We have not time to trace the history of
these colleges, nor to elaborate the various views relative to their
mission. But let us for a moment discuss their proper function in the
light of the proposition that the preservation of the farmers' status is
the real farm problem; for the college can be justified only as it finds
its place among the social agencies helpful in the solution of the farm
question.

In so far as the agricultural college, through its experiment station or
otherwise, is an organ of research, it should carry its investigations
into the economic and sociological fields, as well as pursue experiments
in soil fertility and animal nutrition.

In the teaching of students, the agricultural college will continue the
important work of training men for agricultural research, agricultural
teaching, and expert supervision of various agricultural enterprises.
But the college should put renewed emphasis upon its ability to send
well-trained men to the farms, there to live their lives, there to find
their careers, and there to lead in the movements for rural progress. A
decade ago it was not easy to find colleges which believed that this
could be done, and some agricultural educators have even disavowed such
a purpose as a proper object of the colleges. But the strongest
agricultural colleges today have pride in just such a purpose. And why
not? We not only need men thus trained as leaders in every rural
community, but, if the farming business cannot be made to offer a career
to a reasonable number of college-trained men, it is a sure sign that
only by the most herculean efforts can the farmers maintain their status
as a class. If agriculture must be turned over wholly to the untrained
and to the half-trained, if it cannot satisfy the ambition of strong,
well-educated men and women, its future, from the social point of view,
is indeed gloomy.

The present-day course of study in the agricultural college does not,
however, fully meet this demand for rural leadership. The farm problem
has been regarded as a technical question, and a technical training has
been offered the student. The agricultural college, therefore, needs
"socializing." Agricultural economics and rural sociology should occupy
a large place in the curriculum. The men who go from the college to the
farm should appreciate the significance of the agricultural question,
and should be trained to organize their forces for genuine rural
progress. The col