4L6 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



a mechanical depart iiicnt. wisely followir.fi' the example of other states 

 which have endowed schools of mechanical engineering. The results 

 achieved by these schools during the last twenty years in turning out 

 thousands of graduates who now hold ])rominent positions in our me- 

 chanical industries are well known, and their value to the nation is 

 beyond calculation. The usefulness of these schools is now generally 

 appreciated by the public. They are crowded with students, they have 

 been liberall}' endowed by the states and by the general government, and 

 millions of dollars have been contributed to them by private individuals. 

 Already the alumni of some of them are showing their appreciation by 

 raising funds to provide them with new buildings ancl equipment. 

 There is no need to further discuss the question of the schools of me- 

 chanical engineering. Their position and their future are secure. The 

 progress of agricultural schools has hitherto lagged behind that of the 

 schools of engineering, but there can be no doubt that it will ere long 

 receive a new impetus and that the agricultural schools will obtain that 

 measure of public appreciation and that increase of endowment which 

 their importance deserves. 



The position of the engineering schools of the United States is now 

 in advance of that of similar schools in any other part of the world, and 

 probably the same may be said of our agricultural schools, but in other 

 branches of technical education we are far behind Europe, and in fact 

 have scarcely made a beginning. I wish to quote in this connection the 

 words of ex-President Willits of this College, spoken in 1885. He said: 



''Continental Europe, older in these industries, long since saw the 

 necessity for special attention to the matter, and during the last fifty 

 years has expended large sums on schools of technology and the pro- 

 motion of science lying at the base of all the industries. The result has 

 been marvelous. England, that once ruled the industrial as imperially 

 as she did the commercial world, at last became anxious over the com- 

 petition of nations that for half a century or more had been her lavish 

 purchasers, and began to inquire how this ability to compete in her 

 manufactures had been brought about, and was after a full investiga- 

 tion into the principal causes compelled to admit that it was to be at- 

 tributed more than anything else to the schools of technology and 

 mechanic arts which those countries had the foresight to establish." 

 He further says: ''Our industries are an important factor in our body 

 politic, and our future is to be largely shaped by our ability to manu- 

 facture as well and as cheaply as anyone else. To do this we must put 

 intelligence into our shops and theoretical instruction into our schools. 

 We must occui)y the ground ourselves with our own brains and muscle. 

 Two-thirds of our foremen and master mechanics are foreigners, educated 

 in the technical schools of Europe or instructed by an apprenticeship 

 that is not germane to our institutions."' 



I doubt if the statement made by President Willits 11 years ago, that 

 two-thirds of our foremen and master mechanics are foreigners, would 

 hold true today, and it surely would not in the case of our iron-working 

 establishments, but it is probably nearly true today in most of the 

 skilled industries outside of iron workijng, and especially in those 

 in which artists and designers are engaged. The great bulk of our 

 artistic designing in iron, in silver and other metals, in textile fabrics 

 and in wood, is done by foreigners. Michigan is famous for its furniture 



