and operations of the Government under the Adjustment Act, and to help secure public support for the vast cooperative programs of adjustment called for by the act.

To exercise the functions delegated to the Secretary under section 8, subsections 2 and 3, regarding marketing agreements and licenses for processors and handlers of agricultural commodities, the Processing and Marketing Division was set up. Within the Production Division and the Processing and Marketing Division there were established sections for handling the problems of different commodities or of various functions in the respective fields of the two divisions.

COMMODITY PROBLEMS HANDLED BY SECTIONS

In the Production Division there were established a Wheat Section, a Cotton Section, a Corn-Hog Section, a Replacement Crops Section, a Cattle and Sheep Section, and a Contract Records Section, each with a section chief. In the Processing and Marketing Division there were the Grain Section, the Cotton Section, the Meat Processing and Marketing Section, the Code Control Section, the Foreign Trade Section, the Beverage Section, the Licensing and Enforcement Section, and after the Executive order of June 26, 1933 (delegating to the Secretary of Agriculture partial jurisdiction over codes under the National Industrial Recovery Act for certain food products other than agricultural goods), the Food Products Section and the Fisheries Section.

For certain commodities and functions there were established sections which performed activities relating to both production problems and processing and marketing problems. These sections were responsible to the directors of both the Production Division and the Processing and Marketing Division in matters relating to the functions of the respective divisions. Such sections were the Dairy Section, the Tobacco Section, the Rice Section, the Sugar Section, the Special Crops Section, and the Special Commodities Section. These sections were organized as the need for them arose.

The Special Commodities Section was created for the purpose of coordinating the plans of the Adjustment Administration with the activities of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration in purchasing surplus agricultural commodities and in distributing them among the needy unemployed. This activity had the double purpose of relieving want and of removing from the market burdensome and price-depressing surpluses of farm goods, placing them in the hands of persons who were in the need of them but who would not have been consumers except through surplus farm goods.

Initial exploration and experience in the task of effectuating the Congressional policy for benefiting agriculture led, at the end of December 1933, to a reorganization of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. This reorganization involved simplification of the set-up and a shift in emphasis on means employed to increase farm income. It provided a mechanism for putting greater stress upon the fundamental adjustment of production to effective demand. It provided for the direction of emergency measures toward a definitely and scientifically planned scheme for the agriculture of the Nation as a whole, contrasted with an unplanned, wasteful, and unprofitable agriculture suffering from the evil effects of unlicensed competitive forces whose most severe consequences have fallen upon the farmers.

CODES RETURNED TO N.R.A.

Return of a large number of codes to the National Recovery Administration from the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, to which they had been transferred by an earlier Executive order, made possible a reorganization into a more compact form, with consequent economy in personnel and effort.

In the course of the reorganization, the Production Division and the Processing and Marketing Divisions were merged into a new division. This is called the Commodities Division. Its function is to deal with problems of both production and distribution. Several mergers of commodity sections were involved in the combination of the two divisions into one, which is headed by an Assistant Administrator, with two assistants.

Sections in the Commodity Division as now constituted include the Wheat Production Section, Grain Processing and Marketing Section, Corn-Hog Section, Meat Processing and Marketing Section, Cotton Production Section, Cotton Processing and Marketing Section, Dairy Section, Tobacco Section, Rice and Sugar Section (merged), General Crops Section, Cattle and Sheep Section, Field Investigation Section, and Contract Records Section.

The accounting and auditing personnel of the Licensing and Enforcement Section was transferred to the Office of the Comptroller, subject to assignment to the Field Investigation Section as needed, and the field offices of the section were discontinued. The Special Commodities Section was transferred to the Office of the Comptroller. In all, eight sections were eliminated. The Beverage Section, Foreign Trade Section, Import Section, Code Analysis Section, and Code Control Section were discontinued, as were the Fisheries Section and the Food Products Section. Transfer of jurisdiction over certain codes to the National Recovery Administration by Executive order of January 8, 1934, removed the necessity for some of these sections. Establishment of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration ended the need for the Beverage Section.

PLANNING DIVISION CREATED

Two divisions in the organization are, like the Commodities Division, headed by Assistant Administrators. These are the new Program Planning Division and the Division of Information. The task of the Program Planning Division is to relate all programs and activities under the Agricultural Adjustment Act to a general attack on the whole front of the agricultural situation, to correlate the programs for all commodities and to shape the entire program into a coherent whole which will constitute an advance through emergency measures to an established and lasting agricultural industry to the ultimate benefit of the whole nation. The Replacement Crops Section of the Production Division has been assigned to this new Program Planning Division.

Upon this division falls the task of help in coordinating all economic work of the Department so as to aid in unifying the progress of all branches of American agriculture. The purpose is to enable agriculture to move forward as a whole and to prevent lagging on the part of any branch which would lessen the force of an attack on the agricultural problem. The temporary adjustment measures are to be planned so as to develop elements on which may be built a perma

nent agricultural program. The Program Planning Division will assemble the pertinent results of research relating to marketing and international trade in other branches of the Government. Such information will be afforded to farmers, farm organizations and to the general public through available avenues of distribution, and will be used as a basis for developing subsequent programs under the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

INFORMATION EFFORTS UNIFIED

The Division of Information has undergone some changes in function and in internal organization. The important work of the Consumers' Counsel now becomes a part of the Information Division activities. Some units formerly under other jurisdiction which are established to deal with correspondence, records, and printing are transferred to the Information Division. The Division contains a Press Section established to aid newspapers and radio stations and other agencies engaged in the dissemination of information to acquaint farmers and the public with the Administration's operations and objectives. Stimulated by a public interest and appetite for information which apparently are keener than ever before, the press and radio have afforded the most alert and intelligent avenues for disseminating public information.

The Finance Division will continue its work of handling the finances of all the Administration's broad program for the benefit of agriculture. It is anticipated that a tax expert will be engaged to study taxation features of adjustment plans.

The offices and functions of the general counsel and comptroller remain as they were originally established. Some of the duties of the old Licensing and Enforcement Section have been taken over by the new License Enforcement and Revocation Section in the Office of the General Counsel. The Office of the Administrative Officer has been discontinued, and some of its functions were taken over by the Office of Business Management headed by an assistant to the Administrator. Other functions were placed in other divisions. The purpose of the reorganization was to establish a compact organization to deal more economically, directly, and effectively with major problems of American agriculture. The reorganization affords two assistants to the Administrator and an adviser to the Administrator to assist him on problems of special interest to the South.

The total number of employees in the Administration is about 3,700. Of these, approximately 2,700 are in the so-called "factory”, engaged in examining and checking records of contracts from farmers, auditing and approving contracts for payment, and writing and mailing the checks to the farmers.

This personnel of 2,700 is distributed approximately as follows:

Disbursing section_

Comptroller's section_

Contract records section_.

200

800

1, 700

The "factory" employment roll fluctuates considerably, as the task of check writing and contract auditing varies between maximum and minimum loads. The personnel of the commodity and service sections numbers about 1,000.

COUNTY AGENTS ARE THE " SHOCK TROOPS"

The new organization is built around functions and the best men available have been engaged by the Administration for the performance of these functions. Many of the executives and much of the personnel originally utilized remains in the reorganized Administration. The maximurn salary of executives in the Administration is $10,000 annually subject to the 15 percent reduction. The Administration works closely not only with the units of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, but also with the Extension Service. This Service with its county agents in all parts of the country has been invaluable. For a time danger existed that the Extension Service might be destroyed or crippled when State after State confronted the necessity for economy in its expenditures; but when the big programs were prepared by the Adjustment Administration, it was immediately seen that a far-flung field service to work with the decentralized county associations of producers, was essential to securing the necessary farmer cooperation and support, and could be most useful and effective. The Extension Service took up the task and instead of decreased usefulness it has been of increasing effectiveness, making possible already the success of the cotton, wheat, and tobacco programs. The 2,200 county agents constituted the "shock troops" out on the firing line in these campaigns. It was through them that the Administration made its direct contacts with the farmers, getting the work of setting up county production control associations under way. If they had fallen down on the job, the whole effort would have been imperiled. But fortunately the few cases in which county agents failed to take the program seriously were in districts of light production. The success attained is evidence of effort put forth by the county agents, and their spirit and ability. It is expected that the Extension Service will become more and more important in the long-time program being worked out by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

The personnel of the Adjustment Administration as a whole has worked for the past 9 months without stint and without regard to hours or ordinary limitations upon human effort in the intensive task of getting the emergency programs under way and in planning for the future.

A list including some members of the administrative personnel, directors of divisions, and chiefs of commodity sections who have represented the Administration in dealing with farm groups and the public is given in table 1.

TABLE 1. Administrative personnel as of February 1, 1934

Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture.

Rexford G. Tugwell, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture.

Chester C. Davis, Administrator, Agricultural Adjustment Act.

Victor Christgau, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Commodities Division.

D. P. Trent, Assistant Director, Commodities Division.

Jesse W. Tapp, Assistant Director, Commodities Division, and Chief, General
Crops Section.

George E. Farrell, Chief, Wheat Production Section.

Frank A. Theis, Chief, Wheat Processing and Marketing Section.

A. G. Black, Chief, Corn-Hog Section.

Guy C. Shepard, Chief, Meat Processing and Marketing Section.

J. B. Hutson, Chief, Tobacco Section.

Cully A. Cobb, Chief, Cotton Section.

Lawrence Myers, Acting Chief, Cotton Processing and Marketing Section.
J. H. Mason, Acting Chief, Dairy Section.

A. J. S. Weaver, Chief, Sugar and Rice Section.

Harry Petrie, Chief, Cattle and Sheep Section.

W. B. Jenkins, Chief, Contract Records Section.

George R. Wicker, Chief, Field Investigation Section.

H. R. Tolley, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Program Planning Division.

Joseph F. Cox, Chief, Replacement Crops Section.

Alfred D. Stedman, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Division of Information.

Vernon E. Bundy, Assistant Director, Division of Information.

Frederic C. Howe, Consumer's Counsel.

Thomas C. Blaisdell, Assistant Consumer's Counsel.

Paul A. Porter, Chief, Press Section.

Jerome N. Frank, General Counsel and Director of the Legal Division.

Lee Pressman, Assistant to General Counsel.

Alger Hiss, Assistant to General Counsel.

J. P. Wenchel, Assistant to General Counsel.
Prew Savoy, Chief, Tax Section.

John B. Payne, Comptroller.

Ward M. Buckles, Director of the Finance Division.

Oscar Johnston, Manager of the Cotton Pool.

T. Weed Harvey, Special Assistant to the Administrator, in Charge of Business Management.

H. P. Seidemann, Special Assistant to the Administrator, in Charge of Coordination Office.

Mordecai Ezekiel, Economic Adviser to the Secretary of Agriculture.
Louis H. Bean, Economic Adviser, Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

Several men not now connected with the organization played an important part in the program during the early months. Among these were George N. Peek, formerly Administrator; Charles J. Brand, formerly Coadministrator; Gen. William I. Westervelt, formerly Director of Processing and Marketing; D. S. Murph, formerly Chief of the Cotton Processing and Marketing Section; Clyde L. King, formerly Chief of the Dairy Section; and M. L. Wilson, formerly Chief of the Wheat Production Section.