International Agricultural Institute. 



17 



The Languages in which the Publications are Issued. 



The problem of languages becomes more important still 

 when one considers the question of the languages in which 

 our technical publications should be issued. On the one 

 hand, it is clear that to be satisfied with issuing the publica- 

 tions in one single language would be equivalent to confining 

 the work of the Institute within excessively narrow limits. 

 In fact, this would involve the destruction of its international 

 character and effectiveness. On the other hand, it is prac- 

 tically impossible to issue our publications in the languages 

 of all the countries represented at the Institute. Moreover, 

 this is not necessary. One must take into consideration the 

 fact that our publications are not intended primarily for the 

 ignorant and uncultivated inhabitants of rural districts, but 

 for the educated classes of farmers, who will voluntarily or 

 even involuntarily by the spread of ideas enable the smaller 

 types of farmers to profit by them. Moreover, in countries 

 where one of the languages that I may call universal is not 

 spoken, the educated agriculturists know at least one of the 

 latter. Otherwise they would not be able to maintain relations 

 with those outside their own country, a condition which is 

 not possible in the present state of civilisation. 



Consequently, when the Institute publishes, as it ought to 

 do, its works in the principal languages of the world, it will 

 address directly hundreds of millions of men who speak one 

 of those languages, and indirectly, but effectively, others 

 also, or those at least who are able to profit by our publica- 

 tions. 



When the Bulletin of Statistics was established it was 

 published in five languages — German, English, Spanish, 

 French, and Italian. This was done without the explicit 

 consent of the Permanent Committee, but that difficulty was 

 easily got over. This Bulletin consists of only a few pages, 

 and is filled to a great extent with tables of figures. There 

 was consequently only an increase, and that of an inconsider- 

 able amount, in the expenses of printing, the translation 

 costing nothing, because it was done by the ordinary 

 employees of the Institute. 



