Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 75 



the operations upon it, there is no limit to the possil)ilities. And so you 

 represent an industry that faces virtually an infinite future, and the 

 University looks naturally upon the agricultural people of the State as 

 the people that it must primarily serve so far as instruction to others 

 than students is concerned, and upon the agricultural industry of the 

 State as that industry through which it can accomplish its greatest re- 

 sults for mankind. This business of farming, too, must be a permanent 

 one— it is nothing that will expire with this generation or the next, but 

 must remain for all time the great industry of the people of the earth, 

 because we will always be in need of food, and the food supply must 

 come from the soil directly or indirectly. 



There is, furthermore, it seems to me, a phase of agriculture which 

 we do not often enough think about, and one in which a university as an 

 educational institution is naturally greatly interested, and that is its 

 jjuUic interest. It is of course important that every farmer make his 

 farming profitable and accumulate wealth for himself, but the whole 

 race is interested in the production of food, and therefore the State, the 

 nation and the world is interested greatly in the advancement of the 

 farmer and in the effectiveness of his work. I say it therefore has not 

 only a private but a public interest to an extent not true of , any other 

 industry ; and the university that serves the public must naturally, there- 

 fore, think first of the farming industry, which, because of its production 

 of food to support the people, and because of its permanency, is the great 

 industry for all time. 



While thinking, then, of welcoming you, I do it as I reflect upon it 

 with a greater interest and enthusiasm because you represent this in- 

 dustry that I have referred to. 



If I may be permitted a Avord or two more, I would like to suggest 

 that there are certain things which I hope will be accomplished in the 

 agricultural industry of this State, and I will take just a moment to 

 refer to some of these — things that I hope our College of Agriculture and 

 University may help you and others to accomplish. As I have already 

 remarked, the first consideration must l)e to make farming profitable, 

 and it is the hope of our Agricultural College that it can render service 

 in that connection, not only by the instruction given here to the boys 

 who take the long or the short course, or to the farmers who gather here 

 in conventions like this to get the results of our experiments and investi- 

 gations, but also by extension work and experiments carried on all over 

 the State it is hoped we can help to make farming more profitable. 



But it is hoped also we can make it more permanent. If the in- 

 dustry is to be permanently successful, there is need of using greater 



