February, '16] PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, DISCUSSION 65 



fitted for the work were placed near the top of the hst. There is, 

 therefore, no way of telhng by an examination what a man's abiUty 

 really is. 



There is something wrong somewhere. That is the situation that 

 we have to face who must use the output of the universities. As a 

 matter of fact I do not care where a man comes from or whether he is 

 an American or not, but I want a man who will do things and will do 

 things no one else is able to do. It is hard work to get such men. 

 Civil Service examinations do not produce them because they are not 

 a satisfactory test of a man's ability. 



In making up a staff at a field station I will not have two men from 

 the same state if I can help it. I want men from different institutions 

 who have been trained under different instructors. By arranging 

 matters in this way it is possible to secure the very best that is in all 

 the men. I have eighteen field stations, some of which are rather small. 

 When a young man just out of school is placed with half a dozen men 

 in one of these stations he soon finds out that he has most of his edu- 

 cation to get, but being associated with men who are differently trained, 

 he is bound to get a square deal. When it comes to a college abso- 

 lutely fitting a man for his work they do not do it, and I do not believe 

 I could prepare a set of Civil Service examination questions that would 

 bring out a man's ability. 



It seems to me that the instructors in the different universities should 

 get together and do their best to improve upon the .education of the 

 entomologists and give them those things which will bring them up to 

 date and make them better acquainted with conditions under which 

 we are working today. Some of my men are doing things that were 

 deemed impossible ten or fifteen years ago. These are the kind of 

 men we must have if we are to make progress. The instructors in 

 the universities act as the producers while we are the consumers. I 

 do not say they are not doing their best and achieving the best results 

 that are possible under our present educational conditions, but some 

 improvements should be made in the future. I have been working 

 with President Pearson of the agricultural college at Ames, Iowa, and 

 hope that the com-se which is about to be started there will bring about 

 an improvement over some of the courses now given. 



Mr. H. a. Gossard : I am sure that the Association in general has 

 not been sitting still because they did not appreciate the President's 

 address. I think he has succeeded in making so good an address that 

 we do not differ from it but have accepted it in its entirety. I am 

 sure everybody has appreciated the experiences narrated by Professor 

 Webster and all of us meet more or less the same problems in the field. 

 We must remember, however, that teachers cannot make over per- 



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