suggestions are made that will enable him to formulate positive opinions as to the construction of a state department and as to the character of functions that should be committed to both federal and state departments of agriculture.

The book is also recommended to the public in general, and especially to the farmers. This is an age of organization. Various economic groups are fortifying their respective positions by organized effort. What is the effect of such group action upon the individual? Does it mean class war? Just how will class demands be satisfied? These and other questions are of interest to all economic groups. The progressive farmer must know the objectives of private organization if his efforts are to count for anything. He must also acquaint himself with all facilities of public organization if he would make the best use of his opportunities.

The author wishes to acknowledge the ready assistance given by officials of the United States Department of Agriculture, of state departments, and of farmers' organizations. He is especially indebted to several of his colleagues for reading portions of the manuscript. Professor M. C. James, Professor of Agricultural Education, read the chapters relating to education; Dr. C. A. Shull, Professor of Botany, now at Chicago University, read the part dealing with the Plant Industry Bureau; and Professor O. B. Jesness, formerly of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture, and now Professor of Marketing, read all the chapters dealing with the federal department. Professor S. E. Leland, who is associated with the author in the Department of Economics and Sociology, assisted in the preparation of the appendix which tabulates the character of state agricultural departmental organization. Professor W. S. Anderson, of the Department of Animal Husbandry, assisted in the collection of facts and bibliography necessary for the preparation of the chapter dealing with breed associations. Miss Margaret I. King, Librarian, was untiring in her efforts to make literature available.

The author is indebted in a special way to Dr. Dwight Sanderson, of Cornell University, not only for reading the manuscript and making valuable criticisms, but also for suggesting a number of persons to whom certain parts of the manuscript should be submitted for perusal before printing, and for being interested in the study to the extent of writing an introduction. In compliance with his suggestions certain chapters were sent to a number of menmpetent to pass upon particular parts of the

study, and as a result the author received very helpful criticisms. For assistance of this character special acknowledgment is due Dean Eugene Davenport, of the University of Illinois, for reading the chapter dealing with the Land Grant Colleges; to Dr. A. C. True, of the United States Department of Agriculture, for reading the chapters dealing with States Relation Service, Land Grant Colleges, Experiment Stations and the Extension Service; to Dr. E. W. Allen, also of the Department of Agriculture, for reading the chapter on the Experiment Stations; to Dean Bradford Knapp, of the University of Arkansas, and to Professor M. C. Burritt, of Cornell University, for reading the chapter on the Extension Service; to Dr. Raymond A. Pearson, President of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and to Hon. Fred Rasmussen, Secretary of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, for reading the chapter dealing with State Departments of Agriculture; to Professor G. A. Works, of Cornell Univer sity, and Professor A. V. Storm, of the University of Minnesota, for reading the chapter dealing with Agricultural Education under the Smith-Hughes law; to Mr. J. Clyde Marquis, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, for reading and editing the chapter dealing with the Bureau of Agricultural Economics; to Mr. W. C. Lansdon, national organizer, for reading the chapter dealing with the Farmers' Union; to Mr. John A. McSparran, master of the Pennsylvania State Grange, for reading the chapters dealing with the Grange; and to Prof. M. L. Wilson, of Montana State College, for reading the chapters dealing with the Alliance and miscellaneous farmers' organizations.

University of Kentucky,

Lexington, Kentucky,

EDWARD WIEST.

April, 1923.

Agricultural organization in the United States has grown with such rapidity in the last quarter century that but few persons who have not been leaders of the movement have any adequate conception of the multiform functions of our public and private agricultural agencies and their relations to each other. The growth of governmental departments for giving assistance to agriculture, both national and state, has been both a result and a cause of the rapid organization of agricultural interests in local and regional associations.

Primarily the present movement in agricultural organization has been made possible by better means of communication. When farmers were dependent upon horse-drawn vehicles and mud roads, organization was difficult or impossible; but with the automobile, improved roads, rural free delivery, the telephone and now radio-telegraphy, the handicaps of time and distance have been largely removed. During this same period business and industry have been rapidly and thoroughly organized into large corporations and sales agencies, and labor has been compelled to organize so that it might bargain effectively with its employers. With an increasing intimate knowledge of these movements through their reading of the city newspapers and magazines and their more frequent contact with the cities, it was inevitable that farmers should see the advantages of organization. The increasing complexity of the problem of marketing is responsible for the rapid growth of farmers' cooperative selling associations, and although the author has not entered into a discussion of cooperative organizations their development has been one of the primary aims of most of the farmers' organizations which he discusses. Although the above conditions have been the chief stimuli to agricultural organization, it would have. proceeded much more slowly had it not been for the rapid growth of the extension service of the agricultural colleges and the U. S. Department of Agriculture which, as the author points out, has had a unique role in the agricultural movement.

The literature on agricultural organization in the United States is widely scattered and is not easily available without considerable research. Dr. Wiest has, therefore, done a very

real service in bringing together into one book a concise statement of the history, organization and purposes of public and private agricultural organizations. There is a real need for such a book, particularly for two classes of readers. One of the chief functions of our agricultural colleges is the training of agricultural leaders, but at the present time very few of them offer courses which give their students any adequate understanding of agricultural organization and of its history and purposes. Here and there such courses are being attempted and now that a text book is available it should develop rapidly. The other class who will find the book useful consists of legislators, editors and men in public life who seek a better understanding of this subject. The legislative activities of the American Farm Bureau Federation, its promotion of national cooperative selling associations or federations, the immense losses incurred by American farmers due to a too rapid deflation of credit after the war and the consequent effect on industry in general, as well as the rise and power of the agricultural bloc in Congress, have brought the problems of American agriculture to public attention as never before. In spite of this it is to be regretted that many of our leading city dailies and weekly journals dealing with public affairs seem to have little understanding of agricultural organization. They devote much space and bold headlines to the NonPartisan League, but they fail to understand the more significant movements in agricultural organization. The labor movement and the relations of capital and labor are widely discussed but as yet we lack, any medium for a serious consideration of agricultural policies. This book will, therefore, be of value to those who appreciate the importance of the agricultural industry in our national life, but who from the force of circumstances have not come into contact with it and whose viewpoint has naturally been influenced by their urban environment.

As he has indicated, his consideration of agricultural organization is chiefly from the economic viewpoint, although he has given as much attention as possible to the aims, purposes and methods of the various organizations discussed. But we are to have a real appreciation of farmers' organization if we must know more of their psychology. We need studies of farmers' movements which will give us an understanding of their social