Kenyon Butterfield and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914

THE THIRD LEG OF THE STOOL

KENYON BUTTERFIELD AND THE

SMITH-LEVER ACT OF 1914

ROBERT L. CHRISTENSEN, PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF RESOURCE ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

This monograph is dedicated to Robert G. Light, former Associate Director of University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension, who first brought Butterfield to my attention and has been my friend and colleague for many years.

I thank the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for granting the sabbatical leave for the fall semester of 1994 which allowed me to prepare this monograph. The interest and support of the following people has been particularly worthy of note: Dr. Barry Field, Chair of the Department of Resource Economics; Dr. Robert Helgesen, Dean, College of Food and Natural Resources; and Dr. John Gerber, Associate Director, University of Massachusetts Cooperative extension.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the several librarians and archivists who have helped me in my search for the resource materials used in the preparation of this monograph. In every instance they were unstinting in their efforts to assist me in locating books, publications, and documents. Primary library sources were: the University of Massachusetts Library at Amherst, the Michigan State University at East Lansing, and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Additional source materials were provided by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges in Washington, D.C. CONTENTS

Page PREFACE 1

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NON-FORMAL EDUCATION FOR FARMERS 5

BUTTERFIELD'S INVOLVEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTES 7

A NECESSARY DIGRESSION - SEAMAN KNAPP 12

BUTTERFIELD THE RURAL SOCIAL SCIENTIST 21

BUTTERFIELD'S EXTENSION ADVOCACY 29

A TANGLED TRAIL - THE LEGISLATIVE EVOLUTION 39

A POSTHUMOUS PERSPECTIVE 49

A SUMMARY OF THE BUTTERFIELD'S LEGACY TO THE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 55

BIBLIOGRAPHY 58

BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONOLOGY 61

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A - The McLaughlin Bill 66

APPENDIX B - The Smith-Lever Act 69

APPENDIX C - Comparison of McLaughlin and Smith-Lever 72

APPENDIX D - Bills Relating to Agricultural Extension 82

APPENDIX E - "The Social Phase of Agricultural Education" 97

APPENDIX F - 1906 Report of the Committee on Extension Work 106

APPENDIX G - 1907 Report of the Committee on Extension Work 111

APPENDIX H - 1908 Report of the Committee on Extension Work 113

APPENDIX I - 1909 Report of the Committee on Extension Work 120

Appendix J - "Problems Confronting the Agricultural Colleges In their Extension Work..." 132 Appendix K - Rural Sociology as a College Discipline 138 THE THIRD LEG OF THE STOOL - Kenyon Leech Butterfield and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914

by Robert L. Christensen Professor of Resource Economics University of Massachusetts

PREFACE

"Each agricultural college, therefore, should develop as rapidly as possible a definite tripartite organization that will reveal the college in its three- fold function - as an organ of research, as an educator of students, and as a distributor of information to those who cannot come to the college. ... To carry out the function of the agricultural college, we need, finally, a vast enlargement of extension work among farmers. This work will not only be dignified by a standing in the college coordinate with research and the teaching of students, but it will rank as a distinct department, with a faculty of men whose chief business is to teach the people who cannot come to the college. ... Such a department will be prepared to incorporate into its work the economic, governmental, and social problems of agriculture." [Kenyon L. Butterfield, 1904]

The name Kenyon L. Butterfield is unlikely to be recognized by most of the University of Massachusetts c