bring this field to the attention of persons taking training in household science, and also to emphasize its importance to the directors of such publications.

Section 16. EXHIBITS AND THE HOME.

The exhibit as an educational agency goes back, of course, to the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London, 1851. Its value is well illustrated by the Mary Lowell Stone exhibit of home economics organized by the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ in Boston in 1902, exhibited at the Mechanics Fair in Boston in 1902, then successively at the convention of the collegiate alumnæ in Washington, in various large cities, at the St. Louis Exposition of 1904, and at different colleges; it exhibited the results of researches into the cost of living, economics of laundering, hygiene of clothing, etc. Another exhibit, more popular in nature, was the Homemakers' Exhibit and Conference, organized by the School of Domestic Art and Science, of Chicago, in November, 1912, which attempted to show definite methods of improving homemaking, of promoting health, and reducing the cost of living, of adapting labor-saving devices and time-saving methods, of arousing interest in artistic and economic clothing. Accompanying the exhibit there were daily lectures by school and college teachers of home economics. Another type of exhibit of which there are many instances is the pure-food exhibition, usually organized with a commercial purpose and failing in its educational possibilities for this reason. It is noteworthy that the Federation of Women's Clubs has recently, through its home economics committee, urged that commercial food shows be discouraged, and that exhibits with an educational purpose be held.

Exhibits of home products and contests.-Interest in the homemaking industries, as sewing, cooking, and food preserving, and in related household arts and management, is stimulated by means of public exhibitions of the products of such arts. Exhibits may display such products (a) from the work of instruction in the school, (b) from the home work of school children carried out under the stimulus of the school, or (c) from the work of adult homemakers themselves. Each has its particular value. Exhibits, accordingly, have been arranged by schools of various grades; by either local, county, or State granges; by local, county, and State fair associations; by women's clubs and other organizations. The stimulus of competition has been commonly utilized by scoring the products and awarding prizes. Such exhibits will primarily improve the quality of home products for home use and thus improve living conditions. The educational value of such competitive exhibits has been urged as a reason for their use by schools and apparently with justifica

tion. Several bulletins and papers have recently dealt with this subject: "Educational Contests in Agriculture and Home Economics for Use in Farmers' Institutes and Agricultural Extension Work," (Bulletin 255, Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1913), which besides making general suggestions, outlines some 28 contests, of which the following especially concern the household: Butter making, bread making, canned fruit, sewing (separate contests for girls 10 to 14, 15 to 18, and for women), lunch boxes, house decoration and furnishing, cellar plans, kitchen plans, household-expense contests, home compositions (essays on home life), and flower gardens. Another study of much value for its suggestions regarding a particular division of the field, namely, horticultural products of household industry, is a paper on "Exhibiting, Classifying and Judging Homemade Horticultural Products,” by Prof. J. B. S. Norton, of the Maryland Agricultural College, College Park, Md. Its suggestions as to the preparations necessary for the exhibit, classification of products with appropriate definitions, rules for judging and scoring, and the educational features of exhibits are most excellent; some ten score cards are presented for different fruit products. Several other publications have appeared on this problem: A bulletin on "Judging Bread," by the University of Illinois; another on "Home Economics Exhibits," by the Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa; and a circular on "Scoring Exhibits," by the department of home economics, University of Missouri, Columbia; besides various discussions in the directions issued to boys' and girls' contest clubs in different States.

Child-welfare exhibits.-A public exhibition intended to emphasize the agencies making for child welfare, to point out untoward conditions and suggest remedial action, was held in New York in 1911, and similar exhibitions have since been held in Chicago, Kansas City, Northampton, Mass., St. Louis, Buffalo, Montreal, Rochester, Louisville, Providence, Peoria, and other cities. Starting with the New York exhibition, a national educational movement, for the promotion of such exhibits, has been organized as the National Child Welfare Exhibition Committee (address, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York City). The child-welfare exhibition presents its facts through wall exhibits, arranged as uniform screens; three-dimension exhibits and living exhibits. Its usual divisions are: Health, homes, schools, recreation, county life and rural education, moral and religious life, child and the law, industrial conditions, philanthropy, settlements, and educational movements. The committee has published a series of bulletins. giving directions regarding the organization of exhibits (25 cents for

1 May be secured through Journal of Home Economics, Roland Park, Baltimore, Md., 25 cents.

sample set); and it loans chart exhibit material to local organizations. The department of surveys and exhibits of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York, is also prepared to lend exhibits and to render special service in the preparation of exhibit material. The American Home Economics Association (Roland Park, Baltimore, Md.) has a special exhibit on school lunches for loan.

Section 17. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND HOME BETTERMENT.

While the Federal Government has no "home bureau" 66 domestic science bureau," the desirability of which has sometimes been urged, it does at many points in its administrative service undertake matters having very direct reference to home betterment. The Department of Agriculture with its Farmers' Bulletins on home problems, its "nutrition investigations," which deal directly with the food problem of the household, and its supervision of foods and drugs under the meat-inspection service and the "pure-food law"; the United States Bureau of Education, which gives attention to education for the home; the Public Health Service in the Treasury Department; and the new United States Children's Bureau-these are all to be mentioned as undertakings of the Federal Government which are of major importance to the home. A word of detail may be given as to certain of these, also as to the proposed Federal legislation which would provide further definite action for home betterment.1

Section 18. THE DIVISION OF NUTRITION INVESTIGATIONS, office of EXPERIMENT STATIONS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

This division carries on scientific studies of human nutrition, publishes in both scientific and popular form material related to nutrition, and is a national clearing house and center of information for teachers, homemakers, and others as regards problems of nutrition and related fields. This work in nutrition investigations, which was established in 1894 under the direction of the late Prof. W. O. Atwater, has had an important influence in the development of American scientific work in nutrition, and in furnishing subject matter for instruction, both technical and popular, in the field. The studies made have comprehended various branches of the subject, including food materials, their preparation for human use, the consumption of foods by individual families and institutions, the digestibility of foods, and the fundamental principles of nutrition. The publications include, first of all. "technical bulletins," scientific in character and intended for technical workers and investigators, of

See the bibliography given in Bulletin, 1914, No. 39 (Part IV of this report) for a number of Government contributions to home betterment.