VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 53 



These improved methods mean simply cheaper production and 

 cheaper production means reduced cost of foods. Inevitably, in 

 the absence of monopoly, cheapened production aids the consumer 

 rather than the producer. It is only as the producer, by alert- 

 ness, introduces the improved method in advance of his competi- 

 tors that he reaps an advantage. In the end the result of the 

 work of our agricultural colleges and experiment stations is not 

 to increase farmers' profits, but to cheapen the food of the masses. 

 The relationship of which we have been speaking is 

 not one-sided. The College as well as the State has its obliga- 

 tions. I have, however, little sympathy with the cry which has 

 so often gone up that our colleges give us something "practical." 

 Too often this call has come from men who have no appreciation 

 of what really constitutes true education. The college should 

 turn out educated men, and an educated man is a man of trained 

 mind. Possession of a large stock of knowledge is not vital, but 

 the ability to reason clearly, from cause to effect and from eiTect 

 back to cause. The character of the course of study is of jess 

 importance than the type of mind developed. The one American 

 farmer who has probably had more influence than any other man 

 on the character of soil cultivation was educated in an old-fash- 

 ioned classical college. Technical training is proper, and we shall 

 have more of it rather than less, but it should be possessed by 

 educated men. To turn out men with trained minds is the busi- 

 ness of OUT colleges. 



We hear much nowadays of the "New Vermont." I never 

 liked the phrase, but the thought is of more consequence than 

 words. The question whether the Vermont of the future shall 

 be worthy of the Vermont of the past is the vital one. In deter- 

 mining that question I believe no consideration is of more im- 

 portance than the character of the work done here on this hill. 

 A well endowed, well equipped institution, in proper relation with 

 the State, with the people of the State and with the educational 

 system of the State, would mean much for our future. Let us 

 hope that the act done here to-day may be an important step 

 towards the realization of our ideals. 



