The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-02
Messenger Bureau,

Raleigh, n. c., May 30.
The board of agriculture, as the
trustees of the A. and NJ. College, spent
today largely at the college, and it
will be hoped much of this weeks
meeting to it.
Tomorrow the %adjutant general and
the quartermaster general viii be here
on matters relative to the encamp-
ments of the National Guard. 1t is now
quite well understood that these will
be held at WrightsvilIe and at Char
lctte in July.
Chairman j. William Bailey, of the
State anti-SalOon League, was asked
today what was the progress of the
temperance meeting at present and
said that relatively little work had been
dcne this year for the reason that the
state had been virtually canvassed and
that all the points had been looked af-
ter which would just now be given
attention. The league has lost two
towns, namely, HillsbOrO and Morgan-
ton, but has gained q number OF points
i'll Johnston county in a fight against
the dispensary. The campaign now is
very quiet as elections have been held
at all points where they could well be
mad. The work is in very good shape
Chairman Bailey says.
Governor Glenn and State Auditor
Dixon have gone to Chapel Hill to be
present at the commencement of the
State University. State Treasurer
Lacy was at Davidson College COM
mencement.
Inc work Of constructing the Church
OF the Good Shepherd here was re-
sumed today, and it is said that it will
not again be stopped.
At the beautiful National cemetery
mere the memorial day exercises were
neld This afternoon, Rev. /. Mex. Pit
tenger Offering the prayer, the address
being by Pastor J.. G.. Massee. of the
BAPTIST tabernacle, and Mr.. A. Il. For
est reading the poem, which was an
original one written by Mrs. S. D..
watt. The Star Spangled Banner and
america were sung. The Confederate
veterans from the Soldiers Home were
present and participated in the cere-
monies and in the decorations of the
graves with flags and flowers.
The street railway company declines
to extend its lines to the northward
here unless the city first grades the
streets.
The attendance at the Agricultural
II Mechanical College commence
ment was quite large today. This af-
ternOOn there was the final battalion
drill and dress parade at which the
new GlInt Of1DnIsS xynrsn
This evening Mr.. John Hamilton, of
Washington, ID. c., delivered the an
nual address, which was followed by
a public reception by the faculty.
COLLEGE MAN IN AGRICULTURE.
Abstract of an address at the alumni
commencement of the North Carolina
College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts.
BY Professor John Hamilton, Farm
ers' Institute expert, Department of
agriculture, Washington, ID. G..
Gentlemen of the Graduating Class.
MIR. President, Ladies and Gentle
men:
Professor Massey wrote to me that,
as he students in agriculture are now
so numerous in this college, 1--WE as
sumo that you will speak upon agri-
cultural lines, and l would suggest that
some emphasis be placed upon the
great opportunity in the South for
young men who have been training in
the modern methods of agriculture" 1t
having been thus intimated that / am
to talk shop" l have chosen for my
subject, The College Man in Agri-
culture"
The Southern planter of fifty years
ago was commonly an educated man.
The northern schools and colleges were
then we'll filled with young men from
the Southern plantations, and those of
the South almost entirely so filled. Els
tates were large, and the number of
laborers was large. The educated pro-
prietor farmed on a large scale. The
educated men Of that day who chose
the legal profession very generally be-
came eminent and numbered men of
national and international fame. If he
became Il physician, he made a good
one: and in the pulpit; he made an ac-
,ceptable preacher of the gospel. But
he was not so successful as a farmer,
wearing out instead of improving his
land, not in the South alone, for the
abandoned farms of New England teS-
tify to the same fact. That this wa
the case in the hands of educated men
show plainly that though their edu.
cation fitted them for professional life,
it had not made farmers of them. The
deterioration of lands North and
South showed that something was
wrong in their management in the
hands of the educated men. Mere
mental ability is not enough to make
a farmer. \ man may make Il great
success as Il lawyer, but when he tries
to farm he is APT to make "A failure,
The farmer needs special training
About the middle of the last century
the deterioration of the land caused
this fact to be realized. Educated men
studied the situation and the result
was the Land Grant Act, known as
the first Morrill, bill, which set aside
10000 acres of the public land for each
member of Congress, and these were to
be sold for the establishment of al
least one college in each state Whose
leading object should be, without ex-
Guiding scientific and classical stud