ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
IO3 
plow, the anvil, the saw and the loom; a little higher the 
yard-stick and the ledger; at the top, the editor’s chair, the 
bar, the pulpit, and the rostrum. This stairway is broad and 
cheap at the base, but its upper portion is narrow and ex¬ 
pensive. It should be made throughout as broad as at the 
bottom , and should reach to the farthest height to which the 
would-be farmer, mechanic, and lawyer can, hand in hand, 
advantageously climb. Let us, as farmers, demand that if 
Greek and Latin and German and French and algebra and 
geometry and trigonometry are to be taught in the public 
schools, and at the public expense, that the “ Elements of 
Agriculture ” shall also be taught; this latter term to in¬ 
clude the chemistry of soils and manures, farm botany, farm 
entomology, the science of breeding, the philosophy and 
chemistry of cream raising and of butter and cheese making, 
the chemistry of food, the history and peculiarities of the 
various breeds of cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep. More 
than this : let us demand that for every three dollars 
expended in the teaching of those studies, the tendency of 
which is towards the professions, fifty dollars shall be ex¬ 
pended in teaching those subjects, the tendency of which is 
towards the farm. 
This is but fair when we remember that but 3 per cent, 
of the twelve and one-half millions of earnest workers are 
professional men, while 50 per cent, are farmers. 
However much we may delight in poetry and music, 
in painting, sculpture, history and philosophy, in culture, 
this fact remains : people will not, as a rule, devote years to 
hard intellectual toil, except they believe that in some way, 
and at some time, the knowledge thus acquired will become 
the “ basis for action 
And, too, to some considerable extent, at least, it must 
be made the basis of such action as will have a money value. 
Be it otherwise, and the man will have increased his desires 
without a corresponding increase in the means of gratifying 
them. 
Let the education of a young man be chiefly of that 
practical kind which he can use in his chosen life-work, and 
you give him the ability to earn more dollars with which he 
can gratify his love for that higher education, which, 
although it may have little or no money value, is invaluable. 
Reverse this process : let him become enamored with poetry 
and philosophy and music, to the neglect of the practical 
