58 
zation of farmers, and oven the church, must be invoked before we can export 
the best agricultural advancement And the end is after all a social one. The 
maintenance of class status is that end. 
Tins analysis of the rural problem is necessarily brief, almost crude, but I 
hope that it reveals in some degree the scope and nature of the problem: that 
it indicates that the farm question is- not one merely of technique, fundamental 
as technical skill must be: that it demonstrates that the problem is also one of 
profound economic, political, and social significance. If tins be su. do we need 
i" argue the proposition that the function of the agricultural college is to help 
solve all phases of the problem'.' We all recognize the place of the college in 
assisting our farmers to greater technical skill. By what pleas shall we gain- 
say the mission of the college in ministering to rural betterment at all points. 
whether the conditions demand technical skill, business acumen, industrial 
prosperity, political power, or general social elevation - : Why shall not the 
agricultural college be all things to all farmers? 
Assuming that this statement of the permanent mission of the agricultural 
college is an acceptable one. the practical inquiry arises. Does the college, as 
now organized, adequately fulfill its function, and. if not. by what means can 
the defect be remedied? The colleges are doubtless serving the industrial 
and social need to some degree. But I believe that it is not unjust to assert 
that the existing courses of study in agriculture, the organization of the college, 
and the methods of work arc not adequate if the college is to secure and main- 
tain this supreme leadership all along the line of rural endeavor. This is not 
criticism of existing methods. The colleges are doing good work. But the 
present effort is partial, because the emphasis is placed upon the technical, and 
especially upon the individual, phases of the problem. The industrial, the poli- 
tical, and the social factors are not given due consideration. Our present-day 
agricultural course, on the vocational side, is chiefly concerned with teaching 
the future individual farmer haw to apply the principles of science to the art 
of farming, and in training specialists who shall make further discoveries either 
in the realm of science or in the application of the scientific principle to the 
art. The technical element absolutely dominates the vocational portion of the 
agricultural course. Very slight attention is given to the discussion of other 
phases of the farm problem. To meet the needs of the future the whole spirit 
and method of the agricultural college must be "socialized" — to use an over- 
worked phrase for want of a better one. We must get away from the idea that 
the individual and the technical aspects of agricultural research and teaching 
are the stilhcienr solution of the farm problem. 
When we ask. What are the means for " socializing *' the agricultural college? 
the expected answer may be. The study of rural social science, or " rural econ- 
omy." But I am pleading not merely for the addition of a few subjects to the 
course of study, but for an educational policy. The answer, therefore, will not 
be quite so simple. What, then, are the methods by which the college may more 
fully assume its function of helping to solve all phases of the farm problem? 
(1) The indispensable requirement is that the college shall consciously 
purpose to stand as sponsor for the whole rural problem. It is to assume a 
place of leadership in the campaign for rural betterment. Whether or not it 
is to be the commander in chief of the armies of rural progress, it should be the 
inspiration, the guide, the stimulator of all possible endeavors to improve farm 
and farmer. This attitude of mind is purely a matter of ideals, deliberately 
formed in the light of the abiding needs of the farming class. It is the intan- 
gible but pervasive influence of an object which is perfectly definite even if 
avowedly spiritual. It is a question of atmosphere. It is a matter of insight. 
The college must have a vision of the rural problem in its entirety and in its 
relations. At the college we should find, if anywhere, the capacity to under- 
stand the ultimate question in agriculture We know that this ultimate ques 
tion in agriculture can not be expressed alone by the terms nitrogen, or balanced 
ration, or cost per bushel, but must be written also in terms of the human 
problem, the problem of the men and women of the farm. So we shall see the 
college consciously endeavoring to make of itself a center where these men and 
women of the farm shall find light and inspiration and guidance in all the 
aspects of their struggle for a better livelihood and a broader life. The college 
must avow its intention of becoming all things to all farmers. Whether this 
means the study of fertility, of animal nutrition, of soil bacteriology, or 
whether it means the consideration of markets, of land laws, of transportation, 
of the country church, of pure government, the college will lead the way to the 
tiuth. 
