The Southern herald., 1889-05-03
Ell s D LEE.S PAPERS.
aaRIoULEuRAL AND llROaAllI-
CAL COLLEGES


&. AZ l9 claimed the graduates don't
90 On tho farm. Although such Col
isgss are intended to bias students In
favor Of agriculture. still it was not
intended as an iron-clad rule. The law
says. TO promote the liberal and prac-
teal education Of the industrial classes
IN the several pursuits and professions
Of life" # only farmer boys are de-
prived Of the privilege Of selecting life
pursuit we might not have had fifteen
ont Of twenty-one Of our Presidents,
Who were the sons Of farmers, working
small farms. or farmers The law in.
tended equal latitude Of choice. 1t is a
fact of statistics, that only one and one
half per cent Of the graduates Of
literary colleges 60 to the farm. There
are sevcnty-fye living graduates Of this
College; Of this number, ten are farm
ing, eleven more are farming and also
engaged In other pursuits. three are
h0rticulturists. three are assistants at
Agricultural Experiment Stations, one
i . dairyman, six are professors or
teachers OF agriculture making forty
six per cent Of graduates engaged 10
farming or teaching agriculture. Others
are engineers, eleven are teachers,
Balance physicians, lawyers, merchants.
ministers. etc. We should bear in mind,
also that farming is greatly depressed.
and this showing is in face Of statistics.
showing that the half Of the population
not farming. in the last twenty! years,
have made over five hundred per cent
more money than those engaged In
agriculture. 1t will take time, educa-
tion and patience to restore to the
farmers equal advantages. which they
have lost BY their Indifference to educa-
tion, while the other classes have gotten
50 far ahead Of them in worldly pros
perity and wealth.
2. Itsis claimed that too much money
Is spent in Oktibbeha county. The one
College could not have been located in
seventy-four counties in the State.
3. Its claimed that the denomina-
tional Colleges and Normal Colleges
atford cheaper education. All these
institutions are most excellent in doing
good educational work The facts show
they are not cheaper; besides they are
colleges giving classical and general
education. not education Ito benefit
agriculture and the mechanic arts,' as
the A. and NJ. College is required to
give BY law. The comparison. then, is
not fair one. No private institution
can afford the outfit apparatus, ETC.,
which the State gives her colleges.
p It is claimed that too much money
i given the colleges, and too little to
the common schools 1t is an incon-
trovertible fact, sustained BY ex-
perience and statistics. ''that schools
n which the elementary studies are tc
be taught, can exist and accomplish
their work successfully only when Col.
leges and Universities exist as educa.
tional standards and as sources oi
stimulating. shaping and elevating In.
nuences in all the lower grades Of
educational work. The States Of the
Union which have the most perfect
common school systems have the most
and best equipped Colleges and Uni
versities; sending out good teachers ia
the common schools. Mississippi gives
her Colleges about 800, 900 q year, and
the common schools about 81, 200, 900.
It Is claimed that only few boys can
attend the A. and NJ. College. This i.
true also of the University and all Col
leges. The mass Of boys must 20 to
the common schools. Enough. how
ever. can go to lead the farmers. AT
Oxford, for instance. the law class does
rot average twenty young men. YET
the lawyers lead in the law-making. in
dustrlal and social reforms. There are
law schools in every State, and the
lawyers are very small per cent Of the
entire population Of the United States.
Yet they are leaders in every movement
Of the people. They see the necessity
Of "a technical school in Mississippi and
everywhere to teach law They believe
II special training, and they have been
friends Of this College in all its troubles.
The farmers cannot expect to better
their condition till they educate them
selves as other classes. When they do
this they may expect to prosper and
he able to compete with them.
It is claimed that the farm makes nc
money. 1t is q fact that it has used
no part Of the appropriation voted By
the Legislature for over four years ex
cept tstudent labor. The fact that with
less money. the College educates one
third more students than attends th'
University, and also pays $1,000 an
nually to students for their labor
should be a sufficient answer TO this OBJ
iection.
might answer as many more OBJ
jartionz There is no getting aroun'
the fact 80 we'll established by stats
tics and observation, that the inHuenc'
Of the farming classes is waning il
making laws and in eli public affairs,
As their wealth decreases. their in
lluence also decreases. In nearly al
countries the status OF the farming
classes has become that of ignorance
serfdom and contempt. First come
loss Of wealth. then loss Of comforts
luxuries and the elegaueies Of life; the
loss Of education, influence and power
Unless the farmers Of the United State
..,t - afiaasaaf,.s,f ranltsn tl,aao ftne