No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 623 



likiug for the courses in agriculture. This is not unnatural, for 

 what can be more instructive than any study dealing with Nature? 

 Some of the lines being investigated are, soil studies, plant growth, 

 the breeds, care and management of farm animals, forestry consid 

 erations, adaptability of crops, etc. This work is given mostly in 

 the form of lectures. We hope, however, to see its future develop- 

 ment, and trust that we shall not be disappointed in this respect. 



We want the boys to see the advantages of agricultural pursuits. 

 We want them to see the "why" of Nature. In doing this work we 

 want your aid. Try and help us create an interest, and to show 

 the boys that farming is not such a bad business after all, and a 

 little later in the winter when we call upon you for a good practical 

 talk on farming operations do not disappoint us. Let us work to- 

 gether, for only by so doing can we secure the best interests, and 

 keep the boys on the farms, thereby benefiting agricultural work 

 in general. 



AGRICULTURAL VS. THE INDUSTRIAL A^D COMMERCIAL 

 SUPREMACY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



By H. E. MOATS, Jamestown, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: At the battle of the Pyra- 

 mids, Napoleon rode in front of his soldiers and with uplifted hand 

 pointed to the top of the nearby pyramids and said: "Soldiers from 

 the top of yon pyramids forty centuries look down upon you." At 

 the close of the Spanish-American war a new epoch opened to the 

 United States; an epoch of commercial and industrial supremacy, 

 the formation of vast industrial corporations involving the outlay 

 of capital beyond individual means and the consolidation of rail 

 roads into trunk lines, thereby reducing the cost of production and 

 transportation to a mere fraction of what it had been previously. 

 Almost at a single moment we saw our industrial influence only 

 bounded by the world itself, we found that we could ship to the far 

 east and sell in competition with the cheapest labor, and from a 

 people that had been only guardians of their own welfare we sud- 

 denly sprang into international affairs. Like the star that settled 

 down over the cradle of our Saviour, so has industrial and commer- 

 cial supremacy settled down over this young Republic. Yes, indeed, 

 the eyes of the world are turned upon us and we are occupying 

 a most honored position. From the earliest recorded history of 

 the dynasties of the Pharoahs down to the present time, there is a 

 lapse of forty centuries, during which time the world has moved 

 sometimes with leaps and bounds, then again it has been centuries 

 passing a given point, just as man directed. We are living in an age. 

 and especially in a country where progress is moving in at an unpre 

 cedented pace. We know what the past has been, or if we do not, 

 there is no excuse for us not knowing. True, forty centuries are 

 looking down upon our actions to-day. 



To increase and maintain our present supremacy is the desire of 

 every person who has the welfare of our people and nation at heart. 



