166 The State and the Farmer 



one's philosophy of life. The lack of appre- 

 ciation of this laboratory significance has pre- 

 vented the proper growth of these agricultural 

 institutions. They tell us that these colleges 

 are now demanding enormous sums, but this 

 is because we have never known how much 

 money they have needed to make them effec- 

 tive. Never have they had money enough or 

 freedom enough to work out their problem 

 fundamentally. They are just beginning to 

 develop. Agricultural education and experi- 

 ment is the most expensive to maintain of all 

 education because its laboratories are so large, 

 so various, and so expensive in their up-keep. 

 Institutions centering about city ideas receive 

 no end of money and study. The open coun- 

 try is just coming to its own. Schools and 

 colleges are worth only what they cost. With 

 money and men working in state and national 

 institutions, the rural problems can be solved. 

 It is strange that private benevolence has 

 not discovered that the founding of schools of 

 agriculture is one of the very best means of 

 serving mankind. It is undoubtedly fortunate, 



