22 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Addresses 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME 



Senator Kent E. Keller in welcoming the Academy to 

 Springfield called attention to the progress of the State from 

 the time of the early settlers to the present and showed how 

 this progress was the result of great natural resources utilized 

 by inquiring, thoughtful and energetic men. The spirit of 

 inquiry which is the scientific spirit is the greatest elemtent in 

 all progress. Men of science are the State's chief asset. 



RESPONSE 



JOHN M. COULTER 



In behalf of the State Academy, I wish to express our ap- 

 preciation of the hospitality of the Commercial Club, and 

 also of the greetings extended to us by the official represent- 

 atives of the State. 



The three groups represented here tonight are significant. 

 They are the State, business, and science, each in its own way 

 serving this great commonwealth. 



The mission of science, as represented by this Academy, is 

 twofold. In the first place, it works through its teachers in 

 developing the scientific attitude of mind in coming citizens. 

 This attitude is fundamental in a self-governing people, for it 

 is one that demands the facts ; that knows how to recognize 

 facts; and that distinguishes between demagoguery and real 

 service. 



As this spirit becomes dominant, the State will advance 

 from politics from the standpoint of selfish interest, to politics 

 from the standpoint of public service. In the second place, 

 science works for the State through its investigators, whose 

 researches not only uncover our resources, but also suggest 

 the best way of developing them. In a great agricultural 

 State, for example, nothing is more fundamental than the 

 modern work of investigation in plant-breeding, which bids 

 fair to revolutionize our methods and enormously multiply our 



