The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-08-05

agricultural high schools to bring the
Them to the cities. Industrial educa-
! tIon Is in the air. and the best that
money can buy is none too good for our
children. The day has passed when
the idea Is prevalent that the man
who can do nothing else can be sue
cessful farmer. The successful farmer
has the brains and the energy to make
| him successful in any profession when
the great agricultural class In Virginia
reaches prosperity 1t will carry on with
lit every class in the Commonwealth"
/ Judge Mann was Immediately fol-
lowed on the program by DIR. Charles
q. Gravatt, member of the State SEN
ate from Hanover and Caroline coun-
| ties. who opened his remarks on the
educational question as It affects the
farmers by saying that, had Judge
Mann given his support to certain bills
in the past session of the Legislature
Was giving to these matters before the
Farmers Institute, they might have
become laws. After this incident. de-
scribed elsewhere, Pr. Gravatt contin-
sonal allusion. making an argument
for the kind of knowledge which will
be of the most worth to the possessor
and best prepare the possessor in after
life as man or woman to live"
Briefly. then. the office of schools
is to train persons to live, and the de-
mand for agricultural education is, in
|reality. but the concrete expression of
la desire to make the schools mean
Isomething real and tangible to a great
mass of pupils: to relate them to
their environment and to fulfill this
purpose in an agricultural State, like
Virginia, agriculture should be as
much part of the schools as oxygen
lis of the air.
Question for Farmers.
lcomes stern and serious question for
farmers, who contribute so largely to
the maintenance of public schools and
| furnish such large proportion OF pu-
pills to be educated to ask themselves
and to ask those to whom the educa-
/ ton of their children Is entrusted
| whether the standard is approached as
nearly as can, or should be.
And so measured any candid in
vestieator must confess that the edu-
catonal system of this State falls far
/ below the mark In so far as the chill
inevitable tendency is to divert the
minds of children from rural pursuits
to unfit rather than to fit them for
rural life 1t does nothing to break
down the barriers set before them by
visions of the drudgery and hardship
.iof farm life, and which, under the
4 system of farming now in vogue, arc
all too true. 1t does nothing to show
how these hardships may be softened
and country life be made more attrac-
tive, but instead instills a desire for
what seems more vivid and easier
town llfe 1t equips FOR office work
and the factory better than for the
pillow.
Agricultural education is by nc
means a new or local question. While
with us It has not passed beyond the
stage of discussion, it has already beer
decided In number of States, and
aennite courses of instruction have
may be mentioned Maine, NIassachn-
sets. New York. Minnesota. Missouri
north Carolina, Georgia and Alabama
H. Il virginia tlHn VIII not lead, then should
/ progressive sister States,
Duty OF State.
I'm the light of these considerations
1t seems eminently fit that the State
should, by all proper means, foster an
industry upon which so much depends
classes and conditions Of men, and one
of the chief ways of accomplishing
this would be by unfolding to students
the scientific truths upon which such
Industry rests
There is an, old saving, Seeing is
believing and, unfortunately, many
FARMERS of the present generation, who
| VIII not believe unless they do see
ARE desirable and because practical
| demonstration Is an important aid tc
lall teaching. demonstration farms
should be provided in connection with
] the high schools. These farms should
be not so much for the purpose OF con.
Quoting experiments as for the actua
demonstration OF results proven at the
experiment stations, and of things as,
|certalned by observation and experience
to be of practical worth and useful
mess.
I'VE who advocate State aid for ag
! rlculture do so because, IN our judg
would So add to the material welfa.,
OF the state, nothing would contribut,
+ more u the prosperity and happiness
OF all her people,
III is time that farmers who ilav,
With patience and forbearance seer
other industries fostered and promote,
. and their own neglected, while the,
answered every call made upon then
flor the support Of government, Stat