Weather Bureau topics and personnel / United States Department of ...

UNITED STATES DEPARTMBNT OF AGRICULTURE
WEATHER BUREAU TOPICS AND PERSONNEL
The followjng extract from the %\port of the Sncrctary of Agriculture
for the fiscal year 1952 is quoted for general information:
This year, perhaps more than ever bcforo, tho need for plain spealiiqg
on publio expenditurna is imperative. Because inconies haw dropped
and taxes have not, public interest in Government exponditures is at a
high pitch, Every public institution, no matter how essential its activities
or how lofty ita ObjcctiveP, is to-day on trial. Though our agricultural
institutions have R long and honorahlo history, they arc not excnipt
from current criticiclm. They, too, cost money.
Accordingly it becomes a duty and a necessity for cvrry public institution
to spread brforr the public not only the custorrinry atatistical
statment of ita expcnditurcs, but also a simple, intelligiblu statainrnt
of how it spend8 its nionc~y, and what return the public gets on the investment.
I propose to do that for tho Dcpartnicnt of Agriculturo in thc
remuindcr of this annual report. No nttcmpt to propngandizc will be
mado. Tho effort will bo to Ret forth unvarnished facts.
The oxpcnditurcs nnd obligations’ of the Departmnnt of Agriculturc
for the fiscal year cndod June 80, 1982, amounted to more than $800,-
OOO,~~p~cifici~lly, to $806,400,098. This is a vad sum of money.
How was it spent’? Was it all for agriculture? HOW much of it went
for research, for lnw enforeenwnt, for sorvicos of ono liind or itnother?
Why 118s this total niounted, during tho fiscal yws 1931 and 1952, t,o
doublu the avrrage of the prccrding eight years? Thc~e are fair questions.
Fir&, takc tlie 1982 total apart (Tablo 1) and see What it is inadr of:
Item
(1) Iioad vonatrut4ion (IiirludlnR$lIKI,U~~~U paid to the state for Icudarnlntdhl#h\VaVH)
.........................................................
hiergenus rbliar bans.. ...............................................
Payments to kitatea for Runport of ngrirultural wxDerlinent stntlolih.
exten,qlnn work, nnd rw)rwratlvu foraRtry acitlvitlew, lllcludllln fire
nm\untIon.. ..........................................................