10 Conservative.
view of the importance of agriculture
iu the ecouoinic life of the country
adequate measures for the efficient
agricultural education of our people ,
nearly one-half of whom are engaged in
agriculture , are lacking. He refers to
the impossibility of securing , on demand
from the civil service commission , per
sons qualified to servo as assistants in
the scientific divisions of the department.
The training of the necessary exports
has to bo done in the department
itself , and then when their full measure
of usefulness is attained wealthy insti
tutions take them from the service by
offering much higher salaries than the
department is authorized to pay.
Arrangements have been made with
the civil service commission to make a
register of the graduates of the land-
grant colleges. From this register
young men will be selected to assist in
the scientific divisions at very small pay
but with special opportunities for post
graduate study such as no university in
the land supplies. By this means it is
hoped that the department will have a
force from which to not only fill vacan
cies when wealthy institutions take
away the department's trained men , but
possibly , also , to supply agricultural
stations and other scientific institutions
with men of superior scientific attain
ments. This is a step intended to com
plete the educational system provided
in the endowment of agricultural ex
periment stations and agricultural
colleges. The work so proposed will
entail but moderate expense , and the
secretary expresses the hope that it will
meet with the approval of congress.
Reference is made to the gratifying
evidence of growing interest in the sub
ject of elementary instruction in sciences
relating to agriculture , and to the
progress made in this regard since the
secretary presented his last annual
report.
CLEVELAND ON "SUCCESS. "
Former President Cleveland , in dis
cussing the question , "How to Make
the Most of One's Self , " has written
the following :
"The merit of the successful man ,
who has struggled with difficulties and
disadvantages , must bo judged by the
kind of success he has achieved , by the
use he makes of it , and by its effect up
on his character and life. If his success
is clean and wholesome , if he uses it to
make his fellows better and happier ,
and if he faithfully responds in all the
obligations of a liberal , public-spirited ,
useful citizen , his struggles should add
immensely to the honor and considera
tion he deserves.
"If , on the other hand , his success is
of the grasping , sordid kind , if he
clutches it closely for his selfish gratifi
cation , and if with success he is bank
rupt in character , sordidly mean , use
less as a citizen , or of evil influence in
his relations with his fellowmen , his
struggles should not save him from con
tempt. Those included in either of
these classes may in the ordinary accep
tation bo termed self-made men , but it
is quite evident that there are so called
self-made men not worth the making.
"The men who fit themselves to
benefit and improve human conditions
according to their environments , who , if
they fulfill their mission , learn that the
fruits they gather are sweetest when
shared by others and who cheerfully
yield in benefactions to their fellowmen -
men self-imposed tithes in kind from
their accumulations of hand , mind , or
heart these are the self-made men
because they can only bo the products
of self-endeavor and struggle , often to
overcome external difficulties and dis
advantages , and always to improve
whatever opportunities are within
their reach , to subdue the selfishness of
human nature , and to stimulate its
noblest aspirations.
"Tho construction of such men re
quires fit material and the use of proper
tools. Some grades of material may be
capable of better finish and finer form
than others , but all will yield sufficient
ly to treatment to become strong ,
durable , and useful.
"Among the tools to be used in the
construction of the best quality of self-
made men , education is of vital im
portance. Its share of the work con
sists in so strengthening and fashioning
the grain and fiber of the material as to
develop its greatest power and fit it for
the most extensive and varied service.
' This process cannot bo neglected
with the expectation of satisfactory
results , and its thoroughness and
effectiveness must depend upon the excellence -
cellenco aud condition of the tool em
ployed and the skill andcaro with which
it is used.
' 'Tho extension of our school system
ought to stimulate the desire of pupils
to enjoy larger opportunities. The old
superstition concerning the close rela
tions between the greatness of the self-
made man and meager educational ad
vantages is fast disappearing. Parents
are more general convinced that the
time and money invested in a college
course for their children are not wasted.
"Young men don't fully realise the
great benefit they as individuals would
derive from a liberal education. But
even if oblivious to this it would seem
that the obligation resting upon them
to do their share toward furnishing to
our country the kind of self-made men
it so much needs at this momentous
period in our history ought to incite
them to outer upon this duty in the
surest and most effective manner.
"Wo need the right kind of educated
self-mado men in our business circles ,
on our farms , and everywhere.
"We need them for the good they
may do by raising the standard of in
telligence within their field of influence ;
we need them for the evidence they
may furnish that education is a profit
able factor in all vocations and in all
the ordinary affairs of a community ,
and wo especially and sorely need such
men abundantly distributed among our
people for what they may do in pa
triotically steadying the currents of
political sentiment and action. In a
country like ours , where the people are
its rulers , it is exceedingly unfortunate
that there be so many blind followers
of the lying partisan and the flattering
demagogue.
"Tho mass of our American citizen
ship can be and ought to be greatly im
proved and made a better and safer de
pository of our trust in the perpetuity
and beneficence of a free government.
I believe this can be accomplished by
adding to our citizenship more of the
leaven of genuine , well-constructed ,
and well equipped self-made men.
"They must be not only well con
structed and well equipped , but they
should be in sincere sympathy with all
that concerns the betterment of the con
ditions surrounding them. In other
words , they should bo actively useful.
"Of all useless men , the most culpably
useless are those who , having educa
tional acquirements and fitness for
beneficial work , , do no more than exploit
their acquirements in the false and
unhealthy sociability of habitual club
life , or only utilize them as aids to the
selfish pleasure of constantly restless
foreign travel or accessories to other
profitless enjoyment. Such a waste of
qualifications for valuable service is
especially blameworthy in a country
like ours , where so many national prob
lems remain unsolved and where vast
development awaits the most strenuous
and intelligent effort.
"There should be no cause for de
pression in recalling the fact that suc
cess will not always bring to our self-
made men either riches or fame.
Though these rewards would be lavishly
distributed , he to whom they may not
be forthcoming , if he endures to the end
and remains true to himself and his
mission , will have in his own keeping
a more valuable reward in the con
sciousness of duty well and faithfully
performed. Popular applause is , of
course , gratifying , but there are times
when a man's own satisfaction with his
conduct is a better criterion of real
merit. "
In conclusion Mr. Cleveland says the
obligations of wealth and education are
equally binding ; the rich man should
restrain himself from purse-proud super
iority and the educated one from super
stitious loftiness. Now when partisan
ship , he says , assumes to lead and hosts
follow without reason , it is time when
intelligence and education should hear a
cell to duty. New York World.
Tk
