Department of Agriculture

Fourteenth Street and Independence Avenue SW.
REpublic 4142

Officials
Secretary of Agriculture		Claude R. Wickard
	Under Secretary	Grover B. Hill
	Assistant Secretary	Charles F. Brannan
	Assistant to the Secretary	Carl Hamilton
	Assistant to the Secretary	Thomas J. Flavin
	Assistant to the Secretary	W.A. Minor
Administrator, Agricultural Research Administration		P.V. Cardon
	Chief, Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry	O.E. May
	Chief, Bureau of Animal Industry	A.W. Miller
	Chief, Bureau of Dairy Industry	O.E. Reed
	Chief, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine	P.N. Annand
	Chief, Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics	Hazel K. Stiebeling
	Chief, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering	Robert M. Salter
	Chief, Office of Experiment Stations	James T. Jardine
	Superintendent, Office of Operations, Beltsville Research Center	C.A. Logan
Governor, Farm Credit Administration (Kansas City, Mo.)		I.W. Duggan
	Deputy Governor (Washington, D.C.)	C.W. Warburton
Chief, Forest Service		Lyle F. Watts
Administrator, Rural Electrification Administration (St. Louis, Mo.)		W.J. Neal, Acting
	Deputy Administrator (Washington, D.C.)	V.D. Nicholson
War Food Administration
War Food Administrator		Marvin Jones
	First Assistant Administrator	Grover B. Hill
	Assistant Administrator	Ashley Sellers
	Assistant Administrator	Wilson Cowen
	Special Adviser to the Administrator	D.A. FitzGerald
	Assistant to the Administrator	Thomas J. Flavin
	Assistant to the Administrator	Francis A. Flood
	Assistant to the Administrator	LaFayette L. Patterson
	Assistant to the Administrator	Ernest C. Neas
	Assistant to the Administrator	Jesse E. Baskette, Jr.
Chief, Agricultural Adjustment Agency		N.E. Dodd
President, Commodity Credit Corporation		Frank Hancock
Director of Extension Work		M.L. Wilson
Administrator, Farm Security Administration		Frank Hancock
Manager, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation		J. Carl Wright
Director of Labor		Brig. Gen. Philip G. Bruton
Director of Marketing Services		C.W. Kitchen
Director of Materials and Facilities		Frederick B. Northrup
Director of Price		H.B. Boyd
Chief, Soil Conservation Service		H.H. Bennett
Director of Surplus Property and Reconversion		David Meeker
Director of Transportation		Edgar B. Black
Director of Water Utilization		Ralph R. Will
Chairman, National War Board		Ernest R. Duke

Staff Officers
Department of Agriculture and War Food Administration
Chief, Bureau of Agricultural Economics	Howard R. Tolley
Director of Finance	W.A. Jump
Director of Foreign Agricultural Relations	L.A. Wheeler
Director of Information	Keith Himebaugh
Land Use Coordinator	Ernst H. Wiecking
Librarian	Mildred Benton
Director of Personnel	T. Roy Reid
Chief, Office of Plant and Operations	Arthur B. Thatcher
Solicitor	Robert H. Shields

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Creation and Authority.--The Department of Agriculture was created by act of Congress approved May 15, 1862 (12 Stat. 387; 28 U.S.C. 392, 759; 5 U.S.C. 511, 514, 516, 519, 557), and until 1889 was administered by a Commissioner of Agriculture. By act of February 9, 1889 (25 Stat. 659; U.S.C. titles 5, 21, 26, 39), the powers and duties of the Department were enlarged. it was made the eighth executive department in the Federal Government, and the Commissioner became the Secretary of Agriculture.

Purpose.--The Department is directed by law to acquire and diffuse useful information on agricultural subjects in the most general and comprehensive sense. The Department performs functions relating to research, education, conservation, marketing, regulatory work, and agricultural adjustment. it conducts research in agricultural and industrial chemistry, the industrial uses of farm products, entomology, soils, agricultural engineering, agricultural economics, marketing, crop and livestock production, production and manufacture of dairy products, human nutrition, home economics, and conservation. It makes research results available for practical farm application through extension and experiment station work in cooperation with the States.

The Department provides crop reports, commodity standards, Federal meat inspection service, and other marketing services. It seeks to eradicate and control plant and animal diseases and pests. it administers more than 50 regulatory laws designed to protect the farmer and consuming public, and enforces the Sugar Act of 1937 (50 Stat. 903; 7 U.S.C. 1101-83; 48 U.S.C. 1007a), and the Commodity Exchange Act, June 15, 1936 (49 Stat. 1491; 7 U.S.C. 1-17a). It promotes the efficient use of soils and forests. It provides rural rehabilitation, and guarantees farmers a fair price and a stable market through commodity loans and marketing quotas. It also provides agricultural credit, assists tenants to become farm owners, and facilitates the introduction of electric service to persons in rural areas.

Organization.--The Secretary of Agriculture directs the work of Agricultural Research Administration, Farm Credit Administration, Forest Service, and Rural Electrification Administration.

The War Food Administration was established by Executive Order 9322 of March 26, 1943 (amended by Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943). It is under the direction of the War Food Administrator, who is appointed by and is responsible to the President. In general, the

War Food Administrator is responsible for the production and distribution of food to meet war and essential civilian needs. (See pages relating to War Food Administration and constituent agencies.)

The Staff Offices serve the Department and the War Food Administration. These offices are the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Office of Budget and Finance, Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations, Office of Information, Office of Land Use Coordinator, Library, Office of Personnel, Office of Plant and Operations, and Office of the Solicitor. The Administrative Council advises the Secretary and the War Food Administrator with respect to matters of general administration.

Agricultural Research Administration

Agricultural Research Administration, established by Executive Order 9069, of February 23, 1942, comprises the Bureaus of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry; Animal Industry; Dairy Industry; Entomology and Plant Quarantine; Human Nutrition and Home Economics; and Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering; the Office of Experiment Stations; and Beltsville Research Center, Beltsville, Md.

Bureau of Animal Industry

This Bureau, established by the act of May 29, 184 (23 Stat. 31; 21 U.S.C. 119), deals with the eradication and control of animal diseases and parasites, conducts research on the production of livestock and their products, and otherwise seeks to protect and develop the livestock, meat, poultry, and related industries.

Investigations, Experiments, and Control Work.--It conducts scientific investigations of the cause, prevention, and treatment of diseases and parasites of domestic animals, investigates the existence of such maladies, and directs or aids in their control or eradication. It conducts investigations and experiments in the breeding and feeding of domestic animals, including poultry, and studies methods of improving the quality and usefulness of their products. It supervises a national plan for improving the production and breeding qualities of poultry, and reducing mortality. The activities described are conducted largely in cooperation with State officials and agencies having similar objectives.

Administration of Laws.--The Bureau administers the Animal Quarantine Acts, the Diseased Animal Transportation Acts, and the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act. As provided in the Tariff Act of 1930, the Bureau also issues certificates of pure breeding for acceptable breeding animals offered for importation.

War Activities.--The Bureau furnishes consultants and otherwise assists in plans for providing adequate supplies of meat, wool, and other animal products needed by military services and lend-lease agencies. A project on meat dehydration has led to satisfactory processes for preparing wholesome products that conserve weight and space in shipping.

In cooperation with State officials and livestock organization, the Bureau develops and applies improved measures for preventing outbreaks of diseases and parasites and for controlling any that may occur. Exclusion from the United States of dangerous infections that would curtail the production of livestock and livestock products has received particular attention. The Bureau's research has been redirected to obtain, promptly, information needed for the solution of wartime problems.

Bureau of Dairy Industry

The Bureau of Dairying was established by the act of May 29, 1924 (43 Stat. 243; 7 U.S.C. 401). The present name appeared in the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1927, approved May 11, 1926 (44 Stat. 499).

Investigations.--The Bureau conducts investigations in the breeding and management of dairy cattle, in nutrition, and in the physiology of milk secretion and of reproduction. It also records the production of cows in dairy-herd-improvement associations for the purpose of identifying animals possessing an inheritance for transmitting superior milk- and butterfat-producing ability to their progeny.

It develops sanitary methods of handling milk on the farm, in transit, and in dairy plants; and studies other factors affecting the wholesomeness and commercial value of milk.

It investigates the bacteriology and chemistry of milk and its products and problems in the manufacture of milk products and byproducts, assists in establishing new products and processes of manufacture, and administers the Renovated Butter Act.

War Activities.--The Bureau is cooperating with the States to demonstrate and establish practices that will further the progress of the dairy phase of the food-for-freedom program. Its research specialists serve as consultants on numerous committees that deal with wartime problems related to dairy products.

Several research projects are under way to develop information with which to meet the changes created by war conditions. One such project is the effort to devise ways to incorporate dairy byproducts, or some of their more valuable nutritive properties, in human foods.

Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering

This agency was created as the Bureau of Plant Industry by the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1902, approved March 2, 1901

(31 Stat. 922). The Soil fertility and soil micro-biology work of the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils was transferred to the Bureau of Plant Industry by the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1936. The soil chemistry and physics and soil survey work of the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils was transferred to the Bureau of Plant Industry by Secretary's Memorandum 784 of October 6, 1938, and this changes was reflected in the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1940.

In February 1943 the engineering research of the Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and Engineering was transferred to the present Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering in accordance with Research Administration Memorandum 5 issued with the approval of the Secretary pursuant to Executive Order 9069 and in conformity with Secretary's Memorandums 960 and 986.

The activities of the Bureau include investigations of plant production and improvements of soils in which they are grown and the engineering problems concerned with crop production and primary processing, the handling of soils, and the design and construction of farm buildings. Headquarters for the Bureau are at the Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md. Most of its work is conducted in cooperation with the State agricultural experiment stations.

Research with plants is concerned chiefly with reducing the hazards of production and improving the quality of all crops. one of the principal ways of doing this is by breeding new strains or varieties that are resistant to diseases, insects, heat, drought, or cold. Representatives of the Bureau have visited most foreign countries and brought back thousands of plants that have been useful here, either in their original form or as breeding material. Other important work with plants includes studies of weed control and of methods of planting, harvesting, transportation, and storage of crop plants. Efforts to control diseases involve studies of organisms that cause the disease, their life histories, and a knowledge of how they are spread to new territory. With this information it is often possible to work out some practical control measure such as seed treatment, spraying, or dusting.

Soils investigations center around the relationship between the soil and crops that grow in it. This involves a study of soils from the standpoint of their origin and their classification into main groups, of which there are more than 8,000 types. The job of classifying all the agricultural soils of the United States--done in cooperation with State agricultural experimental stations--is being pushed as fast as possible. Other work with soils includes studies of their basic physical and chemical properties, studies of the microscopic plant and animal life in the soil and its effect on crops, methods of cultivation, irrigation, crop rotations, and studies of materials that are added to the soil to make it more productive. The latter may include lime, or commercial fertilizers. The fertilizer investigators seek more efficient methods of manufacture and more effective ways of using these materials. The studies are directed toward the determination of systems of soil management that will give maximum crop production and at the same time conserve the Nation's soil resources.

The Bureau conducts investigations of engineering problems which are concerned with farm machinery and its operation, farm buildings

and equipment, and other engineering phases of agriculture. Investigations on methods and mechanical equipment for producing and processing farm products include seedbed preparation, planting, fertilizer placement, cultivating and harvesting, hay drying, cotton ginning and packing, fiber flax processing, compression of dehydrated foods, hulling seeds and nuts, designing machines for planting and harvesting rubber-yielding plants, and control of weeds and plant pests. Research is done on storages for grain, potatoes, and other vegetables, and on temperature and humidity control in the transportation of perishable fruits and vegetables.

The Bureau assists other bureaus of the Department in the design and supervision of construction outside the District of Columbia and advises them in the purchase of engineering equipment.

Development of the National Arboretum, established under the act of March 4, 1927 (44 Stat. 1422; 20 U.S.C. 191-94), is under the direction of the Bureau. Pursuant to authority contained in the act, the Secretary of Agriculture created the Advisory Council of the National Arboretum. The Council makes recommendations concerning the development and maintenance of the National Arboretum for purposes of research and education regarding tree and plant life.

War Activities.--Plant science contributes to the national war effort by making possible more efficient and more stable production of food and fiber. Many of the research jobs of the Bureau have been redirected since December 7, 1941, to meet specific war needs. Some activities have been reduced to a maintenance basis to make way for more urgent war jobs. The Bureau is now actively engaged in helping farmers produce many strategic crops that were formerly imported from distant sources, and is cooperating with Latin-American countries in establishing other crops that must be grown in the tropics. Among these plants are those used in the production of medicines, insecticides, vegetable oils, tannin, coarse fibers, and rubber.

The Bureau is now engage din experimental work in Central and South America to establish commercial rubber production in the Western Hemisphere. Special strains of the Hevea rubber tree, selected for high yield and disease resistance, are now being propagated as fast as possible to provide the basis of this new industry. In the meantime, it is investigating the possibilities of many other rubber-bearing plants that can be grown in the continental United States, especially guayule, goldenrod, and kok-saghyz (Russian dandelion).

Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry

The Bureau of Chemistry and the Bureau of Soils were created in 1901. In 1937 they were combined into the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils. In 1938 the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils and the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering were consolidated to form the Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and Engineering. In February 1943 the agricultural engineering research became a part of the newly designated Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, and the name of the Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and Engineering was changed to the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, in accordance with Research Administration Memorandum

5, issued with the approval of the Secretary pursuant to Executive Order 9069, of February 23, 1942, and in conformity with Secretary's Memorandums 960 and 986.

General Scope of Activities.--The Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry is a research organization engaged in investigations and experiments in the fields of chemistry, physics, and other physical sciences relating to agricultural products and to the development of new and wider industrial and food uses for agricultural products.

Chemical Investigations.--Under the broad subject of the application of chemistry to agriculture, the Bureau is engaged in investigations concerning the composition, properties, and technology (processing, utilization, and preservation) of agricultural products and byproducts; the biological, chemical, physical, microscopical, and technological investigation of foods, feeds, drugs, plant and animal products and substances that may be associated with them or used in their manufacture, including studies of their physiological effects on animals; experiments on the preparation and utilization of agricultural and associated raw materials for industrial purposes; the development of improved processes and equipment for the production and utilization of rosin and turpentine.

A major portion of the investigations of the Bureau is carried on in four regional research laboratories. These laboratories conduct investigations to develop new and wider industrial uses for agricultural commodities. Studies are being made on the principal crops in each of the four major farm producing areas of the country. Investigations at the Northern Laboratory, locate din Peoria, Ill., cover studies on corn, wheat, soybeans, and agricultural residues; at the Southern Laboratory, New Orleans, studies on cotton, peanuts, and sweet potatoes; at the Eastern Laboratory, Wyndmoor, near Philadelphia, Pa., studies on tobacco, apples, potatoes, milk products, vegetables, hides and skins, tanning materials, and animal fats and oils; and at the Western Laboratory, Albany, near San Francisco, Calif., studies on fruits, vegetables, potatoes, wheat, alfalfa, and poultry products and byproducts.

War Activities.--In the research of the Bureau, special emphasis is being placed on those phases which are expected to yield information of value for national defense or civilian and industrial welfare during wartime. In some cases work on important but less pressing problems has been suspended temporarily to give attention to problems presented to the Department of Agriculture by the war agencies of the Government. These deal with food storage; food preservation, especially by dehydration; adaptation of lint cotton for nitration; treatment of cotton and cotton fabrics for special uses in wartime; and utilization of domestic agricultural materials as supplementary or substitute sources of products usually derived from foreign sources.

Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine

This Bureau was created by tan organization merger provided in the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1935, approved March 26, 1934 (48 Stat. 467).

Study of Insects.--The Bureau studies the life history and habits of insects which are injurious or beneficial to agriculture and forestry, with a view to developing practical methods for destroying the harmful ones and promoting the increase and spread of the beneficial ones. it investigates the habits and develops means for control of all insects annoying or affecting the health of man, infesting human habitations, or injurious to industries.

The Bureau investigates the habits and develops methods of control of insects affecting wild and domesticated animals. It investigates the habits and culture of the honeybee and beekeeping practices and inspects adult honeybees imported under the act regulating their entry.

Development of Insecticides.--It conducts chemical investigations to develop new insecticides and fungicides and to improve methods of their manufacture.

Prevention of Introduction of Plant Pests.--The Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine enforces quarantines and restrictive orders issued under the plant quarantines act and the insect pest act to prevent the entry into the United States of dangerous plant pests, and to regulate the importation of nursery stock, fruits, vegetables, cotton, and other plants and plant products likely to carry pests. It enforces the act providing for the Mexican border inspection and control service to prevent the entry of insect pests and plant diseases.

Control of Insect Pests and Plant Diseases.--It cooperates with the States in the eradication and control of insect pests and plant diseases, such as screwworms, grasshoppers, Mormon crickets, black stem rust of grains, white pine blister rust, citrus canker, peach tree phony disease, and peach mosaic disease.

It enforces plant quarantine to prevent the spread of plant pests which have gained a limited foothold, cooperating with States in these activities and other operations to control the pink bollworm, beetle, the Mexican fruitfly, the white-fringed beetle, and Dutch elm disease.

Export Certification.--In order to meet the sanitary requirements of the countries to which shipments are consigned, the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine inspects and certifies as to freedom from injurious pests and diseases of plants and plant products intended for export.

War Activities.--All activities concerned with insect control have an intimate relation to the war effort and national defense. The Bureau is meeting demands of service agencies relating to the control of insects on growing crops, the protection of stored food supplies, clothing, buildings and lumber, and other materials, and for means of combating insects affecting the health of man, especially the men in service. The additional responsibility placed on the Bureau to control insect pests and plant diseases affecting basic food, fiber, and timber crops has made its work of special significance, useful to the successful prosecution of the war and to insuring the foods and other supplies essential to peace. In carrying out its responsibilities to prevent the entry and dissemination of pests which will hinder achievement of important objectives, the Bureau has made many adjustments to assure rapid safe movement and avoid delays in essential facilities of transportation.

The Bureau is also concerned with investigations and control of insects that transmit diseases such as yellow fever, malaria, bubonic plague, and typhus fever, and insects that physically injure or annoy livestock and man. In these activities it cooperates closely with the Public Health Service and appropriate units of the military agencies.

Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics

The Office of Home Economics became the Bureau of Home Economics by Secretary's Memorandum 436, effective July 1, 1923, pursuant to the provisions of the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1924, approved February 26, 1938 (42 Stat. 1289). In February 1943 the name was changed to the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, in accordance with Research Administration Memorandum 5 issued with the approval of the Secretary pursuant to Executive Order 9069 and in conformity with Secretary's Memorandums 960 and 986.

Research on Food and Other Goods Essential to Everyday Living.--To meet the demand of American families for scientific facts to aid them in the best use of their resources, the Bureau conducts research on food, fiber, and other products of agriculture contributing to everyday living, and on economic problems that affect rural family living. In time of war or national stress such information is essential in helping families to adjust their habits to rapidly changing situations. Coming from the several divisions of foods and nutrition, textiles and clothing, housing and equipment, and family economics, typical examples of the Bureau's research are:

Conducting studies of American food consuming habits to determine how the diets of typical population groups measure up by nutrition standards and wherein improvements can be made in food production and use.

Studying factors affecting the requirements of the body for food.

Preparing food plans to help families obtain the fullest return in nutritive value and other satisfactions from whatever amount of money and labor they can afford to spend for food supplies.

Analyzing foods for their vitamin content, quality of protein, and other nutrients important to the diet, and investigating the supplementary nutritional relationships among various types of food.

Studying effects of home cooking and food preservation methods on palatability and the nutritive value of food.

Conducting research on methods of and equipment for home canning, drying, and freezing food, with a view to decreasing the present widespread occurrence of spoilage in canned food, and to retaining maximum food value and appetizing qualities in all finished products.

Developing recipes to fit changing food supplies, so that homemakers can "stretch" scarce articles or make effective use of surpluses.

Preparing buying guides on clothing and household textiles to assist the consumer in recognizing wearing quality and standards of workmanship and thus making choices to fit definite needs and avoiding return of goods and other wastes in merchandising.

Investigating principles of clothing design, including procedures and instruments for measuring feet as a basis for sizing and fit of footwear.

Designing comfortable, convenient, and safe work clothes for women for wear in field, factory, and home.

Studying ways to reduce waste in textiles by developing mildew-proofing methods for cotton and processes for sterilizing wool without damage to the fiber.

Furnishing directions for the home care of textiles, clothing, and household equipment as a means of conserving goods now on hand.

Results of all this research are made available through bulletins, press releases, radio talks, and exhibits. The Bureau also cooperates closely with other agencies conducting educational programs designed to help families to so use their resources as to obtain the best returns in health and other elements of satisfactory living.

Office of Experiment Stations

The functions of this Office date back to 1888. The Office of Experiment Stations is first referred to in the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1893, approved July 5, 1892 (27 Stat. 74). Superseded by the States Relations Service from 1915 to 1923, the Office was reestablished in the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1924, approved February 26, 1923 (42 Stat. 1289), and Secretary's Memorandum 436, effective July 1, 1923.

The Office of Experiment Stations administers Federal funds provided by the Hatch, Adams, Purnell, and supplementary acts, and title I of the Bankhead-Jones Act of June 29, 1935, for the support of research in agriculture, the rural home, and rural life by experiment stations in the several States and in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

Administration of the acts granting funds to States and Territories involves supervision of the funds, close advisory relations with the stations as to research for which the funds are expended, annual examination in the field of the work and expenditures of each station, assistance to the State stations in working out programs for cooperative effort to avoid duplication and provide needed integration, assistance to Federal agencies in working out cooperation with the States, and preparation of the annual report to Congress on the work and expenditures of the stations, as required by law. The Federal funds paid to the States and Territories are largely expended on research projects submitted to the Office of Experiment Stations for advisory suggestions and approval in advance of expenditures.

The Office aids the experiment stations in the continuing adjustment of their research programs to attack most effectively problems arising in the war emergency by collecting and disseminating information and giving advice and assistant in line with the purposes of the grant acts. Currently useful information concerning new research undertakings and results of station research is compiled for prompt release and issued in mimeographed form. Information dealing with special subjects of timely importance is compiled and made available as needed. A current review of progress and results of agricultural and rural life research by the stations and other agencies is published in Experiment Station Record. Information from Federal agencies helpful in the war effort is transmitted to the experiment stations and the work of the stations is facilitated by obtaining information requested

by the directors and by providing directions as to procedures in acquiring needed supplies and equipment. The Office aids in facilitating station cooperation with the Department in Nation-wide cooperative studies of wartime farm production as a basis for developing production goals, and in specific instances coordinates national cooperative research projects, such as the Nation-wide study of the conservation of the nutritive value of foods.

The Office administers the Federal agricultural experiment station in Puerto Rico where first consideration is given in the emergency to problems of acquiring strategic materials of agricultural origin, especially insecticides and quinine. Assistant is also rendered by the station in the urgent problems of increasing food production for local consumption and making plant materials available to the armed forces, and along other lines of benefit to Puerto Rico.

Beltsville Research Center

The Beltsville Research Center was created by Secretary's Memorandum 648, dated August 28, 1934. It was transferred to the Agricultural Research Administration under Secretary's Memorandum 986, dated February 25, 1942, pursuant to Executive Order 9069, dated February 23, 1942.

The functions of the Research Center are to provide over-all operating services and related management necessary to the efficient conduct of the work performed at the Center by the various research agencies of the Department.

Farm Credit Administration

(212 West Fourteenth Street, Kansas City, Mo.) Creation and Authority.--Authority for the organization and activities of the Farm Credit Administration and the institutions operating under its supervision may be found in the Federal Farm Loan Act, approved July 17, 1916, and amendments thereto; the Cooperative Marketing Act, approved July 2, 1926; the Agricultural Marketing Act, approved June 15, 1929, and amendments; section 201 (3) of the Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932, approved July 21, 1932; Executive Order 6084, dated March 27, 1933; the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act of 1933, approved May 12, 1933; the Farm Credit Act of 1933, approved June 16, 1933; the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation Act, approved January 31, 1934; the Farm Credit Act of 1935, approved June 3, 1935; the Farm Credit Act of 19836, approved August 19, 1937; and sundry other resolutions and acts of Congress either amending the foregoing or of a temporary character. Under Reorganization Plan I, dated April 25, 1939, the Farm Credit Administration because a part of the Department of Agriculture, and by Executive Order 9280, December 5, 1942, was made a part of the Food Production Administration of the Department. By Executive Order 9322, of March 26, 1943, as amended by Executive Order 9334, of April 19, 1943, which created the War Food Administration, the Farm Credit Administration was

removed from the Food Production Administration and returned to its former status as a separate agency of the Department, directly responsible to the Secretary.

Purpose.--The general purpose of the Farm Credit Administration system is to provide a complete and coordinated credit system for agriculture by making long-term and short-term credit available to farmers. It also provides credit facilities for farmers' cooperative marketing, purchasing, and business service organizations.

Headquarters.--In May 1942 the Farm Credit Administration moved its offices, except a liaison staff and the Cooperative Research and Service Division, from Washington, D.C., to 212 West Fourteenth Street, Kansas City, Mo. A Deputy Governor is in charge of the Washington office.

District Organization.--The United States is divided into 12 farm credit districts. In one city in each district are a Federal land bank, a Federal intermediate credit bank, a production credit corporation, and a bank for cooperatives. Each district also has a farm credit board, the members of which are ex officio directors of each of the four credit institutions in that district. Each bank and corporation has its own officers.

Activities of the four institutions in a district are coordinated through the farm credit board and an executive called the general agent, who acts as joint officer for the four units. The general agent is responsible for the coordination of day-to-day activities and has supervision over certain personnel and facilities, with authority to direct the legal, accounting, informational, and statistical activities.

The Examination Division of the Kansas City office examines these institutions annually. The expenses of such examinations are charged to and paid by the institutions examined.

District Offices--Farm Credit Administration
Office	Territory
Springfield, Mass.	Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey
Baltimore, Md.	Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Virginia, West Virginia
Columbia, S.C.	Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina
Louisville, Ky.	Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee
New Orleans, La.	Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi
St. Louis, Mo.	Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri
St. Paul, Minn.	Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin
Omaha, Nebr.	Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming
Wichita, Kans.	Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma
Houston, Tex.	Texas
Berkeley, Calif.	Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah
Spokane, Wash.	Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington

Federal Land Banks

The 12 Federal land banks, 1 in each farm credit district, were established under authority of the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 (39 Stat. 360); 12 U.S.C. 641), which has been broadened by various amendments. Federal land banks make long-term loans upon first mortgages on farm lands and issue farm loan bonds secured thereby.

Federal Land Bank Loans.--Federal land bank loans are long-term, low-interest-rate, amortized loans made to farmers who give as security first mortgages upon their farms and who agree to repay the loans in annual or semiannual installments. Corporations engaged in raising livestock are also eligible to borrow, under certain limitations.

Applications for loans should be made to the secretary-treasurer of the national farm loan association in the community in which the farm to be offered as security is located. Loans may be made for not less than $100 or more than $50,000 to any one borrower. In on event may the amount loaned exceed 50 percent of the appraised normal agricultural value of the land offered as security, plus 20 percent of the appraised value of the permanent, insured improvements on the land.

Interest Rates.--The rate of interest written in the mortgage for most new loans being made through national farm loan associations is 4 percent a year. By act of Congress interest on all installments payable prior to July 1, 1944, was reduced to 3.5 percent on most loans. On expiration of the emergency rate the boards of directors of the banks have provided for the reduction to a 4 percent rate on most mortgage written at higher rates.

Present Source of Loan Funds.--Land bank loans are financed principally from the sale of consolidated Federal farm loan bonds to the investing public. Stock Purchases.--A borrower from a Federal land bank is required to purchase stock in an amount equal to 5 percent of his loan in either the bank or the local ]national farm loan association, depending upon the kind of loan obtained. When the loan is repaid, the stock is retired. All stock in a national farm loan association is owned by the member-borrowers, who elect the directors from their number at their annual stockholders' meeting. Each stockholder has one vote regardless of the number of shares he owns.

Purposes for Which Loans Are Made.--Federal land bank loans are made for the following purposes: to provide for the purchase of land for agricultural uses; for the purchase of equipment, fertilizers, and livestock necessary for the proper and reasonable operation of the mortgaged farm to provide buildings, and for the improvement of farm land; to liquidate indebtedness of the owner of the mortgaged land incurred for agricultural purposes, or incurred prior to January 1, 1937; and to provide the owner of the mortgaged land with funds for general agricultural uses.

Land Bank Commissioner Loans

The Land Bank Commissioner is authorized by part 3 of the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act of May 12, 1933 (48 Stat. 48; 12 U.S.C. 1016), as amended to make farm mortgage loans, separate and distinct from Federal land bank loans. Commissioner loans may be made on both first and second mortgage security. Funds for making these loans are furnished by the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation under authority of the same act and of the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation Act, approved January 31, 1934 (48 Stat. 344; 12 U.S.C. 1020). The loans become the property of the Corporation as soon as they

are made. In making and servicing these loans the Federal land banks act as agents of the Land Bank Commissioner and the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation.

Purpose.--Commissioner loans may be made for the same purposes as land bank loans. In addition, Commissioner loans may be used to refinance any indebtedness of the farmer in connection with proceedings under chapter VIII of the Bankruptcy Act without regard to the purpose or time of its occurrence. Applications are taken in most localities by secretary-treasurers of national farm loan associations.

Limitation of Commissioner Loans.--These loans cannot exceed $7,500 to any one farmer. The amount of the loan, plus all prior debts secured by the farm property to be mortgaged, may not exceed 75 percent of the appraised normal agricultural value of the farm property.

Rate of Interest.--The contract rate of interest on Commissioner loans is 5 percent a year. By act of Congress, a temporary reduced rate of 4 percent is effective for interest payable on installment dates to July 1, 1945.

Federal Intermediate Credit Banks

The 12 Federal intermediate credit banks, 1 in each farm credit district office, were authorized by the Agricultural Credits Act of 1923 (42 Stat. 1454; 12 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.), approved March 4, 1923.

They make loans to, and discount paper for, production credit associations, the banks for cooperatives, State and national banks, agricultural credit corporations, livestock loan companies, and similar financing institutions.

Funds for lending purposes are obtained primarily through sales to the investing public of short-term consolidated collateral trust debentures.

Production Credit Corporations and Associations

The Farm Credit Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 257; 12 U.S.C. 1131), approved June 16, 1933, authorized the establishment of 12 production credit corporations, 1 in each farm credit district office, and local production credit associations. The system was established to provide credit for all types of farm and ranch operations.

Where To Apply for a Loan.--Applications for loans are made to the local production credit associations and their field offices or representatives.

Organization.--Local production credit associations, which are cooperative organizations of farmers and stockmen, make and collect the loans. The associations are supervised generally and capitalized partly by production credit corporations. All voting stock in a production credit association is owned by its member-borrowers, who elect the directors from their number at their annual stockholders' meeting. Each stockholder has one vote regardless of the number of shares he owns. The directors elect the officers and the executive committee and hire the employees.

Interest.--The present annual interest rate in the continental United States is 4.5 percent a year; in Puerto Rico, 5 percent.

Size of Loans.--Loans are not made for less than $50, nor usually for longer than 1 year. The unpaid balance of certain types of loans may be renewed for a further period if the credit factors remain satisfactory.

Banks for Cooperatives

The Central Bank for Cooperatives and the 12 district banks for cooperatives were organized and chartered by the Governor of the Farms Credit Administration under authority of the Farm Credit Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 257; 12 U.S.C. 1134). The banks for cooperatives were established to provide a permanent source of credit on a sound business basis to farmers' cooperative associations. The Central Bank for Cooperatives, located in Kansas City, Mo., generally serves national and large regional cooperatives. District banks for cooperatives, locate din each of the 12 farm credit district offices, serve associations in their areas. (The offices are listed on page 359.)

Eligibility.--To be eligible to borrow from a bank for cooperatives, a cooperative must be an association in which farmers act together in marketing farm products, purchasing farm supplies, or furnishing farm business services and must meet the requirements set forth in the Farm Credit Act of 1933, as amended.

Types of Loans and Interest.--Three distinct classes of loans are made to farmers' cooperative associations--commodity, operating capital, and facility loans. On December 1, 1944, the annual interest rates in the United States were as follows: commodity, 1.5 percent; operating capital, 2.5 percent; facility, 4 percent.

Cooperative Research and Service Division

The Cooperative Research and Service Division was authorized by the Cooperative Marketing Act of July 2, 1926 (44 Stat. 802; 7 U.S.C. 451-57). Located in Washington, D.C., it conducts research studies and service activities relating to problems of management, organization policies, merchandising, sales, costs, competition, and membership arising in connection with the cooperative marketing of agricultural products and the cooperative purchase of farm supplies and services; publishes the results of such studies; confers and advises with officials of farmers' cooperative associations; and cooperates with educational agencies, cooperative associations, and others in the dissemination of information relating to cooperative principles and practices.

Emergency Crop and Feed Loans

Emergency crop and feed loans are made only to applicants who are unable to procure from other sources loans in amounts reasonably adequate to meet their needs. Farmers who have adequate security ordinarily are able to obtain needed funds from local production credit associations, banks, and individuals.

The regulations governing emergency crop and feed loans, made pursuant to the act of Congress approved January 29l, 1937 (50 Stat. 6; 12 U.S.C. 1020 i-m), and the joint resolution of Congress approved February 4, 1938 (52 Stat. 27; 12 U.S.C. 1020), providing that the amount which may be lent to any one borrower during the year shall

not exceed $400 and that preference is to be given to the applications of farmers whose cash requirements are small; no loan will be made for an amount less than the sum of $10, and all loans will be made in multiples of $5; notes will bear interest, from maturity until paid, at the rate of 4 percent a year, and interest to the maturity date at the same rate will be deducted at the time the loan is made.

Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation

The Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932 (47 Stat. 709, 48 Stat. 351; 12 U.S.C. 343, 1148; 15 U.S.C. 602-03 note, 605-05d, 608-09a; 23 U.S.C. 6; 31 U.S.C. 258a note) authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to create a regional agricultural credit corporation in any of the 12 farm credit districts, where such action appeared desirable, in order ot meet farmers' and stockmen's emergency needs for short-term credit during 1932-33. Twelve corporations were formed, with 22 branch offices. When commercial banks and other lenders of production credit to farmers were again able to do this financing and production credit associations were organized in 1933-34, the regional agricultural credit corporations began to liquidate their loans. As liquidation progressed, the corporations were consolidated. Since January 31, 1944, there has been only one corporation, the Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation of Washington, D.C., with principal offices in Kansas City, Mo.

New Activities

On January 21, 1943, the Secretary of Agriculture announced that from $200,000,000 to $225,000,000 had been made available through the Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation of Washington, D.C., for financing the production of essential wartime food and fiber. Approximately $60,000,000 was loaned from January 21 to June 30, 1943, when the making of loans was suspended.

In 1944, RACC loans were authorized in certain regions on all crops and in some regions on specified crops. The regions and crops were designated by the Secretary of Agriculture upon the recommendation of the War Food Administration, in accordance with section 2 of the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1944. All loans carried full personal liability on the part of the borrower. The interest rate was 5.5 percent for the actual time the money was outstanding and one-half of 1 percent was deducted for inspection fees and service charges. Loans were made only to farmers who had demonstrated their ability to produce and who could not obtain adequate credit from any other source.

War Activities

The Nation-wide credit facilities of the Farm Credit Administration developed during peacetime have greatly expanded their services to meet the requirements of a war economy.

During the year ended June 30, 1944, the volume of production credit association loans closed was about the same as the previous year, but the number of borrowers was slight smaller. Emergency crop and feed loans in the same period showed a slight increase in dollar volume and a reduction in number of borrowers. The higher average

individual load in both groups reflects higher operating costs and expanded operations, while the reduction in number of borrowers is due, in part at least, to ability of a considerable number of farmer-borrowers to finance their operations without the use of credit.

The production credit associations and field representatives of the emergency crop and feed loan offices maintain close contact with the County War Boards in order to be informed on the programs currently stressed.

The Farm Credit Administration has continued its program of advising farmers to use their surplus funds for two purposes--to repay their debts and to buy War Bonds. The banks and associations have used their house organs and inserts in letters to encourage farmers to buy War BOnds. The production credit associations had sold $44,600,000 in War BOnds and Stamps up to June 30, 1944. This was in addition to $18,000,000 bought for their own accounts.

Repayments on farm mortgage loans--Federal land bank and Commissioner loans--totaled $147,000,000 during the year ending June 30, 1944, with 157,489 farmers repaying their loans in full and others making substantial repayments on the principal. Farmers had a total of approximately $26,600,000 in the Future Payment FUnds with the land banks and Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation on June 30, 1944, compared to about $17,700,000 on December 31, 1942. This money can be used in paying future installments of Federal land bank and Commissioner loans, thus contributing to stability during the war and post-war period.

The 13 banks for cooperatives during the year ending June 30, 1944, loaned $416.000,000 compared with $399,000,000 in the previous fiscal year, which figure was greatly in excess of the prewar loan volume. This increased volume of loans went largely to cooperatives engaged in providing foods for shipment under the Lend-Lease Act and for the armed forces. The commodities financed included canned and concentrated citrus juices, cheese, evaporated milk, dried skim and while milk, dried eggs, and dehydrated fruits and vegetables. Other cooperatives financed which are vitally important in the war effort are those crushing vegetable oil seeds, such as cottonseed, soybeans, and peanuts; grain cooperatives supplying distilleries making industrial alcohol; a tung oil mill; and a cooperative repairing farm machinery. In addition, Commodity Credit Corporation loan or sales documents were purchased by the banks from cooperative associations to the amount of nearly $55,000,000 in the year ended June 30, 1944.

The Farm Credit Administration works with other Government offices in meeting wartime problems with reference to agricultural requirements for metals, paper,] burlap, and other critical materials; the problem of expanding processing capacity for specific commodities needed in the food-for-freedom program; and the purchase of Commodity Credit Corporation paper by the banks for cooperatives and the production credit associations.

In making loans only to actual farm operators, the Federal land banks are encouraging family-sized owner-operated farms. The purchase of land with the idea of later selling it at a higher price is discouraged because it often leads to a speculative market for farm lands, resulting in inflation and later deflation and loss. The Farm Credit Administration is discouraging excessive farm real estate inflation

by continuing its policy of appraising property offered as security for farm mortgage loans on the basis of normal agricultural value and, working with the National Agricultural Credit Committee, has urged other mortgage lenders to follow a similar appraisal policy. It also is calling farmers' attention to the dangers of speculation in land and farm commodities and the assumption of a high level of debt based on present farm prices.

Forest Service

The name "Forest Service" was first provided by the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1906, approved March 3, 1905 (33 Stat. 861), although the functions were carried on earlier under different organizational titles.

The Forest Service is charged with the responsibility for promoting the conservation and best use of the Nation's forest lands, aggregating approximately a third of the total land area of the United States.

National Forests.--The Service administers 160 national forests, comprising over 178,000,000 acres. It improves them, protects them from fire, insects, and disease, and manages their resources for orderly and continuous service and for the maintenance of stable economic conditions in national forest communities. Technical methods of forestry are applied to the growing and harvesting of timber. Livestock grazing is scientifically regulated to obtain range conservation along with use of the annual growth of forage. Watersheds are managed for the regulation of streamflow, reduction of flood danger and soil erosion, and the protection of sources of water for power, irrigation, navigation, and municipal and domestic supply. Provision is made for popular outdoor recreation. Scientific management is applied to the development and maintenance of wildlife resources.

Forest Research.--In 12 forest and range experiment stations and in the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., the Forest Service conducts investigations in the entire field of forestry and wild land management, including the growth, protection, and harvesting of timber, management of range lands, efficient and economical utilization of forest products, and research in forest economics and taxation and forest influences. it is conducting a forest survey of the United States. This is a study of the Nation's present and potential forest resources.

Cooperation in Forestry.--States and private owners of forest lands receive cooperation from the Forest Service in the application of sound forest management practices, in the maintenance of organized protection of forest lands against fire, and in the distribution of planting stock to farmers for windbreaks, shelterbelts, and farm woodlands. The Service cooperates with States in acquiring forest land to stimulate development, proper administration, and management of State forests, and with communities, counties, and organizations in the development and management of community forests. It also administers the agricultural conservation program as applied to the naval stores industry. War Activities.--The Forest Service is aiding the War Production Board and other war agencies in determining forest products requirements and supplies, and in cooperation with the War Production Board

has under way a special timber production war project to help timberland owners and operators increase output of forest products for war needs. The Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., as in the last World War is again engaged in tests and investigations aimed to facilitate procurement and improve the use of wood and wood products in the war effort, including forest products required for airplanes, shipping containers, gunstocks, explosives, and many other war needs. The special equipment laboratory and the radio laboratory of the Forest Service at Portland, Oreg., are working to improve the efficiency of equipment also applicable to modern warfare needs, such as bulldozers, snow motors, brush strippers, Bosworth fire trenchers, portable water pumps, and portable radio equipment.

Available for use in the war emergency are the national forest communications system, consisting of more than 63,000 miles of telephone lines, and a shortwave and ultra-shortwave radio network with field equipment of various types and sizes. The national forest road and trail system o more than 117,000 miles of roads and 150,000 miles of trails is important in defense, and the Forest Service is carrying on extensive aerial photographic work for map-making and survey purposes, likewise of defense value.

Extensive areas of national forest land have been made available to the military service for camps, maneuver areas, bombing ranges, and other uses. In cooperation with the Army, several hundred lookout stations in key coastal areas were included as 24-hour observation points in the Army Aircraft Warning Service. The Forest Service maintains close relations in forest fire control with the forestry departments of 41 States and in various ways with large numbers of private owners of timberland. Special emergency measures are being taken to meet the increased wartime fire hazards, including a large-scale organization of volunteer fire control forces.

The program of the Forest Service in administering the 160 national forests embodying an area of about 350,000 square miles, and in cooperative work with the States and with private forest land owners, looks to improvement and perpetuation of the yield of forest and range resources; to protection of watersheds so as to reduce soil erosion and floods and prevent impairment of navigability of streams; and to river and harbor improvements, water power developments, and domestic water supplies, all of which are important in defense as well as in national peacetime development. The Forest Service also gathers economic information and conducts analyses concerning such matters as timber and lumber prices, consumption, lumber distribution, timber evaluation, foreign supplies and markets, and imports and exports of forest products which influence our domestic defense situation. A special project for the logging of high quality spruce, to help meet urgent needs for aircraft lumber, was conducted in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

Administration of the program for emergency production of rubber from guayule and other rubber-bearing plants, authorized by the act of March 5, 1942 (7. U.S.C. 171-73), has been assigned to the Forest Service. Research phases of the program are conducted by the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, and other Department

of Agriculture agencies, under plans worked out jointly with the Forest Service. With a limited seed supply and plant facilities purchased from a commercial rubber company as a nucleus, the Forest Service has expanded the acreage of guayule nurseries and field plantations. Experimental plantings and tests of goldenrod, Russian dandelion, and other possible rubber-bearing plants were made.

Rural Electrification Administration

(Boatmen's Bank Building, St. Louis, Mo.)

The Rural Electrification Administration was created by Executive Order 7037 of May 11, 1935, under authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, approved April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115). Statutory provision for the agency was made in the Rural Electrification Act of May 20, 1936 (49 Stat. 1363; 7 U.S.C. 901-14). REA became a part of the Department of Agriculture under Reorganization Plan II, effective July 1, 1939. Act of Congress approved September 21, 1944 (58 Stat. 734), liberalized the terms of REA loans and removed the time limitation from its lending program.

Loans for Rural Electric Systems.--Through self-liquidating loans, REA provided 100 percent financing for constructing rural electric facilities to serve rural people who do not have central station electric service. The law provides that, in making such loans, preference shall be give to public bodies, cooperatives, and non-profit or limited dividend associations.

Loan Terms.--The act of September 21, 1944, reduced the interest rate on all REA loans to a flat 2 percent, and increased the permissible maximum amortization period on READ loans from 25 to 35 years. These new loan terms will facilitate the construction of distribution lines into more thinly settled rural areas.

Funds Available.--Congress has authorized REA loan funds totaling approximately $525.400,000, largely from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, of which $508,000,000 has been allocated for specific use as loans to qualified borrowers up to the end of 1944. About $400,000,000 has been advanced to borrowers. Because wartime material scarcities have restricted new rural power line construction sharply since the summer of 1941, more than $100,000,000 in funds allotted for specific projects is still available and will be used by the borrowers as construction materials become available.

Half of the loan funds available for loans in any given year is reserved for loans in the various States on the basis of the proportion that each State's unelectrified farms bear to the total number of farms in the country without central station electric service. The other half of the money available may be used without State allotment, but not more than 10 percent may be loaned in any one State or Territory.

Loans for Wiring, Appliances, and Plumbing.--REA is authorized by law to finance the wiring of farmsteads and the purchase and installation of electrical appliances and plumbing. These loans may include, for example, a pressure water system for a home and farm. Loans generally are required to be repaid over a period of 5 years.

Loans for wiring, plumbing, and electrical appliances may be made to any borrower of REA funds for line construction, or to any persons, firm, or corporation supplying or installing wiring, plumbing, or electrical appliances. No loans are made direct to the consumer.

Application for Loans.--Upon inquiry, REA will furnish full information on the methods of applying for a loan and developing a rural electric system. If a project is acceptable after legal, engineering, economic, and financial studies, funds sufficient for its completion are allotted. The Government and the borrower then enter into a loan agreement and the borrower gives a note, mortgage, and in some cases other security. Funds are advanced as needed for completing the project.

REA provides engineering and legal consultation and other assistance to new borrowers. Borrowing groups are strongly urged not to incorporate until their plans have been studied by REA. They also are advised not to employ engineers or attorneys until authorized to do so.

War Activities.--Under a program to save farm labor through use of farm electrical equipment, the 820 operating REA-financed power systems brought electric service to nearly 10,000 farmers a month during 1944 in accordance with War Production Board regulations. These systems now serve more than 1,100,000 rural consumers of which about 900,000 are farms. The remaining consumers include schools, rural industries, rural non-farm residences, Army camps, Navy bases, and other establishments.

As a wartime measure, REA encourages the use of such electrical labor-saving equipment as water pumps, chick and pig brooders, milking machines, feed grinders, milk coolers, and barnyard lights.

War Food Administration

Organization.--The War Food Administration was established by Executive Order 9322 of March 26, 1943 (amended by Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943). It is under the direction of the War Food Administrator, who is appointed by and is responsible to the President.

Functions.--The War Food Administrator determines the direct and indirect, military, other governmental, civilian,and foreign requirements for human and animal food, and for food used industrially; formulates and implements a program that will supply food adequate to meet the requirements; allocates the Nation's farm production resources as needed; assigns priorities and makes allocations of food for all uses; insures the efficient and proper distribution of the available food supply; and makes recommendations to the Chairman of the War Production Board covering the quantities and types of nonfood materials, supplies, and equipment required to carry out the program of the War Food Administration.

The Administrator determines the need and amount of food available for civilian rationing, exercising his priorities and allocation powers in this connection through the Office of Price Administration.

The War Food Administrator also has responsibility for farm labor supply and farm wage and salary stabilization.

The individual functions of the various agencies consolidated within the War Food Administration are outlined in the following paragraphs.

Agricultural Adjustment Agency

The Agricultural Adjustment Agency was created as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration pursuant to the provision of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, approved May 12, 1933 (48 Stat. 31;7 U.S.C. 601). Programs carried out by the Agency are authorized by the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1281), the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (49 Stat. 163; 16 U.S.C. 590), and related legislation.

Executive Order 9280 of December 5, 1942, grouped the Agricultural Adjustment Agency with other agencies to form the Food Production Administration within the Department of Agriculture. On March 26, 1943, by Executive Order 9322, as amended by Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943, the Food Production Administration was consolidated within the War Food Administration.

Administration.--All phase of the AAA program, including commodity loans, which are made available through the Commodity Credit Corporation, are administered through State committees, composed of from three to five farmers and the State director of extension, and county and community committees elected by participating farmers from among their own number. These committees provide a direct means of informing farmers quickly and accurately on production needs and methods of fulfilling them. Chairmen of AAA State and county committees head the war boards which the United States Department of Agriculture established in each State and country to correlate the efforts of USDA agencies in assisting farmers in their war production.

The AAA Program.--The program of the Agricultural Adjustment Agency is directed primarily at helping farmers produce to meet national needs, while encouraging practices which will increase yields and conserve soil resources.

The AAA program in 1945 will have three major phases:

1. Farmers will be guided and assisted in producing up to national crop goals and in carrying out conservation measures which enable their land to contribute most to national farm production. Program payments will be made in connection with soil-and-water-conservation practices which will increase yields and maintain fertility for future production.

2. Marketing quotas in 1945 will be in effect for flue-cured and burley tobacco. (Available as a means of allocating the market among growers, marketing quotas, with penalties for excess marketings, may be used only when approved by two-thirds of the producers of a crop voting in referendum.)

3. The ever-normal granary, through which reserve stocks are held for emergency use, will continue to be available through the Commodity Credit Corporation. The foundation of the granary is the commodity storage and loan program which AAA committees help to administer in the field.

In addition, the Agency is responsible for specific war food tasks such as establishing and reviewing national crop production goals; formulating production programs for feed and livestock; planning and directing the most effective utilization of grain and other livestock feeds; and local assistant in administration of price-support measures,

war crop loans, and the distribution of feed, seed, and surplus war property to farmers.

Commodity Credit Corporation

Creation and Authority.--The Commodity Credit Corporation was created under the laws of the State of Delaware pursuant to section 2 (a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 195), and Executive Order 6340 of October 16, 1933, and was continued as an agency of the United States by the act of January 31, 1935, as amended (15 U.S.C. 713), and act of Congress of February 28, 1944 (58 Stat. 105). The Corporation was made a part of the United States Department of Agriculture by the President's Reorganization Plan I, effective July 1, 1939. By Executive Order 9322 of March 26, 1943, as amended by Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943, the Corporation was transferred to the War Food Administration.

The Corporation has an authorized capital of $100,000,000 (Executive Order 6340 and the act of January 31, 1935, (15 U.S.C. 713a) and by the act of March 8, 1938, as amended (15 U.S.C. 713a-4), is authorized to borrow, by the issuance of obligations guaranteed by the United States, not to exceed $4,000,000,000. All the Corporation's stock is owned by the United States. The War Food Administrator is authorized, under Executive Order 8219 of August 7, 1939, and Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943, to exercise on behalf of the United States all rights arising from the ownership of such stock.

Organization.--The Corporation is managed by a Board of Directors of which the War Food Administrator is Chairman, and by a President and three Vice Presidents. The principal office of the Corporation is located in Washington, D.C.

Activities.--The charter authority of the Corporation includes, among other things, the authority to buy, sell, lend upon, and engage in other activities with respect to agricultural commodities and foods. Prior to the outbreak of World War II the Corporation was engaged principally in making loans to farmers on agricultural commodities stored on farms and in warehouses. The objectives of these loans were to stabilize the prices of farm products, bring about the orderly marketing of farm products, and to accumulate supplies during years of abundance for use in years of shortage. Following the outbreak of World War II, operations were expanded to increase the production and to assure the proper distribution of food, feed, and fibers for war needs. To this end, the Corporation is now engaged in various loan, purchase, sale, and other operations.

Present activities of the Commodity Credit Corporation include making loans available to farmers of certain agricultural commodities as provided by section 8 of the Stabilization Act of October 2, 1942 (56 Stat. 767; 50 U.S.C. App. 968), as amended; the carrying out of price supporting loans, purchases, and other operations with respect to certain other agricultural commodities in accordance with the acts of Congress of July 1, 1941 (55 Stat. 498; 15 U.S.C. 713a-8), and of October 2, 1942 (56 Stat. 768; 15 U.S.C. 713a-8); the procurement,

shipment, storage, and sale of raw and processed foods and of feeds, fibers, an other agricultural commodities for lend-lease, Red Cross, and other governmental use; the administration of school lunch programs, and direct distribution programs carried out under the act of Congress of August 24, 1935, as amended (17 U.S.C. 612s); the making of determinations for submission to the War Food Administrator with respect to the allocation of the United States food supply among military, other governmental, and food claimants; the disposal of surplus food pursuant to Executive Order 9425 of February 19, 1944, and the Surplus Property Act of October 3, 1944 (58 Stat. 775); the disposal of agricultural commodities and products for export at competitive world prices pursuant to the Surplus Property Act of 1944; and the administration of war food orders issued pursuant to title III of the Second War Powers Act of March 27, 1942, as amended (56 Stat. 177; 50 U.S.C. App. 633), relating, among other things to the importation of food, the assignment of food priorities, the control of refrigeration space, and the allocation of oilseeds.

Commodity Credit Corporation loans outstanding on all commodities totaled $510,000,000 on September 30, 1944, and included loans on barley, beans, corn, cotton, flaxseed, grain sorghums, hay and pasture seeds, naval stores, peas, potatoes, rye, soybeans, tobacco, wheat, and other commodities. The Corporation owned on that date commodities having a book value of $1,541,000,000. These commodities included cotton, dairy products, fats and oils, hemp and hemp products, oilseeds and products, sugar, tobacco, wheat, wool, and various processed foods.

Extension Service

Provision for the Federal Extension Service was made in the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1924, approved February 26, 1923 (42 Stat. 1289), and Secretary's Memorandum 436, effective July 1, 1923, under which the previous office of Cooperative Extension Work and several other divisions were merged. By Executive Order 9322, dated March 26, 1943, as amended by Executive Order 9334, of April 19, 1943, the Extension Service was made a part of the War Food Administration.

Cooperative Extension Work.--The Extension Service cooperates with the State land-grand colleges in the conduct of extension work in agriculture and home economics under the Smith-Lever, Capper-Ketcham, Bankhead-Jones, and supplementary acts. It also coordinates the extension activities of the bureaus and offices of the Department with similar work carried on by the land-grant colleges.

The functions of the Extension Service are educational. An administrative and subject-matter staff headed by a State director of extension work is located at each land-grant college, and county extension agents are located in nearly all the agricultural counties. These country extension agents make available to farmers, farm home-makers, and rural youth the results of research conducted by the Department of Agriculture, the land-grant institutions,, and other research agencies, adapted to local farm and home conditions. They

also serve as an educational field force for the various action and credit agencies of the Department, explaining the provisions for participation in these programs and the fundamental principles upon which they are based. County extension agents take the lead in organizing their counties for county program making in which farm families, technicians, and administrative workers plan together to blend science, local experience, and Government aids into local programs for the common good.

War Activities.--The Extension Service, as a cooperative educational agency, carries on general wartime educational programs in production and conservation of essential agricultural products. It administers and supervises the intrastate and interstate aspects of the wartime farm labor program, including direct action through the State extension services in the recruiting and placing of farm labor (men, women, and youth) from local, urban, and interstate sources; the establishment of farm labor placement centers; the training of workers; and other phases of the emergency farm labor program not assigned to the Office of Labor.

Extension worker depend to a considerable extent on the use of demonstration and volunteer leaders as a teaching aid. Growth of the volunteer leader system has been encouraged to include neighborhood leaders whereby the remotest farm family can be reached quickly with information on the important war programs. Under a recent order, the Extension Service is organizing farm committees in every country to assist extension agents in giving advisory assistant to returning war veterans who desire to farm.

Farm Security Administration

(Headquarters Offices: Thirteenth Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington 25, D.C. Faller Building, Eighth and Walnut Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio)

Pursuant to the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, approved April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115), Executive Order 7027, of April 30, 1935, as amended, created the Resettlement Administration. That agency was transferred to the Department of Agriculture by Executive Order 7530, of December 31, 1936, as amended, and its name was changed to the Farm Security Administration by Secretary's Memorandum 732, o September 1, 1937. Executive Order 9280 of December 5, 1942, grouped the Farm Security Administration with other agencies to form the Food Production Administration within the Department of Agriculture. On March 26, 1943, by Executive Order 9322, as amended by Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943, the Food Production Administration was consolidated within the War Food Administration.

Rural Rehabilitation.--Nearly 900,000 farm families who lacked other sources of adequate credit have been aided by loans to purchase machinery, equipment, livestock, seed, feed, fertilizer, and other farm and home supplies they needed to make a living and to increase production of essential food and fiber. The loans are made for periods up to 5 years at an interest rate of 5 percent.

Loans are accompanied by technical guidance from supervisors trained in farm and home management, who help the families carry

out farm and home plans providing for increased production of essential crops and livestocks, food for home use, feed for livestock, diversification of farm enterprises, and crop rotation and soil conservation practices.

Small loans also are made to low-income farmers for the group purchase and use of farm machinery and purebred sires, which none can afford to own individually.

The Farm Security Administration aids borrower families to get medical, dental, and hospital care by setting up group health services in cooperation with local physicians and dentists.

Country committees of local farmers determine the eligibility of applicants for loans and assist in all phases of the FSA program. In addition to other services, the committees bring borrowers who are tenants and their landlords together to negotiate long-term written leases and also bring farmers and their creditors together to work out voluntary agreements for the adjustment of debts.

Farm Ownership Loans.--Under title I of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, approved July 22, 1937 (7 U.S.C. 1000-1006), the Farm Security Administration is authorized to make loans to a limited number of capable farm tenants, sharecroppers, and farm laborers to enable them to buy family-type farms.

For the first 8 fiscal years of the program, ending June 30, 1945, Congress appropriated or authorized $248,750,000 for this purpose. These loans are repayable over a period of 40 years at 3 percent interest. Funds have been distributed amount the States and Territories n the basis of farm population and prevalence of tenancy. Applicants must be citizens of the United States. By June 30, 1944, loans had been approved for 36,426 families for the purchase of family-type farms.

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 291), approved June 22, 1944, provided that World War Ii veterans are eligible for farm ownership loans under the Bankhead-homes Farm Tenant Act the same as farm tenants f they are qualified by experience of training to carry out successfully the undertakings required of them under the loans.

Water Facilities.--In the 17 western States, the Farm Security Administration makes loans and supplies technical assistance to farmers and ranchers for the construction or repair of water facilities, such as ponds, windmills, pumps, storage tanks, and irrigation ditches, which they need in order to make better use of their land resources. More than 10,500 farmers have improved their farming operations through this service.

Water Conservation and Utilization Program.--The Farm Security Administration participates in the long-range water conservation and utilization program to develop irrigation projects in the arid and semiarid sections of the western States, and to settle low-income farm families on the irrigated land.

Liquidation of Resettlement Projects.--When the Farm Security Administration was created it assumed the management of the resettlement projects that had been started by preceding agencies. The projects were instituted to give groups of low-income farm families

stranded on worn-out land an opportunity to make a new start on farms capable of producing an adequate living, and to develop better patterns of rural life. The nonfarm projects were transferred to the Federal Public Housing Authority on October 1, 1942. The 152 farm projects are now being liquidated, and the units are being sold to the residents. Private owners had received quitclaim deeds to 3,500 of the 8,960 units by June 30, 1944; purchase commitments were outstanding fo 2,715 units; and 286 units had been transferred to other Government agencies or sold for cash. There were 2,459 units not yet sold.

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

The Corporation was created within the Department of Agriculture under title V of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, cited as the Federal Crop Insurance Act, approved February 16, 1938 (15 Stat. 72; 7 U.S.C. 1501). This act provided for the insurance of wheat crops but it was amended June 21, 1941 (55 Stat. 255; 7 U.S.C. 1502) to extend insurance protection to cotton crops. The 1944 and 1945 Agricultural Appropriation Acts provided that funds appropriated for the Corporation could be used for no other purpose than to liquidate existing contracts on the wheat and cotton crops planted prior to July 31, 1943. However, the Federal Crop Insurance Act was further amended December 23, 1944 (Public Law 551, 78th Cong., 2d sess.) removing the restrictions of the 1944 and 1945 Agricultural Appropriation Acts and providing for the insurance of the wheat, cotton, and flax crops planted for harvest in 1945. The amendment also provided for trial insurance on corn and tobacco in 1945 and on other crops in subsequent years in not to exceed 20 representative counties.

The Corporation is authorized to provide insurance protection against loss in yield due to unavoidable hazards, with the alternative that the protection on trial crops may be against loss of a percentage of the investment in the crop rather than against loss in yield.

Premiums sufficient to pay indemnities and to establish a reserve for unforseen losses are to be collected from the insured growers. To assure payment of indemnities during years of adverse insurance experience, the Corporation was provided in the original cat with an authorized capital stock of $100,000,000, but the amendment of December 23, 1944, provides that no part of this stock may be used after the crop year 1949. The costs of administration are paid by direct annual appropriations.

Office of Labor

The Office of Labor, created by the War Food Administrator on June 21, 1943, administers chiefly the foreign phase of the farm labor supply program and also exercises the Administrator's authority in the field of farm wage and salary stabilization. The Administrator's responsibility for these activities is derived from Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943; from legislation; and from the regulations of the Economic Stabilization Director of August 28, 1943, as amended, relative to wages and salaries.

Specific functions of the Office of Labor are to arrange with foreign countries for obtaining farm workers for the United States; contract with foreign workers selected for agricultural work in the United States; contract with employers for the use of foreign farm workers; provide necessary transportation, shelter, subsistence, and health and medical services for foreign farm workers; operate all farm labor supply camps owned or leased by WFA which are used wholly or in part for the housing of interstate or other migratory labor; provide shelter, subsistence, and health and medical services for interstate domestic farm labor transported at Government expense when such labor is housed in Office of Labor camps; provide health and medical services for migratory agricultural workers entering the areas served by Office of Labor camps; handle negotiations between WFA and the War Department for the utilization of prisoners or war as agricultural workers; stabilize wages and salaries of agricultural labor; and investigate and present to appropriate Government agencies the labor problems of the food processing and distributing industries.

All other farm labor functions of the War Food Administration, including both intrastate and interstate aspects, have been assigned to the Federal-State Cooperative Extension Service.

During the calendar year 1943 the farm labor supply program was carried out under terms of the act of Congress of April 29, 1943 (57 Stat. 70; 50 U.S.C. App. 4351). During the calendar year 1944 this program was continued by act of February 14, 1944 (48 Stat. 11); through 1945, by act of December 22, 1944 (Public Law 367, 78th Cong. 2d sess.). Also, funds were provided in the 1945 Agricultural Appropriation Act to enable the War Food Administrator, through the Office of Labor, to administer the farm wage and salary stabilization program during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1945.

Office of Marketing Services

The Office of Marketing Services was established as an agency of the War Food Administration on January 1, 1945. Its functions, among others, were formerly administered by the Office of Distribution, which was abolished on that date.

The Office of Marketing Services initiates and administers certain food orders; develops and promulgates standards; conducts inspection, grading, and classification of farm and food products; administers regulatory acts governing trading and market operations and marketing-agreement programs; conducts marketing studies and research; collects and disseminates marketing statistics and market news; provides the inspection and grading services required in procurement programs under the War Program; administers programs aimed at improving the nutrition and well-being of civilians; and works with industry on wartime food problems.

Food Orders and Rationing.--Various wartime programs carried out by the Office of Marketing Services derive their authority from food orders issued by the War Food Administrator. Authority to issue conservation and limitation orders governing food, previously vested in the War Production Board, was transferred to the Department of Agriculture under Executive Order 9280 of December 5, 1942,

and a number of these orders have been reissued and are now administered by the Office of Marketing Services. Food orders administered by OMS are designed to assure equitable distribution of available supplies, and to effect economies and conserve facilities in marketing and distribution.

Marketing and Transportation Programs.--The Office of Marketing Services conducts a Nation-wide market news service, as well as inspection and grading services, and is responsible for programs dealing with the physical distribution and handling of farm products between the farmer and the consumer, including various aspects of transportation, storage, processing, standardization, market organization, and marketing facilities.

Current information on market supply-and-demand conditions, movement, quality, and prices of livestock, meats, wool, fruits, vegetables, dairy and poultry products, grain, hay, feed, cotton and cottonseed, tobacco, rice, honey, and other farm products is sent to producing districts the country over by wire, radio, newspaper, and mail.

Official standards have been formulated for nearly all farm products, including a number of processed foods. These standards serve as a yardstick with which producers, dealers, and consumers may measure quality and provide a basis for market quotations. in most cases the use of the official standards is voluntary. For commodities such as meats, butter, eggs, and a number of canned fruits and vegetables, the use of labels or stamps makes it possible to carry the official grade designations through merchandising channels to consumers.

An inspection service is available in many of the principal producing areas and receiving centers on fruits and vegetables, hay, beans, grain, tobacco, and other products. Grading service is available on dairy and poultry products, rice, meats, wool, and canned fruits and vegetables. Classification service is provided upon request from groups of producers organized for the improvement of their cotton. Mandatory and free inspection of tobacco is provided at designated auction markets where at least a two-thirds majority of producers, voting in a referendum, have expressed a desire for the service. Food purchased for the armed forces and for domestic distribution to families receiving public aid, for school lunch programs, for shipment by the Red Cross, and for the lend-lease program are inspected.

Meat sold in interstate or foreign commerce and by firms operating under Federal inspection for the purpose of supplying Government agencies is inspected for freedom ]from disease and for wholesomeness for human consumption.

Under the authority of section 201 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Office of Marketing Services represents the farmers before railroad, other transportation companies, and the Interstate Commerce Commission, to obtain for them equitable freight rates and the needed transportation facilities and services.

Research is conducted on the standardization, classification, grading, preparation for market, handling, storage, and other phases of the marketing of farm and food products.

A large number of market service and regulatory statutes are administered. The more strictly regulatory laws are the Commodity Exchange Act, the Twenty-eight Hour law, the Perishable Agricultural

Commodities Act, the Produce Agency Act, the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act, the Sugar Act of 1937, the Packers and Stockyards Act, the Standard Container Acts, the Federal Seed Act, the Insecticide Act, the Naval Stores Act, the Dairy Exports Act, and the Tobacco Seed and Plant Exportation Act. Service statutes include the Cotton Grade and Staple Statistics Act, the Tobacco Stocks and Standards Act, the Peanut Statistics Act, and the Warehouse Act. Others, primarily standardization laws, are the Cotton Futures Act, the Cotton Standards Act, the Grain Standards Act, the Export Apples and Pear Act, the Wool Standards Act, and the Tobacco Inspection Act.

Nutrition Programs.--The Office of Marketing Services, in cooperation with other Federal agencies and with approximately 3,000 State and local nutrition committees, operates a program of nutrition education.

Office of Materials and Facilities

The Office of Materials and Facilities, established by the War Food Administrator on May 10, 1943, is responsible for all materials, supplies, machinery, equipment, and facilities programs of the War Food Administration.

The Office develops and administers all programs having to do with obtaining allocations of strategic and critical materials for use in food production and processing. It also cooperates with agencies which dispose of surplus war property in devising ways to make such property available for purchase by rural people.

Office of Price

The Office of Price, established by War Food Administrator's Memorandum 27, Supplement 4, January 21, 1944, has supervision over all functions of the Administration relating to approval of maximum prices to be fixed for agricultural commodities or products, and relating to price support programs in connection with particular commodities.

The Office prepares and reviews recommendations covering commodities to be supported and the levels and methods of support; and works in close liaison with the Office of Price Administration and the Office of Economic Stabilization on matters relating to maximum price regulations or price support programs.

Soil Conservation Service

The Soil Conservation Service was established pursuant to the provisions of the Soil Conservation Act, approved April 27, 1935 (49 Stat. 163; 16 U.S.C. 590 a-f). Executive Order 9280 of December 56, 1942, grouped the Soil Conservation Service with other agencies to form the Food Production Administration within the Department of Agriculture. On March 26, 1943, by Executive Order 9322, as amended by Executive Order 9334 of April 19, 1943, the Food Production Administration was consolidated within the War Food Administration.

The basic purpose of the Soil Conservation Service is to aid in bringing about desirable physical adjustments in land use with a view to bettering human welfare, conserving natural resources, establishing a permanent and balanced agriculture, and reducing the hazards of floods and siltation. Currently, the Service also is directing its work toward increasing and maintaining vital farm production for war, as well as maintenance of the land's productive capacity for the future.

Soil and Water Conservation and Use.--The Service promotes the application and use of soil and water conservation and utilization practices and of erosion control practices in agriculture through assistance in the form of technical, material, and equipment aid to soil conservation districts organized under State laws and operated under local farmer direction; and supervision of the work programs of Civilian Public Service camps assigned to soil conservation districts in the 45 States that have enacted soil conservation district laws; the districts include approximately 439,268,677 acres of farm lands and roughly 3,057,938 farms. Information on the steps necessary to form such a district may be obtained from country agricultural agents, field offices of the Service, or State Conservation Committees. Farmers and ranchers in soil conservation districts make their applications to the local district governing bodies for technical, material, and equipment aid.

Land drainage is the responsibility of the Service where such work is part of a coordinated program of soil conservation, erosion control, and wise land use. Under the guidance of the Service, draining operations are performed on agricultural lands which thus can be made suitable for sustained production of cultivated crops and forage. The Service furnishes technical assistance on drainage operations to soil conservation districts and drainage enterprises.

Water conservation and economical use in farm irrigation is encouraged by the Soil Conservation Service through technical assistance to irrigation enterprises and to soil conservation districts. This technical assistance has as its objective the most economical and beneficial uses of water supplies for maximum production with improvement, or minimum deterioration, of the soil.

In cooperation with other departmental agencies and the Army Engineers, the Soil Conservation Service undertakes studies of the country's watersheds, preliminary to possible flood control operations on agricultural land. A considerable number of the detailed surveys result in the conclusion that the expenditure of Federal flood control funds is justified for the installation of watershed improvement programs for flood control purposes. The Flood control survey work of the Department was suspended July 1, 1943, for the duration of the war because of the necessity of concentrating on activities more vital to the war effort.

Soil Conservation Research.--In cooperation with State agricultural experiment stations, the Service conducts investigations into the character, cause, and effect of soil erosion and water depletion, and develops methods of soil and water conservation, including drainage and irrigation.

Purchase, Improvement, and Management of Submarginal Land.--Agricultural lands which are submarginal or not primarily suitable for cultivation, are purchased by the Service and improved and managed to bring about needed land-use adjustments. These lands are improved primarily for grazing and forestry purposes with incidental wildlife and recreational uses. Permits are granted to farmers and ranchers providing for uses consistent with the conservation and restoration of the resources. Submarginal land purchases aggregate more than 10,000,000 acres to date. Of this acreage, the Soil Conservation Service manages approximately 7,400,000 acres. Land purchases were discontinued for the duration of the war as of July 1, 1942. No new purchases are contemplated in the fiscal years 1945 or 1946.

Cooperation With War Agencies.--The extensive cartographic facilities of the Service are being utilized by war agencies. Technical assistance, including engineering and agronomic work, is given war agencies by the Soil Conservation Service in planning or establishing conservation practices on military or naval areas, internment camps, war industry sites, and Civil Aeronautics airfields.

Office of Surplus Property and Reconversion

The Office of Surplus Property and Reconversion was established on October 26, 1944, by order of the War Food Administrator. The Office has supervision over all functions of the War Food Administration and the Department of Agriculture relating to surplus property, war mobilizaton and reconversion, and contract settlement activities.

Office of Transportation

The Office of Transportation, established by the War Food Administrator on May 26, 1943, has the function of coordinating the transportation work of the various agencies of the War Food Administration, and is responsible for formulating and supervising the execution of general transportation policies and for directing War Food Administration activities in connection with the movement of food and farming and food processing materials of facilities within, into, and out of the country.

Office of Water Utilization

The Office of Water Utilization, established by the War Food Administrator on November 10, 1944, coordinates the functions and responsibilities of the agencies of the War Food Administration with respect to all phases of water development, use, and disposal. In carrying out these responsibilities, the Office serves in a liaison capacity between agencies of the Administration and other agencies of the Government; appraises contributions to food production of proposed water programs and projects developed by or submitted to the War Food Administration for recommendations; and maintains relations with research agencies working in the field of water development, use, and disposal, and aids in the summarization and interpretation of research results pertinent and effective to water programs of agencies of the Administration.

USDA War Boards

United States Department of Agriculture War Boards are organized in each State and in each of the 3,022 agricultural counties of the United States, in Puerto Rico, in Hawaii, and in Alaska. The Boards are composed of a principal field officer from each of the following agencies of the Department: Agricultural Adjustment Agency (chairman), Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Farm Credit Administration, Farm Security Administration, Forest Service, Rural Electrification Administration, Soil Conservation Service, and Agricultural Extension Service. State Commissioners of Agriculture and State Supervisors of Vocational Agriculture, and comparable county representatives are also members of the State and Country War Boards.

The principal functions of the State and Country War Boards are to coordinate the work of Department field agencies and to cooperate with war agencies outside the Department. Among other activities, the War Boards advise farmers regarding sources of credit; make recommendations to Selective Service Boards regarding the deferment of farm operators and agricultural workers; promote designated programs of a patriotic nature, such as bond drives, salvage and scrap programs, and other wartime campaigns; and make recommendations to the War Food Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture concerning the establishment, modification, or termination of existing programs.

The National War Board, composed of the heads of major agencies of the Department of Agriculture and the War Food Administration, directs the functions and activities of the State and Country War Boards.

Staff Offices--Department of Agriculture and War Food Administration

Bureau of Agricultural Economics

This Bureau was created by the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1923, approved May 11, 1922, merging three existing units of the Department (42 Stat. 532; 7 U.S.C. 411). Extensively reorganized under Secretary's Memorandum 782, October 6, 1938, its work since has been put on a wartime footing by Executive Order 9069, of February 23, 1942, and Executive Order 9280 of December 5, 1942.

Economic and Social Research.--The Bureau of Agricultural Economics is the central statistical and economic research agency of the Department. It collects, analyzes, and publishes a wide variety of facts about agriculture. These include data on production, demand and supply, consumption, prices, costs and income, marketing, transportation, labor, agricultural finance, farm management, credit, taxation, land and water utilization, and other aspects of agricultural production and distribution. The Bureau also conducts studies of rural population problems, standards of living, and rural attitudes. Its agricultural research and analyses, in addition to their usefulness to the general public and to many State and Federal agencies, help provide facts needed by the Department in forming national administrative

policies. In this connection, the Bureau assists in the formulation of Department-wide policies, thus insuring integration of current research data with the work of policy-making.

As part of its work with costs and income, the Bureau is responsible for continual determination of parity prices, or comparable prices, for agricultural commodities. By law, all ceilings as well as certain other actions relating to prices for farm products must bear a specified relationship to the parity prices or comparable prices of those products.

Agricultural Statistics.--National and State estimates and reports of many kinds, including monthly crop reports, are collected, compiled, and published by the Bureau. Through the cooperation of many thousands of volunteer reporters--farmers, local merchants, and processors--it obtains data and provides estimates of acreage, yield, production, farm utilization, and sales of more than 100 crops; milk and egg production and consumption; prices received and paid by farmers at local markets; wages and employment of farm labor; and current data on the movement, utilization, and stocks of various farm products.

Office of Budget and Finance

The Office of Budget and Finance exercises general direction and supervision of budgetary and financial affairs of the Department, including acquisition and distribution of funds, accounting, fiscal management, purchasing, warehousing, and related activities; formulates and promulgates departmental budgetary and financial policies and, in cooperation with staff and program agencies, develops improvements in management and operation of departmental activities; acts as liaison office on budgetary, fiscal, and procurement matters with the Bureau of the Budget, General Accounting office, the congressional Committees no Appropriations, the Treasury Department, including the Procurement Division, and other agencies.

Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations

The Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations has for more than 20 years been collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information on foreign competition and demand for farm products and agricultural policy. Its primary purpose is to study the factors influencing the food supply and needs of foreign countries, competition, trade barriers, production and marketing, and other developments affecting American agriculture.

Since the outbreak of the war, the work of the office has been focused on projects related to the war effort. Among these are the preparation of reports for the Army and Navy and other war agencies on the food situation and problem in enemy and allied countries; preparation of handbooks on the agriculture of enemy-occupied countries, for the use of the Allied Military Governments; assistance in the formulation of plans for the relief and rehabilitation of agriculture in liberated areas; and the encouragement of production in the Western Hemisphere of tropical agricultural products formerly imported from the Far East.

This Office represents the Secretary of Agriculture and the War Food Administrator by acting as liaison between the Department and other agencies on matters having to do with foreign activities. the development of programs for agriculture, and general questions relating to relief, reconstruction, and trade.

The development of agriculture in the Western Hemisphere, particularly with Latin American republics, is handled by a staff that represents the Department on projects relating to the securing of supplies of strategic materials, assisting American republics in improving their agriculture, the development of experiment stations, and the employment of trained personnel.

The Office obtains its information from the following principal sources: the United States Foreign Service through the agricultural attachés, consular and diplomatic posts abroad which report regularly under schedules prepared by the Office; specialists on agriculture which the Office itself sends abroad from time to time; liaison and informational exchange with the ministries of agriculture and other agricultural agencies of the various governments of the world; international agricultural organizations; and foreign governmental and private crop and market reports, and other publications.

Office of Information

An Office of Information was provided for as early as 1913. From 1920 to 1925 the functions were performed under other names, but the present title was reestablished by Secretary's Memorandum 528 of April 2, 1925, and the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1927. approved May 11, 1926 (44 Stat. 499).

Agricultural Publications.--This Office handles all matters connected with publications of the Department of Agriculture and the War Food Administration. Through several series of technical and popular publications it makes available, to farmers and the public generally, information concerning wartime food and fiber needs, and results of research, conservation, regulatory, and service work of the Department. Popular publications may be obtained through Members of COngress, country agents of the Extension Service, or direct from the Department in Washington. Technical publications are printed in small volume for scientific workers and cooperators.

,b>Agricultural Exhibits Service.--Through production and display of educational exhibits and through correlation of exhibit activities of the Department, the Agricultural Exhibits Service places before farmers, homemakers, and the rural public information on currently important agricultural situations and subjects, and especially the results of research.

Press and Radio Releases.--The Office of Information cooperates with the press and with radio stations in disseminating useful information concerning the food production programs as they relate to the war needs as well as other important programs of the Department in an effort to help farmers reduce production costs, conserve the soil, improve the quality of their products, and widen their markets. The national radio networks and more than 500 radio stations daily donate broadcasting time to the Department for this purpose.

Motion Picture Service.--The Office of Information, through its Motion Picture Service, produces and distributes motion pictures designed to interpret, to farm people primarily, the war problems and programs for agriculture and to guide and instruct them in the production and disposition of the food, fiber, and oil crops required in order to enable them better to assist in the prosecution of the war.

Office of Personnel

This Office plans, organizes, and carries out a comprehensive program of personnel management to aid officials in making the most effective use of the human resources in the Department; develops and promulgates Department personnel policies, and establishes and directs the maintenance of standards for organization, position classification, salary administration, recruitment and selection, transfer and promotions, training, employee relations, safety, health, and investigations; acts as the liaison office on matters of personnel administration with all governmental or private agencies concerned with the work of this Department.

Office of Plant and Operations

The Office of Plant and Operations is responsible for the planning, initiation, development, coordination, and execution of the operational activities of the Department, in Washington and in the field, as they relate to departmental housing, communications services, conservation and utilization of departmental equipment; technical advisory service where engineering principles are involved in the procurement, operation, and maintenance of equipment; motor transport service, central supply, passenger transportation, surplus property; and administrative functions of the Office of the Secretary.

Library

The Department of Agriculture Library, which contains more than 500,000 volumes, is the largest agricultural research library in the world. It provides reference and bibliographic services to the entire country and its monthly Bibliography of Agriculture makes the literature of agriculture available to everyone who needs it.

In addition to the Main Library, there are nine branches which provide service to the staff of the Department in the field.

During the last year the Library circulated more than 1,000,000 books and periodicals, answered almost 130,000 reference questions, and compiled, printed, processed, and typewritten bibliographies on more than 100 subjects relating to the prosecution of the war.

Office of the Solicitor

The Office of the Solicitor is the law office of the Department. The law requires that "the legal work of the Department of Agriculture shall be performed under the supervision and direction of the SOlicitor" (5 U.S.C. 518).

The Solicitor and the attorneys of his office advise the Secretary, the War Food Administrator, and other administrative officials on legal problems in connection with Department activities. These activities pertain, among other things, to production, distribution, conservation, credit, electrification, reconversion, and research. They assist in the preparation of proposed legislative bills, administrative rules and regulations, orders, and proclamations. They prepare formal legal opinions relative to the application of statutes, Executive orders, and administrative rules and regulations.

The Solicitor's Office also takes part in drafting, examining, and construing contracts, deeds, mortgages, leases, and other documents. It approves the organization of cooperative associations, soil conservation districts, and similar instrumentalities, and assists in determining their eligibility for participation in Department programs.

Other activities of the Office include the examination of evidence to determine whether there have been violations of acts or orders administered by the Department and the War Food Administration. In proper cases, the Solicitor recommends prosecution or other action to the Attorney General. Pleadings and briefs in civil and criminal cases involving the Department and laws administered by it are prepared by the Office, which cooperates with the Department of Justice in handling such litigation in the lower and appellate courts.

The Solicitor's Office represents the Department as counsel at hearing before the Secretary or the War Food Administrator. The Office handles contacts on legal matters with other State and Federal governmental agencies. It conducts administrative hearing in reparation and similar proceedings, and issues tentative findings, conclusions, and orders with respect thereto, under the various acts administered by the Department and War Food Administration.

The Office of the Solicitor also prosecutes, for employees of the Department, applications for patents on inventions which are to be used in departmental work. It examines the titles to lands authorized for purchase by the Department or on which loans may be made by the Department. The Office considers and recommends the appropriate disposition of claims for damage to property of the United States in the custody of the Department and of claims against the Government for damage arising from operations of the Department.

Approved.

Claude R. Wickard
Secretary of Agriculture
Marvin Jones
War Food Administrator