CO-OPERATIVE EXTENSION 63 “Provided, That of the above appropriation not more than $300,000 shall be expended for purposes other than salaries of county agents.” In order to carry out the intent of Congress each State should expend not less than 77 per cent. of its Federal supplementary funds for salaries of county extension agents. USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS TO INFLUENCE CONGRESS Section 6 of the third deficiency appropriation act, fiscal year 1919, applies to all Federal funds used for co-operative extension work: "That hereafter no part of the money appropriated by this or any other act shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegrams, telephones, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, to favor or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation or appropriation by Congress, whether before or after the introduction of any bill or resolution proposing such legislation or appropriation; but this shall not prevent officers and employees of the United States from communicating to Members of Congress on the request of any Member of Congress, through the proper official channels, requests for legislation or appropriations which they deem necessary for the efficient conduct of the public business. "Any officer or employee of the United States who, after notice and hearing by the superior officer vested with the power of removing him, is found to have violated or attempted to violate this section, shall be removed by such superior officer from office or employment. Any officer or employee of the United States who violates or attempts to violate this section shall also be guilty of misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both." RELATION OF FEDERAL CO-OPERATIVE EXTENSION EMPLOYEES TO [Statement of the Secretary of Agriculture of August 25, 1922.] The act of Congress approved May 8, 1914, and supplemental acts thereto, established co-operative agricultural extension work between the Federal Department of Agriculture and State agricultural colleges. Section 2 of that act defines the work as follows: "SEC. 2. 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 benfits of this act.” It is thus made clear that the work of the co-operative extension 64 EXTENSION WORKERS employees, whether county agents, home demonstration agents, boys' and girls' club agents, or other co-operative extension workers, is educational. These extension workers are public teachers paid with money largely raised from all of the people by taxation and are charged with giving instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics. Their work covers the entire rural field, which includes economic production, economic marketing, and the development of better home, community, and social conditions. As they are public teachers it is not a part of the official duties of extension agents to perform for individual farmers or for organizations the actual operations of production, marketing, or the various activities necessary to the proper conduct of business or social organizations. They may not properly act as organizers for farmers' associations; conduct membership campaigns; solicit membership; edit organization publications; manage co-operative business enterprises; engage in commercial activities; act as financial or business agents, or take part in any of the work of farmers' organizations, or of an individual farmer, which is outside of their duties as defined by the law and by the approved projects governing their work. They are expected, however, to make available to organizations such information as will be helpful to them and contribute to the success of their work. The various Federal laws provide that co-operative extension work shall be conducted in such manner as shall be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of Agriculture and the State agricultural colleges. By an agreement between these agencies an extension director located in each State is the representative of both the college and the department. He submits projects for extension work to the Secretary for approval. In carrying out these projects the law provides that no Federal Smith-Lever money except $10,000 per State shall be paid to the States for co-operative extension work until— * an equal sum has been appropriated for that year by the legislature of such State, or provided by State, county, college, local authority, or individual contributions from within the State, for the maintenance of the co-operative agricultural extension work provided for in this act.” Under a later act provision was made that— 66* * * moneys contributed from such outside sources shall be paid only through the Secretary of Agriculture or through State, county or municipal agencies, or local farm bureaus or like organizations, co-operating for the purpose with the Secretary of Agriculture.” This makes it very clear that the law contemplates co-operation with farmers' organizations willing to co-operate in the work with which the co-operative extension agent is charged. It is the duty of the extension agents to render such assistance whenever possible in his teaching capacity to any agricultural organizations desiring it. Furthermore, the work of these extension agents can be the most effective where it is carried on with organized groups of rural people. It is entirely proper for any agricultural organization desiring to co-operate financially in the work of the extension agents to contribute funds for the support of EXTENSION ACCOUNTING 65 such work, and these funds may be accepted legally by the extension service of the agricultural colleges and by the Federal Government for work on approved projects. In short, it is the business of the extension agent to co-operate with all agricultural organizations which desire to co-operate on approved projects. If more than one organization exists in a county, he must co-operate with all fairly and impartially in the educational work in which they are mutually interested. The Department of Agriculture must necessarily consider in its administration of Federal co-operative extension funds the laws which have been passed by the various State legislatures in accepting these funds and under which agreements have been made with those States for conducting this work. If special provisions relating to the methods of co-operation with agricultural organizations or other agencies are contained in the State laws, which do not conflict with the Federal laws, it is clearly the duty of the Secretary of Agriculture to accept such provisions in a co-operative project. EXTENSION ACCOUNTING Accounts and vouchers for all funds used in extension work under the Smith-Lever Act should be regularly kept at the college in each State receiving the benefits of this act, even though the original accounts and vouchers are kept in the office of the State treasurer or other official. If the college keeps only duplicate vouchers these should bear evidence of their payment by reference to the warrant or otherwise. Expenditures from both Federal and other funds which are included in the account for any Federal fiscal year should be confined to those actually made in the maintenance of the extension service during that year. Separate accounts for expenditures of the Smith-Lever Federal fund and funds from within the State used to offset that fund should be kept in accordance with the provisions of the financial schedules prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture and should be supported by vouchers approved by the director of extension work. From whatever source derived, funds which are used to offset Federal Smith-Lever funds will be subject to the same limitations as regards the character of the expenditures as the Federal Smith-Lever funds. LOCAL ACCOUNTS Vouchers for expenditures from funds contributed to the State Smith-Lever funds by counties, local organizations, or individuals should be approved by the director of extension work, as well as by the county officer or other representative of the contributing parties, and be paid by the county or other local treasurer, who should file a certificate of payment with the director of extension work. Either the original vouchers or duplicates should be on file at the college. VOUCHERS The classification in accordance with the headings prescribed by the department should be indicated on all vouchers or accompanying 5-41549 66 ACCOUNTING BY PROJECTS jackets. Every voucher should further indicate the fund from which the expenditure is made and the project or projects to which the expenditure relates. SALARIES OR LABOR There should be a pay roll or an individual voucher which should indicate the period for which the salary charge is made, the annual rate of salary, general description of duties (grade or title), and should contain the personal signature of each individual paid and the indorsement of the director of extension work. Separate pay rolls or individual vouchers for labor and for salaries should be kept. TRAVEL EXPENSES Vouchers for travel should give the purpose and dates for each trip and show an itemized account of all railroad and boat fares, livery, bus, and street-car expenses, payments for subsistence, and miscellaneous items. The voucher should give reference to the authorization to travel and contain the personal signature of the individual paid and the indorsement of the director. There should be vouchers showing the purchase of mileage books and subvouchers showing how and when the mileage was used. Expenses for supplies and other material should not be included in travel accounts. OTHER EXPENSES (Supplies and miscellaneous) There should be an itemized account of all supplies and miscellaneous articles purchased and the vouchers should indicate when the goods were received and the date of payment, and should bear the signature of the payee and indorsement of the director. A detailed invoice should be filed whenever a voucher check is used. ACCOUNTING BY PROJECTS A separate account should be kept for each project under each fund from which paid. All salary and expenses of a person regularly carrying on a definite type of extension work are chargeable to the project covering that type of work and not to a project to which he may be temporarily assigned. The vouchers should be classified according to the projects as actually approved by the department. Project-Administration.-Expenditures reported under "Administration" should include the salary and expenses of the director, editors, and other persons employed in the central office, but the salaries and expenses of State agents or State leaders of special lines of work and the clerical force exclusively employed in such work should be charged to the particular line of work in which they are engaged and not to administration. Project-Publication and publicity.—Expenditures under this project may include the cost of preparing, editing, printing, and distributing ! EXTENSION ACCOUNTS 67 all matter containing information on agriculture and home economics intended for extension purposes. The account, however, must be kept in such a way as to show clearly just how much is spent for printing and distribution of publications, for which Congress has provided that not more than 5 per cent of Smith-Lever funds shall be used. Expenditures under this 5 per cent limitation include the cost of printing bulletins, reports, circulars, etc., and the envelopes in which they are mailed and the salary or labor and other expenses in connection with mailing and distributing such publications. Any expenses for mailing-room labor should be charged to this project under the proper head, “Labor” (0112). Similarly, envelopes used in mailing out publications should be charged to this project under the heading "Supplies" (0200). The printing of any material not chargeable to this project should be charged to the project concerned, that is, the printing of letterheads, report forms, record books, etc., things not regarded as publicity or the distribution of information, should be charged to the administration project or to the particular project concerned. Project-County agricultural work. This should include all salaries and clerical and other expenses of county agricultural agents and their supervising officers. Project-County home demonstration work.—Under this project should be included all expenditures for county home demonstration agents and their supervising officers. Project-Extension schools.-Under this project should be included expenses for schools held in local communities, but it should not include the salaries, for example, of resident county extension agents temporarily employed in such work. If specialists and other extension agents occasionally participate in movable schools, their salaries should be charged against the project to which they give the major portion of their time, but other expenses incident to participation in the extension schools are proper charges against the project. Project-Boys' club work.—If this work is carried on through a separate State leader and district and county agents, there should be a separate account covering the expenses of such agents. Project—Girls' club work.-If this work is carried on through a separate State leader and district and county agents, there should be a separate account covering the expenses of such agents. Separate projects and accounts should be set up for each line of work requiring the time of at least one person. CLASSIFICATION OF EXTENSION ACCOUNTS The scheme for classification of extension accounts by items of expense provides for nine ledger headings (with numerical symbols) as follows: 01. Personal services.-Under this ledger heading are grouped all expenditures for services of employees engaged in co-operative extension work. |