606 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



do, for the people it can serve, for the science it can promote, and for 

 the civilization it can advance," a view of democracy in education 

 which is now reflected in many other classes of institutions. 



Furthermore, as Dr. Thompson pointed out, the colleges of agri- 

 culture and mechanic arts have constituted a great national move- 

 ment for science in higher education. Their attitude toward science 

 is one of the significant products of the Morrill Act. When science 

 was struggling for recognition in the school programs of the country 

 the land-grant institutions recognized that from the very tenns of the 

 law they were to teach the sciences related to agriculture and me- 

 chanic arts. Wliile they have emphasized the economic phases of 

 science, obviously_apjplied science must follo w pure science, and this 

 has tended to broaden the scope of tEeir field and teachings. 



One effect of these colleges on the state universities Avith which they 

 were associated was that the latter were " forced into a freedom 

 hitherto unknown in higher education. This attitude toward science 

 steadily influenced the attitude toward every other subject properly 

 within the horizon of the university." As a result the state univer- 

 sity " found itself free to teach in eveiy field of human inquiry and 

 to investigate any subject yielding knowledge." 



The influence of the land-grant colleges upon higher education, 

 viewed from their history of fifty years, and the real positions which 

 these institutions have occupied in the educational world, was 

 summed up by Dr. Thompson under the following heads : 



(1) The land-grant colleges have clearly stimulated the interest 

 of the people in higher education. "Apart from the education pro- 

 vided for the students, they have demonstrated their capacity for 

 public service and have carried to the people an uplifting message." 



(2) They have set a precedent for federal aid to education and 

 proved the wisdom of it — of using a portion of the government's 

 increasing revenues " for the purpose of developing a people able 

 to sustain an efficient government." 



(3) Thy have brought industrial education to its rightful place 

 in the esteenj of the American people, and have forced its recognition 

 by all institutions for higher education. 



(4) They have efficiently influenced the practical amis of higher 

 education by insisting upon a larger liberty in the programs of edu- 

 cation and in the contents of the course of study. 



(5) They have stimulated investigation and research in many 

 fields. "We can not be blind to the fact that very much of the 

 investigational and research work of American higher education 

 to-day finds inspiration in the achievements of these institutions." 



(6) They have had an influence on the Government itself which 

 has affected the cause of higher education, " The fact that govern- 

 ment has become more humane, more beneficent, and almost philan- 



