EXPERIMr:NT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XVITI. Junk, 1J)0T. No. 10. 



The celebration of the semicentennial of the Michio;an Airricnltiiral 

 College the week of May 2(5 was an occasion of national importance. 

 rt marked the anniversary of a significant and far-reaching departure 

 in American education. While primarily the fiftieth anniversary 

 of the establishment of the ]Michigan College, in a larger and more 

 important sense it was the anniversary of a new type of education 

 which has ripened into a great national system, fostered alike by the 

 Federal and State governments, and already become one of the most 

 ])otent influences in tlie educational world. It was the birthday of 

 agricultural education — of an attempt to relate education more closely 

 lo the practical needs of life. 



Tt was fitting that such an anniversary should be commemorated 

 l)y the bringing togethei" of men prominent in agricultural and indus- 

 trial education and research from all over the Union, as well as the 

 army of graduates and fi-iends of the college. It was more than local, 

 and such a representative gathering betokened the l)roa(l significance 

 of the event celebrated. Its national character was further evidenced 

 by the attendance of the President of the United States, the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture, and the Connnissioner of Education, with in- 

 spiring addresses upon the influence and the mission of the land-grant 

 colleges in the system of American education. It was a great day 

 for the ^Michigan Agi-icultural College, but no less a day of triumph 

 tor agricultural education as a whole. The widespread public atten- 

 tion which it attracted placed the agricultural colleges in a new and 

 more favorable light and assigned to them a more conspicuous place 

 in the field of technical education. 



Such an occasion, Avith its review of the history of this great move- 

 ment, its lessons from the past, its survey of what has been accom- 

 ])lished in a material way and in the shaping of public sentiment, 

 its forecast of the future with higher ideals and broader and more 

 liberal plans for development, is stimulating and helpful to the land- 

 grant colleges as a whole. It can no! fail to give a larger c()nce])tion 

 of the mission and infhicncc of these institutions and a clearer view 

 of what education should be. 



901 



