Table 58.-ACQUISITION COST OF FEDERAL SURPLUS DONABLE PERSONAL PROPERTY ALLOCATED TO CIVIL DEFENSE, AND EDUCATIONAL, AND HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN THE STATES AND TERRITORIES: 1957-58

States for the 1957-58 school year. Detailed figures on the amounts granted during the 1958-59 school year are shown in column 19 of summary table 3.

Instead of "acquisition cost," it appears preferable to report “fair value" figures at the time of transfer. These are available for some items but they are not uniformly available. Since acquisition costs are always available and are reported at the time of transfer, these figures are used in preparing the tables.

SURPLUS REAL PROPERTY

Congressional enactments have authorized the sale or lease of real property to educational institutions if an important need exists. Such property may vary from large installations that are complete with buildings and all utilities to single buildings or small areas of land with or without improvements. In addition, sewage disposal plants, electrical or water distribution systems, fencing, bleachers, heating plants, and other improvements may be purchased for removal from the site for educational use.

Transfers of real property are made to schools with restrictions requiring educational utilization varying from 5 to 20 years. The fair value of the property is paid by these institutions partly in cash and partly in public benefit discounts which accrue through the utilization. Public benefit discount allowances are predetermined by the program use and may justify a full 100 percent discount. To en

courage capital outlays and the development of property by institutions, schools are afforded the right to abrogate restrictions in their conditional title requiring educational use. This is accomplished through the payment of any unearned portion of the public benefit allowance granted on a percentage of fair value accrued for each 12 months of utilization for educational purposes.

Table 59.-KIND, ACQUISITION COST, AND VALUE OF FEDERAL SURPLUS REAL PROPERTY TRANSFERRED TO EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: 1949-50 TO 1958-59

The Surplus Property Utilization Division is responsible for disposing of surplus real property for school, classroom, or other educational purposes including research. It is also responsible for the periodic compliance review of the program of utilization of transferred property; for the retransfer of property to other educational claimants; for authorizing other disposals by a transferee; and for changing the terms, conditions, and limitations in a transfer instrument when conditions warrant.

According to table 59, a total of 20,353 acres and 8,494 buildings were transferred to educational institutions over the 10-year period from 1949-50 to 1958-59. The total cost to the Federal Government in acquiring and developing these properties, which later became surplus and were transferred to educational institutions, was $108,192,190. At the time of the transfers, the fair market value for these properties was $33,733,106.

Acquistion costs and fair values of surplus real property are listed for the 1957-58 and 1958-59 school years in table 60. Numbers of acres and numbers of buildings transferred are reported for individual States for all real property transferred to educational institutions. Detailed figures on the amounts granted during the 1958-59 school year are shown in column 20 of summary table 3.

Table 60.-ACQUISITION COST AND FAIR VALUE OF FEDERAL SURPLUS REAL PROPERTY ALLOTTED TO EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN THE STATES AND TERRITORIES: 1957-58 AND 1958-59

Information concerning the Surplus Personal Property and the Surplus Real Property has been provided by the Surplus Property Utilization Division.

The fair value of surplus property transferred to educational institutions may be regarded as significant Federal assistance to schools and colleges over the Nation. However, most reports of Federal aids are limited to the amount of money allotted or to the value of commodities for the school lunch program. They generally make no reference to the comparatively large values that might be reported for the transfers of Federal surplus property.

Income and expenditure accounts kept by schools and colleges pertain to money. There is provision for recording and reporting dollars, but there is no adequate provision for reporting the fair value of acres of ground, buildings, and equipment. This means that summaries of receipts from the Federal Government may be greatly understated in terms of the actual assistance received.

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Chapter 4

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

SEPARATE AGENCY in the Federal Government concerned

with problems in agriculture was recognized as essential in 1862 when Congress established the Department of Agriculture. This agency was administered by a Commissioner of Agriculture until 1889 when the powers and duties of the agency were enlarged and the Commissioner became a Secretary of Agriculture.

By law, the Department is directed to acquire and diffuse useful information on agricultural subjects. As a consequence of its activities, agriculture in the United States has developed into the most efficient farm program in the world. Early in the history of America, 9 working persons out of 10 were in farming, and the average farmer produced enough food and fiber for himself and 3 others. By 1970, an estimated 1 working person in 16 will be in farming, and be able to produce enough food and fiber for himself and 40 others. This achievement is an outgrowth of programs of educational and informational services which have conveyed to farmers the significant findings of research in agriculture.

In the performance of its function, the Department of Agriculture conducts research in agriculture and industrial chemistry, the industrial uses of farm products, entomology, soils, agricultural engineering, agricultural economics, marketing, crop and livestock production, production and manufacture of dairy products, human nutrition, home economics, forestry, and conservation to increase the efficiency of American farms. Research findings are made available for practical farm application through cooperative extension and experiment station work with the States. Other services of the Department related to education or educational institutions include administration of national forests and cooperation with the States in operating the National School Lunch Program.

Detailed descriptions of programs dealing with education or relating to educational institutions are reported in this bulletin for six specific activities in the Department of Agriculture. These include: (1) Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service, (2) Revenue from