32 



acquire there such a knowledge of the prhiciples of agricultural science as to 

 enahle them to at least understand the relation of this, the primary industry, 

 to the other great industries of the world, and the relation of the latter to the 

 products of the farm, as well as to the progress of the country and the benefit 

 of all the people. This organization, therefore, represents in an educational 

 sense the greatest of all human interests, because it includes them all. Each 

 State here represented is an empire in itself, when considered from the stand- 

 point of potential development. The possibilities in this direction are so great, 

 particularly as concerns the need of improvement in economic and social 

 conditions, that those engaged in the wi)rk can not help but chafe under the 

 restraint caused l)y the inertness of those forces, governmental and otherwise, 

 which should be exercised in their behalf. 



Our first question, then, is, A\hat is the responsibility of this organization V 

 for it seems to me that the responsibility for the development and progress 

 of agriculture must rest most of all with the institutions that we represent. 

 I am well aware that it is the essential duty of an agricidtnral college, in <'om- 

 mon with others, to give i)roper instruction to its students, yet l)ecause the agri- 

 cultural college in any State is, or should be, at the fountain head of the 

 agricultural education, it is not merely directly responsible for the education 

 of the students who come to its halls, but indirectly responsil)le for the educa- 

 tion of the masses engaged in agriculture. It is not sufficient that this work 

 should be touched here and there by the agricultural college, for the mass of 

 farmers shall be so instructed as to enable them to take advantage in a prac- 

 tical way of the knowledge in our possession. The last United States census 

 showed that there were in the United States 5,739,(557 farms and about 11,000,- 

 000 farmers, who, with their families, constitute about three-fifths of our 

 population, q'he Report of the OHice of Experiment Stations, in its statistics 

 of land-grant colleges for 1004, shows that there have been graduated from these 

 institutions, since their organization, 57,000 students, or practically one stu- 

 dent for each hundred farms. Had all of these students been graduated from 

 the agricultural courses, and had they all engaged in farming, only 1 per cent 

 of the farms of the country would have been thus directly influenced by the 

 agricultural colleges. The facts are, however, that a very small iiroportion 

 of this total number of students were graduated from the agricultural courses. 

 and of these a ver.v large proportion were not directly engaged in farming, 

 though interested in allied occupations, as in the manufacture of fertilizers, 

 the management of dairies or creameries, the editing of newspapers, or in 

 teaching. It is a fact that the number of graduates from the agricultural 

 courses is too small, even now, to make it possible for the varicms institutions 

 to secure enough competent instructors, hence the number of men who have 

 been educated in these colleges, and whi> are engaged in farming, is too small 

 to directly affect agricultural practice in the various States. The wonder is, 

 therefore, that any genuine progress has been made, rather than that greater 

 progress has not been made. Our progress can be accounted for by the wealth 

 of our natural resources, a progress that has been accompanied l)y woeful 

 waste. 



That this would apply to any other industry which has made proportionately 

 greater progress than has l)een made in farming is true in a sense, but it must 

 be remembered that in other industrial lines there are many schools where 

 technical education may l)e obtained, whereas in the case of the farmer his 

 only school. ])ractically. is his agricultural college, though fortunately there are 

 u few notable exceptions. The only means of education available to him 

 aside from his agricultural college may be found in the varicms subordinate 

 agencies, such as the farmers' institutes, the grange, the press, the State boards 

 of agriculture, the agricultural and horticultural societies, and farmers" clubs, 

 and the direct influence of these is really (piite limited. The farmers' insti- 

 tutes, which are directly educational in their methods, according to avaihd)le 

 statistics i-each less than 5 per cent of those living upon farms, and these 

 attend institutes l»ecause they are already in t<mch with the experiment sta- 

 tions; they do not reach, as a rule, those who are in the gn^atest need. 



I do not desire in any way to belittle the very great service that has been 

 rendered l)y these organizations, for I appreciate fully their value, but it caii 

 not be claimed even hy the In-oadest interpretation of the term "education" 

 that they have been truly educational factors in the sense that the college or 

 school is. whei-e jiresciMbed studies are reciuired that are pui'sued in a logical 

 way. It is impossible to achieve great ends, or to make genuine and general 

 progress in any calling, witliout h;iving those who are directly interested so edu- 



