Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-02-10
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rms BETTER EDUCATION OF FARMERS.

We are apt to take too much of dollar
and-cent view of the question of agricultu-
raj education. In so many years. a young
man could earn so much money; will it
nay him to gvie this up in order that he
may get an education which will enable
him in later life to make more money than
he could without it? Will any education
that can be gained at school make better
money-getter Of a boy than would the same
amount of time and attention given to
,learning the practical operations of the
farm?
Without stopping to answer these prop
ositions---which are foreign to our purpose
we desire to call attention to other con-
silerations that must have weight with all
thoughtful persons. The greatest pros
perity of farmers, as class and individ-
.ually, must come from causes which will
advance farming as an occupation. No
permanent and satisfactory prosperity can
! attend any calling which is not held in
good repute, and no calling in these mod
ern days can be held in good rcpute which
is not represented by at least a fair proper.
ton of men of education and Intelligence
In the so-called professions in mechan-
les, and in. trade. the tendency is toward
better education and more and more cul-
tivated intelligence, and the degree of re-
spect in which they are seyerallv held is
in all cases proportionate to the intelli-
gence of its representative men. In the
s future allotment of honor aud influence,
and consequently of prosperity, that call
Z ing will take the lead whose representa-
tive men are the most distinguished for
education and cultivation, and that will
fall to the rear in which there has been the
least progress in these respects. The
road of the future is an ascending one
and progress over it is to be secured much
more by the aid Of mind than by the aid o.
matter. Those who take and keep the
lead in the race will do so because of theil
Z brains rather then their bodies, and The
: leadership will imply control over those
9. who ere behind (and therefore beneath,
them. How far their rule will be mcrci
ftil will depend on conditions which we
cannot now foresee. but that they viii
: rule is as certain as that mind has Away
ruled over brute force. If farmers car
take the lead, farming will be favored
and fortunate occupation. If they mus
fall to the rear, i, will be degraded ant
II an unfortunate one. Whether it is one OF
the other, depends on the extent to which
farmers are educated and enabled to stant
J q fair chance in the struggle tor the
lead" and our successors will be the lords
OF the land or q down-trodden peasantry
according as they are educated or not
We assume, Of course that prosperity and
intelligence will go hand in hand, and
that as we gain in education we shall
gain in wealth. AT the same time, I'VE be-
lieve the best chance for the future OF our
B craft lies in the ability OF its representa-
tires to takea high stand for education
and intelligence. Believing this, we long
tor, the better general education of far
mers; not for those Of sons who are des-
8 tined for other occupations, but especially
for those who are to stay on the farm. Let
US bring better trained brains to the per-
! formance of our work, and shed the light
of cultivation and refinement over our
: "reminiscences, and we may confidently
look for success which mere wealth
could not standardization Agricvlfurist.