Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-08-15

''0N ldCllltleS Tor extending
credit cooperative business. puhlic
ownership of public utilities. govarr
ment oversight of private enter
prlses, excess profits. Inheritance
taxes prohibition, woman suffrage
the perennial problems of the ro,o
tlcns between capital and labor. the
minimum wage, the maximum day
and time and half for overtime
Not an item, not . suggestion Of any.
thing agricultural ether as a busi-
ness or as a mode of life if we NAV
except the occasional mention Of the
word land and certain plans for nro-
viding homesteads for the returnjuo
soldiers, which is an army. not an
agricultural proposition.
For the most part our consido~-
able list of reconstruction problems
may be reduced to the two great
| questions that mainly concern tine
public mind today; namely. foreign
aid domestic trade. and the peren-
NAL contest between capital and IA
Eor, We forget the citizen because
we have learned to think politically
ard socially mainly in terms of com
merce based upon manufacture. un-
der conditions requiring vast com
bnations Of capital, concentration of
population, and division of labor
the very conditions that inspire no.
only greed of gain and social unrest.
but international war. Yet our in.
terest lies here rather than with the
peaceful pursuits of the open coun.
try.
1t may be said that if there is a
dearth of live problems in the pub
lie mind regarding agriculture. it is
the fault Of the farmers themselves
inasmuch as each interest is as
sumed to be responsible for promot-
ing its own affairs. Granted, but
even so the conclusion is irresistible
ti!at people generally do not regard
| agricultural problems as Of public
| concern. while my chief contention
is that the public even more than
| the farmer is interested in the dis
| ccVery and the proper solution of
! every problem connected with the
public domain. with the production
Of food, and with the character and
condition of that portion of our pop
nlation that shall live upon the land.
| say that the public is more in
| terested then the farmer in these
| matters because The Farmer" is ac-
| tUally a collection of individuals who
| can for the most part eXtricate them
selves from any intolerable situation
that may develop; while the country
| as whole can not eXtricate itself
| from the consequences of bad agri-
| cultural policies that easily develop
| when matters of fundamental char
| acter intimately connected with food
production, home-buildng, and land
oH nership ere left to shift for them
selves.
| The Beginnings of IA National Plan
Dut we are not without start in
| the right direction. Moro than half
century ago we began to think ma
,iCnally about agriculture. The i'm
| pulse had its origin in our consular
service and in the primitive collect
| ms instinct whereby seeds and roots
o. promising foreign plants were
sent to America for trial. Out OF
| this grew the Department of Aglicul-
ture. representing the official deter
mnation of America to do whatever
could be done administr0tively to
promote agricultural welfare at home
| and marketing facilities abroad.
Again in the darkest days of our
Civil war the United States estan-
| lished the most unique educational
system which the world has ever
| known; hence this association aud
| the colleges it represents. Aiming at
increased production though it does.
| and national in scope though it is,
yet after all, the basis of the system
in the education and the initiative
of the individual, for it is founded
| upon instruction Of collegiate grade
and based upon scientific inVesuSa-
tion of the highect order. We could
not have a better foundation for tie
edifice that shall one day stand as
enlblematic of our national aims and
purposes in agriculture than is the
educational system represented by
this association of American agricul-
tural colleges, and there could be no
better corner stone for the structure
than the work of the experiment sta
tions connected herewith.
Dat tbie &c only q hCoiuuinP OF a