The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-10-23
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson Tells Some
OF the Reasons Why Agricultural Schools
Are Necessary for the Country.

Secretary of Agriculture James
Wilson has been making a tour of
the agricultural colleges of the West.
In a recent address before the stu
! dents of the Kansas Agricultural
/ College the Secretary said in part
The United States occupies the
first place as Il producing, manufac-
/ turing, commercial people. The in
terest5 that attach to these great in
| dustries Justify the education of
those who engage in them. We are
/ concerned on this occasion with the
education of the producer of the soil
and the supervision of our mechan-
les. Eight hundred million dollars
worth of our exports during the last
fiscal year were from the soils of the
country. Some of them represent
hard work, unenighted and unas-
sisted by any Of the discoveries of
the Investigators of the age. x
They were produced by long days in
! the field, and their, prices brought
/ few Of the luxUries of life to the
/ tOilerS who made the crops. They
are staple crops with US, but they
are raw material for the people be
/ yond the seas who buy them from
Us. We boast of our free schools,
/ but they DO little to teach the man
who works in the field, or in the
shop, with his coat off, regarding the
soil he tillS, the plants he cultivates,
or the animal he rears, or the ma
chine he makes.
/ We have universities to which we
look as the finished product of ad-
vanced learning, but they have not
existed and do not exist to tighten
/ the burdens of those who contribute
! to the grand total Of the nation S ex-
ports that keep the balance of trade
in our favor and assure prosperity to
/ our people generally. We pay more
! taxes for education than for all other
/ purposes, but stop short of helping
/ those of our people who pay most
/ taxes and contribute most to all other
/ classes-the giant millions with giant
+ nerves and cool heads, the national
reserve, from which the national de
/ tenders come. K K Halt the
nation is engaged in producing from
/ the soil Methods Of cultivating
/ have been improved so that the inQi-
vidual can produce more Of this raw
material for our own and foreign
countries. Far-Seeing, patriotic men
have long recognized the necessity
of educating the producing class.
| The physicist found that soil varied
as the rocks from which they came
varied that the movement OF moist
ure in soils was governed by laws !;
plants require certain elements, with
out which they could not grow.
Many Of these processes are imper-
fectly understood at the present
/ time.
/ The gathering together Of facts re
garding the breeding of plants and
animals led to the conclusion that
nature operated through laws that
are little understood. The ravages
OF insects suggested inquiry into
their life and history The micro
scope revealed u world Of plants and
animals working with man and
/ ,c.,;,,,+ hin, DrOrroSG in u those
directions suggested that something
might be done for the farmer.
These and kindred questions pre-
sented themselves SO perSistentIy
| that provision has been made for
the education of the producer from
! the soil in the several States. These
colleges are new in our system Of
education, and new in the world
! The Federal legislators, seeing the
struggle that must soon take place
! between producers here and abroad,
owing to the cheapening transpOrta-
| ton and more rapid communication,
| provided for the education Of the
mechanic and the farmer. The Wis
dom of that step has been fully JUS
titled. The industrial colleges and
experiment stations of our country
are already far in advance of those
! of other countries.
The new education for the farmer
and mechanic teaches observation
and trains toward experimentation.
1t is as comprehensive as the uni
verse; it lays all sciences under
tribute. The good work being done
by college and experiment station is