3. Explain fully the law of diminishing returns as applied to agricultural land. Name some of its effects. 4. What are the chief chemical elements in agricultural soil? How are they saved from exhaustion? What is the order of crop-rotation practiced in your district and why is this order chosen? Explain how the “cover-crop” system helps the soil. 5. List, in what seems to you to be their order of importance, the services rendered by the National Department of Agriculture. 6. How are Farm Loan Banks financed? What functions do they perform? 7. Find out how a Grange is organized, what officers it has, and what members do at their meetings. 8. The government assures to the owners of the railroads a minimum return on their invested capital (see p. 367). Should it guarantee the farmer a minimum price for his products? 9. Do you believe that the farmers are justified in organizing a “bloc” in Congress to promote their own interests? If the industrial workers, the shopkeepers, the manufacturers and so forth were to do likewise, how would this affect the party system? 10. Explain how the attractiveness of rural life has been increased in recent years. Topics for Debate 1. The national government should (_a_) directly engage in improved road-building for the benefit of agricultural areas; or (_b_) assist the states by grants of money for this purpose; or (_c_) leave the matter entirely to the states and communities. 2. Farmers and cattlemen should be permitted to form organizations in order to prevent competition and keep up the prices of their products, although such agreements among manufacturers are forbidden. CHAPTER XIX THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND REGULATION OF COMMERCE. _The purpose of this chapter is to explain what commerce is, how it is regulated, and what the government does to promote it._ [Sidenote: Who are engaged in commerce.]