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culture or mechanic ai'ts. This system of education, which in a way is dif- 

 ferent from anything else ever undertalien, guards peculiarly the country's 

 ideals concerning the permanent welfare of the masses of the people. 1 do 

 not think it could be proved that these colleges came in response to a demand 

 from the multitude, but they came rather in resi)onse to a demand on the part 

 of a few farseeiTig men. These men recognized, what 1 thinlc all now can 

 readily see, that such institutions would be an efficient agency in cultivating 

 on the part of the masses of the people an appreciation of higher attainments 

 and greater excellence in the useful industries of life. It is impossible to 

 measure the value or the power in such enlightened appreciation. It has 

 been truly said in connection with the significance of an educational system 

 in its relation to the progress of civilization, and concerning the duty tovrard 

 the government of those receiving it, that we can not appreciate it except by 

 considering it from the collective point of view. That is to say. in another way, 

 that the whole people must encourage and maintain a system of education in 

 order that the individuals may be brought to a greater appreciation of it 

 and thus saved from their own tendency to degeneration. This elevating 

 influence of the land-grant colleges is by no means their least valualile restilt. 

 It is not to be forgotten that the benefits of an edtication to the individual are 

 proportionately less than the advantages to the other members of a com- 

 munity. I think we are prone to look tipon education from a purely individu- 

 alistic point of view. We are prone to measure it exclusively for what it can 

 do for the individual, forgetting oftentimes that what it does for the individual 

 is but the beginning of its real service. We have not yet entirely escaped 

 the fallacy that agricultural education is for the farmers only and that the 

 work of the experiment stations is for the rural districts. It is true that the 

 primary benefits will be realized first among the people in the rural districts, 

 but it is equally true and highly important that we recognize the truth that 

 education of any sort is a social process the benefits of which can not be 

 confined to the persons engaged in it. Agricultural education touches vitally 

 every interest of society both urban and rural. The experiment station is the 

 guardian of the avenues as truly as of the fields. 



Since, then, we can not find the full fruits of our system of education in the 

 fields or in thd individuals, we would do well to study its wider importance 

 and deeper significance. In this connection, i)ermit me to say that the very 

 creditable exhibit of the colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts at St. Louis 

 has, in my judgment, been a demonstration of the unity of all education, and 

 in so far as an exhibit could testify, this one — the first one — has shown that 

 the type of education in these colleges has not only ample justification, but 

 occupies an important and hitherto neglected field. 



In the phase of education now under discussion there is a manifest tendency 

 to emphasize the materials of education rather than the results of it. It is so 

 easy for us to fix our minds upon the importance of luxuriant yields in the har- 

 dest, the splendid types of live stock, or the margin of net profit that jiroducing 

 these things will realize. No doubt these are important considerations. I 

 would not in any degree minimize their importance. Indeed, if we can not 

 exhibit these as among the results of our education there would be great difl!i- 

 culty in justifying such a movement as a new departure in education. When, 

 however, we have done all these things we have not received the most valuable 

 results. It is when the pursuits of life have been made more etticient, and 

 through the efficiency of these pursuits men are made more efficient, and through 

 the greater efficiency of juen society itself is more efficient and stable, that 

 government finds its beneficent ptirposes' realized and its investments justified. 

 1 regard it as of the highest importance that these ideals shall become the com- 

 mon property of our people. It is no small prol>lem for these land-grant col- 

 leges to recognize this problem and deal with it effectively. Our banner must 

 float in full view of the civilization which we encourage. 



II. Turning now from what may be called the i)roblems of ideals, I desire to 

 give some attention to the iuore practical iiroblems of opei*ation, and here I bring 

 to our attention the conditions in farm life that infiuence for good or evil the efli- 

 ciency of agricultural education. These conditions, I dare say, are familiar to 

 the members of this association, Init are worthy of a quiet hour at our annual 

 meeting. Many of them are general, in the sense that they are to be found 

 wherever agricultural colleges occupy the attention of men. Some are local, in 

 the sense that they are more noticeable in some comnuuuties than in others, or 

 in the sense that they are peculiar to particular communities. I make no efTort 

 to distinguish these, but call attention to such as are within the horizon of my 



