52 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



placed in his hands for the development of education. Rockefeller 

 had placed at his disposal twenty-five million dollars; others addi- 

 tional sums. He said he had gone into other portions of this 

 country, not Missouri, with a view of strengthening the universi- 

 ties, and with a view of strengthening and upbuilding certain de- 

 partments of that State, and the schools of which State were not 

 well supported until they began to support them. He said they 

 investigated the condition of the university -and found it was not 

 the university which was at fault, and concluded that the fault 

 must be with the preparatory or high schools, and they therefore 

 made an investigation of them, as they knew it was necessary to 

 properly build them up before they could support their university 

 as they should. But it was found that the difficulty was not in 

 the high schools ; that it must be more basic than that, and the con- 

 clusion was that it was with the primary schools, and that they 

 must therefore look to these and the strengthening of them if they 

 would hope to build a high school system, and rest a university 

 upon it. And when they investigated the primary schools they 

 found the fault was not there, but that they rested upon an agri- 

 culture that was not prosperous, and therefore strong schools 

 could not be made. They were thoroughly convinced the difficulty 

 in the school system was with the agriculture, and they set about 

 to spend their money strengthening the agriculture of the sec- 

 tion which they had first sought to expend toward the strengthen- 

 ing of the university, after they had finally seen that, when their 

 agriculture was strengthened, the district schools and high schools 

 and university would be supported and would take care of them- 

 selves. That is a natural and logical conclusion anywhere you go ; 

 and anywhere the agricultural industry is basic, if that is false, 

 if that is weak ; if behind it is a man without nerve, without 

 strength and without mental capacity, the whole superstructure of 

 whatever kind is of the same sort. 



Fortunately, the Missouri farmer is an intelligent farmer, is 

 on good land, is prosperous; and when those conditions prevail 

 everything else prospers with them. And it is only when the lead- 

 ing farmers come together like you gentlemen, in this way, and 

 compare their experiences and get the best thought and the re- 

 sults of the best study and investigation, that we will continue to 

 have on the Missouri farm the best intelligence of the State, the 

 most progressive men in the country and the most prosperous of 

 all classes of people. (Applause.) 



