230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



I did not then fully realize the difficult position 

 in which the first graduates of the colleges were 

 placed. The farmers and the legislators who 

 voted appropriations called loudly for these col- 

 leges to turn out educated farmers at a time when 

 any tyro with a little capital could go west and, by 

 gently tickling the rich, virgin prairies, secure an 

 abundant harvest without any education whatever. 

 The agricultural graduate was, therefore, usually 

 compelled to find employment in some other field 

 or else compete with unskilled labor. On the other 

 hand, when the graduates of these colleges came 

 in touch with the graduates of the colleges of 

 Science and the Arts, they could but realize their 

 lack of general culture as judged by the world's 

 standards. Some of the more far-seeing graduates 

 amplified their studies and in time reached posi- 

 tions of distinction, but I am sure that they re- 

 gretted that the foundations of their education 

 had not been laid deeper and broader. I could 

 sympathize with them in their humiliation because 

 I had toiled up by the same difficult way. All 

 these things I began to realize dimly while I was 

 trying to determine the direction which the agri- 

 cultural courses should take in order to lay a 

 foundation for the College at Cornell which should 



