The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-27
SCIENTIFIC TRAINING.
The Need of it for Government Worl

Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agri-
 culture. in Washington Times.
 Under the terms of Cecil Rhodes will great good will doubtles be done in tho line in which an Oxford education lies. So far as a classic or literary course Is concerned. I'suppose Oxford is as suit able a college as any. can only dis cuss the matter from the standpoint of my own work, and none of this money will be spent in way to touch our work here at all. It has not been left for that purpose.
 What do we need heree We need men of the highest scientific training. inves- tigators. with insight and with special preparation for practical work; chemists who can analyze soils and the juices of plants and give information to our pro- ducers. For here we are dealing directly with our producers. I will illustrate.
 We export 80, 000. 900 worth of tobacco and import $14, GOO. 900. We sell cheap to- bacco and buy the expensive leaf We buy $6, 900 900 of wrapper tobacco from Su- matra. and $S,o00.O00 of filler from Cuba.
 Now the question is Where can these fine grades be raised in the United
 States? What soil produces them? What makes the different grades of tobacco? Can we find man to analyze the soil and to analyzc the sap of the plant. and to show why tobaccos differ?
 One man we did find to analyze the juices of the plant German, a grad uate of German university. but one who had been driven out of Germany as a crank, so advanced were his theories. He discovered that the difference in fla- vor in the various classes of tobacco was caused, not by bacteria, but by diff ferent ferment in the leaf. Suitable soil was found in Connecticut, and this year 800 acres of Sumatra wrapper will be grown under cover in Connecticut Now we are looking around for filler tobacco The Cuban leaf can be grown in few places fin this country Willis. Texas. be- ing one.
 But at this stage of our work Japan, seeing what a useful man we had. offered him v 900 a year to take charge of Gov ernment work for her. We could not keep him. for I had no authority to pay him such a salary.
 have sent to every college in the Europe to. find another man who can snalyze the juices of- plants. but there IS not another one in the world. The only man who ever could do 1t was rftli- culed in his own country and taken from us to Japan. Not a college the world over gives the training We require fin ev- cry branch of farming-forestry, botany, chemistry. mineralogy. etc. Yet it is practical work. most necessary to the far mer. The State agricultural and mechan- teal colleges do not provide us with the men we want: in fact. many of them are not equipped even to teach the most rudlmentary branches of agriculture. I will say for the college In Texas that 1t others; it is doing really good work in some lines.
 We have 1000 scientists connected win this department, and since no college will do it for us. we are training young men for the work ourselves. We have 200 stu dents studying scientific branches
 No neither Mir. Rhodes bequest nor any of the vast sums given for education will ever come our way. We do our work un- aided by private means. It has great scope. but until We get the people edu- cated to these practical necessities we can look for no help from the schools and univt rsities The people are waking up l though. They are beginning to realize l how highly scientific this work is. and | how necessary.
 II must be noted that the United States | spends yearly in scientific investigation | DO. 000. 900. of which half goes to this de. | oartment. It is a tremendous sum. more | han all the other governments of the |