No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 75 



Another thought occurs to me, and that is, that these agri- 

 cultural colleges are established by the statute of the United 

 States and under the auspices of the several States. Now, 

 then, what flesh and blood are to the individual man, that 

 the soil of the nation is to the life and power and influence 

 of the nation. England, with a little bit of a soil, has been 

 able to maintain itself; but it has outgrown the soil, and it 

 is dependent for its bread and butter, for its elements of sub- 

 sistence, upon other lands across the sea, and it would have 

 perished long ago had it not been for this nation. We have 

 here in the United States a great nation only in its infancy. 

 Presently it will be doubled in population. It has already 

 doubled its population within the lifetime of many of you 

 here — from thirty millions to seventy millions. In a few 

 years more there will be one hundred and fifty millions, and 

 probably before a century more three hundred millions. 

 Now, then, how shall the nation take care of its soil? We 

 have exhausted our wheat fields. We have exhausted many 

 of the elements of the soil. Shall the soil of the United 

 States be exhausted, as the soil of Palestine, as the soil of 

 many European countries ? It will be, unless the people are 

 taught how to use the soil without destroying it. A manu- 

 facturer takes certain elements and consumes them in the 

 manufacture of his goods. There must be a raw material, 

 and that raw material must come out of the soil. Agriculture 

 has the power of feeding a nation, and yet without destroy- 

 ing the earth out of which the food must come. I think 

 we are very wise in all of these many States to establish 

 experiment stations and agricultural colleges, to find out in 

 the first place how to use this broad land of ours without 

 ruining it, and how to train the people to use and improve 

 the land. 



One other idea. In the old countries of the world the 

 king who is to rule is given the very best education. Pri- 

 vate tutors are supplied for him, all the wisdom of the world 

 is brought, so that he may have the very best education. 

 Thus the kings of England have been trained. Who is king 

 in America? The agricultural class. The men of the agri- 

 cultural class are the ones who have the power ; they are the 

 ones who are to rule in this great land of ours. Shall they 



