102 



cultiiro in its (■iiiTicuhnn wliich still toMchcs f^ood iisvioultuvo ; and. rnnvorsely, 

 t'vor so f^ood a ciirricuhiiu will not iiiala* :ui aKritMiltnral collcu'c <}(kk1 spirit 

 is half of a collcjii' course. I'crliaps it would be better to say that no college 

 course is worth the while without this enthusiasm and fuliheartedness. I 

 would think any agricultural collefje (luite remiss if it did not somewhere and 

 at some time take upon itself the resi)()nsibility of calling its students together 

 for the purpose of general intercourse or general reading, or for lectures and 

 discussions of large (|uestions which are not directly agricultural. I like to 

 think of the agricultural student as a man who has the roots of his affection 

 founded in the traditions and experiences of the human race as expressed in 

 Jiterature as well as in the distinct indnsti'ial vocations in which he is engaged. 

 A great deal can he done in training men's minds and directing them wholly 

 outside of any curricidnm which may be put on paper. I am sure that evei-y 

 one of us feels that there are ])ossibilities in the adnnnistration of a college of 

 agriculture for educational uplift and spiritual enthusiasm wholly outside of 

 the curriculum in the college catalogue. 



Hon. William T. Harris. W S. Connnissioner of Education. l)eing introduced, 

 spoke as follows : 



Addkkks ok Hon. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of 



Education. 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I had the honor to make some remarks this 

 morning in the general session relating to the vestibule of education, meaning 

 by that the ])re]»aratory studies which furnish a common basis for higher edu- 

 cation, and especially for that part of the higher education which specializes 

 its studies. I will confine my remarks now to the relation which the s])ecialized 

 subjects in agricultui'al and mechanical training have to the common i)rej)ara- 

 lory branches which belong to the vestibule of the temple of learning. We have 

 a law ( f Congress which provides an endowment for the agricultural and 

 mechanical colleges of .f^'J.l.iUK » each, and which ])rovides si»ecifically that the 

 benefits of said annual endowment shall be applied oidy to instruction in agri- 

 culture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various branches of 

 mathematical, physical, natural, and economic science, and to the facilities for 

 such instruction. The omissions in this list are very important and suggestive. 

 One will notice an absence of branches relating to other languages than Eng- 

 lish, and esi)ecially to the omission of the so-called classics, Latin and Greek. 

 It had haiipened before in the State institutions which arose on the foundation 

 of the endowment of 18<)2 for the establishment of colleges for the benefit of 

 agricultiH'e and mechanic arts that older institutions, modeled on the basis of the 

 college oi' university for general culture, had obtained the advantiiges of said 

 endowment, and not being limited in their application of the fund had used it 

 for the most part in strengthening what I have called the vestibule to educa- 

 tion — the general preparation for higher studies. Inasmuch as the students 

 seeking general culture were far mor(> numerous than those who had marked 

 out for themselves careers in special industrial studies, it had come to pass that 

 nearly all of the benefits of the agricultui'al and mechanical endowment had 

 been ajtplied to the branches which underlie connuon culture, namely, foreign 

 languages and es])eci;illy the so-called "dead languages," Latin and (ireek. and 

 to modern languages. The new endowment of August, ISOO. therefore, provided 

 in ii careful manner that its proceeds should not go toward strengthening the 

 foundations of education, but should be a])i)lied entirely to the sui)erstructure of 

 the sjiecial education intended for agriculture and mechanic arts. 



It should be said at this ])oint that application of the earlier endowment, that 

 of ISC.-J, in such lines as had already been fixed in the older college education 

 was necessary, partly because there had as yet not been fonnulated, or at least 

 not yet published, any systematic and well-graded c<mrse of instruction in agri- 

 culture or the mechanic arts. There being comi)aratively little ex])erience in 

 this Meld and only feeble aftt nii)ts to reduce it to a course of study, the directors 

 of higher institutions found thems<'lves in the jjresence of a formidalde ditiiculty 

 in carrying out the obvious intentions of the first endowment, that of ISC.L*. In 

 the meantime nearly thii-fy years of i-xjieriments in collecting and systematizing 

 a body of doctrine relating to agriculture, as it is found in the TTnited States 

 and elsewhere, had elapsed. The time had arrived, therefore, in 1S!»0, when a 

 new endowment could be guarded in its .ipiilications and directed toward the 

 specialties of agriculture aud the mechuuic arts, and its application to instruc- 



