ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 89 



Besolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that if any office in the 

 gift of the National government belongs to the great west, it is that of Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture. Further that it is the sense of this meeting that 

 the office of Commissioner of Agriculture should not be given to a mere 

 politician, or to a broken down political hack, but to a western man, who is 

 a practical and successful agriculturist ,and stock-raiser, a man thoroughly 

 conversant not oaly with the resources of the great west, but also with its 

 wants and needs, a man in whose practical ability and integrity the whole 

 country can have implicit confidence. 



Mr. Lawrence : I wish to extend an invitation from the people of 

 Belvidere to the people of this Association to meet with them next year. 



Mr. Whitbeck read a communication from numerous citizens in support 

 of the invitation. 



Mr. Buell : I move that this communication be received and referred 

 to the directors of this Association for their favorable consideration. Mo- 

 tion seconded, put and lost. 



Mr. Buell : I would now move that all invitations for the Association 

 for the meeting next year be referred to the board of directors for their care- 

 ful consideration, and that they make such selection as shall be for the best 

 interests of the Association. Motion seconded. 



Convention adjourned to meet at 1.30 o'clock P. M. 



FEIDAY AFTERNOOK SESSION. 

 Convention met pursuant to adjournment at 1.30 o'clock. 



THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF FARMERS' SONS AND 

 DAUGHTERS. 



BY C. C. BUELL, ROCK FALLS, ILL. 



The term educational, as used in the title, refers to school education. 

 Contrary to the implication possibly contained in the form of statement of 

 my subject, I desire to disclaim the idea that the sons and daughters of 

 farmers are entitled to receive or should receive, so far as their general edu- 

 cation is concerned, any different training from what the children of other 

 classes of citizens are entitled to receive. There is perfect homogenity in 

 the character and mental endowments of children, and the state has no right 

 to discriminate. The possibilities of growth and development are the same 

 to all, and in the nature of our free institutions the avenues to wealth, pre- 

 ferment, and distinction of every kind are open to all alike. 



The obligations of the State toward all these children are precisely the 

 same. They arise from the same sources, and rest upon precisely the same 

 arguments. These arguments proceed, not from the claims of individuals or 

 classes of individuals, but from the necessities of the State itself. When the 

 necessities of the State become known its duty is clear. Logically and cro- 

 nologically considered the duty precedes any just claim that can possibly be 

 set up. The State educates because it is its duty to itself so to do, and in the 

 discharge of this duty it is bound to consider all the forces, intellectual, moral 



