To the Experiment Station Building. 5
Y Until recently the average man placed implicit confidence in tra- A
V dition as a guide to practice, and the exceptional man relied chiefly upon ‘ l
· his own experience, exalting the incidents, accidents, and even the ‘
~ chance opportunities of his own particular life into great general prin- ‘
z. ciples which, if carefully observed, would inevitably bring success.
  _ Neither had the slightest use for the investigator and both suffered `
  mightily as they scoffed whenever the Endings of the laboratory ran l
l counter to the traditions of the one or to the supposed experiences of the
  other. V
. This fairly approximates the condition of the public mind a couple
1 of decades ago when science had been a half-century at work and was
  beginning to suggest modifications in certain practices that had grown - ,
l up as the result of popular experience. These suggestions were met first 5 -
l with indifference, then with scoiiing, then with savage resistance; but l
l in recent years this opposition has melted away like snow before the l /  
l summer sun and it has given place to an almost pathetic confidence in · A Q `
the newer sources of truth; indeed, there is arising all about us a tumult {
of demand for instant and universal demonstration of the fruits of in-  
vestigation even from fields of research where the surface has as yet ' ,
been merely scratched. ‘ . l
So rapidly has this transformation come about and so completely has , l
t the public attitude been changed that it is almost impossible of appre- { `
ciation, even by those of us who have been in daily contact with the ]
experiment stations since their origin. l
In the early days of agricultural research, the investigator worked I ~
away at his problem day after day, uninterrupted and alone. Now he  
has daily, almost hourly visitors and is continually called upon for public 4 y
addresses, personal opinion, and advice. In those days he did not even  
` write letters to any extent. In the early nineties the writer was the p `
l "Professor of Agriculture" at the most prominent college of the kind   ,
l in this country and he wrote with his own hand all the letters that went l
l out from the Agricultural Department. Now there go out from the in- A ~
Y stitution he represents more than one hundred thousand letters a year,
· mostly in answer to questions. Let me not be misunderstood: All this is , ·
I as it should be, but it marksa transformation, if not an era, in agricul- l »
‘ tural progress. The very inability of the Experiment Station as such to '
l meet all these calls for individual help is what has given rise to the  
' demand for house-to-house and farm-to-farm demonstration. Quite {_:
3 heturally this kind of personal assistance is commonly esteemed more  
8 important than further research, because its results are personal and I V
B evident. Under this condition of the public mind, we are in danger of .,_ _;
Y halting the business of investigation and of cutting off the supply of new .,j_,
6 lihowledge upon which alone the most progressive farmers rely and OH   ;
ll Which alone real progress upward is to be conditioned. ‘  
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