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Address of Welcome
Author(s) -
Mumford H. W.
Publication year - 1923
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1923.0361599500b400010001x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , computer science , sociology , world wide web
I do not need to tell you men in this field that thare is a very general recognition of the fundamental importance of Soil survey work. You are fortunate in being in that field, I say that because one of the greatest difficulties and one of the greatest handicaps that we have to agricultural progress in this country or in any country is the recognition of the fundamental things in the agricultural field. One of the most difficult things in agricultural research is to determine what are the fundamental things, the things that are most needed to make a more stable and a more profitable and a more satisfying farm life, and having determined what those fundamental things are, to secure for those things the necessary and proper support. So I say that you have gone quite a long ways by securing recognition for what seems perfectly evident one of the most fundamental things in the field of agricultural research. You are fortunate from another 'angle, and that is that you are in a field of work where your constituency does not demand or expect immediate results, which is another great handicap to agricultural progress, It is much easier', as we all know, to get adequate support for things that promise immediate results or results which people think are going to be immediate, than it is for the fundamental things.' I think that Illinois was exceedingly fortunate in having a man like Dr. Hopkins who was able in the earlier history of this institution, and I speak of the early history of the Agricultural College because that was something like only twenty years ago. It was in the earlier history of our Agricultural College and Experiment Station here that we had a man like Dr, Hopkins who wae able to go before the people of the state and the State Legislature and show them the fundamental importance of this sort of work and get adequate support for it. In fact, so well did he do his work that it was difficult "to get money for other agricultural purposes, but we all recognized, not only the people in the College of Agriculture, but in the whole University as well, that it was not good policy to try to put the brakes on Dr, Hopkins and the soil survey w o r k in order to get something else. We felt that …