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in the personnel. An agricultural editor was first employed by the college in 1914 to carry on editorial and publicity work. Frank C. Dean first served in this capacity. He was succeeded by Prof. Floyd Wambeam in 1916, in 1918 Prof. C. A. Lewis took up the, work, and in 1922 this work was for the second time placed in charge of the author of this history. Agricultural journalism is now taught in the College of Agriculture. For several years a course was offered by the extension service for the benefit of those students who planned on going into agricultural extension work upon graduation.Prof. F. J. Alway, professor of agricultural chemistry, resigned in 1913, being succeeded by Prof. F. W. Upson.
Agricultural botany had become plant pathology and physiology by 1917. Prof. E. Mead Wilcox resigned April 1, 1920. He was succeeded a few months later by Prof. G. L. Peltier. Both of these departments, as far as the instructional work is concerned, are now under the direction of the departments in the Arts College. Professor Upson is now chairman of the department of chemistry in the University. Prof. J. W. Calvin, who resigned September 1, 1920, and Prof. M. J. Blish, the present chemist, have carried on the work for the experiment station. The station chemist and station plant pathologist are in charge of their respective lines of work in the Agricultural College.
Prof. A. L. Haecker, for fifteen years connected with the dairy department, resigned in 1911. Prof. J. H. Frandsen succeeded him. He resigned December 1, 1920, and, was succeeded by Prof. H. P. Davis in 1921.
Prof. H. R. Smith, for eleven years a professor of animal husbandry, resigned February 1, 1912, to go to the College of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota. Later he became livestock commissioner of the Chicago Livestock Exchange. He was succeeded by Prof. Ralph K. Bliss of the Iowa State College. In 1914 Professor Bliss returned to the Iowa State College, and Prof. H. J. Gramlich, who had grown up in the department, became its head.
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Dr. L. Van Es was called from the North Dakota Agricultural College in 1918 to take charge of the department of animal pathology and hygiene. Dr. J. H. Gain, who had long been associated with the college in that work, resigned in 1920.In the department of horticulture Prof. R. A. Emerson resigned in 1914 to take a position as head of the department of plant breeding at Cornell University, later to become dean of the graduate college there. Prof. R. F. Howard was then selected as head. He resigned to take effect in 1924 in order to devote himself to active farming operations in Texas. Prof. C. C. Wiggans was appointed his successor.
There were a number of changes in the department of home economics. Miss Rosa Bouton, who had established the work back in the nineties, was succeeded by Miss Alice M. Loomis in 1913. Miss Julia M. Vance was acting head of the department in 1917 and Miss Margaret Fedde became chairman (heads of departments had now become known as chairmen) of the department in 1919.
Prof. O. W. Sjogren became chairman of the department of agricultural engineering in 1920 when Prof. L. W. Chase resigned to enter commercial work. Professor Chase had been largely responsible for the great development of agricultural engineering during this period.
In the department of entomology Prof. M. H. Swenk became chairman in 1919. Professor Bruner, who has given more than a quarter of a century to the service of the institution, is still associated with the department, altho he has been relieved from the more arduous duties in connection with it. The name of Professor Bruner is one of the best known among those who gave their services to the agricultural work of the institution during the nineties and early 1900's. Professor Bruner was chosen to represent the State of Nebraska at the San Francisco Exposition as the state's most distinguished citizen.
Toward the close of this period the College of Agriculture began to offer students all the advantages of a small
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college coupled with those of a big University. Students had the advantage of intimate association with fellow students on the college's own campus, and at the same time they could take part in all University affairs, and be a part of the larger University. A better student spirit developed, Departmental clubs and organizations began to be formed. In 1916 the first Farmers' Fair was held, consisting of a parade and a day's entertainment on the college campus. Toward the close of this period there was a concerted effort to have the farm designated as "Agricultural College." For several years it had been known as "State Farm" and later as "University Farm," but the new name best indicated its real purpose.THE SCHOOLS OF AGRICULTURE
It is now possible to speak of "schools of agriculture" instead of "school of agriculture," for the Legislature in 1911 provided for another secondary school, to be located in southwestern Nebraska. It was to do for the western farm boy and girl what the school in Lincoln had been doing for the boys and girls of the state in general. An appropriation of $100,000 was made by the Legislature, and the Board of Public Lands and Buildings was authorized to pick out the site and arrange for the building.
The Nebraska School of Agriculture, as it was called, was located at Curtis in Frontier County. A substantial brick building, besides other necessary structures, was erected, and the school opened to students in September, 1913. Its enrollment in 1913-14 was 121, including 56 men and 65 women. The next year the enrollment was 199, and for the succeeding years, 193, 161, 141, 143, 175, 172, 197, and for 1922-23, 230. A remarkable feature of this school has been the large number of women in attendance. In 1922-23, for instance, there were 120 women and 110 men.
Besides a regular eight months' course, the school offers a special two months' term after the holidays each year for the man or boy who must stay on the farm most of the
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year, and a summer session affording eight weeks' training and instruction for rural teachers. Primarily the school aims to fit young people for a successful life in the open country. It offers all the courses of the ordinary high school and in addition the industrial and agricultural subjects, such as wood work, soils, stock judging, forge work, farm machinery, and the like, for the boys, and sewing, cooking, art and decoration, home nursing, and similar subjects for girls. In addition, there is special work for those who desire to prepare to teach, as well as for those who desire to enter the University of Nebraska on. completion of the course.The school maintains a demonstration farm of 475 acres for working out the practical farming problems of that section of the state. The buildings now include, besides the main building, a superintendent's residence, a gymnasium, a building for agricultural engineering, residences for the engineer and foreman, as well as the necessary barns and sheds.
Cyrus V. Williams was the first superintendent of the Curtis School. He was succeeded about 1918 by Allan P. Davidson. Charles K. Morse has been superintendent since 1919.
The School of Agriculture at Lincoln continued to hold its own. But it may possibly be said that just as this school overshadowed the agricultural courses of the Industrial College in the early 1900's, so today the College of Agriculture overshadows the school. But had it not been for the school, probably it would have been many years before the college farm attained its present-day development. That the school has held its own in the face of the development of agricultural and home economics instruction in the high schools of the state, as well as the development of more four-year high schools, is encouraging.
The attendance in the school for 1910-11 was 602, and for the successive years 574, 661, 688, 618, 623, 632, 526, 793, 895, 686, and 589. The numbers registered in the
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regular full-year course beginning with 1916-17 were for the respective years 475, 361, 319, 461, 348, 266, and 173. The number of women in attendance upon the regular course has seldom been much more than one-third the number of men, except in the War years. The attendance in the full-year course suffered during the War years as it did in the recent financial depression. The total number of graduates of the school is today in the neighborhood of 1,000.The catalog of the School of Agriculture, published in 1910, announced a four years' course in place of a three years' course of instruction. Agriculture in February, 1912, announced a number of changes in the course offered in the School of Agriculture. "Beginning with the next school year, normal training will be added to the course of study in the School of Agriculture," said this announcement. "The course as a whole has been revised and the work of the senior year of the four years' course will hereafter consist of three groups, the Technical, the University Preparatory, and the Normal Training." The University preparatory course was for those who expected to enter the state university, the technical course for those who planned to go back on the farm at the completion of their work, and the normal training group for those who planned to teach in the rural and village schools. This plan of work has been largely followed to the present day.
In addition to the four-year agricultural and home economics courses, there have been from year to year special short courses dealing with such subjects as general agriculture, farm motors, farm tractors, buttermaking, animal pathology, and poultry; in fact, any subject for which there seems to be a special demand may be offered. These winter courses, which last from one week to about one month, are of particular value to mature men, who can get away from the farm for only a short time each winter.
Prof. A. E. Davisson, the first principal of the School of Agriculture, died in 1911. He was succeeded by Prof. Fred
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M. Hunter, who later was to have a successful public school career, serving as superintendent of the schools of Lincoln, Neb., and Oakland, Cal., and becoming president of the National Education Association. Prof. Harry E. Bradford became principal of the school in 1912, and has since remained in charge. Miss Mary Virginia Zimmer is assistant principal of the school, succeeding Miss Julia Loughridge in this capacity in 1917.The Legislature in 1917 provided for the establishment of a School of Irrigation in Scotts Bluff County. The site for the school was located near Scottsbluff and in 1919 an appropriation of $60,000 for improvements and maintenance was made. This school was under the College of Engineering and so we are concerned with it only in passing here. The school had an attendance of twenty-three students in 1920-21 and fourteen in 1921-22. It has now been abolished.
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
Perhaps the outstanding development in connection with the College of Agriculture during the last twelve years was the marked growth of agricultural extension, with its extension schools, county agents, home demonstration agents, boys' and girls' club work, a press service, county fair exhibits, extension bulletins and circulars, and other forms of activity. The passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914 furnishing federal aid for this work as had been done for the general work of the college and the experiment station marked the beginning of extension work on a really ambitious and comprehensive scale. Then came the World War and for a year or so the Agricultural Extension Service with its plans for food conservation and increased production thruout the state found itself perhaps the most important line of work in the College.
We have already learned of the great development of farmers' institutes, but this was a case where the child outgrew the parent. The farmers' institute was the father
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of the extension work, but it was only a comparatively few years before the other lines of agricultural extension had completely swallowed up the old-time institute.The climax of the farmers' institute movement was reached in the year ending June 30, 1913, when 224 institutes were held. Then came a gradual decline. For the full year 1914 (reports were now made by the calendar year) there were 186 institutes and also 20 short courses, for 1915 153 institutes, and for 1916 121 institutes. In 1916 there were fifteen short courses. In the annual report of the extension service for the year ending June 30, 1918 (this report apparently was brought to a close at that time), there is this statement:
"Farmers' Institutes have gradually been discontinued in Nebraska and in their place has been substituted the work of the Farm Bureau with its special meetings and definite program of work. Four days' short courses in agriculture and home economics are frequently conducted. A few institutes still survive in some parts of the state, but these are being encouraged to affiliate with the Farm Bureau and to turn their program into its program."
The passing of the farmers' institute was marked by the development of the county agent and farm bureau movement. Even the short course, or institute lasting several days and conducted in the nature of a school, was finally merged into the work of the county farm bureau, with practical demonstrations carried on in every section of the county. Instead of a state-wide unit, there was a tendency in later years to develop a county unit.
As in the case of the development of most special lines of activity, there was one man who was particularly responsible for the great development of agricultural extension in Nebraska. In 1911, Charles W. Pugsley, who had been associated with the department of agronomy, became superintendent of agricultural extension, at the same time retaining charge of farm management. In September of that year the name of the department having the extension work in charge was changed from farmers' institute department to agricultural extension department. In 1914
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the name of the department was changed to Extension Service of the College of Agriculture and Mr. Pugsley became known as the director. In a comparatively few years this work had grown from a little office in Agricultural Hall to a department covering an entire floor. For about seven years Mr. Pugsley played an important part in the development of this work in Nebraska. He later was assistant secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture and now (1923) is president of the South Dakota Agricultural College.For several years there had been employed in different sections of the United States what were known as farm demonstrators, or county agricultural agents. These men went about assisting the farmers in developing special lines of work, such as hog cholera eradication, cow testing, improved farm practices, in fact, anything that would make for better farming in the community. In the earlier days one man might cover several counties. These men were first supported by local appropriations, or in many cases by funds supplied by the General Education Board, by corporations, or by banks interested in the improvement of agriculture in certain sections.
The first county in Nebraska to employ such an agent was Merrick County. V. S. Culver began work there in 1912, without any special government or state aid, his support coming from private funds. The real beginning of the county agent movement in Nebraska, however, dates from the passage by the Nebraska Legislature in 1913 of a law, providing for the partial support of such agents by county funds. This law provided that upon a petition signed by at least 10 per cent of the farm land owners in any county in the state, the board might set aside from the county general fund a sum of money to employ or assist in employing such a farm demonstrator. The duties of the county agent were outlined as follows:
"The county farm demonstrator shall work under the direction of the agricultural extension department of the University of Nebraska.
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It shall be his duty to co-operate in every way possible with the farmers of the county that the best farm practice for that county may be determined. He shall co-ordinate and apply the results of the work conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, the various experiment stations and colleges of agriculture and especially the Nebraska Experiment Station and College of Agriculture and also such general studies and farm practices as may be made by him in the course of his work, with the view of carrying to the farmers of the county or community on their own farms, the most successful and productive methods in agriculture. He shall aid in the organization and direction of agriculture in the county where he is employed, and shall co-operate with agricultural clubs and other associations and organizations whose object is the betterment of rural conditions throughout the county. Each farm demonstrator shall devote his entire time to this work and shall be directly responsible to the party in charge of such work in the agricultural extension department of the University of Nebraska."This law put official sanction on the work of the county agent in Nebraska. About this time other counties began to think about county agents. In 1912 and the early part of 1913 some organization work had been done in Seward and Gage Counties by representatives from the college at Lincoln. A. E. Anderson had been employed on November 1, 1912, to give attention to the organization of county farmers' organizations for the employment of farm demonstrators, or agents. On February 1, 1913, O. H. Liebers was employed as county agent in Gage County. On March 1, Mr. Anderson became county agent in Seward County, securing practical experience for his later work as state leader. On July 1, 1913, A. H. Beckhoff became county agent of Seward County, and Mr. Anderson returned to Lincoln to give his entire time to the extension work. On May 1, 1913, J. F. Coupe became county agent of Thurston County. So we have here the beginnings of the county agent work in four Nebraska counties, Merrick, Gage, Seward and Thurston. No more counties took up the work until 1914. In that year four more county agents began work: Val Kuska in Madison County on March 10, 1914; C. S. Hawk in Dawes County in the spring of 1914; George
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O. Unruh in Kimball County on July 1, 1914; and Hugh Raymond in Dakota County in 1914.By this time the Agricultural Extension Service of the University had begun to receive some money from the Federal government for carrying on its work. The report of Mr. Pugsley, director of the service, showed that there had been received from the United States Department of Agriculture $11,250 in 1914. Of this amount $8,100 went into county agent work, $1,900 into boys' and girls' club work, $500 into dairy work, and $750 into hog cholera work. That year $25,000 in state funds was also available.
But another thing happened about this time that completely changed the complexion of the extension work for all time. That was the passage of the Smith-Lever Act by Congress in 1914. This did for extension work what the Hatch and Adams Acts were doing for experimental work. The Smith-Lever Act stated "that co-operative agricultural extension work shall consist of the giving of instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not attending or resident in said colleges in the several communities, and imparting to such persons information on said subjects through field demonstrations, publications, and otherwise; and this work shall be carried on in such manner as may be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of Agriculture and the State Agricultural College or colleges receiving the benefits of this act."
This act appropriated $480,000 or $10,000 a year to each state which agreed to the provisions of the act. The act provided further "that there is also appropriated an additional sum of $600,000 for the fiscal year following that in which the foregoing appropriation first becomes available, and for each year thereafter for seven years a sum exceeding by $500,000 the sum appropriated for each preceding year, and for each year thereafter there is permanently appropriated for each year the sum of $4,100,000 in addition to the sum of $480,000 hereinbefore provided." None
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of this additional money could be available until offset by a state or local appropriation. This extra money was to be distributed to the states "in the proportion which the rural population of each state bears to the total rural population of all the states as determined by the next preceding Federal census." Five thousand dollars of this Smith-Lever money became available to the Nebraska extension service on July 1, 1914. In 1915 the Nebraska Legislature accepted the provisions of the act.We now have the general background to the extension movement of the last ten or twelve years, including the farmers' institute and the short course, the beginnings of county agent work in Nebraska, and the passage of the Smith-Lever Act by Congress. The extension work was now carried on not alone by the College of Agriculture, but with the active co-operation of the United States government. The assistance of various organizations was enlisted to get the work under way.
"The Extension Service is organized coordinate with the Experiment Station as a part of the College of Agriculture," the report for 1915 stated. "The service itself is divided into departments or, divisions with an executive officer in charge of each. At present the divisions comprise the following: County Agents, Boys' and Girls' Clubs, Home Economics, Information Service, Movable Schools, and Special Meetings.
"The Extension Service bears the same relation to the College as does the Experiment Station, and the College is organized as a part of the University. A close co-operative relationship exists between the State Board of Agriculture, the State Horticultural Society, the State Department of Public Instruction, and other State departments and societies, not by law but by agreement. County Associations, known as County Farmers' Associations, taking part in the direction of the County Agent Work, cooperate with the Extension Service, and there are also local Farmers' Institute Associations and other local organizations which cooperate with the Service."
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If one turns to the report of the extension service for 1914, one secures a good idea of just how the work was being developed. It might be said that 1914 was the first year in which the work was developed on a really substantial basis. Some twenty-five people were employed for full time, five for part time, and fifteen for special lecture work. This included of course the clerical force as well as those engaged in active outside work.Mr. Pugsley was serving as director. A. E. Anderson was in charge of the farm demonstration work, or the county agents, as they began to be known a little later. Miss Huldah Peterson was in charge of boys' and girls' club work, Miss Mabel C. Daniels in charge of the home economics work, and Mrs. Emma Reed Davisson in charge of women's club work. An extension council composed of the heads of the various departments in the college was organized to co-operate in directing the work.
There was another development in the work of the extension service. It will be recalled that in the farmers' institute work, it was the custom to recruit a large number of lecturers, part of them from the college faculty and part from among the prominent farmers. Now there began to appear what were shortly to be known as extension specialists. Each man or woman was a specialist in some one line, such as agricultural engineering, or animal husbandry, or dairying, or some other line of farming or home demonstration. These specialists not only went out and filled the institute and short course engagements, but also co-operated with the county agents and carried on demonstrations in various parts of the state. Members of the college faculty in some cases were engaged to give a certain part of their time to extension work. Finally the practice of engaging outside speakers to travel over the state was gradually abandoned.
The demonstration was a favorite method of teaching. That is why the county agents were first known as farm demonstrators. The idea here was to carry on a practical
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experiment on some farm and demonstrate, or show, to the rest of the farmers what might be accomplished if every farmer would do likewise. These demonstrations included the prevention of smut by the formaldehyde treatment of seed oats, the value of northern vs. home grown seed potatoes, the proper care of orchards, the vaccination of hogs for cholera, in short, the practical solution of those problems which seemed to be troubling the average farmer. An orchard demonstration in 1914 showed 84.69 per cent of sound fruit from apple trees that had been treated in the demonstration and 10.94 per cent from those that had not. The treatment of seed oats resulted in an increased yield of 250 bushels on twenty acres. Observation tours began to be held occasionally so that the farmers might visit other farms in the county and learn what was being accomplished.The work in home economics was devoted principally to actual contact with women, either at farmers' institutes or short courses, or at special meetings thruout the state. There was a great deal of work carried on thru women's clubs. Such special subjects as canning, cookery demonstrations, and dressmaking began to be taken up.
The boys' and girls' club work was carried on by means of projects. The boy or girl who enrolled as a club member was supposed to carry out during a period of at least one year some project and then make a report. These projects included corn growing, potato growing, gardening and canning, and sewing and cooking. Later on these came to be broadened out into poultry clubs, pig clubs, calf clubs, and other more ambitious undertakings.
The extension service began to issue its own bulletins, while items of interest were sent to the various newspapers thruout the state, the agricultural editor of the college giving approximately half of his time to this work. Another feature was the special excursion trains now and then sent thru the state, such as a train promoting dairy work, or seed corn selection. Back in 1912 six special trains were run over nearly all the railroads in the. state during the winter
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months calling attention to the necessity of seed corn selection if the following year's crop was to be good. It was estimated that 52,000 farmers were reached on that circuit of meetings. There was also correspondence instruction in agriculture thru the University extension department downtown, which had been established a few years before. Exhibits for county fairs were prepared and sent out.Up to the year 1917, preceding our entrance into the War, the extension work had grown rapidly. In 1916 the extension force consisted of thirty-nine persons employed full time and sixteen part time. That year the various meetings held by the extension service had a total attendance of 205,662. Nine counties, Box Butte, Dakota, Dawes, Kimball, Madison, Seward, Gage, Sheridan, and Thurston, had county agents. Miss Esther Warner in the fall of that year was employed as home demonstration agent in Seward County, the first "woman county agent" in Nebraska, to work especially among the women. Miss Maud Wilson had now succeeded Miss Daniels in charge of the home demonstration work in the state. In 1916 there were four home economics specialists, besides one who devoted her time to work among women's clubs. There were four workers devoting full time to work among the boys and girls. Specialists were now employed in agricultural engineering, animal husbandry, agronomy, dairying, farm management, and horticulture. In 1916 there was $72,645.80 in funds available for work in extension. This included $29,645.80 of Federal Smith-Lever funds, $25,000 of state funds by appropriation, and $18,000, representing contributions by the United States Department of Agriculture.
This was the setting, then, before the United States entered the World War. But soon the extension service was to find its activities being doubled, trebled, and even quadrupled, or better, in some cases. The biggest thing that happened at this time was the passage by Congress in 1917 of the bill for "Stimulating Agriculture and Facilitating the Distribution of Products." This supplied the State
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of Nebraska with funds sufficient to place a county agent in nearly every important agricultural county in the state, as well as greatly increase the work for home demonstration and boys' and girls' clubs. There was also during this year more than $93,000 available in Federal Smith-Lever funds, state funds, and apportionments from the United States Department of Agriculture. In July of 1917 but nine county agents were at work. A year later there were fifty county agents, eleven district agents covering two or more counties, three assistant county agents, and ten on the administrative and supervisory force. Ten home demonstration agents at large were appointed. County agent work had come into its own in a way that would not have been thought possible a few years before. From time to time during the War there were special campaigns. At one time thirty-five young women were employed to do special work for a short time under the direction of county and district agricultural agents. There was a special campaign for increased hog production, carried on under direction from Washington.The big idea was the oft-repeated saying that "Food Will Win the War." So the extension service set about during the war years to promote the growing, the distribution, and the preserving of foodstuffs. Scores of emergency and regular bulletins were issued, all carrying this same gospel in one form or another. When it was apparent that there would be a shortage of cans for canning food products, the extension service evolved a machine for drying fruits and vegetables. Five large machines for communities were put in use in the state. When a shortage of labor became apparent the extension service was instrumental in establishing labor bureaus to furnish men for gathering in the crops. The marketing work was greatly extended, all tending to eliminate as much waste as possible. When it was necessary to cut down on the amount of wheat flour and sugar, the extension service began to distribute recipes economizing on such food commodities. The boys and girls
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were urged to greater production of vegetables for the family table. The first boys' and girls' club agent to devote his entire time to working among the young people of a county was J. Clarence Hagey, employed in Thayer County in 1917.During these years there were a number of changes in the personnel of the extension service. C. W. Pugsley, under whose direction the organization had grown to a position of leadership in the state, resigned June 30, 1918, to become editor of The Nebraska Farmer. C. E. Gunnels, who had been called from the position of county agent in Seward County to become state leader of county agents on July 1, 1917, now became director of extension. R. E. Holland succeeded Mr. Gunnels as leader of county agents. Mr. Gunnels was called to a position in Washington, D. C., at the end of 1918, and a few months later he was succeeded by W. H. Brokaw, the present director. L. T. Skinner, who had been serving as assistant to the director since September, 1917, became secretary of the extension service on July 1, 1918.
C. W. Watson succeeded Mr. Skinner in charge of boys' and girls' club work, when the latter became assistant to the director of the extension service. Mr. Watson resigned in 1919 and was succeeded by L. I. Frisbie. In the home demonstration work Mrs. Emma R. Davisson succeeded Miss Wilson in 1918. Miss Stella Mather took up the work in 1920, resigned in 1923, and was succeeded by Miss Mary Ellen Brown.
The extension service at the close of the War found it necessary to retrench in some of its lines of activity. The government's emergency funds ran out on June 30, 1919, and much of the special wartime work had to be given up. It must be remembered that the Smith-Lever funds were increasing each year, and to compensate for the sudden withdrawal of the emergency funds, some additional Smith-Lever money was made immediately available.
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Another way in which the matter was taken care of was by the passage of county agent legislation in 1919. This compelled the county commissioners to make appropriations for this work whenever a sufficient number of farmers requested it. This law provided that whenever in a county not less than 300 farmers, or one-half the farmers in any county, petitioned the county board to appropriate a sum of money out of the county general fund, the board must do so. "Whenever the petitioners shall organize themselves into a society known as a Farm Bureau, and shall have been recognized by the Agricultural Extension Service, College of Agriculture, University of Nebraska, as the Farm Bureau of said county, they shall prepare a budget or estimate of the funds necessary for carrying on of such work within the county," the law stated. "Said budget shall be filed with the County Clerks, and as claims are approved by the Board of Directors of the Farm Bureau and filed with the County Clerk, the County Board shall order warrants to be drawn upon the general fund of said county in payment of such claims. The total amount so appropriated and paid out shall not exceed an amount equal to a one-mill levy on the assessed valuation of the property of the county, and in no instance more than five thousand dollars.1"The law provided that "the county agricultural agent shall aid in the organization and direction of agriculture in the county where he is employed and shall co-operate with individuals, agricultural clubs, and other associations and organizations, whose object is the betterment of rural conditions throughout the county."
This law was upheld by the courts, but another complication arose. About this time the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation
1 The above law was again modified in the Legislative session of 1923, providing for petitions in proportion to the population of the county. The maximum appropriation of a county was reduced at this time to $3,500. This law also provided that when remonstrance petitions containing the names of one-eighth more farmers than the original petitions were presented, the matter should be decided at the next general election.
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