208 TRANSACTIONS OF TEE 



The annual address w^s delivered by Professor Ezra S. Carr. The 

 subject, "Industrial Education." He introduced his subject by say- 

 ing: "So many are now busj^^ with plans for increasing immigration 

 that it may be useful to have one voice directing the public mind to 

 the solution of the more important question, Adz.: How to grow a 

 crop of sound-bodied, right-minded, clean-hearted children, who will 

 take to work as naturally and kindly as a duck takes to water? I 

 hold that the end of the crop is the eater, the end of labor the belit- 

 tlement of the laborer, and that human improvement is as legitimate 

 a subject for discussion in agricultural societies as that of colts and 

 chickens." He urged that practical education should begin in our 

 public schools, and in the primary departments, and be continued in 

 every grade up to the door of the university, and " that the university 

 is as necessary a part of public instruction as the elementary or tech- 

 nical school, and should be the crowm and complement of these." 



There was no appropriation for premiums by the State this year, 

 and the receipts of the Society from all sources was $40,134 37; 

 expenditures, $40,904 72; increase of indebtedness, $857 55. 



At the twenty-third annual meeting of the Society, held January 

 26th, 1876, R. S. Carey was re-elected President, and Frederick Cox, 

 M. I). Boruck, and Marion Biggs, Directors. Robert Beck was 

 re-elected Secretary, and L. H. Upson Treasurer. 



At the session of the Legislature held in 1876, a resolution was 

 passed the Assemblj^ requiring an examination into the manner the 

 State Agricultural Society was organized and officered, its financial 

 condition and management, and the expediency of establishing 

 another State Agricultural Society, to hold its exhibitions at San 

 Jose, or some other central locality. This resolution was referred to 

 the Committee on Agriculture. The committee gave the whole mat- 

 ter a full examination, and reported the organization and officers as 

 stated in this paper. The debt of the Society growing out of purchases 

 of real estate and improvements thereon, since 1872, the committee 

 found to be $16,141 89. They reported the management of the Society 

 to have been conducted in a business-like manner, and that the Soci- 

 ety's property was estimated worth from one hundred thousand to 

 one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, consisting of about forty- 

 three acres of land known as Agricultural Park and necessary 

 buildings thereon, and other property necessary to the uses of the 

 Society. The committee discouraged the organization of another 

 State Agricultural Societ}^, as such action would only tend to render 

 the present Society of less value to the State without a corresponding 

 benefit. The committee recommended the fostering care and pro- 

 tection to agriculture as the foundation of all the industries and 

 wealth. 



A law was passed at this session appropriating the sum of $16,141 89 

 to pay the whole indebtedness of the Society at that date. From 1854 

 to 1862 a debt of about $27,000 was accumulated. From 1862 to 1872, 

 almost unaided by the State, the Board discharged every cent of this 

 indebtedness. This was done only by the strictest economy and by 

 leaving undone many things in the waj- of improvements that ought 

 to have been done. From 1872 to 1876 the Society again fell behind 

 $16,141 87, which the State paid in full, as has been seen. During 

 this latter period, however, many acres of real estate were purchased 

 to extend the stock grounds, and^ many costly and valuable improve- 

 ments thereon were made. The receipts of the Society from all 



