December 8, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



779 



indicated funetion — the production of the 

 leadership that is needed for advancing 

 the interests of the farm. 



And so, because of the unsatisfied de- 

 mand for adequately trained teachers and 

 investigators, because of the complex and 

 difficult problems related to farm life that 

 insistently face us, so many of which are 

 unsolved, because the redirection and up- 

 building of rural-lift institutions need for 

 their accomplishment the guidance of lead- 

 ers of a high order of ability, and because 

 of the greatly increasing demand for serv- 

 ice in these several directions which is only 

 partially met, should we not insist that the 

 material resources and the human knowl- 

 edge at the command of the agricultural 

 college and the plans and purposes there 

 nourished should be directed toward sound 

 inquiry and the training of young men and 

 women for such service as will only be ren- 

 dered by the few. Until we have means 

 beyond what can reasonably be expended 

 in increasing the efficiency of the colleges 

 and stations is it a wise policy to assign to 

 other purposes funds that should be applied 

 to securing and holding teachers and in- 

 vestigators of large attainments and suc- 

 cess, those who are masters in their special 

 fields? Agriculture needs more of such 

 men and should be able to create for them 

 a favorable environment for their work. 



And we now come to a question towards 

 which this discussion has been aiming from 

 the very first. "What conditions should 

 prevail in college instruction and what re- 

 sults should be kept in view in the training 

 of young men and women for vocational 

 and social leadership ? 



In considering this question we may well 

 begin by asking what qualities should be 

 possessed by those who are to enter effect- 

 ively into the service of agriculture and 

 country life. There can be but one answer. 

 They are the same fundamentally that are 



essential to efficiency and well rounded 

 success in any calling or profession. If 

 the teacher, the investigator, the statesman, 

 the la^vyer or the business man should pos- 

 sess integrity of thought and purpose, be 

 able to reason keenly and base their rea- 

 soning on fundamental and well-grounded 

 principles, so should those who are to as- 

 sume responsibility and leadership in agri- 

 cultural affairs. There is no place for 

 loose thinking and the empiricisms of 

 superficial knowledge in the consideration 

 of the economic and social problems per- 

 taining to the open country. It is hardly 

 conceivable, either, that the college will 

 succeed in developing in its students these 

 necessary qualities by any educational 

 methods essentially different from those 

 commended by long experience. The peda- 

 gogical tools may differ from the old ones, 

 but the ultimate result, if it is worth while, 

 will be those attributes of mind and char- 

 acter that have long been recognized as the 

 distinctive marks of strong men and 

 women. 



As preliminary to a discussion of the 

 conditions essential to the attainment of 

 this result, we may safely establish certain 

 premises on which to base any contentions 

 that may follow. These premises, conceded 

 on every hand, are the following: first, the 

 subject matter of the class room should be 

 concise and severely engage the student's 

 mind; second, the instruction given, in 

 whatever field, should represent the latest 

 and best conclusions; third, this instruc- 

 tion, if it is to secure for the graduate an 

 advantage over the merely practical man, 

 must give a well-grounded acquaintance 

 with fundamental facts and principles; 

 fourth, the college should so react upon the 

 young men and women that come within 

 its influence as to develop in them high 

 ideals of living. 



There are three factors that are most 



