The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-03-26
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANI-
CAL COLLEGES.
The Theory and Management of the
Mississippi A. & M. College.
GBy Gen. S. D. Lee, of Mississippi.l

[By Gen. S. D. Lee, of Mississippi
will continue, in this article, to
meet other objections against the
college.
9Th. It is claimed, the graduates
don't 60 on the farm Although such
colleges are intended to bias students
in favor of agriculture, still it was not
intended as an ironclad rule The law
says "to promote the liberal and prac-
tical education of the industrial classes
in the several pursuits and professions
of life" If only farmer boys are de-
prived of the privilege of selecting
life pursuit we might not have had
fifteen out of twenty. one of our Presi-
dents, who were the sons Of farmers,
working small farms or farmers. The
law intended equal latitude of choice.
1t is fact of statistics, that only Il
per cent. of the graduates of literary
collegesssgo to the farm. There are IS
hvlng graduates of this college. Of
this number 10 are farming, II more
are farming and also engaged in other
pursuits, 3 are horticulturists, are
assistants at agricultural experiment
stations, is dairyman, 6 are pro
fessors or teachers of agriculture,
making 46 per cent. of graduates en-
gagged in farming or teaching agricul-
ture; 2 more are engineers, IL are
teachers, balance physicians, lawyers,
merchants, ministers, etc. We should
bear in mind also that farming is
greatly depressed, and this wrong is
in face of statistics, showing that the
half of population not farming in the
last twenty years have made over 500
per cent. more money than those en-
gagged IN agriculture. 1t will take
time, education and patience to restore
to the farmers equal advantages which
they have lost by their Indifference to
education, while the other classes
have gotten so far ahead of them in
worldly prosperity and wealth.
7. It is claimed that too much
money is spent in Oktibleha county.
The one college could not have beer
located in IA counties in the State.
8. 1t is claimed that the denomina
tional colleges and normal colleges
afford 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 "to
benefit agriculture and the mechani-
cal arts, as the A. & M. College is
required to give by law. The COM
parison, then, is not fair one. No
private institution can afford the out
fit, apparatus, &C., which the State
gives her colleges.
9. 1t is claimed that too much money
is given the colleges and too little to the
common schools. 1t is an incontro-
vertible fact, sustained by experience
and statistics, "that schools in which
the elementary studies are to be
taught can exist and accomplish their
work successfully only when colleges
and universities as educational stand
ards and as sources Of stimulating,
shaping and elevating influences in all
the lower grades of educational work"
The States of the Union which have
the most perfect common school sys-
TENS have the most and best equipped
colleges and universities sending out
good teachers to the common schools.
Mississippi gives her colleges about
$4,000 year, and the common
schools about 100000.
10. 1t is claimed that only a few
boys can attend the A. & M. College.
This is true also of the University and
all colleges. The mass of boys must
go to the common schools. Enough,
however, can 60 to lead the farmers.
At Oxford, for instance, the law class
does not average 20 young men. Yet
the lawyers lead in the law-making in
industrial and social reforms. There
are law schools in every State, and
the lawyers are tenth of the entire
Of the United States. Yet
they are leaders in every movement
Of the people. They see the necessity
of technical school in Mississippi
and elsewhere to teach law. They
believe in special training and they
have been friends of this college in
all it's trouble The farmers cannot
expect to better their condition till
they educate themselves as the other
classes. When they do this they may
expect to prosper and be able to com
pete with them. 1t is claimed that
the farm makes no money. 1t is a
fact that it has used no part of the
voted by the Legisla-
ture for over four years except student
labor. The fact that with less money
the college educates one-third more
students than attend the University,