23 



"One reunion tliat every earnest, faithful, \vorkin<i; experiment station has a strong 

 lu)i«l on tiie a^rifultnral people is beeause its workers have met the farmers at the 

 institutes and farmers' elul) meetinj^s for fre(|uent conference and have fjiven instruc- 

 tion throu<.'h tlu- ai^MJcultural i)apers, actin^^ in no small deirree as teachers and coun- 

 selors. It is true tiiat when a station worker is on the institute i>latform or addressinj; 

 a farmers' club he is not investigatinjr, and when he is writing for the agricultural 

 press he is not doing laboratory work, but the call for help from our farmers has 

 been so great and their ai)precia"tion so marked that it has been impossible to escape 

 it. With earnestness on both sides and a desire to give and receive help, the most 

 cordial and close relations now exist in a number of our States between the experi- 

 ment stations and the intelligent farming people. To be frank with you, I believe 

 that our station workers have in many cases accomplished more good for the cause of 

 advanced agriculture through their efforts at instruction than through all they may 

 have discovered." 



Dean Henry has given us the whole i)roblem in a nutshell. Discovery, investiga- 

 tion, or ex[)erimentation can accomplish nothing unless they be followed by instruc- 

 tion that has for its end the aj^plication of the results to the industrial life of the 

 people. I repeat: It is a good thing to discover, but it is a better thing to make use 

 of the discovery. It is a good thing for the legislature to make good laws, but those 

 laws are absolutely useless unless executed. 



Just as one of the most pressing needs in our political or civil life is the execution 

 of the laws on the statute books, so in our industrial life — that is, in our agricultural 

 life — the most pressing need at this time, it seems to me, is the execution of the suc- 

 cessful experiments now embodied in our station bulletins. The law re(iuires that 

 the results of the experiment stations shall be published in bulletins and sent out to 

 the people. Why this renuirement? It is because the very jjurpose of these experi- 

 ments is to give the peo[)le something that will help them to improve their agricul- 

 ture. Are the masses of the people capable of interj)reting the results as tal)ulated 

 in many of the bulletins that come from our experiment stations? Is it p()ssil)Ie to 

 stimulate agriculture and to arouse the people to the importance of the many prob- 

 lems with which they have to deal by means of experiment station literature? I am 

 not making an attack ui)on the literature that comes from our stations, for there is 

 no man in this country who l)e!ieves stronger in the stations, or who has more con- 

 fidence in their ability to solve the jjroblems with which they are confronted than 

 your speaker; though I do think that they should issue more popular bulletins, and 

 make all of the bulletins less technical. The workers of the stations should always 

 realize that their work is jirimarily for the farmer and not for the general benefit of 

 science, and when they write the results of their work they should ever keep in 

 mind that they are writing primarily for the benefit of farmers and not for the bene- 

 fit of scientists. They should ])e more concerned that the farmers should think well 

 of their work and writings tlian about what judgment the scientists of the country 

 might pass upon them. But even with perfect literature the results would still be 

 far from satisfactory. As well expect political battles to be won by circulars and 

 glaring headlines in the daily papers, or the world to be converted by tracts and 

 religious literature, as that the battle of progressive agriculture should be won by 

 experiment station bulletins. 



Just as the living, breathing preacher, charged with the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, 

 is necessary to bring conviction to the minds and hearts of the sinners, and just as 

 the fiery political orator is necessary to enthuse and arouse the voters, so is the living 

 institute worker necessary to accompany the bulletins and to meet the people face to 

 face and to interpret to them the facts that have cost the Government millions of 

 dollars to bring to light. I believe the work of the agricultural college, the work of 

 the agricultural experiment station, and the work of the agricultural institute are all 

 one, and that they can not be divided without serious injury to all. I believe each 

 should have a separate Federal endowment with separate heads, but all under one 

 board and one management, in order that there may be perfect unity and harmony 

 and the best possible cooperation. I am not criticising the arrangements that exist 

 now in the various States, for the work has been initiated in the different States 

 under different circumstances and has been shaped by the different forces that 

 called it into being. This has all been an educational process. It would have 

 been exceedingly unwise to have put the burden of maintaining this work in the 

 different States upon the colleges and' experiment stations. But has not the time 

 arrived now when the National Government should come to the relief of all and 

 endow this work just as the college and station have been endowed? In my judg- 

 ment the work is of equal importance, and in many respects more complex and 

 pressing. 



With the agricultural college standing for general agricultural education and for 

 the training of the leaders of agricultural thought and action; with its influences 



