EDITORIAL. 7 



tion. Without doubt, there is danger of this and of its effect on local 

 appropriations. A great deal depends upon the proper attitude of 

 those directly engaged in the outside work and those in charge of 

 the policy of the institution. 



This danger was voiced in the address of the president of the 

 association. A great popular movement like the present is, he said, 

 "likely to have a torrential influence, and sweep men off their feet 

 and even institutions off their foundations. But such floods are 

 short-lived. After they subside it is often possible to accomplish 

 greater things than were feasible before they came." This will be 

 helped on by the discovery of the limitations in our agricultural 

 knowledge and the material suited for extension teaching. It will 

 speedil}^ be found that the extension service can not straightway 

 accomplish all that its enthusiastic propagandists have prophesied 

 for it. Very soon it will become clear that " to many of the agricul- 

 tural problems which the extension men will encounter in their work 

 among farmers no solution, or at best a very imperfect solution, is 

 now available. . . . 



" The more the extension workers, and to a considerable extent the 

 agricultural people with whom they work, come to realize that our 

 present knowledge will only go a little way toward solving the mul- 

 titudinous problems of agriculture, the more widespread and insistent 

 will be the demand for more numerous and thorough investigation of 

 these problems. It is therefore very important that we should con- 

 sider the actual status of our research institutions, and while re- 

 joicing in their many good features and their valuable work, should 

 be active in remedying their deficiencies and enlarging their services." 



Research will remain, not merely an incidental function of the 

 agricultural colleges, but fundamental and essential to their success 

 in teaching and extension work. These facts, together with the 

 public funds appropriated specifically for the purpose, place the 

 colleges, as was stated, " under the greatest obligations to create with- 

 in themselves the atmosphere and the conditions most favorable to 

 successful research, and to make sure that their research workers can 

 give undivided attention to their investigations." 



Only by making insistently felt in the institutions the gentle and 

 highly intellectual forces needed to inspire real research, can this 

 feature be made so efficient that its results will furnish an adequate 

 foundation for the administrative and educational functions of these 

 institutions, and for the permanent advancement of our great agri- 

 cultural interests. 



