SOCIAL PHASE OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 357 



rural progress, it should be the inspiration, the guide, the stimulator 

 of all possible endeavors to improve farm and farmer. This attitude 

 of mind is purely a matter of ideals, deliberately formed in the light of 

 the abiding needs of the farming class. It is the intangible but per- 

 vasive influence of an object which is perfectly definite even if avowedly 

 spiritual. It is a question of atmosphere. It is a matter of insight. 

 The college must have a vision of the rural problem in its entirety and 

 in its relations. At the college we should find, if anywhere, the 

 capacity to understand the ultimate question in agriculture. We know 

 that this ultimate question in agriculture can not be expressed alone 

 by the terms nitrogen, or balanced ration, or cost per bushel, but must 

 be written also in terms of the human problem, the problem of the men 

 and women of the farm. So we shall see the college consciously en- 

 deavoring to make of itself a center where these men and women of the 

 farm shall find light and inspiration and guidance in all the aspects 

 of their struggle for a better livelihood and a broader life. The college 

 must avow its intention of becoming all things to all farmers. Whether 

 this means the study of fertility, of animal nutrition, of soil bacteri- 

 ology, or whether it means the consideration of markets, of land laws, 

 of transportation, of the country church, of pure government, the col- 

 lege will lead the way to the truth. 



2. As the first requisite is that of the conscious ideal or purpose, 

 the second is one of organization. It seems to me that the socializa- 

 tion of the college can not proceed very far until the principle of uni- 

 versity extension is pretty fully recognized. The college must be in 

 constant and vital touch with the farmers and their associations. 

 Therefore each agricultural college should as rapidly as possible develop 

 a definite tri-partite organization which reveals the college in its three- 

 fold function as an organ of research, as an educator of students, and 

 as a distributor of information to those who can not come to the college. 

 These are really coordinate functions and should be so recognized. The 

 college should unify them into one comprehensive scheme. The prin- 

 ciple of such unity is perfectly clear ; for we have in research the quest 

 for truth, in the education of students the incarnation of truth, and in 

 extension work the democratization of truth. Until these three lines 

 of effort are somewhat definitely recognized and organized, the college 

 can not work as leader in solving the rural problem. 



3. Thirdly, the social sciences, in their relation to the rural prob- 

 lem particularly, must receive a consideration commensurate with the 

 importance of the industrial, the political and the social phases of the 

 farm question. In research, for instance, the colleges should make a 

 study of the history and status of these aspects of agriculture. As a 

 matter of fact, we know very little of these things. There have been 

 but few scientific investigations of the economic features of the industry, 



