FARMERS^ INSTITUTES. 25 



industrial history of Germany, whose recent commercial importance rests 

 directly and avowedly' upon her educational system. She has developed 

 more extensively than any other country facilities for commercial and 

 technical instruction. In England, also, it is coming to be recognized 

 that the continuance of commercial supremacy depends upon the develop- 

 ment of educational facilities; while in the United States, the necessity 

 for commercial and technical education is forced upon the universities 

 and colleges bv the desire on the part of manufacturers to secure standing 

 in the world's market. Our own University has established such a course 

 in higher commercial education, and the interest which business men have 

 evinced in this course indicates that they appreciate the importance of 

 trained intelligence in commercial affairs. To make this illustration tell 

 upon our argument it is of course necessary again to remind you that the 

 permanent success of one class, or one interest, is impossible unless it be 

 accompanied by the success of all classes and all interests. The success 

 of the agricultural interest, for example, is bound up primarily, with the 

 development of a home market for agricultural products, and it is a 

 truism to say that the limit of this market is the prosperity of those mem- 

 bers of the community not engaged in agriculture. 



My next illustration of the general advantage of higher education to 

 the community calls to our attention the changes which are rapidly taking 

 place in the conditions of rural life. In medieval times agriculturists 

 lived in little communities going from their homes each day to work upon 

 the land. Whatever we may say of the advantages of intercourse which 

 such a system permitted, it had the decided disadvantage of restricting 

 the land that could be tilled. The farmer of our own time, on the other 

 hand, accustomed as he is to the use of machinery, requires a large amount 

 of land for cultivation, and this necessitates that he and his family live 

 upon the land cultivated. I need not dwell upon the isolation incident 

 to this method of cultivation, or upon the fact that school and church 

 privileges, as well as all those social amenities which make life pleasant, 

 are far from ptropitious. At present, however, there seems to be some 

 hope of relief. Certain changes are taking place which promise much 

 for rural life. 1 refer to the extension of electric lines through country 

 districts, to the establishment of local telephone service, to the wide dis- 

 semination of electric power, to the rural mail delivery, and the like. The 

 social possibilities bound up in the full development of these enterprises, 

 as well as others of the same class that might be mentioned, lie beyond 

 the power of the imagination to grasp. We are, I believe, upon the eve 

 of far-reaching changes in the conditions of life in rural communities. 

 Such a remark of course lies within the realm of speculation, but it is 

 reasonable speculation. I look confidently for the time when social 

 intercourse and manufacturing on a small scale will be restored to rural 

 communities; and, when this shall have been accomplished, the country 

 rather than the town will offer the opportunity for sensible living. To 

 whom will the country be indebted for the realization of so bright a 

 picture? The question is answered before it is asked. The tendencies 

 TO which reference is made is one of the many blessings bound up> in the 

 development of science. It is the professor who, with his students, works 

 patiently within his laboratory at the occult problems of electricity and 

 other mechanical agencies to whom must be granted praise for having ren- 

 dered this change possible; and yet he is not entirely responsible, for with- 



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