NOTES AND ABSTRACTS.
Social Problems of the Farmer. The July, 1902, number of the "Publica- tions of the Michigan Political Science Association " is entitled The Social Problems of the Farmer, and is devoted to papers read at the joint meeting of the Michigan Political Science Association and the Michigan Farmers' Institutes, February 25 and 26, 1902. The meeting was one of unusual significance from the fact that it was the result of co-operation among various educational interests, namely the Farmers' Insti- tutes, the Agricultural College of Michigan, and the University of Michigan. We summarize below several of the addresses delivered upon the occasion :
" Higher Education and the People," by Professor H. C. Adams, of the Uni- versity. The relation of higher education to the people may be considered from three points of view :
First, the point of view of those who seek education. So far as the individual student is concerned, very little can be said upon the topic in hand. Were the ques- tion of education entirely, or even primarily, a personal question, there would be no answer to the argument that he who is benefited by instruction ought to pay for it. But this assumption does not present the matter in its true light. The life of each individual is bound up in the life of all. Such being the case, the advantage of an education to the individual cannot present the point of view from which the question of the relation of the higher education of the people may reasonably be discussed. It is a matter of no slight importance to the people of this state that the highest in edu- cation lies open and practically free.
Second, the point of view of those who make use of the services of experts and professional men trained at the college or university. Specialization is the rule in all progressive life, and the degree to which specialization is carried may be accepted as a measure of social advancement. An expert physician, for example, is possible only upon the basis of a highly developed science of medicine. Such a physician must avail himself of thousands of experiments in the many laboratories scattered through- out the world. Each laboratory makes its contribution ; each publishes its discovery. As isolated facts, these contributions and discoveries are of slight importance, but, correlated with the contributions and discoveries of other laboratories, they build up a body of useful knowledge which, in the hands of a skilled physician, permits not only the alleviation of pain, but the control of diseases before regarded as a sentence of death.
Third, the point of view of political, social, and industrial conditions. No industry can continue to be progressive without its experts, and the higher institutions of learn- ing which train experts are an essential factor in establishing and maintaining our present industrial efficiency. Without our schools, not only would further progress be arrested, but we should soon lose the general intelligence necessary to avail ourselves of the technical progress already made.
Certain changes are taking place which promise much for country life. I refer to the extension of rural electric lines and of local telephone service, to the wide dissemi- nation of electric power, to rural mail delivery, and the like. I look confidently for the time when social intercourse and manufacturing on a small scale will be restored to rural communities ; when this shall have been accomplished, the country rather than the town will offer the opportunity for sensible living. To whom will the country be indebted for the realization of so bright a picture ? It is to the professor who, with his students, works patiently within his laboratory at the occult problems of electricity and other mechanical agencies ; yet he is not entirely responsible, for without the generous support of the people he would be unable to devote his life to such a service.
It is doubtless easier to illustrate the popular advantage of higher institutions of learning by reference to the physical sciences and mechanical inventions than by
281
