SCIENCE AND THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICA 



for farming is after all and in the last analysis an individual affair. 



The incidental effect upon citizenship of such a systematic effort, 

 especially in a democracy, is an interesting sociological and economic 

 question, but it is quite aside from the present purpose, which is to 

 analyze the agencies that have been awakened in the name of agricul- 

 tural science and to distinguish as clearly as possible between those that 

 are really helpful and others that by accident or otherwise have become 

 attached like barnacles to the ship and whose load is even less serious 

 than their resistance. 



The sudden establishment of a national system of fifty institutions 

 under combined federal and state support, and the engaging upon this 

 extensive scale in both education and research in a hitherto neglected, if 

 not despised, field was certain to be followed by results both desirable 

 and undesirable. The combination is still further complicated by the 

 fact that the new field has suddenly become popular, drawing into its 

 vortex amounts of money never before equaled, and engaging the atten- 

 tion of all sorts and conditions of men, some seeking opportunity for 

 real service, others attracted by the loaves and fishes, even by the crumbs. 



It was as inevitable that certain results should follow^ the agencies 

 here invoked as that other effects should follow causes. 



For example, it is impossible to launch so pretentious a program 

 without a vast amount of good resulting, and in this respect the most 

 sanguine enthusiasts have not been disappointed. It is impossible to ac- 

 complish a public service of this character and magnitude without de- 

 veloping a body of earnest, capable and devoted scientists who work, not 

 for reward, but for the good that they can do, and it is my desire here 

 and now to pay tribute of respect to the hundreds, yes thousands of 

 men and women who labor both day and night, who expose and often 

 destroy their health in carrying forward this great work. They shall 

 have their reward. 



But it is also impossible to suddenly engage upon an extensive scale 

 in a new and undeveloped field without drawing into the service both 

 inadequately trained and mediocre men. It is impossible that a field 

 should be popular without attracting the sensationally minded, and it is 

 equally unlikely that so large an amount of public money could be ex- 

 pended without the creation of a vast and complicated administrative 

 machinery. . . . 



A heavy w^eight of responsibility rests upon the young man now 

 preparing for a career in agricultural research. It is not enough that he 

 have some special knowledge and skill in a narrow field such as soil 

 analysis, genetics or vegetable pathology. He must have scholarship, 

 breadth of knowledge and vision enough to know the relation of his 

 specialty to other branches of science, and the bearing of it all upon the 

 business and the practise of food production, that is, farming. 



For the purposes of the investigator a real knowledge of and sym- 

 pathy with the actual operation of the farm and the problems of the 

 farmer is not only desirable, but essential. Farming is a productive, not 

 a speculative industry, and the problems of agriculture are those of pro- 

 duction and distribution, not those of special opportunity. 



[42] 



