DAIRY MEETING. 1 53 



understand that the industrial output of a people is measured by 

 the intelligence of the people. That is true of agriculture, as of 

 every other industry. I have had occasion, at your institute 

 meetings, to call attention to the relation of intelligence to the 

 outcome or the output of a people. I secured statistical data 

 perhaps a score of years ago, which I used for the information 

 of my students. In the New England group of states, the out- 

 put of the staple crops is 25.6 bushels per acre. In Michigan, 

 Iowa, ^linnesota and Wisconsin, where 4.85 per cent of the peo- 

 ple cannot read and write, the output is 23.4 bushels. In New 

 York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 5.35 per cent of the people 

 cannot read and write, and their average crops per acre go down 

 to 22.S. Illinois, Indiana and Ohio have 6.9 per cent of people 

 who cannot read and wTite, and their crops are 20.1 bushels. 

 Delaware, ^Maryland and West A'irginia have 22.8 per cent who 

 cannot read and write and their crops average 16.4 bushels. 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia have 32.4 per cent 

 of inhabitants who cannot read and write, and their products 

 are 11.4 bushels per acre. In North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Wisconsin and Alabama 45 per cent of the population 

 could neither read nor write, and their crops were 8.4 bushels 

 per acre. 



The same truth applies to the European countries. From 

 the data which I have here I will give only a single illustration, 

 which compares France with Germany. France, the richer 

 agricultural country, had at that time 51 per cent of people 

 who could not read nor write, and her products averaged 18^ 

 bushels per acre. The much poorer agricultural section of Ger- 

 many, where practically all of the people can read and write, 

 vmder their magnificent school system, turned out 22 and a frac- 

 tion bushels per acre. Intelligence on the farm is the measure 

 of the output of the farm. The agricultural products of our 

 country are measured, not by the fertility of the soil but by the 

 fertility of the intellects of those who cultivate the soil ; and, my 

 friends, just as certain as that truth is eternal, just as true as the 

 saying of Emerson that 'Tntellect is primary and matter second- 

 ary," just so sure shall the magnificent school system of the 

 West, supported by the state as I have indicated, make it impos- 

 sible for vou to maintain vour civilization and culture on the 

 level of others unless you bring the little red schoolhouse of 

 Maine up to the level of the school system of the West. If 



