Miscellaneous. ' 



may be that we have lived up to our 

 present possibilities, doubtless we have, 

 but whether we have or not, it is certain 

 that unless the agencies constituted for 

 research purposes can secure and main- 

 tain larger freedom in policy and more 

 fully break loose from the restrictions 

 of expediency imposed by semi-political 

 relations and by misguided demande for 

 popular efforts on the part of supposed 

 investigators, we shall mostly continue 

 to halt on the outskirts of great problems 

 whose solution would render to agri- 

 culture the highest possible serviee. It 

 is gratifying to be able to believe, how- 

 ever, that we are on the ascending plane 

 in the stability and effectiveness of our 

 research efforts. 



These suggestions concerning the 

 limitation of the activities of the teacher 

 and investigator are not intended to be 

 arguments against the eminently useful 

 efforts directed toward enlightening and 

 stimulating the public mind. These 

 efforts should continue, but it is fair to 

 inquire whether we have not reached a 

 point in the development of agricultural 

 education and the demands made upon it 

 where the widely distributed popular 

 instruction and secondary education of 

 all forms should be maintained through 

 agencies organized especially for these 

 purposes, to which the college of agri- 

 culture should be co-ordinated in an 

 advisory relation, Extension instruc- 

 tion and secondary education, if they are 

 to work out the largest values, must be 

 widely available aud stimulate local 

 initiative and activity. The college may 

 well be a source of advice and, when- 

 means are abundant through a corps of 

 experts who shall be independent of 

 other duties, it may aid in giving the 

 needed accuracy and direction to the 

 knowledge that it is sought to impart. 

 But such aid should serve to stimulate 

 and supplement the activities of other 

 agencies and of the various communities 

 that are to be benefited and should be 

 so related to the colleges as in no way to 

 hamper their academic work. 



Has not the time come when extension 

 work should be carried on through the 

 co-ordinated effort of the state depart- 

 ment of education, the department or 

 board of agriculture, the colleges, the 

 normal and secondary schools, the 

 churches, the grange, the railroads the 

 chambers of commerce and other business 

 and commercial bodies, all of which 

 should be associated in a board of 

 direction and should contribute to a 

 permanent and salaried faculty of in- 

 struction. There is every reason why 

 the agricultural college should have an 

 important place in the education of the 



I [March, 1912. 



public, but is there now any reason why 

 it should attempt to compass the whole 

 field or buiden itself with the entire 

 responsibility, financial or otherwise, for 



such efforts ? 



There are those who will argue, I 

 suspect, that the closer limitation of the 

 work of the college faculty to the higher 

 ranges of academic training would cause 

 these institutions to lose their vital 

 connection with public thought and 

 needs. We certainly have no use for a 

 fossilized center of learning in these 

 days when the college must be regarded 

 as a public servant, but to prevent its 

 petrification it is not necessary that the 

 farmers ' picnic, the grange hall, the 

 institute platform or the railroad train 

 shall be frequented by the teacher and 

 investigator. These excursions from 

 college halls may be replaced by ex- 

 peditions for the careful study of social, 

 and economic conditions as they are 

 seen on the farm and in the various 

 business operations that are related to 

 agriculture, with no loss but rather a 

 gain, in the value of the service rendered. 



When an issue is raised concerning 

 vocational curriculums we enter upon 

 debatable ground. This audience needs 

 not to be told that many a faculty session 

 has been devoted to a vigorous, even 

 heated, discussion over the relative 

 proportions and distribution of studies 

 in agricultural and engineering courses, 

 for there are present many who are in 

 the midst of a contest that is still being 

 waged. Only general considerations 

 concerning this much-debated matter 

 are in order at this time. 



A proper regard for a student's success 

 in after-life requires that at least three 

 considerations shall enter into the use 

 of his time and into the arrangement 

 and subject matter of the course of 

 study he is expected to pursue. These 

 are the development of personal power, 

 the cultivation of both the sense and 

 understanding of social and moral obli- 

 gations and preparation for vocational 

 activity. 



The development of personal power is 

 placed first because it is the all-compre- 

 hensive factor in determining individual 

 efficiency. It is not attained through 

 the mere storing of information or 

 through familiarity with technical 

 details, for knowledge and skill are but 

 instruments for use. It consists essenti- 

 ally of the power of initiative, the 

 ability to think clearly and to reason 

 sanely and fundamentally, and, above 

 all, it involves that mastery of self and 

 of the raw materials of life that lies at 

 the foundation of all individual success, 



