908 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



than with things alone. Such education not only rescties men from 

 the rule of thumb, but equips them to use knowledge in a more dis- 

 criminating way, trains them as men, and prepares them for leader- 

 ship in the connnunity. 



The latter is a most important qualification, for, as the President 

 said, " No farmer's life should lie mereh^ within the boundary of his 

 farm." Under j^resent conditions the problem of the farm is much 

 more than the growing of wheat and corn and cattle. To quote again 

 from the President : " The problem of production has not ceased to 

 be fundamental, but it is no longer final; just as learning to read 

 and Avrite and cipher are fundamental, but are no longer the final 

 ends of education. We hope ultimately to double the average jdeld 

 of wheat and corn per acre ; it will be a great achievement ; but it is 

 even more important to double the desirability, comfort, and stand- 

 ing of the farmer's life. . . . We must tr}^ to raise the average of 

 farm life, and we must also try to develoj) it so that it shall offer 

 exceptional chances for exceptional men." 



The agricultural college, with its exj)eriment station and other 

 agencies, is looked to as the leader in the movement for the improve- 

 ment not only of agriculture as an industry, but the farmer as Avell 

 and the social conditions of his environment. From it must come 

 the men and the imjiulse and the plans for the " redirection of rural 

 institutions," a subject ably discussed in Dean Bailey's presidential 

 address upon The State and the Farmer. 



Such broad conceptions of the field and mission of the land-grant 

 colleges make them seem more truly educational and l:)ring them 

 closer yet to the problems of real life. They give us something 

 toward which to work and a field which is most inspiring. They 

 stand in strong contrast to the tendency to eliminate all lines of 

 study which do not bear a direct and intimate relation to the pro- 

 duction of wealth from the soil. They point to the fact that " the 

 only way to uplift any industry is to develop among those who are 

 engaged in it not only technical knowledge and skill, but intellectual 

 and moral force." 



