SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 139 



scourge. Do not say that there are no great agricultural prob- 

 lems left for us to attack. They are both great and many, and 

 their successful study demands investigation of wide scope and 

 masterful ability. We should not feel that because agricultural 

 science deals with things common and familiar its problems are 

 easy and may be solved by correspondingly easy methods. All 

 that is required for progress in any other field of inquiry what- 

 ever in the way of efficiency of organization, scientific acumen, 

 and severity of method is required here. 



In repeating the assertion that we have failed to grapple with 

 the large problems of agricultural science, as has been our privi- 

 lege and opportunity, do not understand me as disparaging the 

 results of your efforts. You and your predecessors have been 

 engaged for the past thirty years in a noble enterprise which you 

 have loyally sustained. It is a common remark from those who 

 come in contact with this body for the first time that it is made 

 up of men of unusually earnest endeavor, who are evidently 

 seeking most conscientiously to do the work that they have in 

 hand, and those who have frequented these meetings for many 

 years know that such a comment is entirely just. Much has 

 been accomplished. It is generally conceded that no instance 

 is on record where technical knowledge has been brought into 

 such close and practical touch with the people as has been done 

 for our agriculture during the past twenty-five years. The 

 comprehensive organization of the effort and the sympathetic 

 relation of the various agencies involved, from the university 

 to the home reading-course, are worthy of our admiration. The 

 uplift of agricultural thought and practice has been great and has 

 abundantly justified the new democracy of education. I am 

 convinced, nevertheless, that, as was inevitable under new and 

 untried conditions, some serious mistakes have been made in our 

 attempts at research. But just now we are assuredly on the 

 verge of substantial gain in the purposes and methods of our 

 work and it may not be amiss to glance briefly at some of the 



