M. A. O. ALUMNI REUNION. 439 



become clearly manifest, penetrated deeply enonjili into the problem of 

 education for the masses to anticipate this dcMuand for a thoronjihly 

 practical course in mechanics, and to provide laboratories, shops and 

 competent instructors to place it within the reach of all. 



The evolution of an institution is, in many essential respects, like 

 that of society. Henry Drummond, in his "Ascent of Man," states a 

 princi]>le which has come to be known as his key to special proi^ress. 

 He says: ''It cannot be that the full program for the perfect world lies 

 in the imperfect part. Nor can it be that science can find the end in 

 the be<^inninjr, jj^et moral out of non-moral states, evolve human societies 

 out of ant hea])s, or philanthropies out of i)roto])lasm. liut in every 

 bej2:inninii,- we get a beginning of an end; in every process a key to the 

 single step to be taken next." The introduction of our mechanical 

 course was thus of greater importance as an epoch marker than any 

 other single event in the history of the College since its establishment, 

 inasmuch as in this "process" we see a key to the "single step to be taken 

 next." In the subsequent establishment of the AA'omeu's l)ej)artment 

 we see but another ste]) in the recognition of the truth that henceforward 

 the Michigan Agricultural College must stand for the education of the 

 whole mass of peoi)le. 



From that moment, when the definition of a patron of the M. A. C. 

 was changed from "farmer" to "bread winner," the pyramid of its 

 fortunes no longer stood upon its apex, but on the broad base of popular 

 suj)])ort and po])ular ap])roval. How logical, then, was the next step 

 taken by our beloved Alma Mater, and yet how foreign to the minds 

 of those most active in securing for us the mechanical course; for the 

 women of our land — silent, i)atient toilers, rendering bright our fire- 

 sides and constituting the factor without which the word home would 

 lose all its sacred significance, are they not entitled to recognition as 

 bi-ead winners? Constituting as they do half the population of the 

 land, wielding an infiuence over the characters which are to mould the 

 destiny of our nation, beside which all other influences are insignificant, 

 should they not receive the best that there is in the way of broadening 

 and refining influences of music, literature and art? Our State 'Board 

 of Agriculture again demonstrated its gras]) on the educational ])rob- 

 lems of the day by anticijiating the demand for an education for wonum 

 as i)ractical as that demanded by man. 



Thus in a three- fold way, our College touches the everyday needs of 

 the masses. It can, in no sense, be called a class college. It represents 

 no sect, no creed, no party, no caste, but in the broadest sense of the 

 word it stands for all. 



Nor has this increase in the scope of the College meant a decrease of 

 its usefulness in the dii'ection originally intended. It is more than ever 

 a college for the farmer. IJy the addition of short courses in dairying 

 and sugar beet raising, by its sjjecial attention to the problems of 

 sheep husbandry and stock breeding, and by the si)lendid services 

 which our liorticultural dejiartment is rendering to the market gardener 

 and the fruit raiser, the Agricultural College is coming to be more and 

 more a practical necessity to those producers of all wealth, the tillers 

 of the soil. 



Am I hasty in saying then, in view of these facts, that the "Michigan 

 Agricultural College occupies a unique place among the educational 



