Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1916-03-31

VI the many able and fOrceful
addresses delivered at the inaugural
exercises at the State College last
week, none made a deeper impress
sion than the inaugural message of
President Holland, in which he set
forth his conception of what the in
stitution should be and the scope of
its work. He said:
First of all, desire to express
/, my deep appreciation for the great
honor conferred on me by the board
OF regents. Secondly, | want to thank
the citizens Of Pullman and the state
OF Washington for the warm well
come they have given me. | am
fully aware of the fact that the task
have undertaken is a very respon-
sible one, which will require my
most devoted thought and greatest
effort. am encouraged to believe
that | shall be able to help in the
work and purposes of this college
and in the welfare and the progress
of the state because | have received
from the beginning, the encourage
ment and the guidance of the faculty
and many evidences of support and
good will on the part of the student
body and alumni. In assuming these
new duties and responsibilities | can
assure you ! shall do my best"
After portraying the natural re-
sources and economic conditions in
the state President Holland said:
with this brief sketch of the geo
graphic and economic conditions in
Washington, | can state my educa-
tional thesis: Every industrial actiy-
ity in the state and the Inland EN-
pire in the Northwest, in fact, must
have its counterpart in this great
institution of higher learning. This
is the only way in which the physical
wealth and the economic and social
life can be developed. In a word,
colleges and universities, to be eff
ficient, must function in the lives Of
the people. When the resources and
activities of state are diverse, then
the institutions of higher learning
must diversity. The greatest inyen-
ton of natural things and natural
laws in the education of man for the
things he is to do.
Under the Morrill, act and other
/ national legislation, and under yari-
Gus state laws, Washington State
College is dedicated to the training
of young men and women for the in
: dustrial activities of life, and this
prime function and laudable purpose
must not be lost sight of for an in
slant. The land grant college is to
teach such branches of learning as
/, are related to agriculture and the
/ mechanic arts in order to
prom ote the liberal and practical
education of the industrial classes in
the several pursuits and professions
of life.
Some laymen unfortunately con-
fuse the purposes of such a college
with that of a trade school. They
would have agriculture taught by
rule-of-thumb. Such a type of in
= struction would be disastrous.
: Graduates in the agricultural work
under such a regime would go out
ability to solve the problems of soils
and crops and plant and animal dis
eases, and no capacity to make the
necessary readjustments which the
changing physical conditions require.
If we confined ourselves to purely
empirical teachings, the agricultural
, interests of the estate would soon
languish and die.
Once in a while "a layman even
contends that the departments OF
chemistry, botany, zoology, geology
. and physics have no place in the
training of agriculturists; that the
pure sciences should be abolished or
greatly reduced. These persons do
not realize that many of the most
dangerous foes of the farmer are de-
stroyed only through the study and
experim entation of men in the pure
science division of the college. The
work of the Experiment Station here
at the State College, the one at Puy-
allup, west of the Cascades, at Lind,
at Grandyiew, and at WaterVille