Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-12-22
MORE BRAIN WORK NEEDED
ON FARMS.
New Duty OF New England Col
leges Pointed Out by President
Thomas Of Middiebury


trust on the part Of the colleges there,
according to President John M. Thomas
of Middlebury College. In his annual
report, recently issued, Dr. Thomas
declares that the way out of present
troubles is to return to the original pur-
pose of the New England colleges,
which was to train men for the specific
tasks in which the State stands in need
of workmen.
Nor is New England much better sup
piled with colleges than the rest of the
country, despite popular impression.
1.-The fact is" says DIR. Thomas, "that
the Pacific coast has more colleges in
proportion to the population than any
other region of America. There are
twice as many students to the thousand
of people in California as there are in
Vermont.
California would appear to be twice
as earnest as Vermont in the matter of
higher education. New England is not
overstocked with colleges and is not
attracting into academic life an undue
proportion of her youth. 4"
The endowment of the New England
colleges, DR.. Thomas finds, is less than
third of the value of the securities
of the New York, New Haven and
Hartford Railroad. GAS nation" he
continues, I'VE have twice as much in
vested in one corporation in the pro-
duction of steel as we have in higher
education of our boys and girls. The
United States Steel Corporation could
buy out every college in the United
States, buildings and grounds, libraries,
scientific apparatus and endowments
and have enough left to purchase every
State House east of the Hudson.
"The comparison is somewhat to the
advantage of the corporations, but be-
tween New England and the rest of the
country the advantage is on our side.
While we have 8.9 per cent. of the col
leges of America within our five States,
we have Fl per cent of the capital in
vested as permanent endowment for
American higher education.
"Taken together, the colleges of our
five States have in their hands equip
ment for service of Incompatible value
and power. He that would uplift New
England will scarcely find a stronger
lever than the New England colleges. "
The need of New England, as DR..
Thomas sees it, is an awakening to the
possibilities of combination in rural in
dustry to the enormous benefit of scien-
tific methods in the selection of seeds,
rotation of crops and soil treatment.
With all allowance to merchants, pro-
fessional and seafaring men, he says, it
remains true that the stability and in
tegrity of New England character and
the influence of her people upon the
nation have been due in good proportion
to the people of her farms. 1t was ru-
raj New England that peopled the plains
and cities of the West, and the cities
East and West still need replenshing
from rural New England blood.
1.-The call for men of the New Eng
land stamp" he says, ''is as insistent
today as at any time since the wagon
trail started up the valley of the Mo-
hawk and threaded its way onward to
the West.
Nevertheless there is much truth
in the common impression that New
England agriculture is backward. There
has been a marked increase recently in
the valuation of farm property all over
the United States except in New Eng
land. Our country districts have not
shared proportionately with the great
increase of wealth which has overtaken
the American farmer.
1--WE are behind hand.in our methods.
There is not the push and enterprise in
our rural districts that has become not
able all through the West. New Eng
land farmers do not know so we'll how
to get together, nor do they learn so
readily one from another, nor adopt so
quickly new ideas and methods.
"A young graduate of our college
recent season simply by working with
his head as well as with his hands and
applying to the problems of his fields
the principles he had learned in our
biological laboratory. We need greatly
the multiplication of that young man
by the hundred and the thousand"
A large proportion of college students
have no clear idea as to why they are in
college or what they hope to gain, says
DR.. Thomas, and he continues
at is the lack of definite purpose in
our college youth and the failure of the
institution to set definite purpose be-
fore them that is responsible for all our
college plaques, the idleness, the lack
of interest in study, the athletic excite
ment, the fraternity palaces, the extra