FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 23 



treatment suffering from summer complaint, tlie average rate of mortality 

 lias been reduced from 85 per cent to 50 per cent. I might continue such 

 illustrations without number, but these mentioned are adequate to show 

 that technical excellence on the part of the physician is of more impor- 

 tance to the patient, and to us who are friends of the patient, than to the 

 physician himself. The individual practitioner may be satisfied with a 

 degree of excellence just above that of his competitors, for that would 

 enable him to obtain the highest fees; what society wants, however, is a 

 high plane of excellence on the part of all practitioners. If this be true 

 (and the illustration applies equally to all expert and professional knowl- 

 edge), the people at large are more vitally interested in the maintenance 

 of higher institutions of learning, the product of which is a high level 

 of professional excellence, than are the persons who attend those 

 institutions. 



If such a view of the case be conceded, the question of the relation of 

 higher education to the people is thrown into a newer and a truer light 

 than when regarded from the point of view of those who receive instruc- 

 tion. The State, whose function it is to guard and develop the interest of 

 the entire people, is not called upon to apologize for the expenditure of so 

 much money as may be required to place at the disposal of the humblest 

 citizen the advantage of expert training. The people are interested in 

 maintaining experiment stations in all branches of useful knowledge. It 

 may of course be objected that investigation and research are not a 

 proper function of institutions founded for instruction. To this I can 

 only make reply, that, speaking generally and with the sanction of the 

 history of civilization, the research which has blest the world has 

 emanated from the universities. When institutions of higher learning 

 cease to investigate and content themselves with teaching simply what the 

 world already knows, the development of civilization will be arrested; the 

 world will have entered upon a period of retrogression and decay. I know 

 of no other way by which the direct interest of the body of the people in 

 higher education can be more clearly expressed. These educational insti- 

 tutions are a part of the social order. They perform a function essential 

 to the welfare of society. They render a service direct or indirect to 

 every member of the community. 



Turning now to the third point of view from which higher education 

 may be regarded, it is incumbent upon us to consider the general as dis- 

 tinct from the particular services rendered by higher education. This has 

 been foreshadowed in what has already been said, but it is capable of 

 more definite expression by means of a few specific illustrations. 



Upon what, let us ask, in the first place, does industrial prosperity 

 depend? Speaking broadly, I reply, it depends upon the character of the 

 soil, and of the climate, and upon the possession of raw material for 

 manufacture. It depends also upon the safety of property and the 

 security of contract. It depends, finally, upon the intelligence of the peo- 

 ple -which enables them to make use of natural opportunities. It is the 

 third of these conditions of prosperity which places emphasis upon educa- 

 tion. Intelligence has always been regarded as essential for effective 

 labor. In medieval times, when men used tools, industrial training was 

 secured by means of a seven years apprenticeship in whatever trade or 

 craft was chosen, a fact which goes far towards explaining the wonderful 

 handwork that has come down to us from, the thirteenth and fourteenth 



