DEPAETMENT REPORTS. 79 



The objects to be reached by our system of student labor are as I understand 

 them : 



Firi^t. To keep hands and mind in sympathy with labor. This is para- 

 mount to every other consideration. The young man, who in his college 

 course imbibes, as so many do, a sort of contempt for manual labor and the 

 man who performs it, and who gets very stilted notions about culture and the 

 exalted character of the work he must do, because, forsooth, he is a graduate, 

 is not calculated to blossom out into the common-sense, aggressive, enterpris- 

 ing young American who is ready to do anything honorable, until something 

 better offers, and who is sure to make his way in the world. The influence of 

 putting on a work dress and engaging in manual labor a part of each day has 

 a tendency to fix the habit of labor, if real work is performed (if it is a sham, 

 a make-believe work, it is only a curse), and the effect is salutary upon the 

 student. It gives him a kind of right self-reliance and independence if he is 

 honest with himself and his work, that he would not be likely to secure in any 

 other way, and that is of incalculable value in the formation of character. 



Second- The labor system gives students the privilege of earning a portion 

 of the necessary expenses incurred in pursuing their college course, thus 

 enabling many to enjoy the benefits of study here, who would not feel that they 

 could do so without this opportunity of defraying their own expenses in part. 

 I may say in this connection that those students who have found it necessary 

 to be doubly diligent in their college course to secure needed funds, have 

 usually graduated with honor, and to-day are among the most honored of the 

 alumni of this College. 



Third. Out door labor promotes bodily health. "A sound mind in a sound 

 body" is as essential in agricultural pursuits as in any other, and there is 

 nothing more desirable as a health preservative than plenty of work in the 

 open air. 



Fourth. The labor system was designed to acconiplish all 'I have named, 

 and it has always been and is the first thought of those in charge, to so 

 arrange the labor and secure such competent supervision that, while for the 

 students' sake it was paid labor, it should be as far as possible educational in its 

 character, affording the student ample opportunities for observing the manip- 

 ulations of farm work in all of its details, and to have more or less of actual 

 practice in them all, thus giving him the privilege of familiarizing himself 

 with the best methods of tillage and stock husbandry, of gardening and hor- 

 ticulture. A moment's thought will convince any reasonable critic that it is 

 much easier to plan and indicate on paper how all this shall be accomplished, 

 than to execute and carry to successful issue such plans. The farm depart- 

 ment is sometimes criticised by those who think that every young man who 

 graduates here should know all about practical farming and turn out a farmer, 

 and because some of our graduates seem to know little of the details of farm 

 work, and engage in other occupations after graduation, they brand system, 

 management, and all as a failure. Now, I am happy to say that a good per 

 cent of oar graduates are farmers — not all. Many young men come to us 

 who have fully decided to follow some one of the professions. We do not 

 expect to change their plans during their course ; but we do hold most strongly 

 to the idea that the practical instruction our work system gives will quite likely 

 be of great value to them in after life. Is there a profession, or business, or 

 position in the wide world, worthy of a true man's ambition, where practical 

 knowledge of every day affairs would not often come in play to great advau- 



