61 



the great body of farmers has ricrhtl.v estimated the imi)ortanee of the eco- 

 nomic, political, and social questions as related to their ultin)ate prosi>erity. In 

 grange meetings, for example, the subjects which arouse greatest interest are 

 such themes as taxation, the rural telephone, the country school, and business 

 cooperation. The explanation of all the farmers' movements is that the farmers 

 believe the farm iirolilem to be much more than a question of technique. They 

 v.ant light on the whole problem. 



The college, chiefly through its socialized extension department, has a mission 

 also to those professional people whose sphere of work is in the rural com- 

 munity. The rural educator, the country clergyman, the editor of the country 

 paper, and even tlie lawyer and physician who deal with country people should 

 have a large share in helping to solve the farm problem. They, too, need to 

 know what the rural problem is. They. too. need the eye that sees the neces- 

 sary conditions of rural betterment and the heart that desires to help in rural 

 progress. By some of the same methods that reach the farmers themselves can 

 the college instruct and inspire these others. 



And, finally, the college will t;ike its place as the "social organ or agency of 

 first imi)ortance in helping to solve the farm problem in all its phases." The 

 church, the school, the farmers' organization — all these social organs have their 

 work to do. None can do the work of the others. But they sht>uld work 

 together. Each should appreciate its own mission and its own limitations ; 

 each should recognize the function of the others, and all should intelligently 

 unite their forces in a grand camjiaign for rural betterment. More properly 

 than perhaps any other agency the socialized extension department of the 

 agricultural college can act as mediator and unifier, serve as 'the clearing house 

 ;nul directing spirit in a genuine federation of rural social forces. Inspired 

 by the conscious puriiose of the college to help at all points in the solution of 

 the farm question, informed by the knowledge acquired through research into 

 the economic and social problems of agriculture, aided by a multitude of edu- 

 cated farmers trained in the colleges to know the rural problem and to lend a 

 hand in its settlement, dignified by its status as a coordinate branch of tlie 

 college activities, the extension department may well act as the chief agency 

 of stimulation and unificatioii in the social movements for rural advancement. 



In this discussion the practical details of carrying out the programme advo- 

 cated have not been touched upon. When once it becomes a distinct policy 

 of the college to assume leadership in the movement for rural betterment, such 

 questions as subject-matter for study, text-books, qualified instructors, and time 

 in the curriculum will settle themselves. Neither has any attempt been made 

 to give illustrations; and therefore this paper may seem dogmatic if not aca- 

 demic, a prophecy rather than an outline of progress, the statement of an ideal 

 rather than a practicable i)rogramme. But I think there is abundant evidence 

 that a current is setting in toward the enlargement of the work of the agri- 

 cultural college along the social lines indicated. The rapid development of 

 farmers' institutes, the growth of other phases of extension teaching, the senti- 

 ment of those in authority that the experiment station must soon slough off its 

 work of education and confine itself to research, the holding of occasional con- 

 ferences for rural jirogress, in which country teachers and pastors join with 

 the fanners, the initiative of the college in federating various State farmers' 

 organizations into one grand connnittee, the inauguration of several brief 

 courses in agricultural economics and rural sociology, the cooperation of some 

 of the colleges with the Carnegie Institution in an investigation into the his- 

 tory and conditions of agriculture in its economic and social phases, the pride 

 with which a few of our colleges point to the increasing number of young men 

 they are sending to the farms — all these facts seem clearly to indicate that the 

 agricultural college will soon assert its function of leader in the endeavor to 

 fcolve all phases of the rural problem. 



If the analysis thus far offered is a correct one, the question of " rural eco- 

 nomics " is far from being merel.\ a matter of adding three or four subjects 

 of study to the agricultural course. It involves the very function and policy 

 of the college itself. It alone gives proportion to the problem of agricultural 

 education, because, while distinctly admitting the need of better farming and 

 the consequently fundamental necessity of the technical training of farmers, 

 it emphasizes the importance of the economic and political and social aspects 

 of rural development. And it thereby indicates that only by a due recognition 

 of these factors, in purpose, in organization, and in course of study, can the 

 American agricultural college fulfill its mission to the American farmer. 



