course of study, with its narrow car riculum, devoted only to thought written by men one or two generations ago. The broadest people that ever lived live now; the greatest body of thought ever built up is being built now, and why should we teach only ancient things? The most important history is the history of the day; the most important science is the science of today; the most important education is the edu. cation of today.

tional side, from a local standpoint, | common school studies, will make a to see how we are going to meet the far broader course than the old situation. We all remember when the first sewing machine was put ou the market; the self binders and the self reapers were largely purchased, though the farmers hadn't much money, and now we have come to the time when we have invented a great instrumentality, a great educa tional machine, if you please, and we are up squarely against the people, against the proposition of paying for it and having it. At Madison, at St. Anthony Park, at Ames, Iowa, at the Illinois Agricultural College, and at others of the 50 agricultural colleges of this country, have been wrought out some of the principles and the factors that go to make the agricultural collegiate education suc cessful. Over at Menomonie and at

your other agricultural high schools, at St. Anthony Park, where there is the first and largest agricultural high school, at all these places they are trying to find out the elements which will properly weld together and correlate all these influences in building up agricultural education in this country. Men are trying to work out a course of study that will give technical education on agricultural subjects. There will be hundreds of thousands who will go into the agricultural high schools soon to be built up, and these, in connection with our experiment stations, our county agricultural departments, our great agricultural department in Washington and similar institutions in all sections of the world, in course of time are bound to give us a body of thought and practical men like Mr. McKerrow, which is bound to be put into practical form and sent out for the benefit of those needing it. It is not to be simply a study of how to make more money, but will cover other subice's of greater educational value, which, combined with the

Question of Ways and Means.

But the question that is interesting me now is, how are we going to buy the machine? How are we going to raise money for schools of this kind? In every district five miles square in all parts of the country, where land is worth $50.00 or more, these schools are needed. Our ideas are changing as to the kind of edu cation needed. We are coming see that to run a 160-acre farm right requires far better all-around exective ability than to run an ordinary bank, and there is every reason for taking this matter up, preparing a scheme of education and developing a new system. We want to give both the boys and girls a chance to prepare for country life and give them a splendid education along those lines at relatively small cost.

Now, how are we going to do this? How are we going to get the necessary money to pay for it? Are the farmers going to pay the cost of these schools, these agricultural high schools and educational colleges?

What Congress Has Done. Congress established • the right principle, when, in 1862, it appro priated a million dollars a year to the agricultural colleges, and tny states did the right thing when they more than doubled that amount by

1

high

putting state money with it to build thing for the agricultural buildings and help hire teachers. schools. That work has been begun Then in 1887, congress put three- in some of our states, you know what quarters of a million into the state Minnesota has done; she already has experiment stations. In 1900, it put two such schools, and I believe the in a million and a quarter by giving time will come soon when Minnesota to each state $25,000.00 cash out i will have eight or nine of these ag the National Treasury to help further ricultural high schools. build up the agricultural colleges, and just yesterday it did spendid thing, and United States Congressman Adams has his name on the bill that gives another three quarters of a million for additional equipment to the experiment stations of this country, and there is another movement, not only to duplicate the $15,000.00 that congress gave in 1887 by making it $30,000.00, but to duplicate the $25,000.0 by giving each college $50,000.00, and I have no doubt but that will go through.

The local people must pay in the another end most of the expense for the consolidated schools, but the state can go this far, and every state should go this far where it has any adequate means, to the extent of raising money to pay for the industrial education, and also pay something toward the buildings; the people in the neighborhood should be induced to vote the necessary additional expense for the buildings and grounds of the consolidated schools and should receive from the state a portion of the added current expense of the school which continues from year to year. The state legislators are wiser in these matters than the people of the district, because you know we send to our legislatures some of our brightest men, and of course we have a clear right to assume that a congress. man is even more wise than the average state legislator, because we pick out of our state legislature some of our best men to go to congress.

Congress is the great source of money for these expenditures as between the government and the state, because the government has an indirect way of raising taxes and can raise taxes more easily than the state. The national government raises expenses for all government purposes of about $10.00 a head for all of us, or $800,000,000 on a popu

lation of 80 million.

The Duty of the States. Now, the national government is, through its Department of Agricul ture, doing to or three times as much as it has done through all these agricultural colleges combined. it is spending more than six millions yearly in the Department of Agricul ture itself. That Department has men investigating and building up agriculture all over this country; i sends men abroad to get new seeds and even helps bring in new animals, but the states are doing a great deal for themselves. Now, what the government did for the states was to fur nish the place to build these instita tions and the states can do the same

We have got to get the money from the top to promote this work, and we at the bottom have got to pay more expense toward these schools.

Some Vital Statistics.

Let me give you just a few figures. There are something like nine million little school children in this country who are going to school about 40 per cent of the full school year, or not more than that. There are altogether nine million children on the farms who should be going to school, between the ages of five and 20, there is only about an equivalent of 3,600,000 that are going

to school. The schools cost prob from our farms by easily five tin:es ably about $60,000,000, and we ought to put in double that amount to secure our agricultural high schools and colleges, we ought to run it up to $120,000,000. This would cost each farmer probably six, eight or 10 dollars more than he is now paying; we have in this country six million farmers. These farms produce annually six billions of money, one thousand dollars per farm averaging 116 acres. As Prof. Kern has said, the children of these farmers are no having a square deal. The doctor, the lawyer, most of the professions

can receive a technical education that costs very little. They de manded it, and they got it.

We firmly believe that if this 60 million dollars were added to our whole cost of education in training these children for country life, that it would increase the annual income

that amount, or three hundred mil
lion; in other words, I believe that
one dollar will easily produce five
if put into this industrial education.
If we can organize our people to be
more efficient in their plans, in their
daily work, it will pay all it costs,
and there is no agency sufficient to
meet these money demands to build
up our country schools, except as
have suggested. Such a system would,
I believe, not only result in this add-
ed money value, but we would have
in addition a great body of young
men who have received this technical
training who would go into the coin-
munities and by working out bette:
methods would greatly add to the
wealth and civilization of that com-
munity.

Music-Vocal solo and male chorus.
Adjourned till 9:00 o'clock next

day.

i

SECOND DAY.

The Institute met at 9:00 o'clock a. m., March
Imrie in the Chair.

14, 1906. Mr. David

Mr. McEwan.

In considering the subject assigned me, it will be from the standpoint that "life is more than meat and the body more than raiment."

the interests of any business, it is well to determine whether it is in harmony with the

stated.

principle just

in presenting

It is my intention, this subject, to direct your thoughts to the fundamental principles which underlie our town company mutuals. The purpose of this is that we may get a clearer vision of our relationship one to another and to those things which should be ours by common inheritance.

The Term Mutual Defined.

Webster defines the word mutual as "given and received, ΟΙ that which belongs alike or in common to the parties." If we bear in mind the significance of this definition. and then consider in contrast the facts brought to light by the late investigation of the Mutual Life aud other Life Insurance Companies of New York, we will observe that the name mutual may frequently be misapplied; therefore we must use intelligent discrimination.

Mutuality is the broad principle upon which all social relationships should rest and those which do not rest upor this foundation are the fields in which flourish the parasites which prey upon society. We do not claim that mutuality should ce the highest motive of human action, but we do assert that without it as

However much we may delight acquire the dollars, or become possessed of the things they will buy, we should not forget that this is uo the chief end of human existence. Every institution or class of institu tions organized under the laws of our country should fill a place in harmony with the principle of "the a foundation the higher ornaments of greatest good to the greatest numi ber;" therefore in seeking to advance

Christian character are barren and fruitless.