612 EXPERIMENT STATION" RECORD. [Vol.41 



Reference was made also to the importance of simplifying or nar- 

 rowing problems taken up for investigation, resolving broad, com- 

 plex questions into factors or phases which lend themselves to scien- 

 tific investigation. Spealdng of this Dr. Jordan said: "A very just 

 criticism of the work of experiment stations in the past is that ex- 

 periments have been carried on so complex in regard to the various 

 factors that have reacted upon the results that no safe conclusions 

 could be drawn in regard to the influence of any one factor. This is 

 true of a large proportion of the field experiments and feeding ex- 

 periments which have been conducted. ... If there is any one 

 point of view which needs to be enforced by our experiment station 

 administrators it is that we shall narrow our problems to single 

 factors. We will make little progress until we do this." 



The soundness of this contention will appeal to all familiar with 

 station investigation and experiment, and has frequently been empha- 

 sized in these pages. Failure to recognize the complex character of 

 subjects presented for investigation and to analyze these problems 

 into workable parts is one of the serious weaknesses in agricultural 

 research. It is accountable for efforts which are unsuccessful or 

 abortive, and it results in an unprofitable use of time and funds. 

 It is a matter deserving of much greater administrative attention. 



There was much in the spirit of the times to cause the Chicago 

 convention to evidence a broadening realization of the ultimate func- 

 tion and responsibilities of the land-grant colleges. They are con- 

 cerned not only with the technical aspects of production but with 

 the conditions under which agriculture is conducted and the welfare 

 of the people living under it. This brings them into increasingly 

 close contact with problems relating to the business side of farming 

 and to life and progress in the country. These wider relations rep- 

 resented in their charter stood out more clearly at this time than 

 ever before to challenge larger attention and incite leadership. 



Secretary Houston referred to this w^en he declared that the col- 

 leges Owe a duty outside their technical fields of investigation and 

 education, and have a larger task even than that of improving farm- 

 ing. This duty he conceived to be the exercise of leadership along 

 broader lines, the preservation of American ideals and institutions, 

 the Americanization of those who have recently come among us, the 

 exaction of regard for facts and their rightful interpretation by 

 public men. A similar thought was expressed by President Lory 

 relative to the broader duty of engineering toward public affairs and 

 in industrial emergencies. 



Altogether, therefore, the convention was one to furnish new in- 

 spiration and vision, and to give increasing conviction of the large 

 place these land-grant institutions occupy in the welfare of the 

 Nation. 



