Unnamed County Agricultural Agent

There are several references in "The Tall Men" to "county agents" in general. This is "the county agent's young fellow" who visits the McCallums periodically to explain the new federal programs that regulate agricultural production (57). He works for the federal government as part of the Roosevelt administration's efforts during the Depression to improve farm practices in places like the deep South. To the McCallums, this is the "the Government" that wants to "interfere with how a man farmed his own land" (55). This "young fellow" regularly "comes out to measure the pasture crops" at the McCallum place (57). The McCallums treat him politely, but want nothing to do with such assistance, either as advice or as subsidies.