The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-03-19

a professional career is perhaps new 10
} some of you. Agriculture is the oldest
of industries yet the newest of sciences
land the field is therefore a comparative
Iy new one With the possible excep-
ton of mechanical and electrical en-
gineering no other field of science offers
] so many opportunities to the student
, of today as that of agriculture. Inc
only argument bring forward to sup
port this statement is the commence
ment stage of any of our great unlVer-
sites, filed with the men and women
to be graduated in the courses of law,
medicine, pharmacy dentistry, Journal
ism, mechanical arts and agriculture.
For the past ten years it is the OK
lception that any man has received his
tdegree in agriculture who has not al
Iready accepted some well-paid and re-
sponsible position or has one in view
and prefers to continue his studies TO
fit himself for some special line. In
comparison to this condition Of affairs
1 would point to the early struggles of
# the young OOClOI VI ldN SCA'
Like law or medicine one can enter
the applied field of work, that of re-
search or take up the practical side,
! that is, become in the real sense a
farmer. Many of our great agricultural
industries have at their head or in their
employ graduates of our agricultural
colleges and the demand from these
concerns for trained men is increasing.
| Already to succeed one must become
| specialist, that is after the completion
of the regular agricultural course which
is necessary to apply to agriculture
any phase of the sciences upon which
it rests, the student must become an
expert in some one of the many lines
related to the subject.
1 will confine my remarks to our own
country which has done more to pro-
mote it's agricultural pursuits and ele-
vate the farming class than any otner
country with no exception. Agriculture
is recognized as the dominant and i'm
portant industry upon which all others
depend and anything which VIII build
up, broaden or improve the Industry or
those engaged therein means eventual
Iy an additional strength to the whole
civic body. The words farmer and
"clod- hopper are no longer synony-
nous terms and one using them as such
simply processes ignorance of the new
order of things. Our grandfathers came
under the latter term and we are proud
of it. They were the sturdy uillers of
the rough unconquered soil and sought
to solve only the question of how to
gain livelihood to which the natural !
fertility of the country responded in a |
manner that is history. Their simple !
wants and quiet lives did not drive |
them as do the needs of the present |
day to work out improved methods and |
solve the various problems bearing on |
the production of crops. In place of the |
small villages situated at favorable |
spots along the coasts or watercourses
there have grown up great cities all
clamoring for the products of the farm
upon which the turning of the wheels
in the great machine of their makeup
depends. 1t is within the memory of T
our fathers that these great centers de-
pended in the main for their supply on
the immediate territory, that is, the
agricultural districts were independent j
of each other. Today are brought into
these large cities to be distributed |
their domain, products from
every cultivated area on the face of
the globe. In the same way there is
sent out from these centers the special
products which they are able to produce
to feed and clothe not only other sections
of our own country but the world in
general. To bring this point home in
more forcible manner, if the sugar-beet
crop of Russia, Germany or France
should fail today, tomorrow would see
a rise in our own product here in Ha-
wall
With a view to pointing out the pos
sibilities offered by the various agri-
cultural institutions and industries in
the United States regarding positions
for those with technical training a
brief history of the development of these
organizations is necessary. AS 1 stated +.
in my introduction the work follows
along three distinct lines, research, in
struction and the practical application
of the science as carried on by the u. |
S. Department of Agriculture, the State
Agricultural Colleges and schools, the |
Experiment Stations, the Farmers In
stitutes and the agricultural industries |
which are being rapidly built up.
The formation of agricultural socie- |
ties began about the middle of the eigh-
teenth century, the first organization |
being, I believe, at Charleston, S. c., |
in 1735. Immediately following the |
formation of the new republic President |
Washington is quoted as making in his /
eighth annual message to Congress, /
1896, the following statement in regard |
to agriculture:
'It will not be doubted that with ref |
erence either to individual or national |
welfare, agriculture is of primary i'm
pOrtance. In proportion as nations ad-
vance in population and other circum-
stances of maturity, this truth becomes |
more apparent, and renders the culti- |
of he Snil n
object of public patronage. Institu- |
tions for promoting it grow up, support !
ed by the public purse, and to what OBJ
ject can it be dedicated with greater
propriety? Among the means that have |
been employed to this end, none have |
been employed with greater success
than the establishment of boards Conn !
posed of proper characters), charged /
with collecting and diffusing infornla
ton, and enabled by premiums and |
small pecuniary aids to encourage and |