90 



in*:: the soil in particular. This belief needs no elaborate declar- 

 ation of my profound faith in it. It is as old as history can 

 record. ISIany of the old classical writers have left us a heritage 

 of practical every-day advice on farming along with their poetrv 

 or the details of their adventurous expeditions. ( )ur good friend 

 Xenophon, for instance, was not always marching up a hill or 

 marching down again on the other side. He was oftener in the 

 fields with his laborers and his horses and cattle, for he was a 

 practical farmer who loved the soil and his work. He has not 

 only told us of the dignity of it, but has left rules for planting 

 and other field operations that are wholly applicable today. 

 Think of \'arro, Avho at eighty years of age wrote a treatise 

 on agriculture that is a standard work in these times. None of 

 them knew the science of agriculture, but they all had a good 

 measure of common sense, and Huxley says that "science is or- 

 ganized common sense." 



Plantation Usefnhicss. 



The establishment of a Secondary Agricultural School in con- 

 nection with a sugar plantation will luake it possible for that 

 plantation to increase its usefulness to the community. It is 

 needless to say that the sugar industry is in no sense an elee- 

 mosynary institution. If it were, the best development of the 

 Islands would not follow. No community prospers when it or 

 any considerable section of it is coddled by the more infiuential 

 interests. The proposers of this school ask no gifts or special 

 favors for it. Prosperity is inevitable, however, when each in- 

 dividual member of the community has a means of enjoying his 

 privileges and recognizes his responsibilities. We have not yet 

 reached the state when this recognition is altogether s]wntaneous. 

 Not all adults possess it. It would be strange indeed if an un- 

 tiitored boy with no experience were able to decide along what 

 lines lay his own best develo])nient and through what channels he 

 could best reach the realm of his highest usefulness. It is ju.'^t: 

 here that such a school as it is now ]:)roposed to establish can 

 serve its best purpose. Its pupils will be given instruction in 

 what goes to make up the fundamentals of education. They 

 will receive training in intensive agricidture. The}' will receive 

 pay for their honest labor. In other words, ihey will immedi- 

 ately take their places as producers, in tlie ct)mmunity and w ill 

 share in the benefits of that production. .\n incre.isi' in xhv self- 

 esteem of the individual boy will follow his realization of his 

 own powers and ])ossibilities as a producer. The mantle of the 

 dignity of labor will fall u])on him — his own intelligent labor co- 

 operating with the scientific training which he is receiving. 



