788 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 779 



that they can not render the most efficient 

 service is an equally poor policy. 



It should be the business of those en- 

 trusted with the administration of a college 

 to secure the best men available, supply 

 them with such facilities as will make them 

 content, and then have the wisdom to let 

 them alone. 



WORLD LEADERSHIP REQUIRED 



Large and important as is the service 

 this institution has rendered to the indus- 

 tries of the state, and great as are the 

 problems of this sort for the future to solve, 

 the service of greatest moment, the prin- 

 cipal return which the Kansas State Agri- 

 cultural College and similar institutions 

 make for the large outlay of public funds 

 — the real justification for their existence 

 —is their capacity for developing in men 

 and women the qualities of leadership. 

 The public mind does not grasp and suc- 

 cessfully grapple with great fundamental 

 principles, but is apt to concentrate itself 

 upon some detail — of one sort to-day, of 

 another to-morrow. It is essential that we 

 have leaders of public thought who see 

 broadly and clearly, for, as Mirabeau says, 

 "It is equally as important for those to be 

 great thinkers who are to execute the laws 

 as for those who made them." Homer 

 realized the scarcity of such men, and, as 

 given us by Pope, said : 



Too few and wondrous few has Jove assigned 

 A wise, extensive and all-consid'ring mind; 

 Tliey are guardians, these, the nations round con- 

 fess, 

 And town and countries think their safety blest. 



Situated as we are, in the very center of 

 the largest expanse of fertile land the world 

 has, with a climate neither so warm as to 

 weaken nor so cold as to dwarf, but the 

 climate which has produced the most virile 

 and progressive races of people— the races 

 which have in all recent history dominated 

 the world, no one can foretell what the 



future holds. Certain it is that here will 

 be the greatest concentration of population 

 and wealth. Here all things for which we 

 are striving must reach their highest de- 

 velopment. No longer will it be necessary 

 for us to look to the east or to Europe for 

 inspiration and guidance in education, in 

 engineering, in agriculture, in how to live 

 rationally. In very truth, the men of the 

 east and of Europe will come here to learn. 

 This means that the men of to-morrow, the 

 young men who are now in school, must 

 assume larger responsibilities than have 

 devolved upon us— the responsibilities of 

 world-leadership in the entire range of 

 human affairs. It is imperative therefore 

 that our systems of government, education, 

 agriculture, manufactures, etc., shall be 

 such as to withstand the severest test of 

 science and human experience in order that 

 they may furnish a rational example and 

 guide for those less blest. 



COLLEGES MAKE LEADERS 



In the absence of a great epoch or crisis 

 in human affairs, such as the opening up 

 of a new continent, the invasion of a coun- 

 try by a foreign foe, or an internal strife 

 such as our recent civil war, the college and 

 university must be depended upon to de- 

 velop the world's leaders in all lines of 

 activity. The state and nation, to make 

 certain that every youth with latent quali- 

 ties of leadership may have within his 

 reach, be he poor or rich, the uplifting and 

 stimulating influence of the highest educa- 

 tion the world affords, did establish and 

 endow this and kindred institutions. It is 

 upon this basis only that our civilization 

 can be secure. No class of people, how- 

 ever large, cultured, or refined, is large 

 enough, or intellectual enough, or refined 

 enough, to supply all the leaders the state 

 and nation require. It is only when all 

 are drawn from all classes that we shall 

 have enough, and be certain that we have 



