74 Missouri Agricultural Beport. 



"Not having done but doing," or some indication that there was some- 

 thing to be done. Now after two days spent with you I realize that 

 the word "Missouri" spells progress. 



In the olden time when some of us were boys and went to school, 

 we were taken in our school room far away from the home, far away 

 from the farm. Our studies took us to Africa, India, and South Amer- 

 ica, and we were taught the wonders of these countries and of every 

 place except the farm and our own home. Sometimes the teacher would 

 get discouraged and tell us, "you don't know beans." Well, we 

 didn't know beans because we had not studied them in those days. To- 

 day we do study beans and we study corn and potatoes and cabbages. 

 We do not hold the head down in shame because we do this. We are 

 proud to study about corn and beans. 



In the olden time the college education was not for every boy. 

 The way our grandfathers decided this question was to select from the 

 family (of perhaps a dozen children) the brightest boy, or the boy 

 who had the best intellect, and send him to Yale or Harvard to make 

 of him a lawyer, a doctor or a minister. All the rest of the children 

 stayed at home and worked hard with father and mother in order to 

 furnish the money to keep that bright young man in college that he 

 might become a member of one of the professions. Today, ladies and 

 gentlemen, the tables are turned, and we are selecting the brightest boy 

 in the farmer's family to send to the state agricultural college to 

 maJ;e of liitn a farmer. More than that, the girls in the olden time 

 did not have the college privileges ; today we are picking out the 

 girls and sending them to the state college to prepare to become home- 

 makers. This is one of the steps of progress of our age. If we find 

 in the family a boy who is a little light in the upper story, or who is 

 somewhat cunning, we send him to college to study law or medicine. 

 If he cannot make a lawyer or a doctor we turn him into a ' ' politician. ' ' 

 That is one reason why wo get the kind of laws that we do today 

 in our legislatures. I hope this thing will be changed. I don't know 

 what we will do with those poor boys then; but I hope we will bear 

 in mind that it is necessary to have good laws ; in order to have good 

 laws it is necessary to have good legislators who are not "politicians" 

 but statesmen. Shakespeare defines a politician as "One who would 

 outwit God." I think he has well defined the animal. It is time that 

 we send ynen to our legislatures, that we tell those men what we want 

 before we send them there, and then that we go down and see that they 

 do it. I have heard that you need money for this institution. I think 

 you can get it if you will educate these farm boys in the right way and 

 send them home to be farmers, and educate them so that they will not 

 only understand farming but also understand statesmanship. 



