The Greatest Problem of the Human Race

Agricultural education of today is simply carrying on the fight for recognition that the classical education carried on three hundred years ago, and that scientific education carried on one hun- dred years ago. And, like its predecessors, it is winning in the fight. I am a firm believer in this form of education rightly directed. We no longer believe that education is the divine right only of the so-called gentleman's son, but we do believe that it is the divine right of every American citizen who desires to avail himself of the opportunity. We believe that education should be placed within reach of every citizen. We believe this so strongly that the state makes vast appropriations for the support of edu- cation. The expenditure of such vast sums of money by the state is justified for one of three reasons: for protection, for charity, and as an investment. The students of this institution in part are receiving the benefits of the expenditures of this money. Have you ever asked yourselves why the state is expending such sums of money on you? It is costing the state of Utah in the neigh- borhood of two hundred dollars per year for every one of the students who is attending the Agricultural college. Why does the state do this? Do you — the students— belong to that c'ass from which society needs protection? Evidently you are not crim- inals and therefore society needs no protection from you, and yet the time was when if you were to announce your intention of attending the Agricultural college your listeners would probably inquire for how long and for what you had been sent up. Neither are you members of that class of society for which charity must be provided. Therefore, the state in expending such sums of money upon your education must be making an investment. When- ever an investment is made, returns in the form of interest are expected on the investment. How does the state expect to receive any returns on the investment it is making in you? Evi- dently by making you better citizens. If the state can make of you better citizens than when you came here, it will reap ample returns on its investment. Keeping this in mind, it ought to be evident that the best form of education for you to receive will vary with the individual student and his natural inclinations. For a student without any natural qualifications to endeavor to study medicine merely because

THE GREATEST PROBLEM OF THE HUMAN RACE. 441 someone else has made a great success in that line of work, is a great mistake. The world would be far better off if half the phy- sicians now in existence would turn to some other line of endeavor for which they are better qualified. It is a contemptible form of education which will take a good blacksmith away from his anvil and convert him into a mediocre professor of chemistry. Would not the state be making a better investment by providing means of making him a better blacksmith? That form of education whish would take a boy from the farm, who has a natural love for animals and plants, and by holding up to him false ideals, convert him into a ribbon-counter clerk at forty dollars per month, is not serving the best interests of the state. If by our teaching or by our attitude we make him feel that he has made a failure of life if he goes back to the farm, we have betrayed the trust imposed upon us by the state. And I sometimes feel that agricultural education of today ought to be somewhat redirected. The faculties of agricultural colleges are largely to blame for the fact that graduates of these colleges are made to feel that they have made a failure unless they are successful in securing a position as an investigator in some experiment station, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, or as a teacher of agriculture in a high school or college. When, as a matter of fact, better positions, in the long-run, and possibly positions some of us are more adapted to, are waiting for us on the farm. These positions are better from any point of view: money returns, independence or a life of service. The greatest problem of the human race is now pressing for solution — the prob- lem of the existence of the race itself. No race can perpetuate itself until it first learns how to produce enough food to feed itself. No race has ever done this. Did you ever stop to think of the fact that probably tonight one half the people of the world will go to bed hungry? Not exactly supperless, but without sufficient nourishment to sustain the needs of the body. If this be true, is not the biggest problem before the human race today the problem of learning how to produce enough food to feed itself? There are only four countries in the world at all comparable in size and population: namely, Indi', China, Russia and the

4 12 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . United States. The first three of these countries have tried to solve the problem and have failed. To date, the United States his been able to produce enough food to feed itself only by vir tue of the new and virgin land which has been constantly opening up. But that land today is nearly all gone. We have new prob- lems to solve that our forefathers never dreamed of. The population of America has doubled iuself four times during the last century; and if it continues in the same proportion, long before 1950 we shall have a population of two hundred millions of people, and before the dawn of a new century the population of the United States will be over five hundred millions. Of course, there are certain natural checks on the growth of population which may slightly retard this growth in the future. Be that growth what it may, how are we going to feed the population which will inevitably arise? The United States is in a peculiar situation. There is no relief for us, as there has been for continental Europe during the past four hundred years. The discovery of the New World has assisted Europe in this solution during the past four hundred years, but we can look for no relief in this way. There are no new worlds to discover from which we can receive food, except that world wherein we can make the soil produce four times what it is now producing. This is the new world left for us to discover, and America is going to discover it; but to discover it there are many problems which must be solved. But these problems cannot be solved by the help of the peasant of Europe, or the coolies of India or China, or the serfs of Russia, but they must be solved by the combined efforts of three classes of men in America: by the experiment investigator, by the teacher of agriculture, and by an educated class of farmers; and of the three, the latter is prob- ably the most important. And what will it mean to have an educated class of farmers? To educate means ''to prepare for any calling or business by sys- tematic instruction." Evidently, then, the state can make no wiser investment than to educate our future race of farmers by systematic instruction regarding all phases of their future line of work. And the people who shall receive that instruction will be educated men in the fullest sense of the word, although they may

THE GREATEST PROBLEM OF THE HUMAN RACE. 443 not be able to give a complete demonstration of the constitution of the benzine molecule. There will arise a new civilization such as the world has never before seen, in which the farmer is prepared for a complete and successful life; and, in the language of one writer: He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men, and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved hobby, a perfect poem, or securing a soul; who has never lacked appre- ciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction. Logan, Utah. At the Aviation Meet, Salt Lake City, February 12, 15, 1Q, 1911. Aviator Ely in the air over Barrington Park, February 12.

To My Missionary Boy. (For the Improvement Era.) My boy, when first you saw the light of day, With joy I gazed upon your baby face, Your form pressed closely to my throbbing heart ; As day by day I held you in my fond embrace, My heart to heaven turned with gratitude That he had given a jewel to my care. Oft on your tiny face, my fancy saw A look as beautiful as angels wear. Then, when you learned your father's face to know, And lisped my name with loving, baby tongue, What rapture filled my soul, as each new word Was uttered, while on each I breathless hung! How proud I was to see your childish feet Learn one by one a little step to take; Oh, how I prayed for you, when first you slept; And watched to guard you when you should awake ! My boy, see how you've grown so strong and tall! To me a few short years it only seems, Since, kneeling down beside your bed I prayed For God to bless you, and to send sweet dreams! Yet over you, my child, I pleading pray That angels pure your thoughts and acts may guide; And even when some boyish follies press, Still more I love you, though 1 seem to chide. While far away from mother's care you roam, Remember all her precepts you have heard; Encourage lofty thoughts; do noble deeds, And from your tongue let fall no evil word. Take for example honest, upright men; Strive hard to do your Heavenly Father's will. Remember, though the seas divide, both night and day I plead for you, my boy, and love you still! Annie Malin. Salt Lakh City, Utah.