The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-22
NEW AGRICULTUR As.
FACTOR NINA TION'SLIFE
President Cyrus Northrop Makes Notable Adj
dress to- the Graduates at the State
School of Agriculture

A talk for the times was that de- |
livered yesterday afternoon by Presi-
| dent Cyrus Northrop at the gradual
ing exercises of the state school of
| agriculture! 1t was careful analysis
| Of conditions governing the old and the
new agriculture, which in a way was
made to represent the whole field of
honest labor. A review of insurance
and municipal revelations was used to
point the moral of the necessity of in
dividual morality and the beauties of
a simple life. The rugged honesty OF
the farm was pronounced strong fac
| tor in assuring the future Of the coun-
try.
! DR.. Northrop said:
/ think somebody has said that the heresy Of
| one age is the orthodoxy of the next age. If
nobody ever said that, will say it. Progress
is to be seen in way better than by COM
pairing the accepted opinions Of one generation
with the! accepted opinions of the next genera
tion. The contrast is often marvellous. Wheth
(er the difference of opinion is assurance of
desirable progress or not. it certainly is COM
pletely satisfactory evidence of great change.
And this change In opinions is to be noticed In
almost every department of human thought 1t
certainly it not confined to theology. Very
few today would accept the theology of
Jonathan Edwards that once, sulphurous and
lurid, spread gloom over all New. England. Men
now agree with Horace Bushnell rather than
with Jonathan Edwards-and they love the
vision of Jesus Christ as he presented himself
in life and thought and speech, as seen in the
New Testament ther than he could be
seen thru the glass Of the Old Testament
darkly.
The New Educational Thought. e.
The change in educational thought has been
hardly less than in theology. Indeed, 1 might
ha hpen II
not so much question to which is more I'M
portant, culture OR skill. IT is rather the as
sertion that both important, both have
their place in life, both should have their place
in education. If a man cannot support him
self by culture. and can support himself by
manual labor, and cannot in his training Sc
cure both culture and skill In labor, he should
certainly choose and have an opportunity to
secure skill in manual labor. If he can get
both, he is foolish if he does not get both.
Men In one sense are alike. SO I suppose is
) carbon in its various forms. But there is a
tremendous difference between diamond and
some other forms Of carbon. 1t will pay to
polish diamond 1t will not pay to polish
diamond is mainly for ornament; and other
forms Of carbon are for use. So 1t pays to
, give culture in its highest sense TO some men,
tho often this proves to be mainly for Crna-
ment. While for the mass of mankind, knowl-
edge and skill more needed and more really
useful
> = g. Culture That Is Real. ...f 49,,
It is, however, fair question, what is .cul
J ture? The essential idea in culture is refine
ment, the training, disciplinng, refining the
moral and intellectual nature Of man. That
this in itself is most desirable Nc one can
y doubt. But the heresy of the olden time lay
in the conviction that there was practically
0 only one way of securing this. virgirs
'.Georgics'' might be studied with their poet
cal description of the very inefficient agricul
tural work of the Roman farmer. and the re
, suit would presumably be culture, not ac
count Of the knowledge of agriculture OBJ
tanned by the process, but thru the attractive
diction and verse of the poet. No one would
q have admitted that practical knowledge Of
| agriculture a hundred times more varied anf
interesting than any Virgil ever dreamed Of
,, with mastery Of the laws Of animal .ant
:. vegetable life, and of the. improvement ant
> variation of species, together with a full nn
derstanding Of physics as, applied to industrial
problems and the subjugation Of the forces o
for man in providing for the2 maintenance o
his life--no one, I say. in those days. if the!
could have forseen the present time. would hay
l admitted that all this either cou
produce culture. But that was great mis-
take-for 1 that the mere words o
men. however skilfully arranged In prose o
y / verse, cannot be thoroly productive OF gen
uine culture the study and mastery o
the laws Of the universe. which are the law
of God, in accordance with which the might
operations Of nature all go forward SMOOTH
;. and silently, and provision is made for tn
sustenance Of the human race. If great thought
can refine, surely the student Of nature an
:, of the subjugation Of nature to the serv1c
IA Of man ought to be refined. and he Will be l
l. he is really student of these things.
- The New Agriculture.
And this thought, marks the dividing lin
between the old and the new In agriculture
The old was largely physical procesS--th
4 hands working without very much guidance fror
~ the mind. The is the triumph of mind owe
. matter--the brain taking the lead in methods
r means ends Under the old system the DO
| tn soho md things.
ID went home at night and went to work at som
K very different things. The school and the HON
10 work had no relation TO each other. The ne'
~ agriculture is not left in the hands of til
20 men who foreordained to be farmers, b.
80 cause they could not alone make a living an
Do can make a living only when aided by til
-, generous tho unknown efforts of nature
IN assist. The new agriculture is in the hand
er of men who have studied nature and her law
er Of production till they understand her thorol
e. and who know how to make her do her best
&C : produce desired results whether she wants
f. or not. ',,
~ AS yet multitudes of farmers belong to til
~ old agriculture and as a consequence the tot
~ production is by no what it should b.
ne When the new agriculture shall have man
ad followers the old has had there will be
as new race Of farmers and a production Of croI
n in comparison with which our present statistic
1e will seem small
ii And this change cannot come too soon. o,
~ land is fast being taken up-the whole surfa'
- of the earth is fast coming into subjectioI-tl
T.,
~ resorted to-and when the possibility of endle
ne expansion of land to be cultivated Is ende
lis. and the problem comes how with given qua
V tity Of land to raise sufficient crops TO fee
yn | an ever increasing population. the lnighty il
ds portance of the progress we have made
oh | agricultural science in the last twenty yea
and the absolute necessity of further progre
J in the coming years will be realized 1t ca
r. | not be today. A writer in the March numb
H. Of Outing says that a hundred million Amer
cans can be sustained farms und
cultivation merely by more intelligent farI
ing. When fully developed the agricultural r
4 sources in sight will sustain thousand mill
~ of souls. Irrigation will provide sustenan
70. Americans live on six million farms. One bre
ON winner in every three is farmer.
ver
oh Honesty Near the Soil.
or We rejoice heartily In the progress that h
TO- been made in agricultural education. We I
joice in the good work the school of agricultll
is doing in training young men and women +
IN actual farm life. We rejoice in the work t
he experiment station is doing In leading t
, ~ way to larger and better methods of wor
= And We rejoice In the work of the collie
L. of agriculture in training successfully men
take leading part in the scientific investie
nd lions Of the national department Of agricultu
nd and in original investigation turnout the COUNT
I might stop here with hearty congratulate
to all the achievements of the past and
the economic outlook for the future But
90 cannot but remember today that the life
more than meat and the body more than r
III ment.
80 ~ An dthe thought which stirs my soul Il
az ~ afternoon and upon which I wish to dwell
ale few moments is this: The future OF our cor