The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-06-06
FOR MORE FARMERS
President Makes Urgent Plea
at College Celebration.
COMMENDS ALL TOlLERS
Agricultural Colleges Of the Country
Are Boosted and Boys Are Urged
to Pay More Attention to
Scientific Methods.

Scientific Methods.
Speaking upon the topic, "The Man
Who Works with His Hands, Presi-
dent Roosevelt said, in part:
The fftieth anniversary of the
founding of this college is an event
of national significance, for Michigan
was the first state in the union to
found this, the first agricultural COL
lege in America. The nation is to be
congratulated on the fact that the
congress at Washington has repeated
" enacted laws designed to aid the
severalN states in establishing and
maintaining agricultural and mechani-
cal colleges.
For at least a generation We have
been waking to the knowledge that
there mus be additional education be-
yond that provided in the public
school as it is managed today. Our
school system has hitherto been we'll
nigh wholly lacking on the side OF in
dustrial. training, Of the training
which fits a man for the shop and the
farm. We of the United States must
develop a system under which each
individual citizen shall be trained so
as to be effective individually as an
economic unit, and fit to be organized
with his fellows so that he and they
can work in efficient fashion together.
'.Eut it is curious thing that IN
Industrial training we have tended to
devote our energies to produce high
grade men at the top rather than in
the ranks. Our engineering schools,
for instance, compare favorably with
the best in Europe, whereas We have
done almost nothing to equip the pri-
vate soldiers Of the industrial army
the mechanic, the metal worker, the
carpenter. Indeed, too often our
schools train away from the shop and
the forge; and this fact, together with
the abandonment of the old appren-
tice system, has resulted in such an
absence Of facilities for providing
trained journeymen that in many OF
our trades almost all the recruits
among the workmen are foreigners.
Surely this means that there must be
some systematic method provided for
training young men in the trades, and
that this must be co-ordlnated with
the public school system.
.sThere is but one person whose well
fare is as vital to the welfare OF the
whole country as is that of the wage
worker who does manual labor, and
that is the tiller of the soil-the far
mer. If there is one lesson taught by
history it is that of the permanent
greatness of any state must ultimate
" depend more upon the character OF
its country population than upon any
thing else.
Ambitious native-born young men
and women who now tend away from
the farm must be brought back to It,,
and therefore they must have social
as well as economic opportunities. Ev-
eryshing should be done to encourage
the growth in the open farming coun-
try Of such institutional and social
movements as will meet the demand
OF the best type Of farmers. There
should be libraries, assembly halls, So
cial organizations of all kinds. The
school building and the teacher in the
school building should, throughout the
country districts, be Of the very high
est type, able to fit the boys and girls
not merely to live in, but thoroughly
to enjoy and to make the most OF the
country. The country church must be
revived. ALI kinds of agencies, from
rural free delivery 10 the bicycle and
the telephone, should be utilized to
the utmost; good roads should be ia
yored; everything should be done to
name it easier for the farmer to lead
the most active and effective intellec-
tual, political and economic life.'
"The farmer must prepare for using
the knowledge that can be obtained
through agricultural colleges by in
sisting upon a constantly more practi-
cal curriculum in the sc>ools in which
his children are taught. He must not
lose his independence, his Initiative,
his rugged self-sudlciency; and yet ne
must learn to work in the heartlest
cooperation with MS fellows.
President Roosevelt delivered an
address Friday afternoon on the cam
pus of the Michigan Agricultural Col
.lege at Lansing, which was the Gil
max of the semi-centennial celebration
of +bo foyn6inc Of that famOuS inSti-