180 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



sions. Thus we "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." Xow, my idea of 

 railroad passes is this; if a railroad company can stand it to give two-thirds, 

 or one-half, or the whole transportation to our farmers or their produce from 

 one point to another, I am willing they should. 



We seem to be the most consummately absurd people that exist. We talk 

 vehemently, discuss and resolve, and abuse railroad companies if they will not 

 transport our produce for half price, and curse ourselves and them if they 

 transport us for nothing. We beat them down to the lowest figure for trans- 

 porting us to State Granges, State picnics. State conventions, and State fairs, 

 but the moment they take us for nothing then we whine and talk of bribei'y. 

 If we find fault with them for transporting our carcasses for nothing, may 

 they not presume we would whine if they transported our crops for nothing. 

 Tell me then, who can, what the poor, confused, disheartened railroads can 

 do ? They charge too much if they charge anything, and too little if they 

 charge nothing. I repeat the interrogatory, what can they do to satisfy us? 

 Or what respect can they have for such puerile dissatisfaction ? How is it that 

 a free pass can bribe your chosen representatives to the State Legislature, 

 while the half-fare tickets cannot warp the petitions or resolutions of the 

 delegates to the State Grange? How is it that the free pass poisons the enact- 

 ment and not the editorial? We pause for a reply. 



THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



BY SECRETAKT R. G. BAIED. 

 [Read at Berrien and Caro Institutes.] 



My subject may be presumed to be one of interest, especially to the farmers 

 of the State. Were the work of the college more generally and thoroughly 

 understood, other classes of our citizens would be almost equally interested in 

 it and the advantages it affords, comparatively speaking, almost '' without 

 money and without price " to the young men who are seeking an education 

 that will increase their capabilities of usefulness, would be sought after by a 

 very large number of that class. 



After debating in my own mind which would be the better way, viz., to prepare 

 a formal address on the college, or to spend the time given to its consideration by 

 a general discussion in which I would endeavor to answer the questions on which 

 information was asked, I concluded that a compromise between these two 

 methods might be better than either, and more in accordance with the way 

 in which topics are treated at these institutes, i. e., to have an address followed 

 by discussion. 



After listening to me, you can all have an opportunity to talk back, and the 

 points discussed need not be confined to those which are presented in this 

 address. We are here to receive suggestions as well as to give them. As citizens 

 of Michigan we are all interested in the college, and desire for it the greatest 

 efficiency and the largest possible usefulness. 



It is not my purpose to discuss all the objections that have been urged 

 against the Agricultural College, No doubt, generally speaking, these objec- 

 tions have been honestlv and, some of them intelligently made ; and, if the 



