BAKER ON GREATER ATTENTION TO THE SCIENCES. 127 



The prosperity and growth of this country has been marvelous; a very 

 great portion of that growth and prosperity is due to the agricultural 

 work done; and the character of that work has been, and is being, greatly 

 improved through the scientific training, in the State agricultural col- 

 leges, of a few who serve as leaders, and through the scientific work of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture. Congress has recognized 

 the fact that progress in this direction cannot be made except through 

 scientific study and experimental research work. Accordingly it has 

 appropriated money to establish, in the several States, agricultural ex- 

 periment stations. These scientific experiment stations are doing a grand 

 work for the progress of those sciences on which is based the art which 

 feeds the civilized world. Through progress in the agricultural sciences, 

 agricultural products have been increased and cheapened; and must con- 

 tinue *to be cheapened, so that a smaller and still smaller proportion of 

 the people are to be able to supply mankind with food, and a much larger 

 proportion of our people are to be able to engage in other pursuits. It 

 ought to result, also, in much less hours of physical labor to agricultur- 

 ists, and to all. classes of people. 



What I plead for is a continuance of the congressional and legislative 

 fostering of the agricultural sciences, but more especially the applica- 

 tion of the same principles of action to the other sciences. Let us have 

 the science of mechanics, and the other sciences which bear upon the 

 production of clothing, so fostered by governmental experiment stations 

 and technological schools, that a much smaller proportion of our people 

 shall be required to labor, and during less hours, in those industries 

 which supply our clothing. For several years the artificial production 

 of silk has been struggling toward perfection. If the governments would 

 maintain experiment stations for this purpose, possibly all of us might 

 soon dress in silks, and at much less cost than now in cotton? 



Recently much of the world's progress has been through the sciences 

 of electricity, light, and sound. As an illustration of the utility of the 

 telephone: "There are over one thousand telephone instruments used 

 by the United States Life Saving Service. A notable instance of the 

 benefit of it was the work achieved near Cape Henelopen, during the 

 most destructive storm that ever visited the coast. The crews of three 

 stations were brought together within two hours, and rescued twenty-two 

 stranded vessels and one hundred and ninety-four persons." 



There is no reason to suppose that all the secrets of nature have been 

 revealed to us relative to the transmission of light and sound. Through 

 the wonderful properties of selenium we have been on the point of being 

 able to transmit to a distance, by wire, views of objects, even photo- 

 graphic likenessess and views of scenes. Governments might well main- 

 tain experiment stations for the advancement of knowledge in the sci- 

 ences of electricity, light, and sound. 



The United States government has appropriated money to aid investi- 

 gations into aerial navigation; and even to looking for the north pole; 

 both of which objects may be worth much more than the cost, especially 

 as, by reason of the comparatively recent control over electricity, the 

 working out of the principle of the aeroplane, the cheapening of the 

 manufacture of aluminum by means of the electric furnace, and the new 

 methods of liquifying air, successful aerial navigation seems now to be 



