314 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



porations; the rijjjhts of property' and of inheritance; the inherent 

 rights of man; Avliether the i)eopIe shall support the state, or the state 

 the people; the resort to arbitration in place of war, both between 

 nations and between smaller a5jjp;r(>gates of men; the right of a more 

 progressive nation to control and direct the destinies of a less pro- 

 gressive one; these and many more such questions are not peculiar 

 to any one country, but are world questions of almost equal interest 

 in all countries. The number of such problems now crying for solu- 

 tion in the political, in the commercial, and in the social field is almost 

 legion. And are we preparing to meet and to successfully solve them? 



It is well to remember that wisdom is not a matter of destiny. 

 Neither is it a matter of inheritance. "It cannot be gotten for gold, 

 neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof." Let us there- 

 fore contemplate for a moment some of the essential elements of 

 strength on which this nation must rely in the frantic race she has 

 now set for herself and henceforth will be forced to run. 



INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENT. 



First, I will place intellectual achievement. By intellectual achieve- 

 ment I do not mean a mere trafficking in other men's intellectual wares. 

 I mean intellectual production. We need men and women who can 

 be trusted to think for themselves on these great questions. Clear 

 sight must precede wise action. We must realize the divine signifi- 

 cance of a fact, and hence must be able to recognize a fact when we 

 see it. We must be tremendous doubters. Most things which pass 

 current for truth are the flimsiest falsehoods. We believe what we 

 wish to believe, or what we are too indolent to question. We should 

 train ourselves to scientific thinking and reasoning. The scientific 

 methods of investigation should be applied to ail questions alike. This 

 can onlv be done bv those schooled in the use of such an instrument. 

 Modern education should be at least three-quarters scientific. To 

 "see straight and to think clear'' on all questions is not a natural 

 gift. It must be cultivated. Few people know what science is, and 

 fewer still are schooled in its methods. 



Most persons seem to think that a science may consist of organized 

 or systematized anything. Thus astrology, alchemy, palmistr}^ phren- 

 ology, were all in turn regarded as sciences, but are so regarded no 

 longer. These all consisted in organized or systematized coincidences, 

 assumptions, and theories, and we are not wanting in many modern 

 systems of belief, quite as fanciful and groundless as these, but which 

 are parading in the garments and adopting the terminology of science. 

 That cannot be knowledge which is not true. Science includes, there- 

 fore, only what is known to be true. This suggests Pilate's query, 

 "What is Truth?" I admit that in nearly all human affairs so called 

 truth consists in the highest attainable probability. When one thing 

 is to us more probable than any other alternative we can think of, 

 most persons would say I believe this to be true. This may serve very 

 well on which to base an opinion, if we must indulge ourselves in 

 such luxuries, but it hardly answers the demands of science. 



Again we must distinguish between qualitative and quantitative 

 truth, or science. To say that all matter is mutually attractive is to 



