SEMI-CENTENNIAL HISTORY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS VOLUME I
iniial History of the University of Illinois VOLUME I
The Miient for Industrial Education
AND THE
Esi nent of the University
1840-1870
*>M V.CTOR.A LIBRARY
With «* Introduction by
S. Ph.D., LL.D.
UNIVERSITY
SHED by «»r i NT. tRsiTi' of ILLINOIS
NA 1918
Semi-Centennial History of the University of Illinois
VOLUME I
The Movement for Industrial Education
AND THE
Establishment of the University 1840-1870
V -KS'IT LIBRARY
By
BURT E.POWELL, Ph.D.
UNIVERSITY HISTORIAN With an Introduction by
EDMUND J. JAMES, Ph.D., LL.D.
FOURTH PRESIDENT of the UNIVERSITY
PUBLISHED by the UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS URBANA, 1918
Printed and Bound
by
Pantagraph Printing & Stationery Company Bloomington, Illinois
3 -
7 '
CO
CO CM
PREFACE
For many years the need of a history of the University of Illinois was very apparent. One by one the men who had a part in the founding and organization of the institution were passing away. With each succeeding year it was becoming more difficult to obtain the important facts and interpret them, and still more difficult properly to appreciate the spirit in which the early work of the founders had been accomplished. On being commissioned by the trustees to write the first detailed history of the university it seemed important that I should strive for completeness of detail even at the risk of being tiresome, and for accuracy though it might lead to recounting events of an unpleasant nature. If there are failures in these respects, they are due to lack of evidence or knowledge, or possibly to accident, certainly not to any lack of purpose.
It will be a matter of considerable surprise even to those associated with the university, to learn of the sixteen years of struggle previous to the establishment of this institution; first, for the whole system of industrial universities throughout the nation, and, second, for the founding of an industrial university in Illinois.
The material for this account has been obtained chiefly from the widely scattered correspondence of Jonathan B. Turner and his associates, from articles in the newspapers and the agri- cultural press of the times, and from official reports, bills, and laws. Almost nothing has been written upon this industrial educational movement in Illinois. I wish to acknowledge my great indebtedness, however, to the valuable articles of William L. Pillsbury in the Illinois School Reports. For the subjects covered I have found those articles remarkably complete and invariably correct. The little volume, ' ' The Origin of the Land Grant Act," by President James has been specially helpful for it opened up a new field and pointed the way for profitable investigation.
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Iii the preparation of this volume I am greatly indebted to the constant help and advice of President Edmund J. James. From William L. Pillsbury I have received invaluable aid in the way of constructive criticism and suggestions, particularly upon the early period of the work of the Illinois men. My thanks are due to Clarence W. Alvord for suggestions on methods of treatment, to Clara Mabel SmitJi of the school of education for assistance in collecting and arranging material for some of the chapters, to Charles Wesley Eolf e for reading chapters and for his ever ready willingness to inform me of early events ; to Mrs. John M. Gregory, to James B. Murray of New York city, to Mrs. Mary Turner 'Carriel of Jacksonville, to Mrs. Joseph Carter, and to many others who have furnished me letters, manu- scripts and photographs, and to Daniel K. Dodge of the depart- ment of English for valuable service in reading the proof of the entire volume. To former Judge J. 0. Cunningham and to Thomas J. Burrill, both of whom have died since this volume was begun, I have occasion for deep gratitude for the pleasure and profit of several long conversations, shortly before their deaths, in regard to the men and the work of the early years of the institution.
Urbana, Illinois BURT E. POWELL
April 15, 1918
CONTENTS
Page
Documentary Sources ix
List of Illustrations x
Introduction xi
I The Beginning of the Struggle 1
II The Illinois Plan for a System of Land Grant Col- leges 14
III The Activity of the Industrial League 58
IV Illinois Plan before Congress 92
V Final Period of the Land Grant Proposition 115
VI The Men Who Led 128
VII Seminary and College Funds and the Various At- tempts to Establish an Agricultural College or
State University 156
VIII Illinois Accepts the Donation of Congress and Con- siders its Disposition, 1862-1865 178
IX Preparation for the Final Struggle for the Loca- tion of the Industrial University 211
X Contest in Legislature of 1867 : University Located . 241 XI The Illinois Industrial University Organizes for
Work 272
XII The First Two Years of University Work 308
XIII First Board of Trustees and the First Faculty 338
Appendix 357
Document No. 1 Letter — Turner to Blanch-
ard 357
Document No. 2 Industrial Universities for
the People 365
Document No. 3 John Evan's Plan 427
Document No. 4 Letter — Lumsden to Turner 430 Document No. 5 Memorial of 1853 to Legis- lature 431
Document No. 6 Letter — Murray to Turner. 433 Document No. 7 Murray's Suggestions for
a University 435
Document No. 8 Letter— Kennicott to Trum-
bull 438
Document No. 9 Petitions to Congress 439
vii
Document No. 10 The Seminary Contract 458
Document No. '1 1 Memorial of Champaign county citizens to the Leg- islature, 1861 462
Document No. 12 Act to Incorporate the Urbana and Champaign Institute 466
Document No. 13 Proceedings of Sixth Agri- cultural Convention 469
Document No. 14 Memorial of Sixth Conven- tion to the Legislature. . . 473
Document No. 15 Resolutions of the Eighth
Convention 475
Document No. 16 The Chicago -Committee at
Home 477
Document No. 17 Report of Champaign county committee in re- gard to Bloomington Con- vention 481
Document No. 18 Offers by various counties . . 485
Document No. 19 Report of Decatur Commit- tee on Location of Uni- versity 492
Document No. 20 History of the Champaign
"Elephant" 506
Document No. 21 Griggs and the Location of
the University 515
Document No. 22 Statement by Justin S. Mor-
rill 523
Document No. 23 Bills and Acts to Establish an Agricultural College or University 525
Document No. 24 Address to Citizens of Mor- gan County 564
Document No. 25 Resolutions of Board of
Trustees 579
Document No. 26 Federal and State Laws con- cerning the University of Illinois 584
Document No. 27 Petition of Chicago Mechan- ics to the General Assem- bly 599
Document No. 28 Table— Land Grant -Col- leges and the 1862 Land Grant Fund 616
Document No. 29 Table — The opening and Organization of Land
Grant Colleges 618
Index 620
viii
DOCUMENTARY SOURCES
Turner manuscripts refer to a collection of the letters that were received by J. B. Turner and have been given to the University by Mrs. Mary Carriel, daughter of Turner.
Turner manuscripts, Springfield, is another collection from the same source but in possession of the State Historical Library in Springfield.
Murray manuscripts are the letters and papers furnished the university by Bronson Murray.
Pennell manuscripts are letters loaned the university by Mrs. Joseph Carter, a daughter of William A. Pennell.
Cunningham manuscript is a paper written by former Judge J. 0. Cunningham for the express purpose of aiding the uni- versity historian.
Brayman manuscripts, consisting of letters, copies of official documents, and other papers, that belonged earlier to General Mason Brayman, were loaned to the university.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Group of Men who Led
149
President Edmund Janes James Frontispiece
(Facing page)
Jonathan Baldwin Turner 14
Granville Church and Industrial League Design 16
Turner Home in Jacksonville 128
Bronson Murray 138
John A. Kennicott 144
'William A. Pennell
Ralph Ware
John P. Reynolds
L. L. Bullock
Jesse W. Fell
Justin S. Morrill
Jonathan C. Stoughton 201
C. A. Hunt 201
Old University Building— Rear View 208
Early Campus 281
Earliest University Building 308
Adelphic Society 314
Philomathean Society 319
First Botany Class 324
Alethenai Society 327
Group of Early Alumni — Baker, Rolfe and Ricker 335
Group of Trustees 338
Group of Trustees 345
Group
George Atherton — Member of First Faculty" B. F. Harris — An Incorp orator of Urbana-
Champaign Institute 0. B. Galusha — Member of First Board of
Trustees Group— First Faculty 350
346
INTRODUCTION
Fifty years ago on the second of March, 1868, the Illinois Industrial University was opened for the registration of stu- dents. Three students enrolled on that day, just the number of the faculty, including the Regent, elected up to that time. Nine days later on Wednesday, March llth, the university was formally opened with public ceremonies of interest and significance, and Doctor John Milton Gregory, who had been elected regent of the university on March 12th, 1867, at the first meeting of the board of trustees a year before, was formally in- stalled in his .high office.
If this may be counted as the real birthday of the university, the day of its conception may properly be named as the second of July, 1862, when Abraham Lincoln appended his signature to the so-called land grant act of 1862, by which 30,000 acres of land were given to each state of the union for each senator and representative from that state in the federal congress. Illi- nois received 480,000 acres of land under this grant "for the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college where the leading objects shall be, without excluding other scien- tific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts in such manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in their several pur- suits and professions in life."
So far as is known this was the most magnificent endowment of higher education ever made in one law by any political body. It is not without significance that this bill was passed in the darkest period of the civil war. Friends and enemies of the American Republic in Europe alike believed that the Union had been dissolved; even such a man as Gladstone could announce confidently that the United States of America had ceased to exist. The answer of the American people to this note of pessim- ism and discouragement was that magnificent declaration of confidence in the perpetuity and development of this government "of the people, by the people and for the people." It was a recognition of the travail of the Republic and its belief in the loyalty of its sons, that the Government prescribed instruction in military tactics in this new institution. It was indicative of
xii History University of Illinois
its confidence that the students of this university would do their part in the defense of the country if they were ever called upon to do so.
And now in this fiftieth anniversary of the opening of this institution our beloved country finds itself in the midst of the Great War for liberty and democracy against tyranny and autocracy. Its sons, I am rejoiced to say, have fulfilled — nay more than fulfilled — all the expectations of its founders. In every branch of the military and naval service, in every division of the forces for the national defense, on every battle front in Europe and Asia will be found alumni of this institution, of which their Alma Mater may well be proud ; for they are living, sacrificing — nay, dying for human freedom and our national independence.
At the opening exercises of the university on that llth day of March, 1868, certain letters were read from distinguished men who had been invited to attend but could not be present. One of the most significant was from the great war governor of Illinois, the honorable Richard Yates, at that time senator from Illinois in the Federal Congress. He writes:
' ' My great hope is that this institution shall prove the crown- ing achievement of this age among all the grand works in be- half of popular education, which illustrates the splendid his- tory of our state and that to the latest generation our young men shall have cause to bless the wise forethought of the men of this age, who have, amidst gigantic war, not only vindicated the free institutions and ideas of self-government, but also founded this splendid nursery of free men and enlightened patriotism. An educated man may become unpatriotic, a patriot may become perverted through ignorance, but wisdom and patriotism hand in hand are invincible."
His wish was a splendid prophecy which has been splendidly fulfilled.
It is only by a patient study of its own history that a people may come to an understanding of what it really is and how it has come to be; only by a careful and detailed study of the process by which it has grown can it gain that just and solemn pride in its past achievements, which is at once the source and inspiration of its future efforts. Ever since Pericles pronounced that wonderful memorial oration over the Athenian soldiers, who had fallen in the early campaigns of the Peloponnesian War, we have all believed with him that no people is worthy to receive the heritage of freedom and culture which its ancestors have
Introduction xii
passed down to it unless on its own part it takes the trouble to study the deeds and thoughts of the men who through toil and sweat and blood wove the web of these magnificent achieve- ments on the roaring loom of time. The man, who thinks not of his ancestry, thinks little of his posterity, and he, who thinks of neither, lives and dies like a dog, and leaves, — I will not say an empty place for his insignificance was too great to have occupied a place, — but an unfelt and unnoticed point or spot in the great process of human life.
The real history of a commonwealth like that of Illinois can never be written or understood unless all the phases of its life, its thought and feeling and action have been studied and viewed as a unit from some single vantage ground of wide observation. From this point of view, the education, the politics, the industry, the art and religion, the social organization, the ideas and the ideals must all be examined and brought into an integral rela- tion to one another.
Of all these aspects none is more important than education. A complete view of its development throws a flood of light on the development of all other sides of the community life. It furnishes us a cross-section, so to speak, of its entire structure. The history of higher education is a very important part of the general field of education. Many improvements in society, which are brought about by education, spring up in the centers of learning and culture known as universities. The univer- sities themselves as organizations have often opposed reform and advances, but in most cases such ideas have sprung from the heads of men who have had the benefit of university train- ing. No people ever developed a thoroughly good system of secondary or elementary education which had not first developed a scheme of higher education. The reason is plain. To develop a general system of efficient secondary or elementary schools there must be a supply of good teachers. To have a supply of good teachers one must have good higher schools. The talk which one often hears, that all our educational funds should be expended on elementary or secondary schools until they are per- fect before any should be expended on colleges or universities, is pure quackery and demagogy, whether talked by a walking dele- gate or by a governor of a state, and the latter is, alas!, more apt to express this idea than the former.
The history of the University of Illinois, is, however, one full of stimulus and encouragement to lovers of,.p/^ -*dr edu-
xiv History University of Illinois
cation. The movement which ended in its establishment is almost purely a popular movement, although begun and urged by col- lege men ; and the great advances in the development of the uni- versity have come generally not from its board of trustees or its presidents or its faculty or its alumni, but from the rank and file of the common citizenship of the state, as year by year it grew in education, in culture and in vision. It is purely and emphatically an institution of the people for the higher educa- tion of such members of the body politic and body social and body economic as choose to seek for such an education. The people who do not care to utilize its advantages directly are just as enthusiastic in its support as those who spend months or years within its walls. Why? Because they see with ever clearer vision that the problems of our human society can be settled only on the basis of a wider and ever more accurate scientific knowledge and that the university is the organ of the state whose function it is to discover this knowledge, to systematize it into science, to spread it abroad in print, and train it into the very fibre of the youth of the Commonwealth until it be- comes a part of their moral texture. The men of today recog- nize that this movement is of more far reaching effect than their predecessors of fifty years ago would or could recognize, and so they are willing to spend more money upon more subjects in more ways than the men of the forties or fifties in the prairie state.
The University of Illinois today is a vastly different institu- tion from what it was in March, 1868, and in 1968 it will be more different from what it is now, than it is today from what it was fifty years ago. Why? Because the world of 1968 will be more vastly different than our world has been from the world of the fifties and sixties. The great war will in my opinion change the face, nay, change the very constitution of society as no other war in history has changed it, except the French Revolution itself; and with this change in society must come a change in all its institutions, and in none will there be a more profound change than in its universities.
Some of the men who presided over the birth of this insti- tution were of large vision. They foresaw that the institution would become greater than and different from any institution which they could foresee. The university anthem, which was Wi-. £jj by Doctor Gregory and sung at the opening exercises of the inb*l:-+ion. indicates this vague feeling.
Introduction xv
"We hail thee! Great fountain of learning and light; There 's life in thy radiance, there 's hope in thy might ; We greet now thy dawning, but what singer 's rhyme Shall follow thy course down the ages of time."
Prophecies of the men who labored to secure the foundation of this institution were large and far reaching, but none of them equalled the reality, none of them appreciated what the possi- bilities of the next fifty years were to be, and they would all be greatly surprised at this institution now if they could return to view it. Our fate will doubtless be the same. We have seen great things come to pass in the last twenty-five years in the life of this university ; we have dreamed large dreams and framed great plans, but our successors fifty years from now will bewail our lack of vision ; they will moan and groan over the fact that the foundations which we have laid are too small and too weak to support the superstructure they will be raising; they will be compelled to tear down many of our fairest creations because they will seem so small and so weak; and they will wonder that the men of 1918 could be so short-sighted, so blind, so unimaginative, so ignorant, — and our only excuse can be that they will be living in a new world, the world after the great war, a world of which we, who have lived in the last generation, can have little conception.
I wish to emphasize this point again even at the risk of some repetition both in thought and word. We are now in the throes of a gigantic struggle for human liberty. This strug- gle itself will change us all into new men. The University is looking forward with confidence to a glorious victory in which it shall have had no mean share, a victory of democracy over autocracy, of liberty over despotism, of light over darkness, of wisdom over ignorance. And when that peace shall come to a war-wearied world, I have no doubt myself, that a new and far greater era will open before this institution.
The people of the United States in 1865 was an entirely different people from what it was in 1855 and the marvelous growth of our beloved country in the following fifty 'years de- pended largely upon the fact that we had become a different people after, and because of, the great struggle for liberty from '61 to '65 than we had been before. And so now I believe that the American people at the close of this war will be a new and
xvi History, University of Illinois
different people with a wider outlook, with higher ideals than ever before. As in many other fields, so in this of education; as in many other institutions, so here in Illinois, all that we have accomplished will seem small compared with that for which we shall be reaching out, all that we have done mere prepara- tion for that which we shall do. Our successors, because of their larger outlook and alas ! because of our own short-sighted vision will possibly find in our work little inspiration. They will only wonder that our outlook was so limited, our views so narrow, our plans so incomplete and unsatisfactory, our foundations, in the laying of which we take so much pride, so inadequate to the superstructure which they will wish to raise.
It will be a new world into which human society will advance when victory comes and peace is assured; old standards will be displaced by new and higher ones set up in each department of individual and national life. We shall be thinking in terms of billions of dollars instead of millions, in terms of opportunity for all instead of for a few, in terms of freedom and liberty and democracy instead of privilege and caste, in terms of the devel- opment of the ability of all our people instead of that of a few limited classes, in terms of spiritual life instead of material life.
As to what concrete forms this new spirit shall clothe itself in, we have, I think, now little notion, and even our dreams are not large enough to take in the reality, but I venture to mention a few points in which the University of Illinois in 1968 will be different from the university of today.
We think now of a university with low fees for instruction ; then we shall see a university with no fees. Now a university in which boys and girls with little money can come and make their way; then we shall see a university in which every boy and girl, who is able and willing to profit by a university educa- tion, will be able to get it, no matter how poor their parents, no matter how difficult the conditions under which they have lived. We think now of a university with half a million books; then we shall see one with five millions. Now of a university with few laboratories, with very inadequate equipment ; then we shall see an institution made up of numerous laboratories and furnished with all the equipment which can be of use in making the labora- tory turn out the largest and best output of scientific truth. We see a university now in which only a few of the subjects which have stimulated the human intellect and stirred the human
Introduction xvii
heart are made the object of scientific study; then we shall see an immensely larger number of subjects, made the object of strictly scientific study and development, so that in every line of human life the largest possible enrichment will be secured.
We see now an institution in which a large part of the work done is elementary in character; that will all be relegated to the high schools and junior colleges. Young men and women will come up to the University primarily for the purpose of preparing themselves for some distinct profession or calling, for the practice of which a study of the sciences underlying the art will be useful or necessary. The number of professions for which the university will prepare will steadily tend to increase, because the human race will be basing everything more and more upon science ; and when the business of a profession rests upon the solid formulations and accumulations of human science it becomes a proper subject for university cultivation.
The university will in the next fifty years become still more a great center of light and life and leadership for the whole community in an ever-increasing number of directions. We shall press forward to new achievements in science and art. We shall become free in a new and different sense from what we are now; for the truth, the pursuit of which is one of the great primary ends of the university, will make us free. We shall not be afraid to speak our minds; we shall win that academic freedom which now exists nowhere in the world ; for as yet men are not willing to accept its full consequences. The dangers of Bolshevikism in our undeveloped human society are still too great in our imagination at any rate to permit the largest de- gree of liberty ; but that time will be brought perceptibly nearer by the results of this great war, and our universities should help in this development, and Illinois should lead the way.
We shall be much more willing to accord to strength and power full leadership because they will be exerted in the inter- ests of all and not in the interests of a few. The university will be an entirely different institution in that great society which we are gradually weaving on the great loom of time, in which no man or woman, willing to work, shall suffer because work can not be found; when no one will be compelled to work for a wage which will not sustain a decent human life ; when to in- dustry and thrift will come the opportunity to share in all the blessings of an advanced civilization instead of in only a few;
History University of Illinois
A
when all men will be studying to see how they can advance the general good in which all participate instead of the mere indi- vidual good which excludes most men from any share in it ; and when all men will be willing to strive toward this end.
Our five thousand students may have become ten or fifteen or twenty thousand. There is, in fact, no limit to the possible numbers of a university organized on sound democratic self- governing lines; and there is no limit to the contributions to human civilization and welfare which the students of such a university, properly trained for their work as students, properly inspired and led toward higher ideals, properly caring for them- selves in a way to secure physical, intellectual and moral health, may be able to make.
Let Illinois become one of the holy places in the history of the human spirit — great among all the universities which have been and great among those new institutions which will surpass those of the past as our material advance surpasses that of all the past of the race. Let it be counted one of the very greatest because it has ministered most to the welfare of mankind.
I have been privileged to act as president of the University of Illinois for fourteen years, the longest term accorded to any such officer in the history of the institution. During this period I have been occasionally ill, have passed through the dark waters of family affliction, have been bitterly disappointed in the failure to realize many of my cherished plans, and now have lived to see most of them and the largest of them deferred by this great war to a period when I shall have no personal part in them. But it has all been worth while, and I thank God and the people of this commonwealth, who through the board of trustees of the University of Illinois have given me this opportunity for public service, and I thank the board of trustees and my colleagues on the faculty for their support and sympathy without which I could have done nothing. My only regret is for my mistakes and failures.
I hope that the president of the university, who fifty years from now may write the introduction to the centennial history of the university, may be able to ascribe to my successors in this high office the same large part in the development of the university in the next fifty years as belongs to my predecessors in the last fifty years, who laid its foundations so broadly and so well.
Introduction xix
This semi-centennial history will show in its progress that the really valuable work in the development of the university has been done after all not by its presidents, but by its faculties. The names of Burrill and Forbes and Noyes and Ward and the like of them will persist in the annals of human science long after those of Gregory and Peabody and Draper and James and the like of them will have perished from the earth. The func- tion of the legislatures, the board of trustees and the presidents of the university is really nothing but to create the most favor- able conditions possible for the higher training of the youth of the state and for the development of human science, and for developing leaders in every department of the multiform life of the commonwealth.
One of these favorable conditions is the presence of a good faculty, i. e., a competent and inspiring body of first-rate scien- tific investigators and teachers with ideas and ideals suited to lead their students up to the very heights of human effort and vision. In that faculty of 1968, which will preside over this new institution, there will be no professor who does not have from his salary alone an income sufficient to enable him to do his work as teacher and investigator and to live a worthy life as a citizen and to raise a family in decency and with some de- gree of comfort. Nor will there be any professor, who, having this income sufficient to put him above the ordinary financial worriments of life, will be so unworthy of his high position as to fail to give in an unstinted way his thought and time and strength to the performance in the most faithful way possible of the duties of his position. There will be no professor who is not an efficient teacher interested in his pupils and in his teaching with an earnest desire and determination to make it really suc- cessful and inspiring; nor any professor who does not make his university work the chief, — one will be tempted to say the sole object of interest, subordinating every other element in his life to this one, except of course that he should first of all be a good man, and a good citizen. There will be no professor in the faculty of this institution who does not earnestly desire to add to our available stock of scientific knowledge in his depart- ment, and nobody will remain on the faculty for any great length of time who does not as a matter of fact prove by his ac- complishments that he has done so. A university professor who does not write his name in the list of men who have made
xx His tor y University of Illinois
valuable contributions to the scientific literature of his subject, is out of place in a university. He should be transferred to a high school or normal school. Moreover, a university professor who does not desire scientific posterity, so to speak, in the form of able students to carry on his work of extending the bounds of human knowledge should not be kept in a university faculty as a teacher. Such professors will teach and investigate instead of trying to increase their personal revenue by overworking the brain and body in doing merely pot-boiling work.
Many men now in American universities would of course be excluded from the calling by the application of such tests, but the universities would become a far higher form of educa- tional organization. After the university has once set before itself the proper ideals and the community provides the neces- sary funds, there will be a sufficient supply of able investigators who are also good teachers to fill the chairs of any number of universities — at least as well as they are filled now by the best type of existing professors.
In that university of 1968, no professor will debauch his de- partment or his work by putting in his own son or son-in-law as assistant to himself or by making an agreement with a colleague tacit or expressed by which each should look after the other's son. This form of graft has not been unknown in our Ameri- can universities. I worked in three great institutions of learn- ing before coming to Illinois, — Pennsylvania, Chicago and North- western, and in each of these institutions, and in many others too, some departments and in some cases several departments have been almost ruined by a policy of flagrant nepotism. Of all forms of illegitimate influence in the working of a great uni- versity, the most subtle, the most disintegrating, the most cor- rupting is the family form. Neither ecclesiasticism nor party politics can be compared with nepotism in its power to debase standards and conduct.
In that new university of 1968 the principle will be adopted that one member of a family is sufficient representation in any university faculty, and family will be interpreted to extend to the fourth degree of relationship. The system of nepotism is bad enough in a small college like Williams or Amherst in which it has produced as the Englishman would say " rotten results. " In a great university like Illinois it becomes a very serious danger and that for a very simple reason. We have so many different kinds of talent, including so many different kinds of
Introduction xxi
positions that the relatives of a professor or a member of the board of trustees could all be taken care of in some form or other, if the principle were once admitted. The professor of Greek, for example, with ten children — we have had no such one at Illinois — might find it difficult to place more than one of his children in the faculty of an institution like Beloit or Knox. But in the University of Illinois he would have a rare oppor- tunity. He might place one in the Department of Greek, one in the Department of Modern Languages, another in the Engineering Department, another in Domestic Science, another in Dairying or in a stenographic position, another among the stable men and so forth and so forth, until the entire family might be cared for. And from my experience there is absolutely no limit to which such a practice would be carried, if permitted, except the willingness of the public to put up with it. With such a planting of relatives the entire faculty would soon be so honeycombed with relations and inter-relations that no ques- tion affecting a person, that is, affecting appointments in the university or promotions or salaries, could be decided on its merits. One member of a family at a time on a faculty is suffi- cient. Such a rule is of course a mere mechanical device, purely negative in its character, and would not of itself, even if strictly interpreted, get a single firstclass man into a faculty; but it would exclude a very undesirable class, namely, those recom- mended to positions because of relationship, becoming ever more undesirable in proportion as it grows larger.
In closing this rather rambling introduction, it may be of interest for the man who may be president of the university in 1968 to see over how great a length of time the personal touch may reach of the men who were on the first board of trustees, appointed by the Governor in March, 1867. I knew personally either as boy or man Honorable Newton Bateman, State Super- intendent of Public Instruction, J. C. Burroughs, Emory Cobb, J. C. Cunningham, 0. B. Galusha, Richard J. Oglesby, Gover- nor of Illinois, and Doctor John Milton Gregory, the Regent. Of the first faculty, serving or elected in the Spring term of 1868, I knew nearly half aside from the Regent — Professor G. W. Atherton, Professor J. W. Powell, Professor Thomas J. Burrill and Professor Edward Eggleston and Professor Joseph A. Sewall.
Doctor Burrill had been a student and was a graduate of the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois, where I prepared
xxii History University of Illinois
A
for college, and although he had graduated before I entered school, I had heard much of him and saw him frequently. He won for himself very early in his career a distinguished place in the list of scientific investigators.
Professor Atherton became subsequently president of the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Pennsylvania. He was a man of power and perhaps of more influence in the passage of the Hatch Act, establishing the agricultural experi- ments stations than any other man.
Professor Powell was curator of the museum of natural his- tory and geology in the Normal University and professor of Geology in the Illinois Wesleyan University. He became sub- sequently one of the most distinguished geologists of his genera- tion, and may be said as director to have built up the United States Geological Survey.
Edward Eggleston was the well-known author of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster," a man of influence and power in his generation throughout the country.
Joseph A. Sewall, a former teacher of mine in the State Normal University at Normal was elected professor but subse- quently declined the position. He became later President of the University of Colorado. He gave the first commencement ad- dress at the university before the literary societies at the close of the first term, Friday, June 12, 1868.
I knew personally many of the men who were interested in the struggle to locate the land grant college, particularly those in McLean County, Jesse W. Fell, A. Gridley, William J. Rut- ledge, L. A. Hovey. Of the men who were active in the very beginning of the agitation for industrial universities, I knew intimately William Pennell, Daniel Wilkins, L. A. Hovey, and Charles E. Hovey, B. G. Root and N. A. Brown.
In addition, of the prominent men who were present at the opening of the university or who wrote letters expressing their regret at not being able to be present, I knew General John A. Logan, S. W. Moulton and Senator Shelby M. Cullom. Illinois! aeternum floreat!
May 1, 1918.
Urbana-Champaign
THE MOVEMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
And the ESTABLISHMENT of the UNIVERSITY
1840-1870
CHAPTER I
THE BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
Education for the industries came slowly in this country; yet the idea that the schools owed something to the earth and to the workshop, even as they did to law and to medicine, appeared early and was as hard to down as the ghost of Banquo at the feast.
However, it is one thing to believe in a new idea to the bottom of one's heart and quite another to believe in it to the bottom of one 's pocketbook. The unaccustomed opens both private and public purse slowly. Moreover, those who believed in education for the industries to the extent of spending money for it were confronted with puzzling problems. Who should furnish the money, private individuals or the state? Should the new education be made a part of the schools already exist- ing or should new ones be established? It was not until 1851 that a proposal for education for the industries was made that appealed finally and forcibly to thinking men as entirely prac- ticable.
The plan as first outlined described an industrial university that should be established in Illinois and that was needed in each of the states of the union. To this general plan there was added three months later the vitalizing idea that this great proposed system of agricultural and mechanical colleges should be supported by a grant of lands from congress. Now? the idea that public lands should be set aside for education had long been approved. By 1854 an aggregate of 4,060,704 acres of land had been granted to fifteen states of the union for the endowment of universities. More than 60,000,000 acres had been appropri- ated for the establishment of common schools. It had even become a settled policy of the government to set aside in each state as it was admitted a portion of the public lands as a sacred fund for education in that state.
2 History University of Illinois
Therefore the idea of a land grant for education was not new;1 its application to common schools and to universities was not new, but there was in the proposal of Jonathan B. Tur- ner, put forth in 1851, an element that was entirely new. It was the project of setting aside public lands to support industrial universities in each state, old and new, and particularly a sys- tem of universities or agricultural and mechanical colleges; the land to be located wherever the state pleased on the public domain. This never before had been proposed.
An idea, like a tree, is known by its fruits. This one, then, must have been sound, amazingly vital, for the system it pro- posed has developed into the largest group of higher educa- tional institutions in the world with a common origin. It was proposed by an Illinois man, Jonathan B. Turner; it was ad- vanced, fought for and developed by a faithful group of Illinois men ; in 1862 more than a decade after its first proposal, it was made the basis of an act known as the Land Grant Act, signed by an Illinois man in the president's chair, Abraham Lincoln.
This act provided that the federal government of the United States should make a grant of public lands to the va- rious states for the purpose of establishing in each of the states that accepted the proposition, an agricultural and mechanical college. From this has sprung the great system of public in- stitutions for the higher education of the people along agri- cultural and mechanical lines. This proposal, although in its definite announcement the work of one man, came as the result of years of consideration on the part of many men.
That the need for industrial education was so keenly felt was the natural result of certain inventions and discoveries; certain intermingling of peoples. By these things men had been led to expect the marvelous. The popular mind was eager for information concerning science and its application. Al- ready the physical sciences, notably geology and chemistry, though scarcely half a century old, had revolutionized certain of the arts, and, when applied to agriculture had produced results that recalled Aladdin and his wonderful lamp. Discov-
JFor a discussion of the origin of the attempt to secure federal land grants for the aid of higher education see below, p. 156.
Beginning Struggle for Industrial Education 3
eries and inventions and their application to the physical re- sources of the earth were modifying the occupations and in- dustries. Chemistry was completely changing such arts as iron working and dyeing. Steam had taught men to treat with in- difference the intervening miles of sea and land. The miracle of the electric telegraph had shown that there was a force in nature willing to project men's words across the continent if granted only an accomodating wire. Also, war and famine in Europe at the time that steam travel was made practicable brought new people to us. The revolution in Germany, the vine disease in France, the potato disease in Ireland brought men from older countries where the fear of an empty stomach had been an excellent teacher of conservation of the soil.
Naturally in an age of quickened life when everything was being questioned, education came in for its share of criticism. Finally arose those bold enough to say that the "old educa- tion" based on Latin and Greek in no way filled new needs. Having said this they wondered, a bit uncomfortably, what would happen ; and when the sun got up the next morning just as usual they said it again and added a few words about what education ought to be. Educators, journalists, and champions of the working classes began to think seriously upon what edu- cation was and what it should be and for them to think was to talk.
From 1840 to 1850 a well defined movement for the teach- ing of agriculture can be traced in several of the states. New York and Massachusetts present typical movements in the east, Michigan and Illinois in the middle- west.2
In New York by 1840 the proposal to educate farmers' sons for the farm was by no means new. The New York agri- cultural society, reorganized for efficient service by an act of 1841, kept the proposal before the farmers. In 1842 a paper was addressed to the state agricultural society urging upon its members the importance of agricultural education and advo- cating the establishment of schools or colleges where subjects
2In Illinois as in other states, ' ' industrial ' ' education included mechan- ical as well as agricultural education ; greater attention, however, was given to the latter.
4 Hist or if University of Illinois
of interest and assistance to the agriculturist could be taught. An item of particular interest in the paper is the advice that such a school be located where there would be no exposure to the endless temptations of cities and where exercise, health, and strength of constitution might be secured.3 Apparently the function of spending years recovering from the effects of foul air and dissipation while obtaining an education, was still to be the prerogative of the classical student.
In January, 1844, a committee of seven was appointed by the society to promote "the introduction of agricultural books and studies in the schools and libraries throughout the state." The members of the committee were John Grieg, Governor Seward, Lieutenant-Governor Dickinson, Colonel John King, James S. Wadsworth, Judge Savage, and Henry O'Reilly. In 1845 this committee presented an elaborate report, which contained, among other proposals, one emphatically favoring the introduction of agricultural books into the common libra- ries and the offer of premiums for prize essays. ' ' The condition of the youth of this state and the want of teachers for the ele- mentary departments of education seemed unpropitious to the system," said a writer of 1853 reporting in the transactions of the society.
At the annual meeting in January, 1844, the following reso- lution was passed by the society : ' ' That this society regards the establishment of an agricultural institute and pattern farm in this state where shall be taught thoroughly the science, and after the science, the practice, and the profits of good hus- bandry, as an object of great importance to the productive ag- riculture of New York." This was distinctly a forward step as it was the most definite expression of the recognition of the need for agricultural education that had been formulated.
In 1846 Colonel Sherwood of Cayuga, who was head of the state society, declared his earnest hope that the day was not far distant when agricultural sciences would be taught in our schools, academies, and colleges.
'New York State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 13: 530, also for a summary of the history of industrial education in New York.
Beginning Struggle for Industrial Education 5
In that year a number of men residing in the city of New York and vicinity endeavored to persuade the legislature to endow an agricultural college and to locate it near the metrop- olis. A committee on agriculture of the New York assembly in a report on the project acknowledged that it was aware ''that the establishment of an agricultural college and experi- mental farm has been often talked of, and we suppose may be consonant to the views of many distinguished individuals, and may have become a favorite scheme with a respectable class of farmers in the State. ' '4 The committee managed, however, as buildings and farms cost so much more than words, to avoid the expense which would follow upon granting the request by adroitly noting "that it partakes too much of a local and spe- cial nature. " Therefore, the society in 1847 passed a resolution recommending to the consideration of the legislature the pro- priety of making reasonable appropriations for the establish- ment of agricultural schools and colleges connected with exper- imental farms. In the discussion that followed, Mr. Chandler of New York called attention to the fact that men were then sending their sons to Scotland to get the practical education that could be obtained at home in an institution such as that contemplated by the resolution.
From 1848 on, speakers before the New York agricultural society began to outline in more or less detail their ideas as to the kind of an agricultural school or college that they would like to see organized and established. The notion had so far progressed as to be admitted into the circle of respectable pro- posals; the question now was how to express it practically in bricks and mortar, land and men.
Rev. Samuel Luckey was one of the pioneers who gave freely of time and thought to the subject. He advocated schools, not colleges, and with the object of saving expense, he advised that they be located near seminaries though in no way connected with them. Others advocated the establishment of departments for the teaching of agriculture in the colleges already organized. Still others stood stanch for new colleges, organized for the express purpose of teaching farmers!
, 7: p. xxm.
6 History University of Illinois
' A
We have in the record of the meeting of the New York agricultural society, September, 1849, the views of two men well known in their day as promoters of the best in agriculture. Professor John P. Norton of Yale college stated that for two or three years he had been engaged in giving instruction in scientific agriculture and he had found that the great obstacle in the way of improvements in farming arose from the fact that the farmers thought they knew as much as was necessary. One can fairly hear the weary sigh he drew as he said it, the sigh that so many have drawn since his day. Professor Norton went on to say that in the state of Connecticut three-fourths of the legislators were farmers ; yet it was with the greatest diffi- culty that a small appropriation had been procured for the fur- therance of agricultural knowledge. The theory that the farmers knew enough already was disputed by the soil itself, for in many parts of the country it had deteriorated shamefully under the established methods of farming. As for a plan for bringing about general agricultural education, Professor Nor- ton said he had none. The one thing which he declared he un- equivocally favored was that, by some means or other, edu- cation should be made possible for the farmer.
Three years later Professor Norton speaking before the same society had a plan to offer. But it was not one that ap- pealed widely for it proposed that agricultural education be made merely a department " hitched to" a private institution. The popular mind always seemed to sense that such a "hitch- ing" would have no more chance of developing a unique and significant type of agricultural education than the family cow would have of developing a unique and significant trotting rec- ord by being hitched to a racing sulkey.
Following Professor Norton at the September meeting in 1849 was Daniel Lee of Georgia. He said the great difficulty was that they were divided on the subject of how agricultural instruction should be offered. Some desired one school, some three, some eight, and some one in every county, "and in this way they accomplished nothing. ' '
At this very time, however, certain practical advocates of ag- ricultural education were making earnest efforts to get the
Beginning Struggle for Industrial Education 7
state to establish an agricultural college and experiment farm. In his annual message to the legislature, January, 1849, Gov- ernor Hamilton Fish of New York recommended the endow- ment by the state of an agricultural college and a school for instruction in the mechanical arts. The agricultural society heartily approved this recommendation and under the presi- dency of John A. King, it presented during the year 1849, a valuable report to the legislature in which wfere embodied the outlines of a plan for instruction. It suggested the appoint- ment by the governor of a board of commissioners to mature a plan for an agricultural college and experimental farm to be submitted by the governor to the legislature at its next session. The commissioners were appointed, the governor did his part, a house committee reported favorably but no action was taken on the bill. The friends of agricultural education were bitterly disappointed. In 1850 the matter was again urged and again the legislature solved the problem in a way satisfactory to itself by merely omitting all action. The year 1851 almost brought success — it seemed that the " great idea" was to be given a body at last. The people were heartily in favor, the farmers were becoming alive to the need of the proposed instruction; but again the bill was lost, defeated by a single vote.5
For a decade the New York agricultural society and the friends of agricultural education in the state had labored in the cause. And there was no more tangible evidence that they were nearer a state college or school of agriculture than when they had begun.
The new instruction in subjects pertaining to agriculture was early present in the minds of the citizens of Massachusetts. An expression of this need is found as early as 1796 in the pub- lished proceedings of the Massachusetts society for promoting agriculture.
By 1840 various private schools of secondary grade had been established for the teaching of agriculture. Some of them continued for many years to offer instruction in sciences that were able to help reveal the possibilities of the earth, but there was no college of agriculture.
8 History University of Illinois
/•
In 1845 a committee on agriculture of the legislature said in reporting on a petition for the incorporation of the Massa- chusetts academy of agriculture: "We are not informed of more than one professor of agriculture in all the colleges of New England." The one referred to was probably the lecture- ship on agricultural chemistry and mineralogy held by Charles U. Shepard in Amherst college according to catalog 1843-1844 of that institution.
Because of the fact that Massachusetts had no state agri- cultural society, no such consistent and unified effort to ob- tain an agricultural college is found, as has been noted in New York. In 1845 the legislature had passed ' ' An act to incorpo- rate the Massachusetts academy of agriculture. " It was to be an institution of secondary grade authorized to hold real es- tate to be devoted to the purposes of education. Again in 1848 the legislature passed an act incorporating the Massachusetts agricultural institute, an institution similar to the one proposed in 1845.
Public mention of the advisability of establishing an agri- cultural college in Massachusetts was made in an address be- fore the Norfolk agricultural society by Marshall P. Wilder in 1849. The idea did not have to wait for advocates. The very next year definite action was undertaken.
On January 8, 1850, Governor George N. Briggs in his in- augural address expressed his interest in agricultural education and recommended legislative aid for it. The subject was taken up immediately by the senate and referred to the committee on agriculture. Memorials and petitions from various agricul- tural societies of Massachusetts were received by the committee in behalf of such action. On January 31 a joint committee of the legislature presented a full report on the subject. The report advised the appointment of a board of five commissioners who should consider the expediency of establishing an agricultural college, an agricultural department of the state government, and of appropriating lands of the commonwealth for the general purposes of education. The report, which contained five reso- lutions, was recommended for adoption and on May 3, 1850, was approved by the governor after the most serious consideration.
Beginning Struggle for Industrial Education 9
The commissioners sent one of their number, President Edward Hitchcock of Amherst, to Europe to investigate agri- cultural schools. In 1851 they had ready a voluminous report to the legislature. It included the results of President Hitch- cock's investigations together with various suggestions of their own. Among other recommendations was one that proposed the appropriation by the legislature of twenty thousand dollars for the purpose of establishing a central agricultural college with a model and experimental farm. The twenty thousand dollars of public money, however, was not to be drawn upon until a similar amount was raised by private donation. At that session the state senate passed a bill to found such an institution but when the matter came up in the house it was defeated.
Thus we see that in another state the only progress that had been made by 1851 was in the awakening of the minds of the people. They had learned to accept the idea but not to grant it their money to put into bricks and men.
At Harvard a professorship in the application of science to the useful arts had been established; but it did little or nothing for agricultural education, though a worthy future awaited it for it developed into a great scientific school.
In Michigan the need of instruction in agriculture was recognized at an early date. The act incorporating the Uni- versity of Michigan in 1837 made provision for it. But it was an act that did not function. It proved what Jonathan B. Turner of Illinois contended a little later: that attempting to attach a department of agriculture to an educational institution of the accepted type had no chance of success.
Not until the farmers of Michigan about 1847 became acutely conscious of the need of special education was anything done. It was the farmers through their societies and publica- tions that kept the subject of agricultural education vigorously before the public. The Michigan state agricultural society was a powerful force in these early years of agitation, and two men Joseph R. Williams and J. C. Holmes, stand out as prominent in the work of establishing agricultural education. Direct and able, they were tireless in their chosen cause of bringing within
10 History '''University of Illinois
reach of the sons of the soil an education that would lead to an understanding of the soil.
A convention met in Lansing, June 3, 1850, for the pur- pose of revising the state constitution. In the revised consti- tution is found the following provision: "The Legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement, and shall as soon as practicable pro- vide for the establishment of an agricultural school.
"The Legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of Salt Springs lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, when such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appro- priated for such purpose for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the University, for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences con- nected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the University."6
Thus provision that could not be disregarded was made. It took the legislature five years to move in response to this provision but finally in 1855 it passed the act that resulted in the opening of an agricultural college in 1857. Thus the first state agricultural college in the United States was opened for work.
The period 1840-1850 found Illinois still a frontier state. The citizens of an undeveloped country are not likely to form themselves into societies and clubs. New settlers usually find that warding off starvation, cold, disease, and storm occupies them completely. Yet the vigorous men who first came to till the soil of Illinois were early alive to the benefits of cooperation. In 1842, in spite of the difficulties in the way, agricultural societies had been organized in nineteen counties. Most of them held annual meetings connected with cattle shows and fairs during the autumn of the year. There was also the Union agricul- tural society embracing within its corporate limits nine coun-
6Beal, History of the Michigan Agricultural College, 1:6. Albert E. Macomber, an early friend of J. B. Williams, claims that the latter was re- sponsible for the provision in the constitution which provided for the estab- lishment of an agricultural college, ibid., 36.
Beginning Struggle for Industrial Education 11
ties in the northeastern part of the state. It was organized in 1841 and by the next year had a membership of several hundred. At its fair held in the village of Aurora in October, 1842, from five to seven thousand people congregated for no other purpose than to witness the exhibition. At this time twenty-eight coun- ties having more than two-fifths of the population of Illinois, were embraced within the limits of agricultural societies.7
An important project was begun at this time by the Union agricultural society: it was the permanent establishment of a farm paper, the Union Agriculturalist and Western Prairie Farmer. After 1842 the name was changed to the Prairie Farmer, and as such it has flourished to the present day.
Three years later an attempt was made to create the Illinois state agricultural society. The plan apparently was to transform the Sangamon county agricultural society into a state society. Sangamon county included the state capital, Springfield, and it was thought that when the legislature was in session the agricul- tural society could hold evening sessions and procure the atten- dance of the 117 farmer members of the legislature as well as that of other men of note who would give addresses and confer high prestige upon the organization.8 In this plan they were frankly copying the "agricultural conversations" of the New York and the Massachusetts societies. The state society, how- ever, seems to have exhausted its energy in producing a consti- tution and electing officers.
Through the ensuing years up to 1850 there was an earnest interest in agricultural education. It was clear that a plan for such an education had to be formulated because the time was coming when people would demand that their sons be offered the opportunity to obtain wisdom of the soil. The Prairie Farmer was constantly on the alert for practical proposals and one plan after another was brought from under the bushel and the light of earnest, intelligent criticism turned on it. Some proposals showed themselves not American, hence doomed to failure. Pro- fessor Ebenezer Emmons of Albany, New York, declared in the Prairie Farmer for June, 1849 : ' ' Certainly an American school
Trairie Farmer, January, 1843. *Prairie Farmer, January, 1843.
12 History University of Illinois
in Europe would overthrow any of their governments, and a European school here would work us backward. Our systems of education must be devised with reference to our circumstances, our government, and our social relations."
Emmons added still another point : ' l Our plan, whatever it may be, must be economical, and if it be designed to exert a wide- spread influence, tuition must be abolished. Instruction must be as free as it is possible to make it. " This certainly is definitely feeling after agricultural education at government expense.
It is very interesting to note that as early as 1848, an Illi- nois man, Professor Jonathan B. Turner of Illinois college, in a letter to President Blanchard of Knox college, had formulated an outline for agricultural education. He later abandoned the main idea expressed in this outline, which was that agricultural in- struction should be connected with a classical school. Neverthe- less his proposal shows in certain respects so much foresight, sagacity, and enthusiastic common sense that it cannot be passed without comment. It certainly was definite prophecy of the significant part Turner was to play in the establishment of agri- cultural education. Of his ideas he says : ' ' It is true that they may not be worth either writing or reading, but still as the thing is evidently new, someone must run the hazard of exposing his folly by making suggestions — and I know of no one who has a greater capital in that line to spare than myself."9
He advocated : "1. A professor of chemistry, 2. a professor of botany, 3. a professor of what — the green earth?" A deli- cious touch that — revealing the imagination and humor which, united with sterner qualities, enabled him to fight so gallantly in his chosen cause.
The first two professors would, of course, already be on the faculty of the classical school, but the third, he of the "what— the green earth 1 ' ' would be an addition, and Turner by no means proposed that life for him should be a bed of roses. "Let him," Turner advised in speaking of the model farm, "purchase the farm himself and put the buildings, fences, etc., on it accord- ing to his own notion. While he was doing this and arranging
"Turner to Blanchard, undated but known to be 1848 from Blanchard 's letter in reply. Turner manuscripts, see appendix, p. 357.
Beginning Struggle for Industrial Education 18
his affairs he would have to struggle hard with much to do and little to show but his bills of expense."
However, Turner felt that if the professor escaped starva- tion or death from anxiety, his work would be thoroughly worth while and in time even yield him a good living. ' 1 1 would put no public funds," he continued, "into the professor's hands (certainly none beyond the original outfit) to squander in day dreaming and absurd speculations. I would have every new ex- periment bear directly on his own private purse so that it might be made economically as well as carefully. You may say that this would defeat all experimenting. But I think not, for you must find a man for such a place whose natural love of experi- menting and observing would impell him to it wherever he was and at whatever cost — no other man would be likely to accom- plish anything anyhow. ' '
President Blanchard in reply to this acknowledged that he pined for a professorship of the "blessed green earth." But he did not see his way to acquiring the funds for establishing such a professorship.10
There was little in these ideas of Jonathan B. Turner to rec- ommend them as a plan for building up an industrial university for a great state. They were significant merely as showing the beginning of his constructive thinking along these lines. Fortu- nately for his reputation he did not stop here. With keen eyes and a keen mind he watched the progress of this movement throughout the country and became convinced apparently that the ideas he had held were entirely wrong or inadequate. Three years later he will be found advocating a plan that is radically different in nearly every particular.
10Blanchard to Turner, October 39, 1848, Turner manuscripts.
14 History University of Illinois
CHAPTER II
THE ILLINOIS PLAN FOR A SYSTEM OF LAND GRANT
COLLEGES
In 1849 Daniel Lee of Georgia told the New York agricul- tural society that up to then nothing had been done in any quar- ter that showed promise of resulting in a college of agriculture and of the mechanic arts. The facts made dispute impossible.
For two years so far as actual achievement was concerned, the situation remained essentially unchanged. Then, on the eighteenth day of November, 1851, a definite, vigorous movement, was begun in Illinois for the higher education of the working classes. The leaders of the movement in Illinois had been watch- ing the movements in other states. They felt that they knew precisely why the efforts in Massachusetts and New York to get state aid for agricultural colleges had just been defeated; why the founding of professorships in applied sciences at Yale and Harvard had failed to appeal to the agriculturists of the country.
In fact the Illinois men were inclined to view these professor- ships satirically. Said the editor of the Prairie Farmer, the leading state agricultural paper published in Chicago : ' ' That was a sort of ' backfiring ' such as is practiced upon the prairies when the burning grass is too tall and dry, and so far as we know amounts to little or nothing in meeting the demand. " Jonathan B. Turner was still more vigorous in his sarcasm: "They have hauled a canoe alongside of their huge, professional steamships and invited all the farmers and mechanics of the State to jump on board and\ sail with them ; but the difficulty is, they will not embark. But we thank them even for this pains and courtesy. It shows that their hearts are yearning toward us, notwithstanding the ludicrous awkwardness of their first endeav- ors to save us."1
The sarcasm of the Illinois men was not that of mere scof- fers or of the ignorant. They had acquainted themselves with
1Turner, A Plan for an Industrial University, 8.
" We must beware o tat servie curse o has killed all our old agricultural schools."
"A similar scheme of education was never before proposed to t mind of man in this country or any other."
"Who not set ourselves about it like men, and institute such means, and only such means, as are adapted to our ends."
J. B. TURNER.
JONATHAN BALDWIN TURNER
History fr / of Illinois
AFTER II
THE ILLINOIS OR A SYSTEM OF LAND GR
COLLEGES
\o
pvard had \
') Daniel Lee of Georgia told the New York agri<
up to then nothing had been done in any quar- promise of resulting in a college of agricultu and of the mechanic arts. The facts made dispute impossible. For two years so far as actual achievement was concerned,
•n remained essentially unchanged. Then, on 1
eighteenth day of November, 1851, a definite, vigorous moveme1
WM begun in Illinois for the higher education of the workii
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Eid so far as we meeting the demand/1 -roos in his sarcasm: .- > ifessionml vd mechanics of the S
he difficulty is, they &em even for this pains a e yearning toward i
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vill not i'DiN •«*«.irtesy. It show
ness of their first endeav-
n was not that of mere scof-
hemselves w! if A Ptoft ;>^««triaZ University, 8.
JONATHAN BALDWIN TURNER
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 15
the work in other states, anxiously, thoroughly, hoping for light. When they found light, they had thankfully appropriated it, in some cases they had emulated methods employed in New York and Massachusetts. They were well acquainted with existing conditions therefore when they declared that up to 1851 little or nothing of real consequence to the cause of industrial education had been accomplished.
This was the situation when in accordance with a call by the Buel institute, which was an agricultural society with members from Putnam and five other counties of north central Illinois, a convention of farmers met at Granville, Putnam county, Illinois, on Tuesday the 18th of November, 1851.2 The attendance, made up of farmers and others, was reported as quite large and from various parts of the state.
The convention organized with the following permanent offi- cers: Mr. Oaks Turner of Hennepin, president; Mr. William Reddick of Ottawa and Mr. J. B. Turner, vice-presidents ; Mr. M. Osman of Ottawa, recording secretary ; Mr. Ralph Ware of Gran- ville, corresponding secretary. The discussions held in the after- noon were spirited, and at the evening session a committee on business of which J. B. Turner was chairman reported a series of five resolutions as a guide for the future action of the conven- tion:
"Resolved, That we greatly rejoice in the degree of perfec- tion to which our various institutions, for the education of our brethren engaged in professional, scientific, and literary pursuits, have already attained, and in the mental and moral elevation which these institutions have given them, and their consequent preparation and capacity for the great duties in the spheres of life in which they are engaged ; and that we will aid in all ways consistent, for the still greater perfection of such institutions.
"Resolved, That as the representatives of the industrial classes, including all cultivators of the soil, artisans, mechanics
2At its fair in September, 1851, the Buel institute determined to hold a farmers' convention at Granville in November, "to take into consideration such measures as might be deemed expedient to further the interests of the agricultural community, and particularly to take steps toward the establish- ment of an Agricultural University/' Illinois School Report, 1886-1888, p. cxix.
16 History University of Illinois
and merchants, we desire the same privileges and advantages for ourselves, our fellows and our posterity, in each of our several pursuits and callings, as our professional brethren enjoy in theirs ; and we admit that it is our own fault that we do not also enjoy them.
"Resolved, That, in our opinion, the institutions originally and primarily designed to meet the wants of the professional classes as such, cannot, in the nature of things, meet ours, no more than the institutions we desire to establish for ourselves could meet theirs. Therefore,
"Resolved, That we take immediate measures for the estab- lishment of a University, in the State of Illinois, expressly to meet those felt wants of each and all the industrial classes of our State; that we recommend the foundation of high schools, lyceums, institutes, etc., in each of our counties, on similar prin- ciples, so soon as they may find it practicable so to do.
"Resolved, That in our opinion such institutions can never impede, but must greatly promote, the best interests of all those existing institutions. ' '3
It should be noted that Turner and his committee specifi- cally stated that they were not opposing existing colleges and professional schools, that they were merely asking that the bene- fits of science be made as available to the man engaged in indus- trial pursuits as to the professional man. A practical plan for placing these benefits at the disposal of the industrial classes must be formulated. Turner was ready with it. "After reading the above resolutions, ' ' wrote the committee which later published a report of this meeting, ' * Professor Turner proceeded, in an able and interesting manner, to unfold his plan for the establishment and maintenance of an Industrial University."4
Turner's speech upon this subject was later published under the title, ' ' Plan for an Industrial University for the state of Illi- nois. ' ' It gave his ideas not only upon proper industrial educa- tion for his own state but advanced a system of national educa-
, Industrial Universities for the People, 16. 4Turner had been invited to attend this meeting and to assist in the establishment of "an agricultural school or agricultural department in some schools in Northern Illinois." Ware to Turner, October 29, 1851, Turner manuscripts.
Sketch of Presbyterian Church, Granville, 111., in which was held the Farmers ' Convention of Nov. 18 and 19, 1851. ' ' To take into consideration such measures as might be deemed most expedient to further the interests of the Agricultural Community, and especially to take steps towards the establishment of an Agricultural University."
President, OAKS TURNER, Hennepin, 111.
Vice Presidents, WILLIAM REDDICK, Ottawa, 111; J. B. TURNER, Jack- sonville, 111.
M. OSMAN, Ottawa, Secretary.
RALPH WARE, Granville, Corresponding Secretary.
Also the building in which the 2nd Fair of the Bnel Institute was held in the fall of 1848.
Some of the men who organized the above Institute and Fair moved in the above memorable meeting of Nov. 1851 were:
Ralph Ware, Williamson Durley, Wm. A. Pennell, William Clarkson, Oaks Turner, John Grable, Elmer Baldwin, Jas. G. Laughlin, L. L. Bullock, Wm. Reddick, Wm. Groom, Sidney Pulsifer, Elder Powell, Thos. Ware, Lewis Weston.
THE INDUSTRIAL LEAGUE DESIGN THAT WAS DEVISED BY MURRAY AND TURNER AND USED ON THE CERTIFICATES OF MEMBERSHIP
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 17
tioii which included a university for the industrial classes in each of the stated of the American union. This plan, which was des- tined to play so notable a role in the fight for industrial univer- sities, was not the result of hasty consideration. For nearly twenty years he had been turning over in his mind the educa- tional needs of Illinois. He had given public expression to his views on education a year or more previous to the Granville con- vention at a Pike county teachers' institute and probably also at a public meeting in Griggsville.5 In speaking of these earlier meetings some fifteen years later, Turner said that so far as he was aware it was the first time that such a scheme of public education was ever proposed to mankind.
He himself was astonished at the reception his ideas were accorded by the teachers. He had searched patiently for these ideas in the field and in the classroom, in the workshop and in the home. To him they were truth, that was all. But among his hearers were those who accepted them joyfully, almost hyster- ically, like something on the order of salvation long sought and finally found ; and others, particularly in the months following the Granville meeting, who rejected them frantically, vehemently " assailed, ridiculed, and denounced them as absurd, revolu- tionary, disorganizing, and above all utterly visionary and hope- less, even if desirable."6
For many years Turner had been oppressed with a sense of
There has been considerable confusion regarding the exact date of these addresses. In 1865 Turner stated that they were delivered "about the year 1848 or 1849." Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5: 36. Paul Selby, a friend of Turner, in a letter to W. L. Pillsbury expresses the opinion that the date was 1850. Mrs. Carriel gives the text of an address delivered by Turner as president of the Illinois teachers institute at Griggs- ville, May 13, 1850. Carriel, Life of Turner, 74-94. There was a meeting of the Pike county institute in Griggsville on this day but its printed pro- ceedings make no mention of Turner. Moreover, the Pike County Free Press does not even refer to the meeting of the teachers' institute at that time. It would seem that Mrs. Carriel mistook the Granville for the Griggsville address, for the quotation from the speech contains an extract from the Prairie Farmer that did not appear until the issue for November, 1851. Without doubt Turner spoke before the Pike county teachers' institute at Barry later in the year. Pike County Free Press, October 24, 1850. Although the Free Press does not record the fact it is possible that he may have ad- dressed a public meeting in Griggsville on his way home.
6Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions. 5: 36.
18 History IJniversity of Illinois
the inadequacy of the existing systems of popular education. It was as if the problem was put to him for solution and either he must succeed or all must suffer. The attitude of the teachers who heard his plan encouraged him to continue thinking along the line of national education. In fact for a year and more before the Granville address he was preparing for it, all the more effectively because most of the preparation was unconscious.7 He was thinking because he must think, therefore when the great opportunity came at Granville he was able to propose a new system wholly outside of existing ones and based upon the theory that unity of empire among a free people implies unity of educa- tional plans and efforts. Inasmuch as no public action followed his addresses in Pike county, it seems a right placing of emphasis to date the Illinois movement for a system of industrial univer- sities from the Granville convention November 18, 1851, where Turner presented his plan and secured effective action.
In his address, beginning with the assumption that society is divided necessarily into two distinct cooperative, not antagonistic classes, for convenience designated the professional and the in- dustrial ; not implying that each may not be equally industrious, the speaker continued:
"The vast difference, in the practical means, of an APPRO- PRIATE LIBERAL EDUCATION, suited to their wants and their des- tiny, which these two classes enjoy, and ever have enjoyed the world over, must have arrested the attention of every thinking man. True, the same general abstract science exists in the world for both classes alike; but the means of bringing this abstract truth into effectual contact with the daily business and pursuits of the one class does exist, while in the other case it does not exist, and never can till it is new created.
The one class have schools, seminaries, colleges, universities, apparatus, professors, and multitudinous appliances for educat- ing and training them for months and years, for the peculiar profession which is to be the business of their life ; and they have
7Early in 1851 Turner delivered an address in the legislative hall at Springfield in which he outlined his plan for a state university. The Journal in reporting this speech advised its readers to request Turner to deliver it in other parts of the state. Illinois Weekly Journal, February 12, 1851.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 19
already created, each class for its own use, a vast and voluminous literature, that would well nigh sink a whole navy of ships.
But where are the universities, the apparatus, the professors, and the literature, specifically adapted to any one of the indus- trial classes? Echo answers, where? In other words, society has become, long since, wise enough to know that its TEACHERS need^ to be educated ; but it has not yet become wise enough to know that its WORKERS need education just as much. In these remarks I have not forgotten that our common schools are equally adapted and applied to all classes ; but reading, writing, etc., are, properly, no more education than gathering seed is agriculture, or cutting ship-timber navigation. ' '
He then called attention to the futile efforts of monarchs and aristocrats of the old world to found schools for the "fifteenth cousins" of their order in hopes of training them into a sort of ' * genteel farmers ' ' or rather overseers of farmers ; also to the useless attempts in some eastern states to solve the whole problem of industrial education by establishing professorships in applied science in connection with existing institutions.
Failures such as these, the speaker said could be avoided only by answering two pertinent questions: what do the indus- trial classes want and how can that want be supplied.
' ' They want, and they ought to have, the same facilities for understanding the true philosophy — the science and the art of their several pursuits, (their life-business,) and of efficiently applying existing knowledge thereto and widening its domain, which the professional classes have long enjoyed in their pur- suits."
' ' This want cannot be supplied by any of the existing
institutions for the professional classes, nor by any incidental appendage attached to them as a mere secondary department.
These institutions were designed and adapted to meet the wants of the professional classes, as such — especially the clerical order; and they are no more suited to the real wants of the in- dustrial class than the institution we propose for them, would be suited to the professional class. ' '
"The industrial classes know and feel this, and therefore they do not, and will not, patronize these institutions, only so far
20 History ^University of Illinois
forth as they desire to make professional men for public use. As a general fact, their own multitudes do, and will forever, stand aloof from them ; and, while they desire to foster and cherish them for their own appropriate uses, they know that they do not, and cannot, fill the sphere of their own urgent industrial wants. They need a similar system of liberal education for their own class, and adapted to their own pursuits ; to create for them an INDUSTRIAL LITERATURE, adapted to their professional wants, to raise up for them teachers and lecturers, for subordinate insti- tutes, and to elevate them, their pursuits, and their posterity to that relative position in human society for which God designed them."
Turner emphasized the fact that it was important to begin with the higher institutions and pointed out that the failure of many schools in the east and elsewhere was due to the fact that they had not recognized this fundamental truth. ' ' No people ever had, or even can have, any system of common schools and lower seminaries worth anything, until they first founded their higher institutions and fountains of knowledge from which they could draw supplies of teachers, etc., for the lower. We would begin, therefore, where all experience and common sense show that we must begin, if we would effect anything worthy of an effort.
' i In this view of the case, the first thing wanted in this pro- cess, is a NATIONAL INSTITUTE of SCIENCE, to operate as the great central luminary of the national mind, from which all minor institutions should derive light and heat, and toward which they should, also, reflect back their own. This primary want is already, I trust, supplied by the Smithsonian Institute, endowed by James Smithson, and incorporated by the U. S. Congress, at Washington, D. C.
' * To co-operate with this noble Institute, and enable the In- dustrial classes to realize its benefits in practical life, we need a University for the Industrial Classes in each of the States, with their consequent subordinate institutes, lyceums, and high schools, in each of the counties and towns. ' '
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 21
PLAN FOE THE STATE UNIVERSITY
' * There should be connected with such an institution in this State a sufficient quantity of land of variable soil and aspect, for all its needful annual experiments and processes in the great interests of Agriculture and Horticulture.
''Buildings of appropriate size and construction for all its ordinary and special uses; a complete philosophical, chemical, anatomical, and industrial apparatus ; a general cabinet, embrac- ing everything that relates to, illustrates, or facilitates any one of the industrial arts ; especially all sorts of animals, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, shrubs, and plants found in this State and the adjacent States.
' ' Instruction should be given constantly in the anatomy and physiology, the nature, instincts and habits of all animals, insects, trees, and plants; their laws of propagation, primogeniture, growth, and decay, disease and health, life and death; on the nature, composition, adaptation, and regeneration of soils ; on the nature, strength, durability, preservation, perfection, composi- tion, cost, use, and manufacture of all materials of art and trade ; on political, financial, domestic, and manual economy, (or the saving of labor of the hand,) in all industrial processes; on the true principles of national, constitutional, and civil law, and the true theory and art of governing and controlling, or directing the labor of men in the State, the family, shop and farm ; on the laws of vicinage, or the laws of courtesy and comity between neigh- bors, as such, and on the principles of health and disease in the human subject, so far at least as is needful for household safety; on the laws of trade and commerce, ethical, conventional and practical; the book-keeping and accounts; and, in short, in all those studies and sciences, of whatever sort, which tend to throw light upon any art or employment, which any student may desire to master; or upon any duty he may be called to perform; or which may tend to secure his moral, civil, social and industrial perfection as a man.
"No species of knowledge should be excluded, practical or theoretical; unless, indeed, those specimens of 'organized igno- rance' found in the creeds of party politicians, and sectarian
22 History University of Illinois
ecclesiastics should be mistaken by some for a species of knowl- edge.
"Whether a distinct classical department should be added or not, would depend on expediency. It might be deemed best to leave that department to existing colleges as their more appro- priate work, and to form some practical and economical connec- tion with them for that purpose : or it might be best to attach a classical department in due time to the institution itself.
"To facilitate the increase and practical application and diffusion of knowledge, the professors should conduct, each in his department, a continued series of annual experiments."
1 1 The APPARATUS required for such a work is obvious. There should be grounds devoted to a botanical and common garden, to orchards and fruit yards, to appropriate lawns and prome- nades, in which the beautiful art of landscape gardening could be appropriately applied and illustrated, to all varieties of pas- ture, meadow, and tillage needful for the successful prosecution of the needful annual experiments. And on these grounds should be collected and exhibited a sample of every variety of domestic animal, and of every tree, plant, and vegetable that can minister to the health, wealth, or taste and comfort of the people of the State; their nature, habits, merits, production, improvement, culture, diseases, and accidents thoroughly scrutinized, tested, and made known to the students and to the people of the State."
"I should have said, also, that a suitable industrial library should be at once procured, did not all the world know such a thing to be impossible, and that one of the first and most important duties of the professors of such institutions will be to begin to create, at this late hour, a proper practical literature, and series of text books for the industrial classes.
' ' As regards the PROFESSORS, they should, of course, not only be men of the most eminent, practical ability in their several departments, but their connexion with the institution should be rendered so fixed and stable as to enable them to carry through such designs as they may form or all the peculiar benefits of the system would be lost.
"Instruction, by lectures and otherwise, should be given mostly in the colder months of the year ; leaving the professors to
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 23
prosecute their investigations, and the students their necessary labor, either at home or on the premises, during the warmer months."
1 'At some convenient season of the year, the Commencement, or ANNUAL, FAIR of the University, should be holden through a succession of days. On this occasion the doors of the institution, with all its treasures of art and resources of knowledge, should be thrown open to all classes, an/i as many other objects of agri- cultural or mechanical skill, gathered from the whole state, as possible, and presented by the people for inspection and premium
on the best of each kind In short, this occasion should be
made the great annual GALA-DAY of the Institution, and of all the industrial classes, and all other classes in the State, for the exhi- bition of their products and their skill, and for the vigorous and powerful diffusion of practical knowledge in their ranks, and a more intense enthusiasm in its extension and pursuit.
"As matters now are, the world has never adopted any effi- cient means for the application and diffusion of even the practical knowledge which does exist. True, we have fairly got the primer, the spelling book, and the newspaper abroad in the world, and we think that we have done wonders ; and so, comparatively, we have. But if this is a wonder, there are still not only won- ders, but, to most minds, inconceivable miracles, from new and unknown worlds of light, soon to break forth upon the industrial mind of the world. ' '
' ' Such institutions are the only possible remedy for a caste education, legislation, and literature. If any one class provide for their own liberal education, in the state, as they should do, while another class neglect this, it is as inevitable as the law of gravitation, that they should form a ruling caste or class by them- selves, and wield their power more or less for their own exclusive interests and the interests of their friends. ' '
"But can such an institution be created and endowed? Doubtless it can be done, and done at once, if the industrial classes so decide. The fund given to this state by the general government, expressly for this purpose, is amply sufficient, with- out a dollar from any other source ; and it is a mean, if not an illegal perversion of this fund to use it for any other purpose.
24 History yniversity of Illinois
It was given to the people, the whole people of this state — not for a class, a party, or sect, or conglomeration of sects ; not for common schools, or family schools, or classical schools; but for ' An University, ' or seminary of a high order, in which should of course be taught all those things which every class of citizens most desire to learn — their own duty and business for life. This, and this alone, is an University in the true original sense of the term. And if an Institution which teaches all that is needful only for the three professions of law, divinity, and medicine, is therefore, an University, surely one which teaches all that is needful for all the varied professions of human life, is far more deserving of the name and the endowment of an University.
"But in whose hands shall the guardianship and oversight of this fund be placed, in order to make it of any real use for such a purpose ? I answer, without hesitation and without fear, that this whole interest should, from the first, be placed directly in the hands of the people, and the whole people, without any mediators or advisors, legislative or ecclesiastical, save only their own appointed agents, and their own jurors and courts of justice, to which, of course, all alike must submit."8
If one compares Turner's plan, given to the public in 1851, with the agricultural colleges of the various states today, it seems almost like a prophecy. It might have served as a basis of organization for many of the colleges, so like is it to them in essential parts. In fact evidence is at hand to show that this plan of Turner's did directly influence the organization of agri- cultural colleges in Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, and New York and because it was widely published it is very possible that it exerted a powerful influence upon individuals and institutions in other states in a way that may not now definitely be traced.9
The convention at Granville, therefore, was highly signifi- cant in the history of industrial education. The resolutions
8Turner, University for the People, Appendix, p. 366.
9The Ottawa Free Trader, Illinois Journal, and several individuals, notably Turner himself, called attention to the fact that a New York paper, the Buffalo Patriot, printed the plan word for word without giving credit; shortly afterward New York state founded an agricultural college based directly upon these propositions of Turner. For the influence exerted upon institutions in other states see below p. 77.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 25
passed on that occasion, the fire of enthusiasm and of grim endeavor that was there kindled, the active campaign that was then started were the beginnings not only of education for the industries for Illinois, but of the establishment of a national sys- tem of universities for the industrial classes ; at least one univer- sity in each of the states.
Four months later, in March, 1852, Turner added a final idea: these universities should be created, and endowed by a grant of land from congress to each of the states of the union for the liberal education of the industrial classes.10
The great plan was out in the light of day. There was now something tangible either to fight or to fight for.
Immediately following the Granville convention there was undertaken by a small group of Illinois men a campaign for industrial education that was to extend through many years, the far-reaching consequences of which few could even imagine. In rapid succession there came within the next fourteen months a series of three industrial educational conventions, memorials to the legislature and to congress were written, pamphlets contain- ing the Granville plan and an address to the people were pub- lished and circulated throughout the country, the press was sup- plied with articles, an industrial league in the state was organized, lectures and addresses were given in various parts of the state, all in the interests of the Illinois idea, — a system of industrial universities supported by federal grants. The motives of these men, their successes and failures, became apparent dur- ing the next ten years in1 which they carried forward their campaign.
Jonathan Turner 's plan as announced at the Granville con- vention excited wide comment. It instantly won for itself warm friends and hot enemies. In accordance with the action of the Granville convention, one thousand copies of the pamphlet con- taining the plan and the resolutions of the convention were sent to the press, to state officials, to representatives in congress, to
"Turner's article in the Prairie Farmer, March, 1852, was the first public announcement of this plan for a land grant. Writers on this subject have previously accepted the idea that the proposal for a federal grant made its first appearance at the Springfield convention three months later.
26 History University of Illinois
educators, and to men prominent in affairs throughout the country.
The Weekly Journal (Springfield) of January 7, 1852, thus summarized the attitude of the newspapers of the state :
"The Press of this State, so far as it has referred to this enterprise, is generally in favor of it.11 The Joliet Signal says : 1 The farmer, the mechanic, the practical business man, needs an education to prepare him for the sphere in which he is placed. His calling! is great, and all that is wanting to render it so is to encourage a system of education that knows no distinction. We are glad that a move has been made in the matter. '
The LaSalle Standard well remarks : ' Illinois demands an institution devoted exclusively to the cultivation of the indus- trial arts. She needs a race of scientifically educated farmers. And if she have them, she must educate them at home. The learned professions each have their centers of light and knowl- edge, in all parts of the Union, from which go forth yearly, an innumerable multitude to propagate and sustain the peculiar provinces and creeds of each. But where shall the enlightened cultivator of the soil look for opportunities to educate the rising generation for the profession (for so it may be termed with pro- priety) of farming. Alas he has no such place. Is not the establishment of such an institution then well worthy of legisla- tive consideration?'
The Peoria papers favor the measure. The Republican says : 'An institution of the kind has long been a desideratum in our state and would have the effect to elevate the farmer to that position to which he is so justly entitled. '
The Press also says: 'It is high time that some disposition is made of the immense amount of money, that has accumulated for educational purposes, and we trust our readers will inquire into the subject and prepare themselves to act when the question is placed before them. '
The Galena Jeffersonian in approving of the proposed Agri- cultural College, observes: 'The state has enough of lawyers, doctors and preachers, such as they are, and the theological, med-
"Mrs. Carriel says that the majority of the newspapers were opposed to the Turner plan. Carriel, Life of Turner, 101.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 27
ical and law schools in Illinois and elsewhere are glutting the market with still more, but such institutions as those of which we speak are few and far between. '
The Galena Gazette, Ottawa Free Trader, Mt. Morris Ga- zette, Peru Democrat, Lacon Herald, Quincy Whig, and other papers, have all declared in favor of the Agricultural College; but we have not room, at this time, for further extracts. ' '
The enemies of the enterprise were particularly among the small colleges. There were two very evident reasons for their somewhat violent opposition. For one thing, education based on the classics as they offered it was to them all-sufficient. To ques- tion its all-sufficiency was in the nature of heresy. Moreover, they needed money, and they were sure they deserved whatever money was available. The " seminary" or "college" funds at this time amounted to about $150,000 and to have an interloper, something apart from the prescribed order, a mere experiment, come in even for a share, not to mention all, when money was so scarce was intolerable.
The Morgan Journal (Jacksonville) and the Illinois Journal (Springfield) among other newspapers, contained articles de- nouncing the plan as proposed at the Granville convention as "premature," "too expensive," "visionary," "ungodly," and "absurd." A writer in the Illinois Weekly Journal, January 21, 1852, under the initials of J. T. S. was thus resentful in re- gard to Turner's plan. "I would not join him in his crusades against the religious denominations or sects in the state .... The plan proposes too much. The true friends of education can never unite upon such a project, and if they could, they could not sustain it. I could not support a project, which, upon its face, assumes that all the departments of government were, and always will be filled with dishonest and unworthy incumbents. ' '
Again with reference to a state university :
"If the funds designed to be used in establishing and sus- taining such an institution cannot with safety be placed under the control and management of the legislature or the trustees of existing colleges, they had better remain as they are, until a different order or race of people shall be raised up by whom they may be used.
28 History ^University of Illinois
"Second: If the interests and causes of education cannot be sustained by the state or church, or either, it will be found, when the experiment is tested, that they cannot be by the people.
' ' Third : Instead of attempting to establish a state univer- sity, separate from all other institutions of learning, and stand- ing solitary and alone, dependent upon public funds for assist- ance, and having no sympathy whatever with the religious senti- ment of the country, I would adopt the plan recommended by the Governor. I would use the capital invested in existing col- leges, as well as the honesty, experience, knowledge and devotion to the cause of education of the trustees of those institutions. "
The above brought forth immediate and heated replies in the Journal from friends of the Turner plan. One who signed as S. T. J. said among other things : "As to the direful and hideous attack on religion and Christianity, there were in that convention men of every profession in life, and all persuasions in the church. Ministers, doctors, lawyers, representatives, senators, as well as farmers and mechanics, of almost, if not quite every religious denomination ; and I do not think in following the teachings of all experience, and desiring the Institution separated as far as possible from all "party politics" and sectarian ecclesiastic con- trol, they were thereby making an attack upon their own churches and legislators and forming an awful conspiracy against Christi- anity and the religious sentiments of the human race. Nor do I suppose they were of that class of men who conceive that the foundations of Christianity are so1 frail and feeble as to need the aid of their special resolves and protestations in its favor. ' '* 2
Much more was written in the newspapers on both sides of the question that was both personal and bitter during the early months of the year 1852. By far the sanest and most thorough discussion, if not quite so lively a one as in the newspapers, was carried on in the Prairie Farmer during all of these months. In February this journal published Turner's plan. In March the editor expressed his confidence that real progress was being made but that he had felt like awaiting1 the action of the older states, which, as Massachusetts and New York had been agitating the matter for some six or eight years. He thought that this plan
^Illinois Weekly Journal, January 28, 1852.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 29
was a step in advance since it denned ' ' more pertinently than we remember to have seen it done, what sort of education is sought for and who is to be benefitted by it. ' ' In conclusion he urged investigation but saw no occasion for haste.
L. L. Bullock of Point Republic, writing in the Prairie Farmer, June, 1852, said that he thought the Prairie Farmer was making a mistake in counselling delay, that the advice of the convention for immediate action was preferable. He had little hope of witnessing the experiment in Massachusetts, and should it be made it would not furnish a real test of its practicability here.
In the same number of the Prairie Farmer, June, 1852, David Prince of Jacksonville wrote that New York and Massa- chusetts were moving slowly in this enterprise of mechanical and agricultural education, but Illinois had facilities which they had not, and ought to be taking the lead. "The time is gone by," he said, "in which the people of Illinois should fold their hands and wait to see what is to be done in the older states. ' '
Under the same date, still in the Prairie Farmer, John A. Kennicott of the Grove, wrote the following vigorous opinion in regard to the situation :
' ' The history of all legislation shows that, unless under some sudden outbreak of thought and will in the masses, the specific interests of the producing classes are as light as down in the bal- ance, against the dead weight of old custom, and the active influence of the few, who nominally obey, but actually rule the million and make their own interests or notions the breath of public opinion.
"We are at this moment just at the turning point, and success is as certain if we help to increase the tide and take it ' at the flood' — as defeat, or an age of delay will be inevitable if we neglect the present moment.
"The Prairie Farmer is the only legitimate organ of the producers of Illinois, and to it must attach a large portion of the credit of success, or on it must fall much of the odium of defeat. Its responsibilities are great and its powers are equal to the emergency."
30 History, University of Illinois
Thus the friends of the plan and of Turner were urging careful consideration but many were desirous of early action on the subject. Turner himself was very busy during the months following the Granville convention in preparing addresses and articles for the press and in corresponding with individuals both private and public in regard to this new movement for indus- trial education. That part of his article in the Prairie Farmer for March, 1852 to which reference was made above and in which he proposed a grant of public lands by congress to each state in the union for the establishment of industrial universities reads as follows:
"And I am satisfied that if the farmers and their friends will now but exert themselves they can speedily secure for this State, and for each State in the Union, an appropriation of public lands adequate to create and endow in the most liberal manner, a general system of popular Industrial Education, more glorious in its design and more beneficient in its results than the world has ever seen before. There is wisdom enough in the State, and in the Union, to plan and conduct it — there are students enough to patronize it — there is useless land and wealth enough to endow it — and there are hearts enough that want it. Shall they have it ? A proper movement now by the farmers ' and mechan- ics ' real friends will secure it — and no man, and no other person or interest in the universe will suffer for it. But there is always a tide in the affairs of men — let several of the states become com- mitted to some other scheme, and the golden opportunity may be lost forever. Now, all is open and favorable, and the way is plain. Soon, it may not, and probably, will not be so. Shall we not, then, labor for this end ? and if plans now suggested are not the best, let us take that which is. But let us, by all means, strive together, as one man, for the glorious end of the liberal and appropriate practical education of every class, of whatever name, throughout the state, and throughout the Union.
Respectfully yours,
J. B. TURNER."
On May 18, 1852, J. B. Turner as chairman of the committee appointed at Granville for the purpose, called a convention at Springfield for Tuesday, June 8th, to consider further
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 31
the plan for an industrial university. The second paragraph of the call reads as follows: "And it is earnestly desired, that every friend of the cause should then and there meet, to delib- erate further upon the subject, and to take such action in the premises as may seem to them most advisable, — especially to consult as regards the proper appropriation of the University and Seminary Fund by the legislature, at the called session, as suggested in the proclamation of the Governor of the State. "By order of the Central Committee, May 18, 1852.
J. B. TURNER."13
As indicated in the above call, the governor of the state had included this subject in his message to the legislature, soon to meet in special session. After mentioning the importance of applying the college and seminary funds to the uses for which they had been appropriated, the governor urged the necessity of proper legislative care over agriculture. "A knowledge," he said, ' ' of the science of agriculture, united to the practical exer- tion of tilling the soil, is suited no less to elevate the dignity of the farmer, than to reward him for his toil and his labor
"This subject has lately been brought more immediately to the notice of the people, through the published proceedings and report of a meeting of farmers held in Granville in this state, during last summer, in which the propriety of appropriating the income of this fund to an agricultural college was carefully and elaborately considered. ' n 4
A number of gentlemen met at the courthouse in Springfield on Tuesday, June 8, 1852, to consider subjects indicated in the call. ' ' The convention, ' ' wrote John A. Kennicott, the president of the convention, "was not a very harmonious one; but there was not the least difference of opinion expressed by the legitimate members thereof. All the difficulty and all the opposition came from the able and learned delegation of the old colleges. These gentlemen were admitted as members at my instance, and they were certainly no friends to our new movement, and opposed it with zeal and ability throughout, though every one of them agreed with us, that the producer should be educated for his vocation,
"Illinois Journal, May 19, 1852. ^Illinois Journal, June 9, 1852.
32 History ^University of Illinois
but they hold that old colleges could accomplish this desirable result better than a new Institution. While we unanimously went for a new school, on new principles and in new hands, to suit this new thought of educating hand-workers as well as head- workers, in the knowledge of things next to them, and place the brain that conceives and directs, in the same body that furnished the hands to execute the devices of the mind."15
The convention organized temporarily with J. B. Turner as president and W. H. Powell of LaSalle as secretary. On motion of J. A. Kennicott the following resolution was adopted :
' ' Resolved, That all delegates be considered members of this convention, who, by their own showing are the friends of prac- tical industrial education, and who desire the concentration of the means and influences for that purpose. "16
Permanent officers were chosen as follows : president, John A. Kennicott of Cook County ; first vice-president, Mr. Little of Fulton county ; second vice-president, Joseph Morton of Morgan ; secretary, W. H. Powell of LaSalle. A committee on business reported the following which was adopted : ' i 1st — The considera- tion of the principles of a practical education, with a view of gaining some definite idea of the object to be aimed at by the convention.
2nd — The consideration of the plan submitted by J. B. Turner to the Granville 'Convention, with the view of ascertain- ing its adaptation to the proposed subject.
3rd — The adoption of some specific plan by the Convention to be recommended to the legislature, with a view to obtaining appropriations to carry out."17
During the afternoon and evening of June 8th and on June 9th a lively controversy was carried on between the advocates of the new industrial idea and the representatives of the old clas- sical colleges who had been admitted on invitation of Kennicott.
Early in tl^ discussion Turner raised the point of order that the convention had met in pursuance of a call issued by
^Prairie Farmer, August, 1852. ^Prairie Farmer, August, 1852. "Prairie Farmer, August, 1852. ;
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 33
the Granville convention, calling a convention of tlie ' 'friends of concentration." The convention was assuming, he declared an aspect entirely foreign to the proposed object, and instead of the friends discussing the plan other gentlemen, who had for two years openly opposed the movement, were occupying all the time of the convention. Professor John Evans of Chicago, one of the leaders of the small colleges, called for the reading of the resolution admitting gentlemen to a seat in the convention. The chair sustained Evans and the controversy continued.
Turner presented the outlines of the plan of an industrial university, submitted by him at the Granville convention. Evans opposed Turner's plan and submitted one of his own. The main idea in Evans' plan was that existing colleges should carry on courses for the industrial classes.18 This should be accomplished by means of professorships established, the holders of which should travel from college to college- A leading argument urged in favor of this plan was the saving of expense.
Mr. George Lumsden, an earnest friend of the industrial idea, was opposed to the plan of Evans in toto. He especially ridiculed the idea of itinerant professors and characterized them as travelling menageries. ' ' He desired to know whether it was intended the state should furnish geological cabinets, chem- ical apparatus, etc., for each of the colleges; or whether each Professor was to back his own collection, and transport them in his semi-annual perigrinations from college to college. In the former alternative, he was of opinion that the frightful expense, which had been so much dwelt upon, of furnishing the one insti- tution proposed by Professor Turner's plan, would sink into insignificance compared with the nine complete equipments re- quired by the distribution plan. Mr. L. moved to lay the plans of Dr. Evans on the table."19 After a scene of considerable con- fusion the motion to lay on the table was carried.20
On the afternoon of June 8th, the friends of the industrial university idea took things into their own hands by having
18For Evans' plan see appendix, p. 427. ^Prairie Farmer, August, 1852.
20For an incident showing how Turner put his opponents to rout on this occasion see below, p. 134.
34 History ^University of Illinois
a committee of their own number appointed to memorialize the legislature for a state university. Debate was closed and the committee, consisting of J. B. Turner, chairman, John Hise, Oaks Turner, Mr. Little of Fulton county, and August Adams of Kane, was appointed. This committee prepared the following memo- rial which was presented to the legislature. As it is typical of a number of important memorials prepared by Turner it is given in full.
ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL CONVENTION
MEMORIAL OF THE INDUSTRIAL CONVENTION TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
' ' The Convention of the friends of the Industrial University, proposed to the consideration of the people of Illinois, by the Granville convention, whose report is alluded to in the message of the Governor of the State, beg leave to submit to the considera- tion of the Senators and Representatives of the people, the fol- lowing memorial :
"But three general modes have been publicly proposed for the use of the College and Seminary funds of the State.
"I. The perpetual continuance of their use for common school purposes, is not seriously expected by any one, but only their temporary use as a loan for this noble object.
"II. The equal distribution of their proceeds among the ten or twelve colleges in charge of the various religious denom- inations of the State, either now in existence or soon to arise and claim their share in these funds, and the equally just claim of Medical and other Institutions for their share, it is thought by your memorialists, would produce too great a division to render these funds of much practical value either to these Institutions or to the people of the State. Nor do they consider that it would make any practical difference, in this regard, whether the funds were paid directly by the State over to the Trustees of these Institutions, or disbursed indirectly through a new board of overseers or Regents to be called the University of Illinois. The plan of attempting to elect by State authority, some smaller number of these institutions to enjoy the benefit of the funds, on
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 85
the one hand, to the exclusion of others, or attempting to endow them all so as to fit them for the great practical uses of the industrial classes of the State, we trust your honorable bodies will see at once to be still more impracticable and absurd, if not radically unequal and unjust in a free State like ours.
' ' III. Your memorialists therefore desire not the dispersion by any mode, either direct or indirect, of these funds ; but their continued preservation and concentration for the equal use of all classes of our citizens, -and especially to meet the pressing neces- sities of the great industrial classes and interests of the State, in accordance with the principles suggested in the message of his Excellency the Governor of the State, to your honorable bodies ; and also in the recent message of Governor Hunt of New York, to the legislature of that State, and sanctioned by the ap- proval of many of the wisest and most patriotic statesmen in this and other States.
"The report of the Granville Convention of farmers here- with submitted and alluded to, as above noticed in the message of our Chief Magistrate, may be considered as one and as only one, of the various modes in which this desirable end may be reached, and is alluded to in this connexion as being the only published document of any convention on this subject, and as a general illustration of what your petitioners would desire, when the wisdom of the Senators and Kep resent atives of the people shall have duly modified and perfected the general plan pro- posed, so as to fit it to the present resources and necessities of the State.
' ' We desire that some beginning should be made, as soon as our statesmen may deem prudent so to do, to realize the high and noble ends for the people of the State, proposed in each and all of the documents above alluded to. And if possible on a sufficiently extensive scale, to honorably justify a successful ap- peal to congress, in conjunction with eminent citizens and states- men in other States, who have expressed their readiness to co- operate with us, for an appropriation of public lands for each State in the Union for the appropriate endowment of Universities for the liberal education of the Industrial Classes in their several pursuits in each State in the Union.
36 History University of Illinois
"And in this rich, and at least prospectively, powerful State, acting in co-operation with the vast energies and resources of this mighty confederation of united republics, even very small beginnings properly directed, may at no very remote day result in consequences more wonderful and beneficient than the most dar- ing mind would now venture to predict or even conceive.
"In the appropriation of those funds your memorialists would especially desire that a department for normal school teaching, to thoroughly qualify teachers for county and district schools, and an appropriate provision for the practical education of the destitute orphans of the State, should not be forgotten.
"We think that the object at which we aim must so readily commend itself to the good sense and patriotism, both of our peo- ple, rulers and statesmen, when once fully and clearly under- stood, that we refrain from all argument in its favor.
"We ask only that one institution for the numerous In- dustrial Classes, the teachers and orphans of this State, and of each State, should be endowed on the same general principles, and to the same relative extent as some one of the numerous In- stitutions now existing in each State for the more especial benefit of the comparatively very limited classes in the three learned professions. If this is deemed immoderate or even impracticable we will thankfully accept even less.
"As to the objection that States cannot properly manage literary institutions, all history shows that the States in this country, and in Europe, which have attempted to manage them by proper methods, constituting a vast majority of the whole, have fully succeeded in their aim. While the few around us which have attempted to endow and organize them on wrong principles — condemned by all experience, have of course failed. Nor can a State charter and originate Railroads or manage any other interest, except by proper methods and through proper agents. And a people or a State that cannot learn in time, to manage properly and efficiently all these interests, and especially the great interests of self-education, is obviously unfit for self- government, which we are not willing as yet to admit in reference to any State in the Union, and least of all our own.
I
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 87
' * With these sentiments deeply impressed on our hearts, and on the hearts of many of our more enlightened fellow citizens, your memorialists will never cease to pray your honorable bodies for that effective aid which you alone can grant.
Respectfully submitted,
By order of the Committee of the Convention,
J. B. TURNER, Chairman."2*
This memorial was explanatory of and supplementary to the Granville plan. It added the important proposal that an endow- ment be made by congress to each of the states in the union, for industrial universities. Naturally this made the proposition of national interest and consequence. In the same paragraph with the statement in regard to a grant of land the memorial declared that eminent citizens and statesmen in other states had expressed their readiness to cooperate with Illinois in the plan of appeal to congress.
The Illinois movement for industrial education was gather- ing headway, although in June, 1852, it could not get a dozen men in the legislature to look with patience on its plans.22 Great political events a few years later and the tremendous shock of civil war following hard upon them obscured the work of these early pioneers. The following facts, gathered from many sources demonstrate how far the knowledge of this plan went within twelve months after its public announcement.
Immediately following the Granville convention one thou- sand copies of Turner's plan were printed by order of the con- vention and distributed free to the press and to influential citi- zens and officials throughout the country. The Prairie Farmer published the proceedings of the Granville convention in Jan- uary, 1852, the plan in February and an editorial on the same general subject in March. The Cultivator, published at Albany, New York, in its April issue, 1852, stated that it had received a pamphlet from the pen of Mr. J. B. Turner presenting in a clear, vigorous style the arguments in favor of an industrial uni- versity.23
^Turner, Industrial Universities for the People, p. 35. "Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5:37. The legisla- ture changed its attitude six months later for reasons that will be stated. ^Cultivator, April, 1852.
38 History University of Illinois
The Horticulturist of New York in July, 1852, published the main part of the plan. The editor, the well-known A. J. Down- ing, said in a note preceding the plan: "The leaven of the ne- cessity for education among the industrial classes, begins to work, we are happy to perceive in many parts of the country. Massa- chusetts is likely to be the first to set an agricultural school on a comprehensive scale, in operation — but we see indications of marked interest in half a dozen other states. At a Farmers ' Con- vention in Illinois our correspondent, Professor Turner, of that state, submitted a plan for such an educational institution, which has since been published in pamphlet form. We think the im- portance of the subject one that will be sufficient apology for allowing the Professor to be heard by a large audience. It is not often that the weak points of an ordinary collegiate education are so clearly exposed, and the necessity of workingmen's uni- versities so plainly demonstrated. ' '24
The plan appeared in full or in part in many of the Illinois newspapers. On November 29, 1851, the Illinois Journal printed an account of the proceedings of the Granville convention; in December of the same year the proposition was carefully re- viewed by the Illinois State Register and during the next few years many other papers throughout the state joined in the dis- cussion of the plan. It was published in the Report of the Illi- nois state board of agriculture for 1851 and appeared also in the first volume of the Transactions of the Illinois state agricul- tural society a few years later.25
Outside of Illinois prominent newspapers and agricultural journals published the plan and commented upon it. The New York Daily Tribune of June 17, 1852, in discussing briefly Gov- ernor French's message to the Illinois legislature said that Gov- ernor French did not directly, advocate an agricultural college but mentioned that project as having been amply considered by a convention at Granville, the result of which will be laid before the legislature ; on August 28, 1852, the same paper printed large portions of the plan and made favorable comment upon it. In the same year the Buffalo Patriot printed it through a series of
"The Horticulturist, 7:306.
^Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 1:368-382.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 39
articles using it almost word for word without giving credit, however, for its authorship.
The Philadelphia North American in an editorial on educa- tion and agriculture written by Judge Conrad said in speaking of Turner's address at Granville : "His suggestions are urged with zeal and ability, and his arguments are convincing, as to the needs and importance of such institutions. " Early in 1852 fhe plan was published in full in the Valley Farmer of St. Louis, Missouri26 and in the same year was favorably discussed by Dan- iel Lee in the Southern Cultivator, published in Augusta, Georgia.27
Through the efforts of Senator Stephen A. Douglas and of Congressman Richard Yates the Granville plan was published by the United States patent office in 1851, and in the following year Yates was successful in bringing the proposition to the at- tention of the National agricultural society then in session in Washington.28
The news of the Turner project was carried still further by the private correspondence of the originator and other ardent workers for the cause. Mr. L. D. Campbell, an Ohio member of the United States house of representatives, wrote Turner from Washington, April 26, 1852, that he had received the pamphlet and read it with much interest, and added that during his term of service he would aid in forwarding every measure to promote universal education.29 Other letters from editors, from state offi- cials, from representatives in congress indicate that the Illinois plan in a few brief months had penetrated to the consciousness of many people throughout the entire country.
In October, 1852, John A. Kennicott sent out through the press of the state a call for a third industrial convention to assemble in Chicago on Wednesday, the 24th day of November following. He did this by order of the Springfield convention of which he had been the president. In order that there might be no misunderstanding as there had been at the Springfield con-
26Yates to Turner, July 10, 1852, Turner manuscripts. Turner, Industrial Universities for the People, 51. ^Yates to Turner, June 25, 1852, Turner manuscripts. ^Campbell to Turner, April 26, 1852, Turner manuscripts.
40 HistorysUniversity of Illinois
vention as to who should be considered members he specified very carefully who were invited. The final paragraph of the call reads as follows : ' ' And, that there may be no question in regard to the qualifications of members, it has been decided that all cit- izens of the state in attendance shall be entitled to seats, who are fully pledged to the principles of Industrial Education in ac- cordance with the general views set forth in a report to the Gran-
ville convention the message of Governor French, and the
Memorial of the Springfield Convention to the legislature — or, in other words, the call is for those who desire the application of the 'College and Seminary Funds to the immediate creation of a free University for the practical instruction of persons of all classes, but more especially the specific education of the great producing classes and the teachers of common schools (who are mainly charged with our instruction) and the substitution of useful knowledge, for barren learning. ' '30
The representatives of the small colleges were not at all pleased to be excluded from participating in the coming con- vention. The temper of these opponents of an industrial uni- versity and the sort of arguments to which they resorted is shown by an article that appeared in the Mount Morris (Ogle county) Gazette, written supposedly by the editors, two professors in an educational institution at Mount Morris : ' ' We notice in the Chi- cago Tribune that J. A. Kennicott, President, has called the 'third Industrial Convention/ to convene in Chicago, November 24th. The President very magnanimously invites all who are in favor of devoting 'the College and Seminary Funds' to the immediate creation of a free University, to attend, assuring them if sound on this point, they will be allowed to participate in the deliber- ations and decisions of the Convention. Thank you, Sir. But suppose we should differ from you, are we then to be excluded ? Most certainly; for how else can the Utopian school be estab- lished with the people's money?
"It will be remembered what a beautiful and practical plan was proposed by Professor Turner, a short time since, for an 'Industrial University,' admirably calculated to ease the State of a few millions, and establish at Jacksonville a mammoth work-
aolllinois Journal, October 9, 1852.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 41
shop, a State farm of a few thousand acres, and huge model barns, sheds, cowyards and cider-mills, where some salaried and skilful Professors, twirling ebony canes and shaded by silk um- brellas, might teach some hundred would-be-farmers, (all but the labor,) how to farm scientifically.
"President Kennicott puts forth a similar plan, which starts with sinking a cool hundred thousand in a farm and fixtures to commence operations with. — We shall wait and watch with in- terest, to ascertain what these dreamers will accomplish, at the third convention : though we are assured that the people will be slow to throw away a public fund, ($10,000 a year) to reward this splendid nightmare.
" 'Industrial University', is a taking name beyond doubt, and one may talk about improving agriculture throughout the State, by means of such an institution — may talk learnedly, plausibly ; so may he about a balloon railway to the moon, for the purpose of importing the real seed poetic of that planet's witching rays ; but the stern practical of life forbids a success- ful issue to either of these chimeras."31
In reply to the above article the Illinois Journal made vig- orous answer. It said in part: "The Gazette in its comments on the proposition of an Industrial Convention at Chicago, ob- jects to the plan of limiting the delegates in Convention to those who are in favor of using the College and Seminary funds for the establishment of a State University. Now we cannot see the wfrong in leaving this matter to the management of its own friends. How else can they expect success? We have seen in a former convention, delegates attending, who seemed to have no other motive, than to throw obstacles in the way of the plan proposed. What could the friends of the Industrial University expect if the Convention was to be filled with such men, as the professors of the institution at Mount Morris? They condemn the whole project in advance — and misrepresent and caricature the designs of its friends. Truly, men of candor will not ap- prove of the proposition of filling the Convention with the ene- mies of the proposed University. Its friends would be simple, indeed, were they to permit it.
^Illinois Journal, December 8, 1852.
42 History. University of Illinois
" With regard to the plan submitted by Professor
Turner to the Granville Convention, it is but fair and just to say — that that convention called upon him for a perfect plan of an Industrial University. Professor Turner, no more than any other man, claims to be perfect in his views. But he gave them his plan, which had been matured in his own mind-^- possibly and probably imperfect. It would not be strange if it were so. We see colleges everywhere occasionally changing their mode of in- struction. What was once deemed entirely orthodox in the man- ner of education is not orthodox now. And we see no reason why even Professor Turner's plan cannot be improved upon. The Mount Morris Professors would represent that the plan as pre- sented by Professor Turner in all its details, is to be at once car- ried into operation. No such thing was contemplated. The idea of Professor Turner, as we understand it, was to present a plan which would ultimately be carried out when means could be pro- vided and time employed for the purpose — perhaps not fully in ten years and maybe not in twenty years. He supposed, like other institutions, the full designs of the founders were not to be realized for years
' * The Mount Morris Professors have no facts to war- rant them in the statement that there is a design to locate the proposed University in any particular place. Surely they have seen nothing in the plan of Professor Turner, or in the progress of the discussion, which would show evidence that the friends design its location at Jacksonville
' ' ' Industrial University ' " is a taking name, we admit. It takes with the masses. They see in it something intended for their especial benefit. They are willing that religious sects shall establish colleges to suit themselves. They make no opposition to them. They choose not to misrepresent them. They believe they will do great good; but they want to enjoy the same privi- lege that they award to others. They want a State Institution — that shall receive the endowment which belongs to it — and which shall be, not a local, not a sectarian Institution, but one which shall be general, and where the means belonging to it shall be used for the diffusion of education among the masses — education that shall fit them for their peculiar callings. We, therefore, can
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 43
see no remarkable adaptedness of the simile of the Professors, who propose a ' railway balloon to the moon'. The designs of the friends of the Industrial University are practical — not chi- meras ; and are such as practical men ought not to oppose ' '
11 We need go no farther in the examination of the
article by the Professors of the Mount Morris Institution. It is evident that under all circumstances they are unwilling that an institution for education shall be established in this State, which shall have the confidence and the patronage, and be the pride of the great mass of its Industrial citizens. If we are mistaken in this view of the matter, we shall be glad ; but we act and speak under the lights given us. We are for educating the masses. . "32
On the day appointed by President Kennicott the friends of industrial education met in Chicago in their third convention. The representatives of the small colleges understood that they were not invited, were not Wanted ; and remembering, too, their unhappy experiences at the June convention in Springfield, they concluded, perhaps wisely, not to go. Chiefly for this reason there was entire harmony in this November meeting with the re- sult that much of value was accomplished. The convention voted to approve every feature of the Granville plan, to memorialize congress for a grant of land to endow an industrial university in each state, to establish an industrial league and to carry on a strenuous campaign of education on behalf of an industrial uni- versity among the people. It declared, moreover, that the uni- versity which it hoped to obtain in Illinois should be coeduca- tional, should maintain a department for the training of teach- ers, and should recognize labor as one of its most important ele- ments. Finally a committee was appointed to devise a working plan of an institution such as that contemplated by the con- vention, and the proposition to use the seminary funds to endow it was endorsed.
The establishment of the industrial league, which was de- vised and suggested by Mr. Murray, was most important for the work the Illinois men were endeavoring to carry forward. It
^Illinois Journal, December 8, 1852.
44 History University of Illinois
was soon to be a power in moving the public mind toward the ends desired by the friends of industrial education.33
Among the leaders taking part in the third convention were : Bronson Murray of Ottawa, who was chosen president ; John A. Kennicott of Cook county, John Gage of Lake county, John David, Ira Porter, and others. Jonathan Turner was not present.
The discussion in the convention on various portions of the Granville plan revealed the fact that some of the leaders were even more radical than Turner. John A. Kennicott, a man who had been educated in the east as had Turner, joined issue with that paragraph of the Turner plan which related to the introduction of a classical course. He said he would oppose the idea without reservation or stint. He could not consent even to a qualified admission of the possibility of its ever becoming " expedient " for them to have anything to do with dead languages, or any of the intellectual lumber, so rev- erenced and interwoven with the systems of education in the classical schools. He concluded by saying: "We must keep to the necessary, and the practically weful branches of education ; and leave mere 'learning' and conventional usage, to the old sys- tems, and the old schools, where all such stuff properly belongs. ' ' Kennicott said he considered "this the sole bad feature in Tur- ner's admirable general plan."34 John Davis did not approve of a distinct classical department and he thought that the lan- guage used by Turner did not advise but merely suggested that it might be expedient sometime in the future to have the means to impart a classical education to those who might desire it in addition to the practical course. John Gage and George Haskell both thought it would never be expedient to have such a course.
Unopposed the stream of eloquence rolled on. The climax was reached by the address of one Seth Paine. Of him Kenni- cott, apparently with considerable enjoyment, reports: "Seth Paine, with all the fire of his singularly energetic and progressive
"Turner said of the league: " (It) gave us a name, a power, and a foothold. ' ' He said that Murray proposed it. Turner to John P. Keynolds, November 28, 1865, Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5:37; for organization of league see appendix, p. 425.
"Prairie Farmer, February, 1853.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 45
mind, and rather visionary genius, — now most bitterly sarcas- tic— and anon most truly eloquent — denounced the debasing rot- tenness of old customs and usages, and the incubus of the lan- guages of Greece and Rome, sitting like an evil bird on the car of progress, and blighting the young intellect of the age — carry- ing it to the corruption of centuries, long since entombed, but constantly dragged from the sepulchre of the past, to blast the buds of promise in the present, ' '
In spite of so much eloquence the convention, however, did not cut out of the Granville plan the clause relating to a classi- cal department. They approved it, but appended the follow- ing expression : ' ' That it is the opinion of this Convention, that it will never become necessary or expedient to teach the dead lan- guages in the Institution. ' ' One other exception was taken by the convention to the plan ; it disapproved of the section suggesting that instruction by lectures or otherwise should be given mostly in the colder months of the year and expressed the opinion that for many reasons the warmer months were preferable.
In the very significant concluding paragraph of his report Kennicott says : ' ' And now shall we succeed in our undertak- ing ? We answer, Yes. Most likely not this year, nor next, per- haps not the year after ; but ultimate success is certain, because it is indispensible to the destiny of the Anglo-American race, and the true position of labor. We put our prediction on record, and will stand or fall by it. We know that we shall succeed, as certainly as we know there is a God, and as surely as we believe there is a hereafter."35
Kennicott 's faith was not the blind sort. The opposition that had already developed made him aware that only by hard work, much sacrifice, and long persistent effort could they hope for ultimate success. He and his co-workers had just organized for these very things, and their later actions and the results ob- tained were to be the acid test that would determine whether his words were real prophecy or merely idle prediction.
It is interesting at this time, a little more than a year after the launching of the Granville plan, to note the attitude of Tur- ner to the whole movement. The plan had been subject to search-
*5Prairie Farmer, February, 1853.
46 History University of Illinois
ing criticism and the motives of its author questioned and even attacks made upon his character. Nevertheless in a letter to Bronson Murray of LaSalle, Illinois, December 1, 1852, he ex- presses unbounded confidence in the plan and in its ultimate suc- cess. He writes :36 "Yours of the 27th of November is at hand, and I embrace at once a few moments, though it is approaching mid- night to reply. I am pleased with the general doings at the Con- vention.37 I think it will do good and indeed all agitation will do good. As regards the details of a plan, I conceive that we can- not profitably urge anything more than a mere general outline, defining our ends and aims, not fully our modes of reaching them, before the people. Let us get the thing started, and get the people awake about it, then we can urge the details if need be before the Trustees or responsible Corporation who alone can decide upon them."38
"In the nature of things they cannot be decided in popular conventions though there each one can and should give his own ideas freely. As regards my plan as it is called, but as I should prefer more properly to say, the plan of the Granville Conven- tion (for it is theirs in truth) I have no fears about it, it will cut its own way (and has done it) if we can only get any plan; in motion.
"Its main features are indestructable as time itself, because they are true, let who will oppose. -And there is a vitality in truth which no man, and no convention of men can destroy, though they may oppose and hinder it for a time.
' ' The idea is out upon the world, it has gone into all the lead- ing journals, North, South, East and West, and it will cut its way, in time, in spite of all conventions, on earth, because true. There is not a college in the United States that will not be com- pelled to adopt its leading ideas. This college here has done it already. All others in the state will be forced to it soon. They grumble at me for throwing out such an idea upon the world. But the trouble is, they can't help themselves.
86Turner to Murray, December 1, 1852, Murray manuscripts.
"Referring to the third convention held at Chicago on November 24, 1852.
88Turner had been appointed on a committee for this purpose by the third convention.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 47
"Here lies the ground of my calm and tranquil security about the Granville plan, and this is the reason why I am not anx- ious to urge it. I know it will cut its own way if not forestalled, and even then after a little time. For the moment any state or body of men attempt to do anything efficiently and in good faith, for the individual classes as such, they will be driven of necessity upon the main features of that plan, not because it has been voted for or against, but because it is true. It meets the case, and will be found to do so, and anything essentially different, will be found not to meet the necessities of the case. Only get the ship launched, and my word for it the wheels, engines and boilers will all be found needful, and adopted because so found. However extravagant and absurd it may seem now to the classic canoemen, and the old Tars of the Masthead, and the thousand little fry that swim in their wake : They will matter of course about the jingle and clatter and cost of the machinery, and long for the good old days of cotton sails filled with Greek and Latin wind but they will find out how this ship works and must ~be worked if we can only get her launched."
Then after adjuring unity among the friends of the cause and urging patience under accusations that they may win others to their support, he closes with these significant sentences: "I have been branded in the public prints, as an infidel, a miscreant and a traitor. But I care not a straw for it all. Truth is mighty and will prevail, and already, even in one short year there are more for us than against us, and what have we to fear, even if more should combine against us ? ' '
By resolution of the third convention it was arranged that a similar body should meet at Springfield during the early days of January, 1853, for the express purpose of exerting its influ- ence at short range upon the legislature of the state. An extract from the Ottawa Free Trader for November 24, 1852, indicates the immediate reasons for the convention. "In pursuance of a res- olution of the Chicago Industrial Education Convention, a sim- ilar body will meet at Springfield on the 8th of January next.
"It is manifestly important that those who are .friendly to this enterprise should exhibit their interest by attending this convention. The next legislature may make a final decision of
48
History University of Illinois
the disposition of the Seminary Fund, and if our mechanics would have a word in the matter, the Springfield Convention may be their last opportunity. ' '
Other papers of the state announced the coming convention and also printed a call for a meeting to organize a state agricul- tural society at the same time and place. The Illinois Journal in announcing the convention urged attendance for the following reasons: "The sanction of the people through their represen- tatives is yet to be obtained, money or lands or both are to be ap- propriated, opposition is to be overcome and prejudices to be re- moved, and all this must be done by the friends of the Institu- tion, or it will not be done at all. To get all this, there is no better way than to attend the conventions, discuss the various plans proposed, and if possible secure unity of action ; this done, and one of the greatest obstacles in the way, will be overcome/'39 In answer to the call prominent men from all over the state as- sembled in Springfield, January 4, 1853, for the sessions of the fourth industrial convention, which was an adjourned meeting of the third convention.40 Bronson Murray of LaSalle was made president and John W. Gray of Sangamon, secretary pro tern. At the opening of the session, Murray made a brief and pointed address. Among other things he said : — ' ' The nearest approaches to the present idea of this convention, which has ever been car- ried into practice, are the Polytechnic School in France and the High Schools of New York. These are intended to afford to the scholar thorough scientific knowledge in those pursuits he designs following in after life. But the idea of creating perfect mechan- ics and farmers, by schools fitted for their theoretical and prac- tical education, in every branch, has never yet been carried out in any country in the world; if we except one, which has been started within the past year in the state of New York, by private means. This one has grown up from the movements in this state.
39Editorial in Illinois Journal, January 1, 1853.
40Mrs. Carriel gives the date of the fourth convention as January 8, 1853. Errors copied perhaps from some paper, for the minutes of the meet- ing in Turner 's manuscript and in Springfield papers of the time give the date as January 4, 5, and 6, 1853. The same error is copied in one place by James, Origin of the Land Grant Act, 89.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 49
And to accomplish similar work for ourselves and for posterity, is the object of our convention today. "41
By virtue of the resolution adopted by the third convention the chair appointed A. C. French, D. L. Gregg, and L. S. Pen- nington a committee to memorialize congress on the subject of a grant of land for the establishment of an industrial university. At the evening session this committee, by Dr. Pennington re- ported the form of memorial to be sent to congress.42
The committee on business, Murray, Lumsden, and Gray re- ported several matters of importance for the consideration of the convention, and after a careful discussion a recommendation was made in each instance. In pursuance of the will of the conven- tion the chair appointed Turner of Morgan, Weston of LaSalle, and Dychus of Sangamon a committee to consult with the newly organized state agricultural society in regard to securing a per- iodical which would serve as the official organ of the industrial league and of the agricultural society as well. It was decided that the officers of the league should hold their positions until others should be chosen at a regularly called meeting; that the directors of the league should be instructed to take charge of the records and documents of the league and deliver them to the secretary, when that officer should be elected ; that the principal director should be ex-officio treasurer and should report to his associate directors annually ; that a meeting of the league might be called at any time by a vote of the majority of the members.
In regard to the forming of a detailed plan for the proposed industrial university the convention resolved that it was not ex- pedient to consider such a matter ii? popular meetings, and that it should be left to the trustees of the new institution. The recommendation of the committee that material throw- ing light on the needs of the working classes be read before the convention was adopted and fulfilled; a similar provision re- garding newspaper extracts dealing with industrial universities was referred to a later meeting. The proposition to provide a
"The address was given in full in Ottawa Free Trader, January 22, 1853. His mention of the institution established in New York from the movement in Illinois has reference to the Buffalo Patriot copying Turner's plan. See above, p. 38.
42For summary of this memorial see below, p. 52; for the memorial itself see appendix, p. 431.
50 History University of Illinois
lecture for each evening during the session was referred back to the committee.43
In addition to the above business the following important resolution was adopted : ' ' Resolved : That the chair appoint a committee of three to present a memorial to the Legislature, peti- tioning that the University funds of this State may remain as they are until the majority of the people shall indicate a desire to ap- propriate it to other uses. ' ' In conformity with the above res- olution the chair appointed on that committee L. L. Bullock, L. W. Weston and James McBurney. On request of this committee Turner wrote after the adjournment of the convention a mem- orial which was signed by the president, Bronson Murray, and presented immediately to the legislature as ordered by above res- olution.44
The members of this convention aided their cause greatly by adjourning on Wednesday afternoon and evening, January 5, to enable members to attend the meeting called to organize the Illi- nois state agricultural society. On the morning of the 6th of January, the convention reassembled in the state house and for- mally closed its sessions by resolutions furnishing the newspapers of the city with copy of the proceedings for publication.45
Not for more than seven years did another industrial con- vention meet in Illinois.46 Not that the work for the cause was abandoned but rather because it was turned in a different di- rection. Popular conventions gave place to methods of a differ- ent kind such as organizing those friendly to their cause into
43For the minutes of this meeting see appendix, p. 405.
^For this memorial see appendix, p. 406.
450n the evening of January 7, 1853, there was a public meeting in the senate chamber at which Bronson Murray presided; brief addresses were made by Turner, Paine, Denio, Lumsden, Ballance, Murray, and Bryan. Illinois Journal, January 8, 1853. Abstract of addresses reported by Lums- den in Ottawa Free Trader, January 22, 1853.
46The statement by Mr. Pillsbury that a fifth convention was held in Springfield in 1855 is correct. Illinois School Eeports, 1886-1888, p. cxxiii. Turner, however, does not count it as one of the series of industrial conven- tions. He says the fifth convention was held at Bloomington in 1860. Illi- nois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5:38. The call went out for the convention but only a few of the leaders responded. For actions taken at this meeting January, 1855, and the call see below, p. 81.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 51
the industrial league and getting educational conventions, ag- ricultural and horticultural societies, and even individuals to back them up in the various ways in which influence would count.
The leaders of the conventions just held followed up their numerous speeches and resolutions by specific action that brought immediate and very definite results.
Two memorials were prepared ; one by J. B. Turner, signed by Bronson Murray, was addressed to the senate and the house of the state of Illinois, and a similar one reported by the com- mittee headed by Governor French was addressed to congress. As the wording of this second memorial is identical in many places with that of the first, confessedly written by Turner, it is very probable that he wrote the one addressed to congress as well. The memorial addressed to the legislature was presented in the senate by Mr. Cook, January 20, 1853, and two days later it was read before the house by Mr. Moulton from the committee on education and five hundred copies of it were ordered printed.47
This memorial rehearsed the needs of an industrial uni- versity and urged the application of the "university fund" for its support. It turned then from consideration of Illinois inter- ests only and requested the legislature to take definite action and to use its influence with congress in behalf of each of the states of the American union. The most important paragraph of this memorial, for which every land grant institution in this country would have the keenest gratitude if they knew and understood its significance, is as follows: "We would, therefore, respect- fully petition the honorable Senate and House of Kepresentatives of the State of Illinois, that they present a united memorial to the Congress now assembled at Washington, to appropriate to each State in the Union an amount of public lands, not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars, for the liberal endow- ment of a system of Industrial Universities, one in each State in the Union, to co-operate with each other, and with the Smith- sonian Institute at Washington, for the more liberal and practical education of our industrial classes and their teachers, in their various pursuits, for the production of knowledge and literature
"House Journal, 18 general assembly, 1 session, 184; Senate Journal, 18 general assembly, 1 session, 102.
52 History University of Illinois
needful in those pursuits, and developing, to the fullest and most perfect extent, the resources of our soil and our arts, the virtue and intelligence of our people, and the true glory of our common country."48 It was also asked that the college fund, if not ap- propriated for the university proposed, should for the present, be held as it had been for years, and the interest thereon applied to the support of common schools.49
The memorial to congress presented by A. C. French and his committee bore the following introductory paragraph: ''The Industrial Convention of the State of Illinois assembled at Springfield, Illinois, this fifth day of January 1853.
"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, would respectfully represent that
"We are members of the Industrial class engaged in the va- rious pursuits of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. We find our- selves ' '
It closed with the appeal for an appropriation by congress to each state of an amount of land not less in value than $500,000.50
The members of the general assembly now seemed very will- ing to listen to the appeals for industrial education although only six months before, in June, 1852, there were not a dozen men favorable to this movement. "Why this sudden and unex- pected attitude of consideration ? Turner explains : ' ' We found the Legislature surprisingly changed. They listened to us with much respect, and with an unexpected degree of favor. The people had turned their attention seriously to the subject, and
we appeared before them not as one or 'two d d abolitionists,
seeking to rob the dear children, and turn the world in general upside down,' but as an organized force, that could command votes, and therefore, at least, would have respect. "51
48Turner, Industrial Universities for the People, 43.
49 A discussion of the origin and uses of the "college" and "univer- sity" funds will be found below, p. 156.
BOFrom a copy in long hand signed by each member of the committee and found in a letter by Lumsden to Turner, January 13, 1853, Turner manuscripts (Springfield.) See appendix, p. 430 for letter and the memorial.
^Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5:37.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 53
After discussion of the memorial the legislature unanimously passed the following preamble and resolutions, which were in- troduced in the house by Mr. Denio on February 5, and in the senate by Mr. Moulton on February 8 :
11 Whereas the spirit and progress of this age and country demand the culture of the highest order of intellectual attain- ment, in theoretical and industrial science ; and whereas it is im- possible that our commerce and prosperity will continue to in- crease, without calling into requisition all the elements of in- ternal thrift arising from the labors of the farmer, the mechanic, and the manufacturer, by every fostering effort within the reach of government; and whereas a system of industrial universities liberally endowed, in each state of the Union, co-operative with each other and with the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, would develop a more liberal and practical education among the people, tend the more truly to intellectualize the rising gen- eration, and eminently conduce to the virtue, intelligence and true glory of our common country; therefore, be it
RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- TIVES, THE SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, That our senators in congress be instructed and our representatives be requested to use their best exertions to procure the passage of a law of congress donating to each state in the Union an amount of public lands, not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars, for the liberal endowment of a system of industrial uni- versities, one in each state in the Union, to co-operate with each other, and with the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, for the more liberal and practical education of our industrial classes and their teachers ; a liberal and varied education, adapted to the manifold wants of a practical and enterprising people, and a provision for such educational facilities, being in manifest con- currence with the intimations of popular will, it urgently de- mands the united effort of our national strength.
RESOLVED, That the governor is hereby authorized to for- ward a copy of the foregoing resolution to our senators and rep- resentatives in congress, and also to the executive and the legis-
54 History University of Illinois
lature of each of our sister states, inviting them to co-operate with us in this meritorious enterprise. ' '52
These resolutions were sent to the federal congress where they were presented in the senate and in the house of represen- tatives on the same date, March 20, 1854. In the senate they were presented by the junior senator from Illinois, Honorable James Shields, and referred to the committee on public lands, and in the house they were presented by Elihu B. Washburn and on his motion ordered to lie on the table and be printed.53
The last clause of these resolutions authorized the Governor to forward copies to the executive and legislature of each of the states. Whether this was ever carried out in full is doubtful. In a letter to Bronson Murray of December 27, 1853, Turner wrote : ' ' That unanimous resolve of both Houses last winter, I do not believe was ever forwarded to a single state by (Governor) Mateson, nor is it even published among the laws."54 In the same letter he urges Murray to write to the secretary of state and find out what had been done with those resolutions and ' ' to push them up" before the close of the winter session.
The resolutions were widely published in newspapers throughout the country. The Illinois Daily Journal published them on February 10, 1853, referred to them again favorably on February 18, and on March 12 it quoted the New York Tri- bune's editorial on the subject. The Central Illinois Times of Bloomington and other papers printed them, and they appeared in the Prairie Farmer of Chicago in January, 1854.
Outside of Illinois they received distinguished recognition and consideration from Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune. In an editorial in the Tribune of February 26, 1853, and again in the semi-weekly Tribune of March 1, 1853, after quoting the resolutions of the Illinois legislature, he stated :
' ' Here is the principle contended for by the friends of prac- tical education abundantly affirmed, with a plan for its immedi-
52House Journal, 18 general assembly, 1 session, 416; Senate Journal, 18 general assembly, 1 session, 372; see Illinois Journal, February 10, 1853, for brief remarks by Senators Bryan and O 'Kean ; both were favorable to the resolutions.
^Congressional Globe, 22 congress, 1 session, 86, 678.
"Turner to Murray, December 27, 1853, Murray manuscripts.
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 55
ate realization. And it is worthy of note that one of the most extensive of the Public Lands (or new) states, proposes a mag- nificent donation of Public Lands to each of the states, old as well as new, in furtherance of this idea. Whether that precise form of aid to the project is most judicious and likely to be effective, we will not here consider. Suffice it that the legislature of Illinois has taken a noble step forward, in a most liberal and patriotic spirit, for which its members will be heartily thanked by thousands throughout the union. We feel that this step has materially hastened the coming of Scientific and Practical Edu- cation for all who desire and are willing to work for it. It can- not come too soon."55
The press of the day wherever these resolutions were dis- cussed gave credit to Illinois for initiating this particular move- ment. More than twelve years later after success had been won Turner made the statement "that the legislature of Illinois was the first political body that ever petitioned congress, or any power, for such a grant. ' '56
Another important event of January, 1853, and in a large measure a result of the two recent industrial conventions was the formation of the Illinois state agricultural society. It was organized on January 5, 1853, in Springfield. Among the organ- izers and leading spirits were Bronson Murray, John Kenni- cott, J. B. Turner, L. L. Bullock and others who were leaders in the movement for industrial education. The latter cause won undoubtedly an accession of valuable friends by this new organi- zation which for many years was a strong supporter of an in- dustrial university. The society was incorporated on Febru- ary 8, 1853, and on February 11 following it was granted the sum of $1000 per annum for two years by the legislature.57
The first state fair of the society was held the following autumn at Springfield. On invitation of the executive commit- tee J. B. Turner delivered the first annual address on that oc-
KIllinois Journal, March 12, 1853.
"Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5:37. In his state- ment the words ' ' for such a grant ' ' are to be interpreted carefully.
57For account of the organization and acts referred to see Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 1:38-42.
56 History ^University of Illinois
casion at the fair grounds on the subject of ' ' The millennium of labor. " It was a masterful and convincing address. A few significant paragraphs will indicate the trend of his thought.
"And shall it not always be said that it was reserved for the laborers in this great valley of the far west to take under their charge the last great social and moral interest and neces- sity of man— THE CAUSE OF LIBERAL INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION — and thus prepare the way fully for the great triumph and millennium of labor ;
"I would covet for myself and for my children no higher earthly distinction than the capacity, the knowledge and science requisite to cultivate in the best possible manner 160 acres of our prairie land, and discharge thereon all the necessary duties of an American free laborer. And if I had it I should know more at this moment than all the professors and teachers and scholars, statesmen, lawyers and divines that have ever trod this continent since Columbus first bowed his knee upon its eastern sands.
"But I have it not — and I see no certain causes in actual operation adequate to secure it to me or to you or to our chil- dren after us ; and to urge you to create the means of ushering in this era of intelligence and power for your professions and for the world is; the object of my present theme
"But to work this transformation or rather to complete it we need more practical science and skill, and to get these we must apply the means and resources for creating them.
"Doubtless you are aware that several conventions of farmers and mechanics have been held in our own state and in other states to secure this great end. You are also aware that the legislature of our own state had the high honor to be the first in this great confederation of republics to invoke our sister states to unite in a petition to the general government for an appropriation of $500,000 worth of our vacant lands for the en- dowment in each state in the Union of an Industrial University suited to their wants.
"You are also aware that the same legislature chartered an Industrial League in this state, with a capital of $20,000, de-
Illinois Plan for Land Grant Colleges 57
signed to secure the concentrated and organized action of all our industrial classes for these same ends.
"But while our representatives and senators have thus with almost unparalleled unanimity manifested a disposition to do all in their power to aid us, we must bear in mind that they can- not help us unless we help ourselves. You must be first to move, first to resolve, petition and to act, talk — talk at home — talk abroad — and above all, talk at the ballot-box and then and not till then will your representatives in congress stand ready to execute your will."58
Another important result of the convention was the organi- zation of the Industrial league of the state of Illinois. It was in- corporated by the legislature on February 8, 1853, the same day that the Illinois state agricultural society was incorporated. Its purpose was to combine the friends of industrial education in an organization to secure the adoption of the plan for a university in Illinois and in each state in the union and to obtain the liberal endowment of the new institutions by federal grants of land and by state funds. The league grew into a powerful instrument during the next year and a half for the accomplishment of the purposes for which it was established.
Besides adopting memorials, passing joint resolutions, in- corporating an agricultural society and an industrial league, the legislature did still other things along educational lines in the early days of February, 1853. A bill to incorporate the "In- dustrial university of the state of Illinois" was introduced, but finally tabled. A bill for an act to incorporate the "Northern Illinois Agricultural college" was passed and became a law Feb- ruary 12, 1853. On February 3, 1853, the legislature amended an act it had passed on June 21, 1852, establishing an institution by the name of t ' Illinois state university. ' '
^Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 1:60.
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History JJniversity of Illinois
CHAPTER III ACTIVITY OF THE INDUSTRIAL LEAGUE
The need of an industrial league was realized or of course it would not have been deliberately organized. But the full sig- nificance of its work both in Illinois and in other states even its founders could not have anticipated. It gave the leaders a stand- ing before the public that they could not have acquired other- wise. It brought together in an organized body many people throughout the state who believed in, and were willing to do something for the education of the industrial classes. In the very process of organizing it was possible to carry these ideas of industrial education to the various communities and to edu- cate many as to their own needs and their opportunities.
The first public proposal for the organization of the Illinois industrial league was made at the third industrial convention in Chicago, November 24, 1852. The author of the idea, as has been noted, was Bronson Murray of Ottawa. In a letter to Tur- ner, dated ' ' Ottawa, Nov. 18, 1852. ' ' he stated his purpose : "I have concluded to start the league at the Convention I pro- pose the object of that league to be, the dissemination of knowl- edge or information upon the subject of the University and the securing of its creation by the legislature by means of publica- tions for gratuitous circulation, lecturers to visit all parts of the state, and the defraying of expenses incident thereto '?1
Immediately following the chartering of the league by the legislature in February, 1853, Turner, as principal director, en- tered into a contract with Dr. R. C. Rutherford to lecture throughout the state in the interests of the league. He did this only after careful consideration. He says of Rutherford in a letter of January, 1853, to Bronson Murray: "He is an experi- enced, apt and popular lecturer — a gentleman who can adapt himself to all classes, the most learned and refined as well as the least. ' ' Then after stating the terms on which Rutherford would take the lecture field for the league Turner continues : "I can- Murray to Turner, November 18, 1852, Turner manuscripts.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 59
not but regard this as a sort of a God-send to us, but it may strike you differently. I have never known a man in the state so successful as a popular lecturer as Dr. Kutherford has been or so acceptable to all classes. ' '
Two paragraphs from the contract with Rutherford show very definitely the purposes of the league as set forth by its prin- cipal director and the arduous duties imposed upon the lecturer who was soon to take the field :
"1. He shall devote his whole time and energy to the ser- vice of the League by lectures and otherwise as hereafter speci- fied. Using his best endeavor to make known the principles and the objects of the league, and especially its aim as respects the endowment of an Industrial University in all the States for the benefit of the industrial classes particularly, as well as for all others — He shall use his best endeavors to appoint in each neigh- borhood a sufficient number of competent agents of the League, whose duty it shall be to solicit the names, subscriptions and do- nations of members and of others and remit moneys collected and report the names of members monthly to the Chief Director of the League.
11 It is proposed that the principal towns in the north of the State shall be visited, and as soon and as fast as practicable, the lectures and discussions shall be carried into all the smaller towns and school districts of the State — and all practicable means used to diffuse information, excite interest, obtain mem- bers and subscriptions as above indicated among all ranks and classes of Society in the State. ' '2
The contract specified that the lecturer should have his ex- penses paid and receive six hundred dollars salary and twenty- five per cent of monies remaining after expenses of the league were paid. On account of pressing family needs it was several months after the above agreement was made before Rutherford was able to enter on his work for the league.3
Meantime Turner and Murray were exerting themselves to
"Memorandum of agreement between Butherford and Turner, February 19, 1853, Turner manuscripts.
3Kutherford to Turner, April 1, 1853, Turner manuscripts. The exact date for Kutherford to begin work was not set in the contract.
60 History University of Illinois
finance the work that was now upon them. It was fortunate for their undertakings that Mr. Murray was a man of considerable wealth and was willing to use some of it in this cause. Time and again as shown by his correspondence with Turner he backed up the work of the league by loans, by giving his own personal checks, and by granting the use of his credit. Turner relied greatly upon the good judgment and executive ability of his friend Murray. On February 23, 1853, just after making the contract with Rutherford, Turner wrote Murray on the subject of finances as follows : ' i You mentioned that I could draw on the funds of the Chicago Convention for a certain amount — I for- get how much — and whom besides yourself. I would like now to make the draft if I could, so as to get Stephens hold of the work for the league as this cannot be done without money and my own business and collections have been so much neglected this year that I shall not be able either to collect or advance anything of my own in all probability till after payment for next sales com- mission in full — nor then if I neglect it as much as I have been obliged to neglect it for the past months. A line from Dr. Ken- nicott shows him to be in good heart still — same of other friends. ' '
The statements above indicate something of the sacrifice, of money and property, of time and comfort that these farmers were making in the interests of a great educational movement.
While organizing the league these men were keeping a wary eye upon the activities of the legislature, which, although it had shown itself friendly, might at any moment do something to up- set all their well laid plans. Early in February, Turner thought something of this kind had occurred. In alarm he wrote to Mur- ray: ' 'I am in distress again — I was just exulting in our com- plete triumph when I heard, through Lumsden, that a bill was pending for a Charter for the University!!
"I do not know but he and others may have alluded to this before — to me, but if so I always supposed they referred to a charter for the league.
"I have written Lumsden to know something more of the facts and to have him suspend it if possible."4 Turner went on in his letter to explain how dangerous it was at that time to pro- burner to Murray, February 5, 1853, Turner manuscripts.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 61
pose such, a bill without due reflection and consultation among the friends of the cause.
The bill alluded to by Turner was in good hands as it proved. George Lumsden immediately explained his motive in introducing the bill in the legislature at that time in a letter to Murray which, reveals his own interest and activity as well as much of the general feeling of the time.
" Springfield, 111., Feb. 16, 1853. B. Murray, Esq.
My Dear friend : Yours of the 12th reached me today. I have just finished writing some dozen letters, and mailing some forty circulars. I intend to forward them to all the states and territories, even that of Utah! I called upon Gov. Matteson to- day, and gave him some forty or fifty to send into the several states. I asked his opinion of the project of an Industrial Uni- versity. He is quite favorable. He is likewise disposed to ex- amine a plan for an 'Industrial University' — similar in its gov- ernment to our Military Schools and under the control of the State. My object is to have him report a synopsis of it in his next message, and have the posts well guarded in House and Senate. I have examined the plan of the Cambridge — 'Harvard Uni.' and Va. University, also the Military Schools. The funds in the hands of this State obtained from the sales of lands appropriated by U. S. expressly for the use of a College or University, and the 2 townships for the establishment of a Seminary of Learning, cannot, by the law & compact of the grant, be ultimately used for any other purpose. The State can loan the funds to any pur- pose, but cannot apply them for any other purpose than for what they were given. The law is imperative on this point, & is simi- lar in Missouri and other States. But the latest notion which the 'Priests of Baal' have deigned to utter — is, that 'the State is in- competent to control the subject of education'! 'Where it has been tried, it has signally failed'! 'That the Church alone is competent to educate the people'!!!! I told the Protestant Priest who said this to me, that he had better keep such thoughts to himself, or else we should know where to place him. This is the very argument of the papists. If our modern protestants are
62
History University of Illinois
going back in principle, they had better assume the name with full honors.
"Well, you seem to express alarm at the work I have been about, when there is really no occasion for any whatever. I knew that the only way to get at our object, was to bring the subject right up in the Legislature — have it discussed and let it be re- ferred to some committee. But you need not fear but what I had all the matter in my mind. The rough outline was passed straight through the House — the amendment stuck on to it in the Senate, and had it been adopted & gone into the House, I should have had it there made perfect, and just to our notion. The dis- cussion alone was worth all the trouble and pains I spent in the matter. In fact it was primarily for no other object than this, — and to have its title go out among the proceedings of the House and Senate. This would make the Sinners in Zion quake with very fear! And, I tell you, I have had my own sport over the long and wry faces manifested by those ' Presidential College- men.' (Prest. Wood has * looked daggers' at me more than a dozen times. He spent over two weeks here, & was back & forth the best part of four weeks. This is the key to the whole story.)
"The 'Northern Industrial College' is the title of that Char- ter. It was amended on its passage. It is a good & liberal Char- ter & will incite to a greater attention on the subject. ' My Bill' was referred to the Judiciary Committee (Senate) and was re- ported back & laid on table, for want of time to give it that con- sideration the subject merited. Mr. Judd attended to it for me, & did with it as I requested, as it would be all right. But I ' don 't intend to give it up so, Mr. Brown'. Year in & year out shall we make appeals to the people, and to the Assembly in their behalf. Next time we shall have a good Bill — fully submitted to all the friends — and with this [cut from letter] mendation of the Gov- ernor. I have written to Messrs. Yates, Seward, Giddings, Shields and Douglas, besides to the Patent office and Secretary of the Interior — & sent them Circulars. Also to Govs. Seymour, N. Y. & Wright, Ind., to many Agri. Mech. and general papers, etc.
"We wish every impediment removed, and the best educa- tional facilities free to the people ; free as the sunlight that fall-
Activity Illinois Industrial League 63
eth every where, and practical as everyman's pursuits in life. We wish the sanctities of God 's science to consecrate the alliance of Thought and Labor, of Hand & Brain, — that greater impetus may be given industrial science, as well as all other. "We wish to elevate the standard of Scientific and human culture, bettering our race, and giving the genius and resources of a free people ampler development. There must, then, be a common interest felt in all our movements.
' ' Tell me if I shall send you or bring you more of the circu- lars? I find that it will require a few dollars of blue stamps & envelopes to mail what I have on hand — but we must do this to accomplish what we want. It has cost me $6 for cir. stamps and envelopes already. I am short of funds, but will try and get up in your region as soon as possible. I have no reason to remain here much longer. ' '5
Lumsden took the trouble to go to Jacksonville early in March to explain his actions. Turner was entirely satisfied for he wrote Murray that Lumsden had managed the thing well.6 In this same letter Turner discusses the possibility of having John Davis of Decatur lecture in the southern part of the state for the league. The arrangement was never perfected, probably for the lack of sufficient funds.
During the summer of 1853 Murray and Turner succeeded in devising a design for the diplomas or certificates that they is- sued to members of the league.7 They paid much attention to this detail for they were anxious to interest the public. They also succeeded in raising the money to print the pamphlet which con- tained the address of Turner to the people on the subject of in- dustrial universities, as well as a report on work already accom- plished. This was done in compliance with resolutions of the Chicago and Springfield conventions and under the industrial league of Illinois.
6Lumsden to Murray, February 16, 1853, Turner manuscripts. The circular referred to is one containing Turner's plan and not the industrial league pamphlet issued a little later. The signature is missing from the letter but on the side margin of the first page the following appears in Murray's writing: "1853 G. L. Lumsden Springfield, Feby. 16 An. (an- swered) 23 Enclosing 10."
'Turner to Murray, March 15, 1853, Turner manuscripts.
7For a picture of the design see p. 15-16.
64
History University of Illinois
In this address Turner expressed rather fully his own views and those of the leaders of this movement on the general subject of industrial education. As the entire pamphlet is published in full in the appendix, space is taken for two paragraphs only, in order to show the drift of his argument and the vigor of his style. " Where did Socrates, the wisest of the Greeks, and Cincinnatus, the most illustrious of the Romans— Washington, the father of America, and Franklin, and Sherman, and Kossuth, and Down- ing, and Hugh Miller, and a whole host of worthies, too numer- ous to mention, get their education ? They derived it from their connection with the practical pursuits of life, where all other men have got theirs, so far forth as it has proved of any practical use to themselves or the world.
"What we want from schools is, to teach men, more dull of apprehension, to derive their mental and moral strength, from their own pursuits, whatever they are, in the same way, and on the same principles, and to gather from other sources as much more as they find time to achieve. We wish to teach them to read books, only that they may the better read and understand the great volume of nature, ever open before them."8
As an illustration of the trouble taken to get this pamphlet to the reading public a quotation is given from the Ottawa Free Trader of November, 1853, a few weeks after the pamphlet was published: "The Industrial League have made a report to the people of this State, upon the movement in favor of the Indus- trial University. It is for sale at the post office, in Ottawa, at the cost of printing and paper, and purchasers who have read it may, if they choose, return it and take up their money if they do not seriously deface the copy.
"The terms are fair, and every person who has a son or daughter to educate should read it.
"Now that the United States government has some 10 or 20 millions of surplus monies, which politicians are at a loss how to dispose of constitutionally, it strikes us that this little pam- phlet provides a desirable solution of the difficulty — Farmers and Mechanics are especially invited to attend to this."
8Turner, Industrial Universities for the People, 12 • see appendix, p. 374.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 65
During the summer of 1853 the work of the industrial league was retarded by a struggle which arose over the management of the hospital for the insane at Jacksonville. A group of men commonly spoken of as the " clique " wished to manage the af- fairs of the institution for their own pecuniary benefit and Tur- ner took a leading part in the battle that was waged against them, the outcome of which was not only important in itself but held linked with it the fortune of the university movement.
In a letter to Bronson Murray, Turner explained the gen- eral situation: "This war," he wrote, "has had a direct bear- ing upon our league of industrial interests, and must necessarily delay them all till it is through or ruin them for the present at least if our opponents are not thoroughly defeated.
'"This we all see here but it is too long and complicated a story to explain in a letter — But we feel that they are pretty well used up now, and they feel it more than we do — and I hope for a clear sea, fair wind, and sailors rights even after this most des- perate fight — for all admit that it has been the most desperate fight ever had in the State — But we have given them 'the grape' to their heart 's content and now I hope they will let us alone.
"And if this job is as thoroughly done up as we intend it shall be, and think it now is, the University and other State In- stitutions will hereafter have fair play. ' '9
Much in regard to this sharp controversy found its way into the local press and feelings were aroused to a high pitch, and as the fight grew more bitter it brought suffering to Turner and his family. The acute stage was reached near the middle of October. On the evening of the 13th while Turner was in Springfield, where he had gone to deliver "The millennium of labor " address before the first state fair, his barns and valuable greenhouses were set on fire in three different places. The incendiary hoped to have Turner called home and thus prevent him from making his address but when informed by telegraph that his family was safe Turner concluded not to be outwitted by his enemies and therefore stayed to give the address scheduled. In the end Tur- ner won an important victory in his fight to secure just and hon- •Turner to Murray, August 9, 1853, Turner manuscripts.
66 History University of Illinois
est management of state funds but at a sacrifice that bore heavily upon him and his family.
The week of the first state fair was utilized also for a lecture by R. C. Rutherford who was now in the field in the interests of the league. The papers of the day reported that he gave an able address to hundreds of farmers and mechanics at the state house in Springfield. At the close of his address James N. Brown, a farmer and the first president of the Illinois state agri- cultural society, and Bronson Murray, the corresponding secre- tary of the same society, made earnest pleas for the league and the things for which it stood. ' ' Probably not a person was pres- ent," said the Illinois Daily Journal, "who did not sympathize with this great movement of our state and age."10 Thus the league was entering upon a campaign to carry the principles of industrial education very directly to the people by means of well prepared lectures.
Late in November, 1853, still other plans were undertaken to bring lecturers into the field and to get the press of the state interested. Bronson Murray went to Springfield, November 23, to attend an editorial convention before which he urged the im- portance of newspaper interest in behalf of agriculture. The editors agreed to assist. While there, Murray, after consulta- tion with friends, decided it was best that Turner should be pro- vided with a sufficient sum to enable him to become a lecturer for the league. Immediately he started a subscription paper to raise one thousand dollars for Turner's salary for a year. Each man was to give twenty dollars. Murray was one of five to sign at once. He then wrote Turner what he had done.11
That he was to become a traveling lecturer was by no means pleasant news for Turner and it was still less pleasant for his family who entered a vigorous protest against it. His friends at home, too, thought it would be ruinous to his business for him to leave home for a single year and so thought Turner. He wrote Murray, however, that if there was no other way to accomplish their purpose he would go whatever the sacrifice. "Life is short and soon over, ' ' he said, ' i and our work must be done and if we
^Illinois Journal, October 14, 1853.
"Murray to Turner, November 25, 1853, Murray Manuscripts.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 67
do it well, it will matter little to us through what trials and self denials it is done a thousand years hence."12
That the hardships mentioned above were real enough is in- dicated by a letter to Murray written on Christmas eve, 1853, "I have just returned from Jerseyville — rode twenty-two miles down in a two horse wagon without cover or seats, on the bot- tom— coldest day this season, last Monday. Eode all night home last night in the same way — and have got well paid for my cold, jolting, and watching."
At Jerseyville he had attended a common school convention and had been allowed all the evenings and as much time as he wanted during the day to present his cause. The results were that he signed one hundred and fifty membership diplomas with the prospect that five hundred more would be called for later ; he sold all the league pamphlets he had for ten cents each, and took orders for many more which he was to forward later; he saw the county organized and a county league superintendent or agent chosen ; and above all by this trip he won the certain sup- port of Jersey, Green, and Macoupin counties.13
During the holidays, Turner was busy writing letters to ad- vance the cause and also with the preparation of an address of the Jerseyville convention to the people of the state. The con- vention had insisted he should do this and he had agreed for the sake of getting his ideas through the committee and sanctioned by the convention.
During the next month and a half Turner and Rutherford visited and lectured together in Alton, Upper Alton, Carlinville, and Edwardsville in southern Illinois, and in Chicago, Elgin, and Peoria in northern Illinois. On January 5 and 6, 1854, Tur- ner delivered lectures on common school education and on the industrial league in Alton. Both the Alton Telegraph and the Courier gave notices and reports of the meeting. The effect was satisfactory to Turner and to the people. The Telegraph stated that the lecturer repelled the charge of "new f angled notions," and ' ' visionary schemes, ' ' and held the attention of his audience for nearly two hours. At the close of the address the following
"Turner to Murray, December 8, 1853, Murray manuscripts. "Turner to Murray, December 24, 1853, Murray manuscripts.
68 History University of Illinois
resolution was passed unanimously: "Resolved, that the system of education proposed for the consideration of the people of Illi- nois by the friends of the Illinois Industrial League, is worthy of the highest regard of all classes of our citizens, and especially of our industrial classes, and men of business and property in our towns and great commercial centers. ' >14
On the Monday following the Alton meeting both the lectur- ers spoke before an audience in the Methodist church in Ed- wardsville. They were received in the same favorable way by the people and the press as they had been in Alton. Measures were taken to organize a county industrial league and a set of resolutions similar to those passed by the Alton meeting was adopted.
From Edwardsville they went to Chicago, where they ar- rived on Thursday, January 12, and remained for two weeks. They succeeded in arousing a great deal of comment and discus- sion not only in the meetings held, but in the press of the city. The Daily Tribune, Daily Democrat, Democratic Press, Chicago Journal, Chicago Press, Free West and certain German papers gave notices of the meetings, reports of the addresses, and fre- quent editorials.
The first lecture by Turner was given on the evening of Fri- day, January 13, and the second the evening following. During the next week Rutherford and Turner lectured in each of the public schools of the city. The attention of the city council was drawn to the subject by resolutions of one of the meetings and it voted to authorize the mayor to issue a proclamation calling a mass meeting of citizens. A public hall was appropriated by the council for the meeting, and a resolution passed that that body itself would attend.
The call read as follows i ' ' The citizens of Chicago are re- quested to meet at the South Market Hall this evening, January 25th to take into consideration the subject of establishing an In- dustrial University and State Normal School, and to petition the Legislature to appropriate the Seminary Fund for that purpose.
By order of the Council,
C. M. Gray, Mayor. "
"Alton Telegraph, January 7, 1854; see also Courier, January 7, 1854.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 69
The Mechanics institute, a literary association, took up the matter also and issued the following call to mechanics of Chi- cago : ' ' The Board of Directors of the Mechanics Institute have had under consideration the contemplated meeting of the 'Illi- nois Industrial League* for the purpose of eliciting an expres- sion from the citizens of Chicago, in reference to their plan of an Industrial University, and system of Common Schools. It purports to be a scheme to bring education home to the people of this state — the great industrial classes ; and we are fully per- suaded that this is a cause that demands the immediate attention and instant action of every mechanic in the city. If the plan is what it is represented to be by the press and its numerous ad- vocates, now is the time for the mechanics of this State, jointly with other industrial classes, to assert their rights in respect to this matter of Education for the people.
"The Mechanics of Chicago are hereby especially and earnestly requested to unite and turn out en masse, to meet our friends of the league, at SOUTH MARKET HALL, next Wednesday evening, January 25th, at half past seven o'clock.
P. Graff, Pres.
J. Deer Ives Schovill
E. Me Arthur Nobel Martin
S. D. Childs Geo. P. Hansen
Directors Mechanics Institute. "15
Some of the objections to the plan had been presented to the public by the Democratic Press in temperate language on the day before the mass meeting in an article headed, "Industrial Uni- versity/' Though this paper was the only one which came out with objections, it may have voiced the thoughts and feelings of a considerable number of people. In any case it seems well to note what the objections were:
"A part of the plan is to secure from the state the ' Seminary Fund, ' amounting to about $150,000, and to appropriate the same to the endowment of this Industrial University. Every man and child in the state has an interest in this fund. It has been set sacredly apart for a specific object, and it should not be diverted
"Illinois Journal, January 31, 1854. These calls appeared in many of the Chicago papers.
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from its original destination, unless it is clear that such change will better accomplish the end desired.
"Thus far, with here and there a solitary bad working ex- ception, the higher education of this country has been secured through the agency, or particular patronage, of the religious de- nominations. Almost all the colleges of the land are thus iden- tified and are thus sustained. This remark does not apply to our system of Common Schools, for in these latter institutions only elementary branches have been taught, and the whole people could well unite in their support since they do not, in any respect, influence the religious proclivities or sentiments of the pupils at- tending them. But a new principle steps in the moment the higher institutions are introduced. All history is more or less theological, biography is eminently so, and a man's religious be- lief is sure to be colored by his metaphysics. This being the fact, the different religious denominations of the country have pre- ferred, by voluntary effort, to sustain each its own particular institutions, in which books and teachers of its own selection are employed to give the wished for bias to the youthful minds sent thither.
"Upon this point, as showing how far religious sentiment is directed by the colleges of the country, much might be said, but no more is necessary to carry a correct conception of the diffi- culty which it seems to us lies, in this fact, at the very threshold of the proposed University.
1 ' The money of the whole people is to endow it. Its advan- tages, therefore, should be free alike to all. What works in bi- ography, in history, in metaphysics, will be introduced
But suppose this difficulty to be succesfully overcome, and that all classes of citizens feel an equal interest and an equal pride in the University, — then the inquiry comes up, who of the many thousand youths, each alike entitled to its advantages, are to be* the fortunate recipients? By what rule of right or justice shall the selection be made ? To what Board will the arbitrament of this important question be submitted 1 And what grounds have we for supposing that their awards will be received kindly and submis- sively by the many who are thrust aside for the favored and for- tunate few? For, let it be borne in mind, that unless the system
Activity Illinois Industrial League 71
can be so extended as to bring its advantages within the reach of the sons of every tax-payer of the state, it must forever re- main obnoxious to the charge of this injustice — that it employs the money of one man for the education of the sons of another. It may be possible that such an extension can be effected, but it does not strike us as being among the possibilities.
"Other objections have occurred to us, but these must suf- fice for the present. If what we have already advanced are sat- isfactorily set aside, we shall feel encouraged to offer others. It may be that the friends of the measure have thought over these objections, and they are prepared to show that they have so mod- elled it as to obviate not only them but all others which have oc- curred to us. If this be so, then we have to ask them once more whether it would not be easier and attended with better results, to so modify our present system of Collegiate and University ed- ucation as to answer all demands which are pressing upon it, than it will be to commence at the foundation and build up a system that must necessarily clash more or less with the old one, which it will be admitted seems not only venerable for its antiquity, but to be lived and admired no little for the good it has done."16
The Free West as well as several other Chicago papers pre- sented Turner's arguments for an industrial university. They mentioned now, as had the Granville resolutions some two years before, ' ' that the plan for an Industrial University would not ob- struct, but greatly promote the prosperity of existing literary institutions. The physical and social development promoted by it would only increase the demand for the system of liberal edu- cation which the colleges then furnished."17
The mass meeting of January 25 was entirely satisfactory to the friends of the cause ; it was presided over by the mayor of the city and was well attended by representatives of all profes- sions, and occupations. "Professor Turner's address," said the Illinois Journal, "was an elaborate and very able exposition of the proposed plan for an Industrial University, winding up with an overwhelming reply to the objections raised against it.18 The
^Democratic Press, January 24, 1854. "Free West, about January 24, 1854. ^Illinois Journal, January 31, 1854.
72 History 'University of Illinois
following resolutions were presented by Mr. Collins, who sup- ported them with an able address:
" 'Resolved, That this meeting cordially approves the es- tablishment of an Industrial University in this State and in each State in our Union, in accordance with the unanimous resolves of our Senators and Representatives at the last session of the legislature, and the general plan submitted to the consideration of our people by various conventions and friends of the cause.
" 'Resolved, That we can see no reason why such an insti- tution is not only practicable but peculiarly necessary to the highest perfection and success of our Common Schools, and all our other institutions and interest of whatever sort.
' ' ' Resolved, That we approve of the plan of the voluntary or- ganization or our citizens, so congenial to our habits and so need- ful and efficient in all other causes proposed by the members of the Illinois Industrial League, and would commend this asso- ciation to the favorable regard of all our fellow citizens in the State of Illinois.'
"Mr. J. Y. Scammon seconded the resolutions, and followed Mr. Collins in a powerful argument in favor of the institution, declaring ' he was in for it to the hilt. '
"The resolutions were passed by acclamation, with but one dissenting voice.
"The meeting then closed and the papers were circulated for names of members of a branch league to be formed in this city/719
From Chicago Rutherford and Turner went to Elgin, where at least three lectures were given. A county director and com- mittee of five were chosen to organize the whole county into a league. At this place they did not meet a word of opposition.20
On February 3 and 4 lectures were given in Peoria to good sized audiences. The Daily Press had printed an extended ar- ticle on January 30, 1854, discussing the proposition of ' ' appro- priating the seminary fund for the endowment of an industrial university. " The writer under the name of "Lamda" did not
"Illinois Journal, January 31, 1854.
'"Turner to Murray, January 30, 1854, Murray Manuscripts.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 73
approve, for he thought that the establishment of an industrial university would be in the interest of the few rather than the masses. In his opinion the seminary fund should be used for the public school system. However, the reports of the meetings in the Press, together with those appearing in the Peoria Repub- lican and the Morning News, were entirely favorable.21
At Peoria Rutherford and Turner separated. Turner went direct to Bloomington where on February 9 he addressed a rep- resentative audience on "Education as connected with the es- tablishment of an industrial university, normal and common schools."22 One of the important results of this meeting was the organization of a branch industrial league for McLean county with Jesse Fell as its director. Turner reached home February 11, and immediately wrote Bronson Murray that they had tri- umphed at Elgin and Peoria and that at Bloomington their vic- tory had been more complete that at any other place. "Roe," he wrote, ' ' never opened his mouth after a two hours ' onslaught from me. All there is in the town worth getting we have got. ' '23 Turner valued the fact that Jesse Fell had joined them and twice, . in his letter he advised Murray to confer with Fell and to tell him all he wanted to frankly. The relations of Turner and Fell became very important for the two men worked together in har- mony for the establishment of a state normal school and a state industrial university.
After leaving Turner at Peoria in February Rutherford held meetings alone in sixteen places in northern Illinois. In the order visited they were as follows : Henry, Lacon, Ottawa, Lock- port, Ottawa, Peru, LaSalle, Aurora, Princeton, Moline, Rock Island, Belvidere, Geneseo, Moline, Pekin, and Freeport. Be- sides these sixteen places he canvassed Stephenson county in
21Daily Press (Peoria), January 30, 1854. The. seminary fund by fed- eral law creating if was intended to be used for an institution of higher learning in the state and not for common schools. This subject is discussed below p. 156.
22J. H. Burnham, Some Influences Which Led to the Foundation of the Normal University, 6.
^Turner to Murray, February 12, 1854, Murray manuscripts. Edward Reynolds Eoe was a member of the board of trustees of Illinois Wesleyan college and therefore a natural enemy of the Industrial University idea.
74 History' University of Illinois
company with F. W. S. Brawley, school superintendent of that county.
During this period Rutherford kept Turner informed of the progress he was making by writing letters full of good humor and witticisms that helped no doubt to relieve the strain under which they worked. He kept Murray informed by frequent visits to his home in Ottawa. In regard to the meeting at Henry he wrote: " *I met the enemy and they are ours' — resolu- tions carried by rising vote, every man and woman on their feet."24 He reported taking the names of seventy-one persons for memberships and the sale of sixty copies of the league's re- port at this place: At the next place he took sixty names for memberships and so on seldom obtaining less than twenty-five at any one place.
Rutherford met some opposition. At Ottawa he met a "snag" in the person of a Judge Dickey who felt injured that he had not been consulted about league affairs. In this case he wrote that he thought he had best " float around this snag." At Belvidere he found another situation. ' ' I found a nasty spot of work done up at Belvidere. The adjourned meeting that I spoke about was attended by only from six to ten persons with Elder Rae (Baptist) at their head. They wholly perverted and misrepresented all our aims and propositions and came to the conclusion — one man dissenting and denying their grounds — that they were bound to oppose it whereupon they adjourned. The editor too, a man whose head does 'grow beneath his shoul- ders' with no brains above his cheek bones is out against it with the usual knock down argument ' humbug'."25 Rutherford planned to return there later and straighten things out in good style. However, with the one or two exceptions as shown by Ruth- erf ord's letters and by an article written by him,26 the meetings were well attended and were composed of the most prominent and intelligent citizens of the places visited. In most cases res- olutions were passed endorsing the cause and earnestly recom- mending prompt, energetic, and immediate action on the
24Kutherford to Turner, April 19, 1854, Turner manuscripts. "Kutherford to Turner, April 19, 1854, Turner manuscripts. 2ePrairie Farmer, June, 1854.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 75
part of the whole people for its advancement. Early in the sum- mer of 1854 they found it necessary to suspend the calling of meetings on account of the fact that farmers were busy in their fields.
Besides the campaign of lectures throughout the state the 1 ' industrial ' ' men were not overlooking other agencies that might advance their cause. On December 26, 1853, an important ed- ucational convention was held in Bloomington. It had been called by some thirty persons, twenty of whom were college presidents or professors, and judged by its results it was a very successful meeting. It urged the appointment of a state school superin- tendent and within two months a special session of the legisla- ture authorized such an official. It organized the State teachers' institute which on February 14, 1855, received a charter under the name of the Illinois state teachers ' institute which in turn in December, 1856, was changed to Illinois state teachers' associa- tion. It originated the Illinois Teacher, one of the first notable school journals of the state. It urged the legislature to establish a normal school, which was accomplished some three years later. It advocated a bill for free schools and in 1855 the legislature passed the essential features of the present school law.27
In this convention there were some enemies of Turner and his cause. Bronson Murray wrote Turner on December 30, four days after the convention, that everything went off well at the educational convention. ' ' You were attacked, ' ' he said, ' ' by Rut- ledge and Roe and this brought out some friends of whom I did not know we had any in the Convention save Arney. We were victorious throughout and have the most important committees growing out of the Teachers ' Convention and the most important office for our purpose in the Teachers ' Institute which was formed then/'
The above statement by Murray, later action by other con- ventions, and the friendly relations with such men as Jesse Fell indicate that the industrial movement had become an imposing one in the state.
As a result of the work of Rutherford in Stephensen county, an educational convention was called at Freeport for June 22,
27Burnham, Some of the Influences which led to the Foundation of the Normal University, 5.
76 History University of Illinois
1854. In a letter to Turner, Rutherford confessed that he put the idea into the heads of some friends who carried it forward.28 It was well attended by citizens of Stephenson county and by a goodly number from a distance. The chairman of the conven- tion was John A. Clarke. The principal lectures and speeches were given by the Eeverend Samuel Newberry of Dubuque, Iowa, J. B. Turner, Bronson Murray, and Dr. Rutherford. A young Mr. Clarke, brother of the chairman, was reported by Dr. Kenni- cott to have made the best individual speech.
Although many attended as opponents of the industrial uni- versity plan all the resolutions introduced by the friends of the plan were unanimously adopted. The convention resolved: to approve of the industrial league and its plans ; to call on the leg- islature to appropriate the university fund for an industrial uni- versity and the seminary fund for a normal school ; and to ask congress to appropriate lands for the endowment of an indus- trial university in each state of the union.29
Besides the lectures and conventions of this year there was great activity of a political nature among the friends of the league. They felt it essential, judging from their past experi- ences, to have political power back of their movement if they were to succeed.
In February and March friends of Turner made an attempt to persuade Governor Joel A. Matteson to appoint Turner state superintendent of public instruction, an office that had just been created. On February 27 Bronson Murray addressed a letter to the governor urging Turner's appointment. Turner wrote his friends that he did not want the office but he would be guided by their desires. Many petitions in behalf of Turner were sent to the governor from various parts of the state. Opposition in Democratic ranks was too powerful, however, and Matteson be- ing a Democrat naturally was much influenced by it. He did not appoint Turner, but did appoint Ninian W. Edwards instead.30
^Rutherford to Turner, April 30, 1854, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
^For an account of this convention see Prairie Farmer, August, 1854, and Illinois Journal, July 25, 1854.
*°In saying this there is no intention of casting any reflection on Edwards. He was well known in the state, having been attorney-general and a member of the legislature. He was the son of a former governor and had many influential friends.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 77
It is quite possible that Governor Matteson feared such a staunch opponent of corruption as Turner, for the governor was involved even at this time in certain questionable doings for some of which he was later indicted by the grand jury of Sangamon county.31
Later in the year friends of Bronson Murray considered him as a possible candidate either for the state legislature or as a representative from his district to congress, but for various rea- sons these plans failed. It is possible that these men were not astute enough to hope to win in the political field. However, they were not very much disappointed for they were not making poli- tics an end in itself but endeavoring to employ it as a means to accomplish their main purpose, advancement of industrial ed- ucation, as is clearly evident from their confidential correspon- dence.
The movement for a state university or for a state agricul- tural college was beginning in other states. Many of them were watching with keen interest what was transpiring in Illinois. Dr. George F. Magoun of Burlington, Iowa, later the first pres- ident of Iowa college, Grinnell, in a letter of February 25, 1854, asked Turner for information which he and others might lay be- fore the people of Iowa who were soon to take up the question of a state university. A. G. Henry of Lafayette, Oregon terri- tory, a representative-elect to the legislature, asked for a detailed plan of a state industrial university and pledged his support to the Illinois movement. In April President Henry P. Tappan of the University of Michigan wrote that he approved of congress granting lands to educational institutions and that he was wil- ling to enter into a league to bring this about. In May President F. G. Gary of College Hill, Ohio, invited Turner to deliver an address before an industrial convention, adding that he re- garded the work Turner was doing " as the great work of the age, and one vital to the physical interests and well being of our country. "
Turner replied to this letter in such manner as greatly to
flBateman and Selby, Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Sangamon county, 1:356.
78 History University of Illinois
impress President Gary and the board of trustees of Farmer's College. They called the north west industrial convention for September 13, 14, and 15, 1854 and invited prominent leaders from east and west to come and address them. Turner and Mur- ray planned to go together to the convention but due to overwork Turner was stricken with an inflammation of his eyes which nearly caused permanent blindness ; for this reason he was unable to make the trip ; Murray attended, however, and was active in the proceedings of the meeting. One of the important results was the adoption of a series of five resolutions, the last of which urged the friends of industrial education to agitate the subject by means of press, lectures, and conventions, so as to direct the attention of the public to the importance of individual and of governmental action.32 Though Turner could not attend he did furnish on the urgent request of President -Gary a copy of an ad- dress, "A discourse on American Education," to be published in the proceedings of the convention.
Through the year 1854 both Murray and Turner carried on voluminous correspondence in conducting the work of the indus- trial league. This was true of Turner even after he was afflicted with temporary blindness and had to sit in a darkened room and dictate his letters to a member of his family through a crack in the door of his room. That these activities bore fruit is evidenced by the fact that in January Mr. E. Abbott of the Valley Farmer at St Louis, requested Turner to discuss the work of the league in that paper while Victor Bell of Mt. Carmel requested a copy of the "Plan for an industrial university" and certain other ma- terial which he expected to use while attending the coming ses- sion of the legislature.
For several years Kennicott, Turner, and Murray had been dissatisfied with the lukewarm attitude of the Prairie Farmer under the management of its editor John Wright. It was true he had published many of their articles, but, they felt he was al- ways trailing and they pointed to the fact that he had advised, just following the Granville convention, that Illinois wait and let some one of the older states lead in the movement.
"See account of the convention, Prairie Farmer, October, 1854.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 79
During this summer the subject of getting an official organ for the league was much discussed among them. On June 13, Murray wrote Turner that his letter on the subject of ' ' starting at once a State political paper at Springfield which should be in full sympathy with our cause, and the interests of the Industrial Classes, etc." had been received. He said further "Up to this point I am with you and am content to be one of the $100 men to make out the $10,000 but as to pledging the paper en- tirely to any particular persons I would not be a party to the subscription." Kennicott wrote Turner on June 8 that he was heartily in favor of having an organ of their own. He thought it should be a ' ' nominally ' ' weekly agricultural paper but really the mouth-piece of the industrial league.
On August 5 Simeon Francis, editor of the Illinois Journal, wrote Turner favoring the movement for a paper but advising that both Turner and Murray keep out of sight as leaders for they had enemies and it might prove injurious if it were known that the leading "industrial" men were at the head of it. He expressed the belief that it was unwise for the industrial league and the state agricultural society to become active in politics because these societies had friends, and enemies, as well, in all the parties. Negotiations were carried to the point of obtaining more than twenty thousand dollars in subscriptions to finance the project, of arranging for an office and for equipment, and then the whole plan was abandoned. Apparently the objections and difficulties outweighed any advantages to be gained by carrying the project to a conclusion.
In the autumn of 1854 plans were advanced for bringing in- fluence to bear on the legislature that would meet the coming winter. At an adjourned meeting of the state agricultural so- ciety held in the state house at Springfield, October 6, a series of resolutions was adopted, in which the legislature was asked to appropriate funds for the establishment of an institution that would meet the educational wants of the industrial classes.33
On October 20, Murray sent Turner his ideas concerning the beginnings of their university. It bore the heading ' ' Suggestions for basis of Illinois Industrial university. ' ' He took for a model
"Murray to Turner, February 20, 1855, Turner manuscripts.
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Farmer's college in Ohio to which he had paid a visit only the month before. Coming from a practical farmer and an educated man who had been thinking along these lines for several years his suggestions are interesting.34 Some of them were embodied in a bill that was introduced in the legislature the following winter.
By no means all the important activities of these men dur- ing the year 1854 have been mentioned. For example, Turner lec- tured in St. Louis and other places ; he prepared or at least he said he was going to prepare a university bill for presentation in congress at the request of Richard Yates ;35 he journeyed through various parts of the state talking with men on the cars and in hotels, directly or indirectly influencing them to think and to act for the cause of industrial education. That the league leaders were hopeful and enthusiastic at this time is shown by a letter of Dr. Rutherford to Turner from Danville, Illinois, under date of November 10, 1854 : ' ' The Work goes bravely on. The wind stands on every tack in the best quarter. More has been done in the last six weeks for our cause than in the whole year preceding. We have circulars published to the various county agricultural societies at the expense and under favor of the State Society. Two more are to be issued one to call a convention and the other to ask for aid."
In the same letter Rutherford said that he was meeting with the best success wherever he went. In Urbana on a notice of half an hour he had an audience of from forty to fifty, and so pleased were they that they arranged to have him return in a few days for another meeting. In Danville on November 9, a day or so later, he had an audience of 250 and they passed a "smashing" resolution unanimously. Before the close of the year Dr. Rutherford was lecturing in the northern part of the state again and had gone as far west as Galena.
The Buel institute, which had started the ball rolling, showed its continued interest by passing resolutions approving the ac- tivity of the industrial league and endorsing its plans.36
"These ' ' suggestions " are included in a letter of Murray to Turner, October 20, 1854, Turner manuscripts, Springfield, and printed in the ap- pendix, p. 435.
MYates to Turner, April 14, 1854, Turner manuscripts.
"Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 1:182.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 81
Thus by means of lectures throughout the state, by conven- tions, by the influence of the state agricultural society and the Buel institute, by the now widely organized industrial league, by the aid of articles in the press, and by private correspondence the friends of industrial education sought to prepare the way for a favorable consideration of their favorite measures by the leg- islature.
It was with hope, therefore, that the directors of the league called a meeting of the friends of industrial education to be held in Springfield on the first, second, and third of January, 1855 for the purpose of consummating a plan for presenting before the approaching legislature the claims of industrial education and the plans for the state university, the normal school, and the common schools advocated by the league.37
The convention met, on January 1, 1855, in the senate cham- ber in Springfield and appointed six men to act as a committee and also as a board of trustees to raise fifty thousand dollars for the endowment of a state teachers' seminary or a normal school for teachers and other needed departments in a university to be styled " Illinois university," and to secure also a donation of lands from congress for the same purpose as soon as practicable.38
The committee of six appointed for the purpose prepared a bill and it was introduced in the legislature under the title "An act to incorporate the trustees of Illinois university." The trustees were to locate the university, and were to receive from the state the college and seminary funds for its endowment on condition that they raised a like amount from other sources. They were also to receive any grants which congress might make for industrial education. The bill proposed to begin with three departments, a teachers' seminary, an agricultural department, and a mechanical department.39
There was vigorous opposition to the bill both in and with- out the legislature. The Jacksonville Constitutionist, the Ma-
*UlUnois State Register, December 28, 1854.
^Illinois State Journal, January 2, 1855. John Gate of Lake County was made president, W. F. M. Arney of McLean county, secretary; Turner, Murray, Johns, Kennicott, Urial Mills and W. A. Pennell were appointed on the committee.
89See the bill and the report on it in appendix, p. 546.
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coupin Statesman, and the Illinois State Register, and a few other papers had articles in which they termed the " industrial league a glorious humbug," "a chimera," and a project whose cost would be enormous. The Constitutionist printed a number of ar- ticles in which it opposed generally the fundamentals of the plan and objected specifically to some fifteen distinct details of the bill which was now before the legislature.40 "The whole scheme," said this latter paper, ' ' has the appearance to us of a cunningly devised plan to bleed the treasury of the state, and to elevate into office for life, a few aspiring individuals, the excessive mod- esty of the most of whom prevents them from bringing their claims before the people and leads them to the adoption of this scheme, and to taking advantage of the popular feeling in favor of education, to elevate themselves into a position of the highest importance, from which they can look down with contempt upon every individual who refuses to bow the knee to their Baal."41
The bill, although violently attacked, was favorably reported by the senate committee and found only one opponent on the house committe. At this time it became known that there were defalcations in the state treasurer's department and the con- vention's committee saw that it would be inadvisable to press the bill to final action ; therefore in both houses the matter was de- ferred to the next session.42
The friends of industrial education were disappointed, of course, at the outcome but by no means in despair. They con- sidered it a "drawn battle" this time with all the advantages of delay, on their side : the idea was gaining ground ; the agricul- tural press was speaking out with more confidence and there was scarcely a paper but what was declaring in favor of practical or specific training along industrial lines.43
During the spring and summer of 1855 Turner and his friends devoted little of their time to lecturing; as indicated above they deemed that part of their work had been nearly ac-
"Illinois State 'Register, December 28, 1854, January 18, February 1, 1855; Jacksonville Constitutionist, January 23, 1855. ^Illinois State Eegister, February 1, 1855. ^Prairie Farmer, May, 1855. 48Kennicott to Turner, March 6, 1855, Turner manuscripts.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 83
complished. Turner gave more time to his personal business which had suffered much during the last two years on account of his work for the league. He was, in fact, spending much time in perfecting and in testing out a corn planter which he had in- vented. During the summer Murray wrote occasionally for the newspapers ; his articles were generally concerned directly or in- directly with the subject nearest his heart, industrial education ; on one occasion however, he composed for the Prairie Farmer an able defense of Turner 's work in introducing the osage orange as a hedge in Illinois.
As early as June they began to plan for events six months in advance. They were concerned as to who would succeed Nin- ian W. Edwards as state superintendent when his term expired. The name of W. H. Powell of LaSalle had been mentioned in that connection. They proceeded by correspondence to find out how Powell stood but with little result apparently until a meeting of the state teachers' institute the following December. Mean- time in October the state fair was held in Chicago at which the industrial university movement was discussed before nearly a thousand farmers and mechanics. Among the speakers were George L. Lumsden and €. B. Denio known as the "Mississippi brick layer ; ' ' both these men had been friends of this movement as members of the legislature of 1853 that had passed the land grant resolution petitioning congress for a grant to endow in- dustrial universities. An exciting incident on the occasion of the state fair meeting was an interruption by a politician by the name of John Wentworth. The meeting promptly silenced Went- worth and proceeded to pass resolutions endorsing the objects of the industrial league and called upon the legislature to pre- pare a system for the education of farmers and mechanics in the line of their own pursuits.44
The state teachers' institute that closed its session in Spring- field December 29, 1855, was an unusually important one. The State Register reported that a large proportion of the most ear- nest and distinguished teachers in the state were present and that they took hold of matters in a way that promised much for the future.45 Addresses were given by N. W. Edwards, state super-
"Chicago Tribune, October 19, 1855.
"Illinois Weekly State Register, January 3, 1856.
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History University of Illinois
intendent ; Newton Bateman, J. M. Sturtevant, J. B. Turner, and W. H. Powell. Lively discussions followed the address of Tur- ner for naturally it turned toward his scheme for an industrial university. The State Register, which was decidedly vigorous in it opposition to Turner and his plan, said that the discussion was ' ' checked by a resolution introduced and very ably supported by J. M. Sturtevant, Jr., that the institute did not wish to discuss any university but to confine itself to topics connected with com- mon and normal schools."46
It is apparent from this that the university men were meet- ing with some rather stiff opposition. In fact there were three distinct parties represented at this meeting : a group of those who desired immediately a normal school that should be independent for the present of any existing institution ; a small party of col- lege men who were anxious to have any department of an educational nature attached to existing colleges; the friends of industrial education with Turner at their head, who desired a normal department but would have it connected with the pro- posed industrial university. The second and the third groups had been fighting each other bitterly for several years and the struggle was destined to continue for many years more. Between the normal school men and the industrial university party there was lacking any intense feeling of opposition. For this reason it was easy for them about a year later to agree upon a plan that was satisfactory to both.
In a letter of January 2, 1856, addressed to Bronson Mur- ray, Turner announced himself well satisfied with the meeting at Springfield and expressed the belief that on the whole their cause stood better with the teachers, for the latter now saw more clearly that the university men were seeking neither to antag- onize them nor to master therii. A few lines from Turner's let- ter reveal something of what had been transpiring beneath the surface: "I can hardly express to you the joy and relief I feel in having that ugly point of the superintendency so well got by with, without my name in any way pushed into the contest.
"Ibid. President Sturtevant was in accord with Turner, J. M. Sturte- vant, Jr., was at that time very young and was drawn into an action which he afterward regretted. Letter to writer from J. M. Sturtevant, Jr., 1917.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 85
I fully made up my mind that it should not and could not be, before I went to Springfield, but I did not see how to manage it, till Bateman consented to let his name stand for a time then my way was clear and I knew what to do at once.
1 ' Still I had no idea of voting for Powell or least of all nom- inating him myself till I heard his address then I made up my mind, (as I told you as soon as he was through) that I should go for him next, after Bateman/'47
Turner did not think at that time that Bateman would ac- cept the office and as Powell was his second choice he considered it wise to nominate him in order to gain for himself the support of Powell 's friends. The violent opposition of the State Register and some other papers he attributed to a Mr. Leach who aspired to the superintendency and who believed that Turner was seek- ing the same office. Powell appreciated Turner 's action ; a cor- respondent requested him "to plant himself square and fair on an anti Professor Turner platform" and assured him of certain de- feat unless he did so ; he replied that if he were forced to make a choice between the state superintendency of Illinois and the re- tention of his esteem for Turner, he would unequivocally choose the latter.48 Thus the public and normal school men and friends of industrial education were coming to a better understanding of each other, and the way was being paved for the next im- portant step which occurred at the state teachers' association in Chicago, December, 1856.
Preparations for this meeting were carefully made and the establishment of a normal school was set down as the leading topic. Resolutions were introduced to the effect that a state nor- mal school be established at once, and that the next legislature appropriate a sufficient sum to support it for the next five years. During the discussion on this resolution Bateman read a letter from Turner which after stating what the friends of the indus- trial league had hoped in this connection, concludes : "It is high
47Turner to Murray, January 2, 1855, Murray manuscripts. It is evident that the writer intended the date to be 1856 for the letter refers to the Springfield convention which met in December, 1855.
^Powell to Murray, February 12, 1856, Turner manuscripts. Mr. Powell admitted soon after that it was the president of one of the old colleges who had proposed the ''anti-Turner" platform.
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time, my friends, that you had your Normal School, whether we ever get an agricultural department to it or not. Let us take hold together and obtain it, in such form as you may, on the whole, think best."49
Turner's letter secured for the normal school measure the cooperation of his friends, without which, normal school men have admitted, their success would have been impossible. It was generous, too, for the college fund which the university men might with justice have insisted should be left until they secured a charter for their university, was given over to the normal school ; this at a time when it was by no means certain that an endowment could be secured from congress for the industrial university.
It should not be understood from what has just preceded that Turner was giving up all this without any well defined scheme of carrying through the industrial university plan. In fact it was his plan to help establish the state normal school and later to add to it the industrial university. This view is sup- ported by a letter of Simeon Francis, corresponding secretary of the state agricultural society, to W. A. Pennell written only a few weeks after Turner's letter to the state teachers' association. Francis wrote : 1 1 1 saw Mr. Turner a fortnight since. I under- stood him, now, to be in favor of a State Normal School, and when that was established to perfect it connecting with it our State Industrial University project."50
Immediately following the state teachers' association meet- ing in Chicago, the normal school men and university men did take hold together as Turner advised and because now they could present a united front to the state legislature they obtained in short time the passage of an act establishing the " Illinois state normal university." This act which was approved February 18, 1857, gave the interest from the seminary and college funds to the maintenance of the newly created institution.51 Further than this the state made no appropriation for the new institu-
49For entire letter see Illinois School Beport, 1886-1888, p. xc. Trancis to Pennell, January 26, 1857, Pennell manuscripts. •"For the history of the bill see Illinois School Eeports, 1885-1886; 1887-1888, Ixxvii, clxxxiv.
Activity Illinois Industrial League 87
tion but left it to depend upon the charity of its friends and the generosity of the community in which it should be located for its site and for its buildings.
Because of this act of the legislature the next meeting of the state teachers' association held in Decatur early in January of 1858 was an occasion of rejoicing. Bronson Murray who at- tended this gathering spoke of it as ' ' a glorious triumph for the friends of the Industrial League. ' ' The reasons for this note of exultation seems to be in these significant statements : ' ' We have concluded to rally around and support the Normal University and it is now understood and agreed on all sides that that insti- tution is to be developed into a University and its nature shall be Normal which will insure its being Industrial in its character. * '52
This statement supports the one quoted above as to the in- tentions of both the normal and university men to develop the normal into an industrial university. It appears that J. S. Post, the member who moved and carried through the university bill, deliberately condensed it, changed the title of the institution from Illinois university to normal university, and then pushed the bill through both houses. "The opponents of Turner," Mur- ray wrote, ' * voted for it to prevent the Industrial men from get- ting the fund and the friends of Turner voted for it because they were let behind the scenes. So all is well."53 Thus it would seem that for the moment all parties were pleased with the out- come, whether they saw the situation as it really existed or not.
The Illinois industrial league had frequently failed to secure measures that it had striven hard to obtain; but by January, 1858, the industrial league had really accomplished the great work for which it had been organized, for on December 14, 1857, a bill had been introduced into congress which was ultimately to give to each of the states a land grant to endow an industrial university. Without the preliminary educational work done by the league the passage of the land grant act would have been im- possible or at any rate many years delayed.
"Murray to Pennell, January 12, 1858, Pennell manuscripts. A note of triumph in Murray's letter may be due to the fact that he had already learned of the introduction of the Morrill bill into Congress, December 14, 1857.
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Attention has been directed already to the wide publication of Turner's plan in 1852, to the extended notice given the joint resolutions of the Illinois legislature of February 8, 1853, to the wide distribution of the circulars of the industrial league, and to the numerous requests from individuals and organizations in other states to Turner, Murray, and Kennicott for information and advice in regard to the establishment of a university or agri- cultural college in their own state or territory.
During the years from 1854 to 1858 these points of contact with individuals and organizations increased. On at least three different occasions during these years Turner gave addresses out- side of Illinois: he spoke in St. Louis in the middle of March, 1854; he prepared an address for President Gary of College Hill, Ohio, to be published in the proceedings of the northwest industrial convention of October, 1854 ; he delivered an address before the association for the advance of education at Detroit, Michigan, in August, 1856, on invitation of his friend President Henry P. Tappan of the University of Michigan and president of the association ; on all these occasions he spoke on his favorite topic of industrial education. Mr. Murray went to Ohio to at- tend the north west industrial convention in 1854 and as noted above took an active part in the proceedings.
Even thus early Turner and Murray were planning with President Gary, and with President Tappan to have influence brought upon congress to get through their proposed legislation for granting lands to endow industrial universities when the proper time should arrive to introduce the bill. President Gary wrote Turner that Judge McLain of the supreme court, who was to preside at the north west industrial convention, had offered to use his influence to persuade congress to grant lands for indus- trial universities, and he would be a valuable aid to them for he would be in Washington.54 In this same letter Gary thanked Turner that the industrial league had elected him an honorary member. "It is an honor I highly appreciate," said Gary, "for from the first I entertained the most favorable ideas of its utility, and the more I have seen and reflected upon the plans and ob-
54Cary to Turner, June 20, 1854, Turner manuscripts.
Activity Illinois Indiistrial League 89
jects of the League the more thoroughly I am convinced of its importance not only to your state but the Great West."
At this same time Turner was corresponding also with Presi- dent Henry P. Tappan of the University of Michigan. In a reply Tappan agreed to enter into a league to secure federal support for universities: "I have not replied to your favor before be- cause I wished to lay the documents you sent me before our Board of Regents who met here a few days since. Unfortunately, owing to the sickness of one and the absence of two others we had no quorum, and so I was compelled to delay until another meeting which will take place within a month. I am fully of your opinion, that Congress ought to give liberally to the educa- tional institutions of our country and I am willing to enter into a league to bring this about. ' '
After criticising Turner's plan in a friendly way he added, "let me know of the happenings of your league and how and when you propose to bring the matter before Congress. "55 This is definite information that Turner was organizing influence in other states to bear upon congress to get it to grant lands for industrial universities.
Requests have been previously noted from men occupying official positions, from Oregon and Iowa asking information and aid in establishing agricultural colleges or universities in their states. Similar letters were received by Turner from other sources. Early in 1855 E. C. Bidwell of Iowa, a member of the board of trustees of the University of Iowa, asked him to send the report of the league to members of the board in the hope of in- fluencing them to the establishment of a "People's Institu- tion."56
From a citizen of Oregon, Mr. Ahio Watt — a request of Rep- resentative Henry of the year 1854 has been mentioned — there came a request in June, 1856, for information in regard to the work in Illinois. Turner sent the desired information and "Watt, who was university land commissioner of Oregon territory, applied on December 18, 1856, sending a copy of joint resolu- tions introduced into the Oregon assembly by (Mr.-Bayley1 of
65Tappan to Turner, April 6, 1854, Turner manuscripts, Springfield. B6Bidwell to Turner, February 16, April 13, 1855, Turner manuscripts.
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Yamhill asking that additional lands be appropriated, "in the establishment and endowment of an industrial university to be known as the 'Industrial University of Oregon' which shall have for its object, etc., etc." In his letter Watt said: "You can see what has been borrowed."57
Early in 1857 word came from Gr. L. Lumsden who had been an enthusiastic aid to the industrial cause as a member of the legislature of Illinois, that he was busy in Minnesota working for the same cause. He wrote that their aim was to have Fort Snell- ing appropriated for the use and purpose of an industrial uni- versity and that he, himself, had prepared resolutions and a memorial to congress on the subject. Among the things asked for in these petitions was ' ' an industrial university in each state of the Union."58
John Kennicott and Bronson Murray were constantly cor- responding with individuals and with agricultural and horti- cultural societies of the country during this same period. Ken- nicott was in touch, too, with the United States agricultural so- ciety that held a number of annual meetings and fairs at Wash- ington, D. C., during the same year. The leaders of the indus- trial league were also keeping their public men informed of what they were trying to do as the following letter from a United States senator will indicate.
"Chicago, October 12, 1857. My dear Sir : —
Accept my thanks for your kind note enclosing the pamphlet on Industrial Universities, which I will take pleasure in review- ing with the view of forming a favorable judgment on the pro- posed movement. I shall be happy to receive your work on The Races when complete.
Very -Respectfully
Your Obedient Servant
T „ m S. A. Douglas.
Professor J. B. Turner
Jacksonville ' '
67Watt to Turner, June 1, 1856, December 18, 1856, Turner manuscripts.
88Lumsden to Turner, February 2, 1857, Turner manuscripts. The memorial to congress referred to above was introduced in Minnesota house of representatives, February 16, 1857, by Delano T. Smith. Printed copy corrected by George L. Lumsden, the author, at University of Illinois.
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From the evidence produced it seems very clear that the Illi- nois industrial league backed as it was by a devoted group of vigorous men had prepared the way not only in Illinois but in many states of the union for an effective support of the land grant proposition for industrial universities when it should be brought before congress in the form of a bill. It is known now that for several years before the introduction of the land grant bill in congress legislatures, state officers, congressmen, state and county agricultural societies, presidents of universities and colleges, members of boards of trustees of educational institu- tions, and prominent private citizens, in states as far west as Oregon and as far east as New York, had been well informed con- cerning this project and their cooperation had been secured by this same group of Illinois men.
One need not be surprised, then, that when the bill was actu- ally introduced into congress by a man who had not been iden- tified with this nation wide movement up to this time, a flood of petitions in support of it came in from all these various bodies and organizations, from California, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Illinois, and other states.
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CHAPTER IV THE ILLINOIS PLAN BEFORE CONGRESS
In April, 1854, immediately following the presentation of the joint resolution of the Illinois legislature, the first step in presenting the land grant proposition of the Illinois men before congress in the form of a bill was taken. Representative Rich- ard Yates of Illinois wrote to J. B. Turner asking him to draw up a bill and send it to him, saying that Mr. Washburne had merely presented the resolutions upon the subject of industrial universities and that he had introduced no bill. Yates suggested that it might be well to omit all reference to any connection between these institutions and the Smithsonian institution in order to avoid opposition from certain quarters but left the final decision upon that point to Turner. In conclusion he promised to present the bill and do what he could to get it passed.1 Turner prepared the bill and forwarded it to Washington but nothing further was accomplished as it was found inadvisable to push the matter in that session and the following fall Yates was not reflected to congress.
The following two or three years did not seem a favorable time to introduce such a bill because of the attitude of oppo- sition to land grants observable in the chief executive. President Pierce had vetoed in 1854 a bill carrying a grant of lands in support of the indigent insane and this had left email hope of his signing one for educational interests.
Turner was on guard, however, watching for the favorable moment; early in October, 1857 he believed the time was pro- pitious for another attempt. That he consulted two of the great leaders in congress — both senators from his own state — upon the subject is shown by a letter to Lyman Trumbull: "I now send herewith a copy of our league report — and would be glad to know if in your opinion a grant of lands to the states could now be obtained — I know of no measure that would be so universally
*Yates to Turner, April 14, 1854, Turner manuscripts.
Illinois Plan Before Congress 93
popular with our farmers and working people, or do so much good if judiciously managed.
' ' In conversation with Senator Douglas on the cars the other day he expressed his opinion that such a grant could be obtained at the next session (See p. 43 Keport) and I thought I would just enquire of you what could be done."2
Twelve days later Senator Trumbull replied approving the land grant plan, pointing out the dangers that stood in the way of its success, and finally making a suggestion that was a deter- mining factor in deciding who should introduce the desired bill in congress. ' ' Since the receipt of your letter I have re-read the pamphlet in regard to industrial universities. The idea is a grand one, if it could be carried out and made practical. I thought I saw in the last congress an opposition springing up against any further grants of land in the States, but perhaps it was confined to those made to new States, and your project contemplating a grant to all tike States might meet with more favor. Several large grants were made last year, but it was done grudgingly. For my own part I have been favorable to an early disposition of the public lands by the general government, and if they could only be secured to actual settlers, I would be glad to see it divested at once of this great source of patronage and corruption. // some of the old States would take hold of the matter, I think it not unlikely that a grant of lands might be obtained from Congress ; but coming from the new States, which have already obtained such large grants for schools and other purposes, it would be likely to meet with less favor.
"Objections to the feasibility of the plan will, of course, be urged ; but no one can doubt that something, if not all that is expected, could be accomplished by institutions of the character proposed.
"For the diploma you inclosed making me a member of the Industrial League, I desire to express my thanks. ' '3
Trumbull's arguments made it clear that the bill would have a better chance for success if it had the support of some of the
2Turner to Trumbull, October 7, 1857, Trumbull collection, library of "ongress.
"Trumbull to Turner, October 19, 1857, Turner manuscripts.
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older states. With this in view Turner and his associates selected Representative Justin S. Morrill of Vermont4 as the man to introduce the bill and to carry through this great and important measure. Immediately after this choice was made Turner for- warded to Morrill all his papers and documents and from that time forward gave him all the help and encouragement that he could.5 More than this Turner even succeeded in determining the language of the bill which was introduced into congress on December 14, 1857, by Representative Morrill and which was finally enacted into law on July 2, 1862. President Edmund J. James of the University of Illinois has shown very clearly that it could not have been a "mere coincidence that the language of the act of 1862 Ho promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life' should tally so closely with the language used in the various documents put forth by Professor Turner. ' '6 He names three documents in which Turner used language almost identical with that quoted above from the act of 1862. Particularly was this true of a petition to congress in which Turner used these words "an industrial university for the liberal education of the industrial classes in their several pursuits and professions in life."
There is still another clause in the same paragraph of the bill that is clearly marked by Turner's influence. It is the parenthetical one that says "without excluding other scientific or classical studies." In Turner's plan, published in the league- pamphlet which had been placed no doubt in Merrill's hand, it was stated "no species of knowledge should be excluded" and whether a distinct classical department should be added would depend on expediency. Friends of Turner, among them Dr. Kennicott, wished to exclude the classics entirely but Turner would not yield the point.
In confirmation of this direct connection between Turner and Morrill there is the testimony of two competent persons yet
4Whether the arrangement to get Justin S. Morrill to introduce the bill was made by letter or by some of the Illinois representatives in per- son is not as yet known.
"Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5:38.
6James, Origin of Land Grant Act of 1862, p. 26-27.
Illinois Plan Before Congress 95
living. Mrs. Mary Carriel, daughter of J. B. Turner, a woman of affairs in the state long before her father's death, has pub- lished the statement that the Illinois men shortly after Senator Trumbull's letter of October 19, 1857, decided to send all docu- ments, papers, and pamphlets to Mr. Morrill with the request that he introduce the bill.7 The other witness to this fact is a gentle- man in no way related to the Turner family. Rev. Mr. J. R. Reasoner of Urbana, a man of high reputation and wide acquain- tance, a scientist of no mean ability in the field of plant breed- ing, stated to the writer that at one time he had a long conversa- tion on the subject of the land grant act with Jonathan Turner, who told him that he had taken the matter of having the bill introduced in congress to Mr. Morrill.
Justin S. Morrill entered congress on December 4, 1855, four years after the launching of the movement in Illinois for a land grant for industrial universities in each of the states, and a year and one-half after the proposition had been presented to congress by the legislature of Illinois. And it was still another year before the idea of such a grant of land came to his attention, although on February 28, 1856, three months after he entered congress, Mr. Morrill had introduced a resolution in the house of repre- sentatives that "the committee on agriculture be requested to enquire into the expediency of establishing one or more national agricultural schools upon the basis of the naval and military schools, in order that one scholar from each state at large may receive a scientific and practical education at the public ex- pense. "8
In a memorandum by Representative Morrill himself, fur- nished by his son, it is stated that the idea of obtaining a grant of land for the foundation of colleges came to him as early as 1856. It was apparently later than the resolution mentioned above, wrhich presents a very different idea. He says also in the memorandum, "Where I obtained the first hint of such a mea- sure I am wholly unable to say. ' '9
'Carriel, Life of Turner, 159.
^Congressional Globe, S4 congress, 1 session, 530.
"Manuscript at University of Illinois. See appendix, p. 525.
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It seems somewhat strange that a public man interested in agriculture should not have known of a movement which had been discussed for five years in the agricultural press of the country and in the leading newspapers east and west, as well as in county, state, and national agricultural societies, and which had been presented to legislatures and to congress. Nevertheless it appears from Mr. Merrill's own statement and from the fact that his name is not mentioned in connection with this movement before December, 1857, that he had nothing to do with its origin and took no part in the educational work carried on for years in its interest without which the passage of the bill would have been impossible. The framing of the bill, while a matter of importance, was a secondary consideration; it might have been framed by a lawyer, or in these days by a typist.
These conclusions have been reached despite the contrary opinions of certain men among them the late William H. Brewer, professor in the Sheffield scientific school, who expressed his conviction regarding the origin of the land grant of 1862 in a letter written in 1908: "I have no doubt whatever," he said, ''that it originated with Mr. Morrill in 1857 with his first bill of that year, which was passed but was vetoed by President Buchanan. ' '
Mr. Brewer based his conclusions chiefly on an interview of 1864 with Representative Morrill in which the latter said that he had introduced the bill on two considerations: first, on ac- count of the loud demand for more scientific instruction; and second, because there was so much of the public lands still available. There was nothing in the interview in the light of the record that has been traced to justify Mr. Brewer's conclusion. He was simply led to a mistaken conclusion because he did not have all the facts before him. ,
In 1894 Morrill stated that he did not know or remember Turner though he did remember that a large number of " pro- fessors" came to see him when his bills were before congress and possibly Turner may have been one of them. Turner, how- ever, was not among the visitors to Morrill for he did not go to Washington until after the land grant bill had been enacted into law. On the other hand it is known that Morrill corresponded
Illinois Plan Before Congress 97
with Turner for the following letter in Turner's correspondence shows that Morrill during the time his bills were before congress knew of Turner and of his work:
" House of Representatives
Washington, D. C.
December 30, 1861 Dear Sir :
I am delighted to find your fire, by the letter of the 15th inst. had not all burned out. I presume I recognize Prof. Turner, an old pioneer in the cause of agricultural education.
I have only to say that amid the fire and smoke and embers, I have faith that I shall get my bill into law at this session. I thank you for your continued interest, and am
Very sincerely yours
JUSTIN S. MORRILL.
J. B. Turner, Esq.,
Jacksonville, 111."
To explain the above situation one need not believe Mr. Morrill insincere but it must be concluded that his memory, after the lapse of many years, was unreliable. Amid the "fire and smoke and embers" of civil war, of reconstruction, and other exciting and distressing events his mind had lost beyond recall the circumstances or even the leading individuals connected with a movement with which he had, in fact, but little to do outside the halls of congress.
The land grant bill was introduced in the house of repre- sentatives on December 14, 1857, by Justin S. Morrill of Ver- mont and after some discussion referred, on December 16, to the committee on public lands.10 It remained in the hands of the committee for several months.
Meantime the news of this bill in the interests of the in- dustrial classes went out across the entire country. Senator Lyman Trumbull immediately sent a copy of the bill to Turner which the latter acknowledged as follows: "I thank you much ^Congressional Globe, 35 congress, 1 session, 32, 36-37.
98 History 'University of Illinois
for copy of the Industrial University appropriation bill. I like its main features but hope it may receive some amendment.
"I send by this mail another copy of our reports thinking you may not have one at hand and may desire to refer to the action of our state. N. York, Ohio, Michigan, California, and Wisconsin I learn are prepared to petition with us. ' n l
From the above it becomes apparent that Turner had not actually worded the bill however much of the material he may have furnished. Another significant fact is that he was already informed of what leading states from California to New York were going to do, and the phrase "are prepared to petition with us" indicates previous understanding with Illinois.
The preparation that Turner and the industrial league had been making for years became now suddenly tremendously effective. For all over the country from individuals, from county and state agricultural and horticultural societies, from county courts, from boards of supervisors, from clubs and other organi- zations, and from state legislatures, petitions and memorials came in great numbers to congress. It is true the subject had been discussed for years in the various states but no concerted action within three weeks time could possibly have occurred without some such preliminary work as the Illinois men had already accomplished. This situation is explained by a letter from John A. Kennicott to Senator Trumbull asking him to advocate the land grant bill just introduced: "I suppose you know this is 'Illinois thunder/ and you have a right to it. The principle has been endorsed by our legislature — pressed on by our state society — and adopted by nearly all our associations — east and west — and has many friends in the Slave States even."12
On January 8, 1858, Turner wrote Bronson Murray that President J. R. Williams of the Michigan state agricultural col- lege had gone to Washington, D. C. to look after the interests of the Morrill bill. He urged Murray to set petitions in motion in the agricultural and other societies in his part of the state.
"Turner to Trumbull, January 4, 1858, Trumbull collection, library of congress.
"Kennicott to Trumbull, January 25, 1858, Trumbnll collection, library of congress; see also appendix, p. 438.
Illinois Plan Before Congress 99
He added that President Gary of Farmers college, Ohio, had written him that petitions were being sent from Michigan and from New York and would soon be sent out from Ohio. Turner thought that if they exerted themselves they might get the appro- priation that session. He concludes :
"If this appropriation is secured in the form proposed the poor despised Illinois League will have done more for the true cause of American Education on this continent that all the other associations and forces that ever existed on it and the Pilgrim Fathers to boot. ' >13 This was a private letter written by Turner to his closest friend and helper in the cause only three weeks after the land grant bill had been introduced into congress, saying in effect that the bill was a result of their labor. Would Turner have made such a claim under these circumstances without a reasonable certainty that his statement was true?
The appropriation was secured in essentially the form pro- posed in the bill of 1857. Anticipating by a few years let us hear what these Illinois men have to say after the act has finally become a law. Under date of February 7, 1863, the following communication from John Kennicott was printed in the Prairie Farmer:
1 ' Though intended for me only, I pray you print this letter from Professor Turner. I accept even the flattery for the sake of its object. Turner, Murray and I, with a few others, did labor night and day for the boon now within reach of the State. The idea belongs to Illinois! though a Vermonter adopted and urged it upon a willing Congress. Let us not be the last to accept and act under the law. ' '
The letter from Turner to Kennicott had been written after a long silence due to the war and to the writer 's absence in Wash- ington where he had gone to care for his son who was ill in one of the military hospitals. Not intended for publication it was eloquent evidence of the work that had been accomplished and of the hope that apathy would not cheat the people out of the benefits that were now actually within their reach and it urged especially the necessity of action on the part of the state to
"Turner to Murray, January 8, 1858, Pennell manuscripts.
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secure forever the appropriation made by congress. "I suppose you see by Governor Yates' message that this long deferred en- dowment to each State in the Union, for an Industrial Univer- sity has at last come within our reach. It has cost you and friend Murray and myself many a hard struggle and contest, with both professed friends and foes ; many long days and nights of painful toil and thought, and care and travel by land and water in past years, first to arouse and concentrate the public mind, break down its opposition, and break up its still more fatal apathy, by agitations in meetings and assemblies all over the State, and out of the State ; political contests at the Capitol and in the papers, by manifold letters and pamphlets sent abroad over the Union, North, South, East and West, in order by these agitations, first to get the thing started, and then more direct and quite but not less onerous labor of guiding the thing through so many years to its first successful notice in Congress, and its final passage by that body. All this you well know, and no two men on earth do know it, or ever will, but yourself and friend Murray, and you may each of you well and truly say "Pars magnae fui"; and though no reward on earth awaits you, I know you will meet it in another world, for you have surely been 'faithful in these few things'."14
Could a clearer or more definite statement of what actually occurred be given? Both Kennicott and Turner connected their work directly with that of Morrill for the land grant act. These statements of theirs square with the facts and events already described in previous pages. They are not deceiving themselves then in asserting that they had a part in a great work.
Petitions in behalf of this project came to congress, as has been said, in great numbers immediately following the introduc- tion of the bill in December, 1857. These were not the first bearing directly upon this particular proposition to come to the attention of congress. The first found was presented by John Wentworth on December 23, 1853. It was "The petition of citizens of the State of Illinois, praying for a grant of land and the appropriation of money for the establishment of a University in each State of the Union for the education of the working
^Prairie Farmer, February 7, 1863.
Illinois Plan Before Congress 101
classes."15 It is true the legislature of Illinois had passed reso- lutions to the same effect in February, 1853, but they were not actually presented in congress until over a year later. It is true also that other states had asked congress for a grant of land to establish a university, or agricultural college within their own state or possibly a national university at Washington, D. C. and similar projects. These should not be confused with the move- ment of the Illinois men ' ' for a grant of land from congress for the endowment of an agricultural and mechanical college in each of the states of the Union. ' '
In 1854 at least nine petitions praying for an industrial university in each of the states came to congress — all from Illi- nois. They were from the following: January 16, Agricultural society of Carroll county; January 18, Board of supervisors of Cook county ; March 16, Board of supervisors of Bureau county ; March 20, Kane county agricultural society; March 20, joint resolutions of the Illinois legislature; March 27, Lake county agricultural society ; March 29, county court of Richland county ; April 7, county court of Logan county.16 In 1856 two more peti- tions from Illinois were presented to congress in behalf of indus- trial universities in each of the states: one was presented on March 10 from the state educational convention and the other on March 19 from citizens of the state of Illinois.
The introduction of the land grant bill on December 14, 1857, was the great impetus for the sending in of petitions : from Jan- uary 1 to the middle of May, 1858, they came almost daily from all over the United States in behalf of the proposed land grant. It is practically impossible to get a complete list of the petitions for the reason that some were passed immediately to the commit- tee on public lands having the bill in charge without being pre- sented directly in the house or senate ; nevertheless at least forty- five have been noted, among them being those of the state agricul- tural societies of New York, Michigan, and Kentucky.17 The
wHouse Journal, 33 congress, 1 session, 138.
10House Journal, 33 congress, 1 session, 207, 240, 516, 527, 530, 562, 577, 609; 34 congress, 654, 692. In the Senate Journal, 33 congress, 1 ses- sion, 268; 34 congress, 1 and 2 session, 72, is noted an additional petition from the judge and associate justices of the Shelby county court, dated March 20.
KFor these petitions see appendix, p. 439.
102
History'University of Illinois
exact number matters little when it is known they came from so many different sources, from such representative bodies and societies of citizens as have already been enumerated. Particular attention should be called, however, to some dozen or more peti- tions that came to congress between February and May, 1858. The state legislatures of Rhode Island, Maine, New Jersey, and California petitioned for a grant of land "to each of the states" while the legislatures of Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minne- sota asked for grants for their particular states intending thereby apparently to forward the land grant bill. Mr. Morrill said in February, 1859, that petitions and resolutions in support of the bill had come from at least thirteen state legislatures.38
It is not the intention to convey the impression that the Illi- nois influence alone was sufficient to account for the activity of the various states in sending petitions to congress in 1858. The movement for industrial education had come up in some of the states before it had touched Illinois.19 In several states during the years 1850 to 1859 more had been accomplished in the way of practical results by state action than had been accomplished in Illinois : Michigan had actually established a state agricultural college by 1857 ; New York took definite action in 1853 by incor- porating an industrial institution under the name of ' ' The Peo- ple's college;"20 in 1854 Pennsylvania chartered the Farmers' high school, later the Pennsylvania state college, which opened in 1859 ; in 1856 Maryland incorporated the Maryland agri- cultural college which received students in September, 1859; and in Massachusetts, Mr. Wilder succeeded in obtaining in 1856 from the state legislature, a charter of "The Trustees of the Massachusetts school of agriculture."
These and other states were deeply interested in industrial education within their own borders. They were familiar with the subject and when the request came from Illinois, late in De- cember of 1857 or early in 1858 to send petitions to congress in
^Congressional Globe, 35 congress 2 session, 1414.
"See above, p. 3-10.
^Unfortunately it failed later to comply with the conditions of the act of 1862 and lost the opportunity to become the agricultural college of New York.
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103
support of a bill to grant federal lands in maintenance of an agricultural and mechanical college in each state it was only natural for them to comply to the appeal which was so much in their own interest.
In introducing house bill Number 2, known very widely as the Morrill bill, on December 14, 1857, Mr. Morrill recommended that it be referred to the committee on agriculture. Instead it was referred to the committee on public lands. It is quite prob- able that Mr. Morrill knew that the bill would meet with some serious opposition in this committee, therefore his attempt to have it sent to the committee on agriculture. Nothing more was heard of the bill on the floor of the house until April 15, 1858, when it was reported by Chairman Cobb of the committee on public lands with the recommendation that it should not pass.
After several unsuccessful attempts Morrill gained the floor en April 20 and by moving a substitute for the entire bill, which differed from the original only in the exclusion of the territories from the benefits of the land grants, brought the measure before the house and spoke at length in its favor.21 In beginning his speech he said : ' ' There has been no measure for years which has received so much attention in the various parts of the country — so far as the fact can be proved by petitions which have been received here from the various states, north and south, from state societies, from county societies, and from individuals. They have come in so as to cover almost every day from the commencement of the session. ' ' He told how immense sums had been expended to promote commerce through light-houses, coast surveys, im- provements of harbors, and through the navy and naval academy ; that West Point academy was maintained at government expense ; that immense grants had been made to railroads, and munificent ones to promote general education, and other things requiring lib- eral expenditures of money; but that all direct encouragement to agriculture had been rigidly withheld. With us, he said, ' ' Ceres does not appear among the gods of Olympus — only appears in a picture on one of our Treasury notes!"
He then showed at length, supported by an array of fig-
^For the text of the bill see appendix p. 599; for Merrill's speech see Congressional Globe, 35 congress, 1 session, 1697.
104 History** University of Illinois
ures and quotations of opinions, the deterioration of crops and the wasteful methods of land tillage; that new land was treated as if inexhaustible, and that infertility was soon the consequence. ' ' The nation, ' ' he declared, ' ' which tills the soil so as to leave it worse than they found it, is doomed to decay and degeneration. — Agriculture undoubtedly demands our first care; because its products, in the aggregate, are not only of greater value than those of any other branch of industry, but greater than all others together ; and because it is not merely conducive to the health of society, the health of trade and commerce, but essential to their existence. But, while it is the most useful and earliest of arts, so sluggish have been its advances that we are yet experimenting upon problems which were moot-points with the farmers two thousand years ago. Surely an interest so superior, and of such vital consequence, ought not to be left to lingering routine, but the aid of science should be invoked to accelerate its pace, until it can keep step with that of other industrial pursuits of man- kind.
"The agriculturists have been, within a few years, aroused to their own wants. Periodicals, from a higher point of dignity and influence, have fired their zeal. The eager crowds which throng to the annual fairs of our agricultural societies, from the national down to ' all the stars of lesser magnitude, ' proclaim the universal hunger there is for a profounder information touch- ing that which comes home to their business and bosoms. They know there are mysteries dearly concerning them, and they de- mand of learning and of science a solution. 'Deformed, unfin- ished,' experiments —
'scarce half made up, And that so lamely,'
will not do. Farmers will not be cheated longer by unsustained speculations. The test of the field must follow and verify that of the laboratory. The half-bushel and the balance must prove the arithmetic. The result must support the theory. They want substance and not a shadow-bread and not a stone. They know well there is a vast force of agricultural labor hitherto misapplied, muscles that sow where they do not reap, and they demand light
Illinois Plan Before Congress 105
— demand to have their arms uiipinioned ! What has been an art merely to supply physical wants, must become science — though it wears
'hodden gray and a' that' —
doing the same service, but more abundantly, and also doing something to satisfy and elevate the manhood of the mass of peo- ple. Let us have such colleges as may rightfully claim the authority of teachers to announce facts and fixed laws, and to scatter broadcast that knowledge which will prove useful in build- ing up a great nation — great in its resources of wealth and power, but the greatest of all in the aggregate of its intelligence and virtue. ' '
Morrill referred to the activity of governments abroad in establishing model and experimental farms, ministers of instruc- tion, secondary schools and colleges devoted to industrial educa- tion, and to the improvement of industrial resources at the national expense. He indicated the favorable effects of these efforts, but at the same time he pointed out the fact that European professors and their teachings could be of little con- sequence to America because of the differences of conditions and needs.
Morrill was one of the few men who gave any emphasis to the fact that the mechanic arts held a place of importance in the industrial university plan. ' ' There is, ' ' he said, ' ' no class of our community of whom we may be so justly proud as our mechanics. Their genius is patent to all the world. For labor-saving con- trivances, their tact seems universal ; and when any one of them is detailed to do the breathing of an engine, he speedily furnishes lungs for the engine to do that sort of work for itself. But they snatch their education, such as it is, from the crevices between labor and sleep. They grope in twilight. Our country relies upon them as its right arm to do the handiwork of the nation. Let us, then furnish the means for that arm to acquire culture, skill and efficiency.''
In regard to the newer ideas of education based on its direct usefulness to the individual Mr. Morrill observes : " It is plainly an indication that education is taking a step in advance when
/•
106 History University of Illinois
public sentiment begins to demand that the faculties of young men shall be trained with some reference to the vocation to which they are to be devoted through life. It is clear that intellectual discipline can be obtained under more than one mode, and, fl primary education sought for this purpose can be afterward applied to practical use in the destined occupation, it is a point clearly gained. Law, theology, and medicine, have been special- ties from the time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary Special schools for art, trade, and commerce, though of later growth, have been long established in many places throughout Europe, and in our own American nties. In some places these institutions, intended to be practical rather than spec- ulative go by the not inapt name of Real Schools. Agricultural colleges and schools in many portions of Europe are a marked feature of the age. In our own country the general want of such places of instruction has been so manifest that States, societies, and individuals have attempted to supply it, though necessarily in stinted measures. The 'plentiful lack' of funds has retarded their maturity and usefulness; but there are some examples hke that of Michigan, liberally supported by the State, in full tide of successful experiment. Adequate means to start on a scale com- mensurate with the great objects in view seems an indispensable prerequisite. States have been unable to impose at once the Increased taxation that would be required, and the liberality • o private individuals has been unequal to the task. But if bill shall pass, the institutions of the character required by the people, and by our native land, would spring into life and not languish from poverty, doubt, or neglect. They would prove (if they should not literally, like the schools of ancient Sparta, hold the children of the State) the perennial nurseries of patriot- ism, thrift, and liberal information-places 'Where men do not decay. ' They would turn out men for solid use and not drones !
He paid his respects to the constitutional arguments and cited long lists of precedents and of opinions. He showed that over forty-four million acres of landscrip had been issued to soldiers in lieu of pensions; that since 1850 nearly twenty-six million acres had been donated to railroads ; and that up to 1 there had been given to the different states and territories sixty-
Illinois Plan Before Congress 107
seven million, seven hundred and thirty-six thousand acres for the benefit of schools and universities. The seven million acres asked for in the bill could not be unwarrantable upon the legal side. And since four-fifths of all the people were directly, and the other fifth indirectly interested, there could be no cry of class legislation. "It is," he said, "general and not local in its reach. There is no new^ policy involved. While Agriculture has been a neglected field of legislation, it does not now call for the exercise of novel constitutional power." In concluding the speech Mr. Morrill said : ' ' Pass this measure and we shall have done : some- thing to enable the farmer to raise two blades of grass instead of one; something for every owner of land; something for all who desire to own land ; something for cheap scientific education ; something for every man who loves intelligence and not igno- rance; something to induce the father's sons and daughters to settle and cluster around the old homestead ; something to remove the last vestige of pauperism from our land ; something for peace, good order, and the better support of Christian churches and common schools ; something to enable sterile railroads to pay divi- dends ; something to enable the people to bear the enormous ex- penditures of the national Government; something to check the passion of individuals, and of the nation, for indefinite territorial expansion and ultimate decrepitude; something to prevent the dispersion of our population, and to concentrate it around the best lands of our country — places hallowed by church spires, and mellowed by all influence of time — where the consumer will be placed at the door of the producer; and thereby something to obtain higher prices for all sorts of agricultural productions ; and something to increase the loveliness of the American landscape, Scientific culture is the sure precursor of order and beauty. Our esthetic Diedrich Knickerbockers, who have no land, will have a fairer opportunity to become great admirers of land that belongs to others."
As soon as Morrill had taken his seat, Eepresentative Oobb of Alabama, the chairman of the public lands committee, which had reported unfavorably upon the first bill, and the most active enemy of the land grant plan, moved that the whole matter be laid upon the table. His motion was lost by a vote of 114 to 83. showing that the house was ready to give the bill a direct hearing.
108 History University of Illinois
Two days later a new motion to lay the bill on the table was defeated and an attempt to refer it back to the committee on public lands suffered a similar fate. These efforts to sidetrack the measure having failed the only hope of the opposition was now to defeat the measure on the floor of the house.
In the debate upon the bill that followed Cobb took the lead in the attack. He claimed that it had not been the policy of the government, save for one or two exceptions, to grant lands for such purposes, and that the bill proposed the inauguration of a new system, the result of which could not be foreseen. He at- tempted to show that the federal government had only limited powers and that it was denied the authority to act in relation to the domestic affairs of the several states; that if the general government possessed the power to make grants within the states for local purposes, without a consideration, its action in that respect would have no limitation but such as policy or necessity might impose ; and in support of these arguments Mr. Cobb read entire the report of the majority of the committee of which he was chairman. He pointed out that congressional representation was no just basis upon which to distribute public lands for agri- cultural colleges, or for any other purpose ; that under this bill New York with twenty-nine million, four hundred and forty thousand acres of land would receive seven hundred thou- sand acres and that Iowa with thirty two million, five hundred forty-eight thousand nine hundred sixty acres of land would receive only eighty thousand acres ; and that the Morrill amend- ment by which the territories had been excluded from the benefits of this bill, was unjust. In conclusion Mr. Cobb admitted that he had erred in voting for an earlier bill to grant lands for the purpose of establishing insane asylums. In spite of his forcible presentation of the arguments of the opposition the land grant bill passed the house by a vote of one hundred five to one hun- dred.
In the senate the measure met with a stormy reception. Here on April 23, 1858, it was referred to the committee on public lands with Senator Stuart of Michigan, its warm friend, as chair- man. As this committee could not agree among themselves it reported the bill back to the senate without recommendation. Mr.
Illinois Plan Before Congress 109
Stuart made several attempts to bring it up but the senate adjourned on June 15 and the bill went over to the next session. As soon as the senate convened in December of 1858 Senator Stuart announced that he would call up the bill. On December 15, 16, and 23, he made attempts to call it but the senate refused in each instance to consider it, either from hostility or from the press of other business. Soon thereafter another champion of the bill appeared who could good naturedly, again and again, permit the matter to be postponed but who finally declared he would resist everything else and that action for or against must and should be taken. This was Senator "Wade of Ohio. Opposed to him with equal tenacity of purpose, if not with equal suc- cess in the outcome, was Senator Pugh, also from Ohio. Besides Senator Pugh, those who spoke most warmly against the bill were Senators Clay of Alabama, Green of Missouri, Mason of Virginia, and Davis of Mississippi. These men all urged consti- tutional objections. Grim of California objected because mineral lands were included, and Rice of Minnesota opposed because he thought the locations of land in his state would be detrimental. Senators Stuart of Michigan, Harlan of Iowa, Simmons of Rhode Island, and Collamer of Vermont, warmly advocated the passage of the bill, while other friends and enemies contributed to the hot discussion.
It was February 1 when Senator Wade succeeded in calling up the bill, and at the end of the discussion, which ran into the next day, it was recommitted to the committee on public lands on motion of Senator Pugh. This vote was reconsidered on February 3, and the bill remained on the calendar for consideration until February 7, when it was again taken up, discussed at great length, and finally passed by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-two.
A quotation from the impassioned speech of C. €. Clay of Alabama during this debate gives a fair idea of the alignment of forces as well as an excellent summary of the principles of those opposing the bill :
"By whom is this measure supported? By the unanimous vote of the Republicans and the Americans now classed I believe together, according to the present party nomenclature, under the name of 'the Opposition,' who habitually declaim against the
110 History University of Illinois
extravagance of the Administration and the Democratic party; who, with fervid patriotism profess) to desire economy, retrench- ment, and reform in the public expenditures; and who, in this instance, as in most others, discredit their professions of good faith by their bad works.
1 'Among them, strange to tell, are the representatives of some of the new States, notwithstanding, as suggested by the honorable Senator from Minnesota, (Mr. Rice,) the effect of this measure will be to enable greedy capitalists to monopolize large bodies of the public lands, keep them from settlement and cultiva- tion, and thereby retard the growth, the wealth, and prosperity of their own States. But, stranger still, among its supporters are found a few — I am glad to say a very few — members of the Dem- ocratic party who profess to be the advocates of State rights ; of a strict construction of the Federal Constitution ; opposed to en- larging Federal powers by construction ; in favor of the largest liberty of the States consistent with the prohibitions of the Con- stitution ; opposed to the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands; in favor of the principles and sentiments enunciated by General Jackson in his veto of the land distribution bill ; opposed to any intervention by Congress with the domestic affairs of the states, and in suffering them to manage their own internal and local affairs in their own way, subject only to the Constitution."
During the latter half of the year 1858 and the first two months of 1859 Turner, together with a number of men in other states worked incessantly to bring influence to bear upon the senate and the president that would result in the enactment of the land grant bill intoi law. In the autumn of 1858 Turner re- ceived a letter from President J. R. Williams of Michigan state agricultural college which stated there was serious danger of the bill being vetoed by the president and suggested that it would be well to get the Buchanan men among the Illinois representatives, to use their influence to prevent a veto.22 After a trip to Wash- ington in January, 1859, President Cary of Farmers college, Ohio, wrote Turner that the United States agricultural society had con- sidered favorably resolutions in support of the land grant bill. He mentioned also a ' ' convocation ' ' to which a few men, among
^Williams to Turner, October 19, 1858, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
Illinois Plan Before Congress 111
them Turner, had been invited. ' ' We had a grand time, ' ' wrote Gary, ' ' and gave the * Ball ' a roll such as it never had. We had strong men and true and they worked like brothers. ' '23 He men- tioned that Dr. John Kennicott of Illinois was there and "though feeble in body did by his presence and voice good service. " He mentioned also M. P. Wilder of Massachusetts as a host in him- self and added that they had worked together as "David and Jonathan. ' '
There were other men in Washington at that time working in the interest of the bill, among them were Professor Brown of the New York people's college, L. C. Byington of Iowa, D. P. Hollo way of Indiana, W. F. M. Arny of Kansas, and representa- tives of several other states. There is no evidence at hand to show that any one man at that time was leading in this work to influence congress. Men of the east and west joined in working for the bill, which they recognized would be of great value to each of the states.
In spite of the efforts of the friends of industrial education both in and out of congress, on February 26, 1859, the land grant bill was returned to the house of representatives with the presi- dent's veto. Buchanan had found the bill unacceptable for nu- merous reasons: it was extravagant as its effect would be to deprive the almost depleted treasury of the $5,000,000 which the sale of public lands was expected to produce during the next fiscal year ; it was impolitic because it would encourage the states to rely upon the federal government! for aid to which they were not entitled; it was injurious to the new states since it would force down the value of land scrip and make it possible for spec- ulators to obtain large tracts within their borders ; it was insuffi- cient to assure the promotion of industrial education because, although the state legislatures were required to stipulate that they would apply the land to the purpose for which it had been granted, there was no power in the federal government to compel them to execute their trust ; it was unjust since it would interfere with and probably injure colleges already established and sus- tained by their own effort ; it was unconstitutional since there was no grant of power to the federal government to expend public to Turner, January 19, 1859, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
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money or public lands for the benefit of the people in the various states.
After the president's message had been delivered Morrill moved that it be printed and then in a brief but forceful address asked the reconsideration of the bill. He declared that the veto of a bill introduced without regard to party lines and carried on its own merits through both houses, "pressed by petitions and Resolutions from the Legislatures of at least thirteen States, and by an indefinite number of memorials from private citizens" had been a serious blunder if not a crime. He then took up the reasons for the veto as they appeared in the message and answered them one by one. He evidenced his belief that the president's action had been impelled by political considerations, sarcastically suggesting that the financial objection came "with ill grace from a Magistrate who has wasted more than ten million dollars in a grand march of the army to Utah, who is wasting a larger sum by the grander naval demonstration against Paraguay, and who would waste $30,000,000 more in the grandest of all propositions — the snatching of Cuba." He pointed out that there was no probability that the national treasury would suffer during the current year since it would require at least a year or two for the states to pass the legislation necessary to take advantage of the land grant. He asserted that there was nothing in the principle of federal aid to industrial education in each of the states that was more likely to cause a request for unwarranted favors from the central government than might be found in the idea of na- tional support to state deaf and dumb hospitals to which "James Buchanan" and other prominent democrats gave their hearty support twenty years earlier. He showed that Jackson had vetoed a land bill in 1833 because it had given twelve and a half per cent more land to the new states than to the old, but declared that "this bill does equal and exact justice to all the States according to the census of 1850 ; and it further provides, that if, by the increase of population, the new States, or any States, shall have an increased representation in 'Congress in 1860, they shall receive twenty thousand acres for each additional Representative they may then be entitled to. I therefore contend that there is a discrimination rather for the benefit, than the injury, of the new
Illinois Plan Before Congress 113
States, to which this provision would only practically apply. Thus Democratic Presidents differ — agreeing only in the veto, by which the will of the people, as expressed by their Representatives here, shall be crushed out. One is for justice to the old States, and the other for justice to the new States, but neither for justice to all." In defense of the educational features of the bill Morrill said : "The president wholly mistakes the object of the bill which was to offer free tuition to the boys of farmers and mechanics — not to enrich corporations and endow professorships — and to enable them, by their own industry, to acquire what might not otherwise be within their reach — a liberal education. One great object was to arrest the degenerate and downward system of agriculture by which American soil is rapidly obtaining the rank of the poorest and least productive on the globe, and to give to farmers and mechanics that prestige and standing in life which liberal cul- ture and the recognition of the Government might afford. To all this the President turns a deaf ear." He then took up the argument that the land might not be used for the purpose to which it had been appropriated once it had passed beyond the control of the central government. He pointed out that the states were pledged to hold the land in trust for a specific object and that the objection that the federal government lost the opportu- nity to compel the use of the lands for the intended purposes conflicted with the wish, expressed in the same message, that the affairs of state and central governments be kept apart. Turning to the possibility of injury to already established colleges and to the president 's suggestion that it were better to establish pro- fessorships of agriculture in such institutions Morrill again gave his anger toward Buchanan full play: "What constitutional difficulty would thus be avoided, I confess, is to me incompre- hensible. The wisdom of the suggestion and its feasibility clearly belongs to the President alone. If the object be to excite the jealousy of existing colleges, it is unworthy of notice. I know that the friends of such institutions, men of thorough education, are, in all sections of the country, the cordial and devoted friends of this bill. I do not understand this hint in any other sense than this : that the President was not consulted in regard to the prin- ciples of this bill. Had he been thus consulted, or had the details,
114 History University of Illinois
even, been prepared by some Democratic member, then it might have received his assent/'
Finally Morrill turned to the constitutional objection; he called attention to the fact that the constitution gave congress the power to dispose of the public lands, and that such a power was absolute and unqualified ; he ridiculed the inference that to give was not to dispose and he expressed his amazement that a man who had voted public lands to the use of the insane should now find a similar measure for the benefit of the sane to be uncon- stitutional.
When Mr. Morrill had resumed his seat the vote upon the bill was taken, 105 representatives declaring for and 94 against the measure; the bill therefore, lacking the required two-thirds failed to pass over the presidential veto.24 It is significant however that on this final ballot the bill had mustered the same number of votes as on its first test in the house; the original friends of the bill, a non-partisan majority of the whole body had supported the measure to the last.
^Congressional Globe, 35 congress 2 session, 1412-1415. The veto mes- sage was dated February 24, 1859, and reported in the house of representa- tives on February 26, 1859.
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CHAPTER V
THE FINAL PERIOD OF THE LAND GRANT PROPOSITION
The veto of the land grant bill by President Buchanan was a great disappointment to the friends of industrial education. The agricultural papers both east and west had fully endorsed the bill and the press was without doubt correct in saying that the people had looked with more real interest to the passage of this bill than that of any measure that had been introduced for many years, for to them it was no party measure despite the fact that it had been made to assume that aspect by certain politicians at Washington.
The reasons offered by President Buchanan for his veto were plausible and were sustained by arguments that seemed sufficient to satisfy him of the rectitude of his course, but the people neither approved his logic nor sanctioned his deductions. Cincinnatus, edited by President F. G. Gary, of Farmers college, Ohio, strongly expressed its disapproval of the action of the chief executive. In its March, 1859 issue, prepared before the veto, the editor had predicted that President Buchanan would sign the bill because he had said only a short time before that "he should feel while he lived, as he had ever felt, the deepest interest in the success of Agriculture, because after all it was the greatest interest upon which the foundation of Nations and States must rest."1 In its April number written after the veto the Cincinnatus admitted that it was a very uncertain procedure to draw conclusions from such sources and that an extravagantly liberal margin must be allowed for the interpretation of political principles as well as for that of political platforms. The editor asserted that the veto power, especially when it arrayed itself against the decided and deliberate decision of the people through their representatives in congress was a doubtful expediency. In saying this, he re- vealed, of course, his deep feeling of regret and even of resent- Wincinnatus, March, 1859.
116 History University of Illinois
ment at the exercise of the veto on the land grant bill. He con- cluded a seven page article on the subject by expressing the belief that the course pursued by the chief magistrate would only add strength to the cause.
The Illinois Farmer in its March, 1859 issue said: "The farmers and other industrial classes of the United States will be grievously disappointed at this act of the President. Shall they yield their claims to a portion of the public lands on account of this defeat?'*
Turner with other friends of the industrial educational movement throughout the country was greatly disappointed by the veto even though he had known for several months that such action was quite probable. Sympathy came to him from men prominent in affairs in other states. Mr. Suel Foster of Mus- catine, Iowa, a member of the board of trustees of the newly forming agricultural college in Iowa wrote Turner under date of March 5, 1859, describing the work going on in Iowa. "We are about to inaugurate," he said, "a new era in the history of our country — that which was commenced 15 or 20 years ago in Europe, where it is now very imperfectly developing itself, — which was commenced some years ago by yourself. I know not how many — the light of which has been kindled from one to another." His high regard for Turner is still further evidenced by this: "I ask of you if you could not be induced to come over and help us, in the capacity of President of the Institution." Near the close, referring to the recent veto, he said: "Please excuse Jimmy Buchanan, etc., — consider the source — We will be prepared at the next Administration. ' '2
In the latter part of the year 1859 and early in 1860 prepara- tions were made in the country at large and in Illinois especially to carry the great plan of a land grant for agricultural and mechanical colleges once more before congress. The United States agricultural society at its eighth annual winter session, took up the discussion of the subject. Mr. C. B. Calvert of Mary- land offered a series of resolutions one of which referred to the president's veto of the Morrill bill. He followed the introduction of the resolutions with a vigorous speech in which he pointed out 2Foster to Turner, March 5, 1859, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
Final Period Land Grant Bill 117
the inconsistencies in Mr. Buchanan's actions of 1827 and 1859, and the absurdity of his constitutional argument; finally he objected to conferring upon Mr. Buchanan honorary membership in the society. Members of the society agreed with Mr. Calvert in his attitude toward agricultural education but not in his atti- tude toward the president and therefore his resolution was not adopted.
In Illinois the state agricultural society and the state horti- cultural society at their annual mid-winter meetings appointed committees to act conjointly in calling a convention of the people of the state ' ' to concert measures for the establishment of a per- manent system of agricultural instruction on a practical and economical basis,"3 and this joint committee sent forth the call for a convention to be held in Bloomington on Wednesday, June 27, 1860. The committee requested all organized agricultural, horticultural, and mechanical associations in the state to select delegates and also invited all persons interested in the subject of agricultural education to come and aid in devising measures to accomplish the ends proposed.4 The earnestness of the com- mittee is shown in the fact that they sent one of their members, Mr. C. T. Chase of Chicago, on a tour of inspection of existing agricultural colleges and schools within the United States to learn what he could of their plans and operation in order that he could give a report of his findings at the coming convention.
Pursuant to the call the fifth industrial convention met at Bloomington on the appointed date. Captain James N. Brown of Sangamon county was made chairman and after the selection of vice presidents and secretaries, Mr. Chase presented a report upon conditions existing at the various agricultural institutions throughout the country, and it appeared as special correspon- dence in the CMcago Weekly Times upon the same day :
"C. T. Chase, of Chicago, stated that he had visited in person as far as time would permit the greater number of the institutions for agricultural education in this country. If a name, an organization, good professors and facilities constitute an agri-
'Besolutions of the committees of the state agricultural society and state horticultural society, Prairie Farmer, June 14, 1860. *Prairie Farmer, June 14, 1860.
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cultural school, then we have several. The difficulty was that at the greater part of such institutions the classical, literary branches cf education absorbed the principal attention, and there was little devotion to the practical application of science to agri- culture. There has been very many experiments tried, and the whole project of agricultural schools might be said to be yet, in this country, in the transition stage, the stage of experiment. Near Cincinnati there was an institution professing to give agri- cultural education; but agriculture was not taught, nor wias there even the indispensible professorship of agricultural chem- istry. Thinking that information on this subject might be ob- tained from the Smithsonian Institute, Mr. Chase had visited Washington, where he was treated in the kindest manner by Professors Henry and Baird, the Secretary and assistant Secre- tary of the Institute. Though their time was fully engaged in the prosecution of duties then weighing upon them, they con- ferred fully with him on the subject, and very much facilitated his subsequent inquiries by furnishing him with letters of intro- duction.
"At Bladensburg, a few miles from "Washington, was the Maryland Agricultural college, which had been in operation about eight months. A body of men subscribed for the pur- poses of this institution $50,000, of which sum one-half had been paid. The State had granted the sum of $6,000 annually, as an endowment. One gentleman from Louisiana had made an annual endowment of $2,800 for eight years, to endow an agricultural professorship. The professors having charge of the various de- partments were of high reputations. The building was a large five-story one, capable of accommodating 120 scholars — less than that number is in attendance. By the rules, the pupils were required to work in the field three hours each day. They do, in fact, work about two hours, some working very cheerfully, and some taking to it hardly, not seeing the necessity in their circum- stances of working. I was informed by the officers that the work done by the boys cost all it was worth; since they had to have it all gone over again. The institution has professorships of Latin, Greek and Mathematics, and an enthusiastic Entomologist who lectures two hours each week and has infused his enthusiasm
Final Period Land Grant Bill 119
into his scholars. The entomological professor received no salary or remuneration. They also are crippled by debt, and their suc- cess has been further embarrassed by the interference of the board of trustees with the magisterial management of the school. "In the larger eastern cities, as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, farm schools have been instituted, having for their object the reclamation of younger children who have become demoralized by association with vicious companions. These are doing well, and are being pushed forward with much energy. In many places benevolent persons are founding horticultural schools on a small scale. Near New York city one has lately been amply endowed by a lady, having for its object the instruction of females in horticulture. In most of the eastern colleges a scientific course of study has been adopted which is termed an elective course, and can be pursued instead of the regular class- ical course. But the scientific course has fallen into disfavor, as in the eyes of the professors, the classical course has the precedence. And while the study of science can be pursued, there is no attempt to practically apply science to agriculture. The Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge, connected with Harvard University, has a high reputation. The Polytechnic School of Pennsylvania is now endeavoring to engraft upon its regular course an agricultural department and a commission has been appointed to examine locations for the use of an experi- mental farm. There is at Bolesbury, Pennsylvania, what is called a Farmer's High School but it is a school where higher branches are taught for the benefit more especially of farmers' sons. As yet but little has been done in it in the way of agricul- tural education. In the state of New York an effort had been made to found an agricultural college. The State has loaned a sum for twenty-one years for the purpose of carrying it on. Land has been bought at Ovid, on Seneca Lake, and buildings erected, with the expectation that it will be in successful opera- tion next fall. This is a manual labor School. In Michigan, for the purpose of endowing an agricultural college, the legislature granted twenty-two sections of land, the avails from the sale of which were devoted to this purpose. The legislature subsequently granted $56,000 in further aid. A large farm in a dense forest
120 History 'University of Illinois
was bought and buildings, reasonably commodious, erected. But the institution has sunk to the bottom, entangled with political matters, financial embarrassements and difficulties of various kinds. The students became unwell, the season was unpropitious and crops failed. It is now reorganized under Professor Fish, who filled the chair in chemistry; a great university was at- tempted to be built up, and the farmer's department has taken much greater prominence.
"In Iowa it was intended to found an agricultural college, but as yet the matter is merely in embryo. The State has gone so far as to buy, for the purpose, seven hundred acres located a day's ride from Des Moines, the capital.
"The general result is that nothing has yet been substan- tially and effectively done for the cause of agricultural education ; yet, what has been done has had its good results in pointing the dangers to be avoided — and may be regarded as a kind of pionee r work in the enterprise. And it remains for the State of Illinois, ignoring all sectional and political jealousies, simply striving for the best manner and men, to carry forward this noble work to a successful and prosperous issue."
After the reading of the report, C. B. Demo, a former repre- sentative in the legislature and a leading member of the state agricultural society, made an important claim before this large assembly of agriculturists which the Illinois Farmer of July, 1860 reported as follows: "C. B. Denio made one of his most characteristic speeches. He stated that when in the legislature, some years since, at the suggestion of Professor Turner, he pre- sented resolutions asking a donation of half a million acres of land for the purpose of just such an institution. The East now claimed the honor of Merrill's Land Bill; but such is not the case, and to Professor Turner is due the first starting of that ball. ' ' Turner was present at this convention and if what Denio claimed for him had not been true he would have been on his feet in a moment to make denial.
McChesney of Springfield made a short address in which he told of the efforts being made by the University of Chicago to establish an agricultural department and of its plans for a farm and for professorships, adding that he did not wish to be under-
Final Period Land Grant Bill 121
stood as trying to forestall in any manner the action of the con- vention.
Being called upon, Turner addressed the convention as fol- lows: "I see an omen for the future in the present gathering. I remember well when we could not get out a single farmer at a convention for this purpose, though repeated calls and drumming had been made, and though the convention was held at the capital during the session of the legislature. The world moves Mr. President. If I might be allowed to use a farmer's homely simile: While sitting in my own dooryard I have seen the immense droves of Missouri cattle coming by, and as the heavy, clustered tramp of the pawing bellowing herd came near, all left their irresistible, onward path; and so now I feel when I see the farmers coming up in masses, bent on the accomplishment of an object — I feel the presence of a mighty, irresistible power. "5
The speaker suggested the necessity of union and the entire abandonment of sectional interests. He expressed the belief that the failure of agricultural institutions heretofore had been due to the attempt to make manual labor schools of them, to entangle them with state and political interests, and to the fact that persons whose tastes and spirit were not agricultural had frequently been placed at their heads. To put an elderly clergy- man at the head of an agricultural school was like placing General Scott in charge of a theological seminary. The speaker advocated as a source of endowment the passage of the land grant bill. He deprecated any jealousy of the school located at Chicago, the state was a broad one, and he was only sorry that the noble work commenced at Chicago was not four fold in its extent. He sug- gested the placing of the proposed agricultural school in charge of men appointed by the two great and permanent organizations who are chosen by the farmers and mechanics at large.
At the evening session the resolution committee of five men with Turner as chairman reported a preamble and a series of eight resolutions all bearing upon education in the state and nation. The second resolution is quoted as being of special interest :
^Chicago Weekly Times, June 27, 1860.
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"Resolved, That this convention hereby request the executive committees of our State Agricultural and Horticultural Societies to appoint a committee, whose duty it shall be — 1st, to memorial- ize Congress to grant to each of the States of the Union such aid as was contemplated in the bill called the 'Morrill Bill,' which passed the House and Senate at a recent session; 2d, to memo- rialize and urge upon our State Legislature, to renew their petition to Congress, for the same substantial aid; 3d, to urge the establishment by the State Legislature of a school or depart- ment of agriculture, under the general direction of a board ap- pointed conjointly by the same State Agricultural and Horticul- tural Societies for this purpose; 4th, to provide courses of lec- tures on agriculture and horticulture, similar to the course at the last session in Yale College, to be delivered at such times and places as they shall deem most fit, and to take measures needful to secure these results. ' '6
Thus the Illinois men kept their hands to the plow.7 The news of their action was published widely in newspapers, in the agricultural press in Illinois and adjoining states. Experience had taught them the value of agitation.
Turner was laying plans looking to the re-introduction of the land grant bill into congress. It is related by one who had the best opportunities for knowing that before the campaign of 1860, Turner, talking with Mr. Lincoln at Decatur, told him that he would be nominated for president at the coming convention and afterward elected. "If I am," replied Lincoln, "I will sign your bill for state universities. ' ' A little later, Stephen A. Douglas met Turner on a train as he was going to Peoria, and assured him: "If I am elected I will sign your bill." Thus Turner had assurances that whether the election went for the republicans or the Douglas democrats, the land grant bill if it again passed congress would not be vetoed.
As has been previously noted, Senator Douglas had sent for
"Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5:985.
7<<In this convention a letter was read, written by some gentlemen in Urbana, who had not been able to be present, that that section would con- tribute for the purpose, a building erected at a cost of $100,000. " Chicago Weekly Times, June 28, 1860. The building mentioned was the one actu- ally given to the state in 1867 for the university.
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a copy of the plan in 1857 and had said of it: "it is the most democratic scheme of education ever proposed to the mind of man ! ' ' Now although defeated for the presidency, he continued his interest and in June, 1861, he wrote Turner requesting his plan for an industrial university and its history, as he wished to introduce a land grant bill at the next session of congress himself. Turner prepared a full and complete account as requested and sent it to the post office by his son, who shortly returned with the letter, saying a telegram had just been received announcing the death of Senator Douglas in Chicago. In grief and disappoint- ment Turner threw the letter into the waste-basket.8
But there was no need for despair. This was merely the darkness that precedes the dawn. The fulfillment of his hopes, the end of a ten years struggle for industrial education, was nearer than Turner could possibly have realized.
Early in December, 1861, Mr. Morrill again gave notice of his intention to introduce a bill similar in effect to the land grant bill of 1859. On December 16 he introduced it as house bill 138. Without contest it was referred to the committee on public lands, with Mr. Potter of Wisconsin as chairman. It slumbered with this committee until May 29, 1862, when it was reported with the recommendation that it should not pass. This recommendation, made without stated reasons, was referred to the committee of the whole. On June 5 Mr. Morrill asked leave to print a substi- tute which he desired to offer, but this failed on the objection of Mr. Holman of Indiana. Here ended the short life of house bill 138.9 There seems to have been insurmountable antagonism to it which centered in a few opponents who had great power at the time because of their official positions, among them Mr. Potter of Wisconsin, chairman of the committee on public lands.
Tired of the delay, and possibly with some understanding with Mr. Morrill, on May 2, 1862, Mr. Wade of Ohio introduced senate bill 298 which was referred to the senate committee on public
"For the above incidents relating to Lincoln and Douglas see Carriel, Life of Turner, 159-160.
"For action on this bill see House Journal, 37 congress, 2 session, 74, 773.
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lands with a friend, Senator Harlan of Iowa as chairman.10 On May 16 a favorable report with amendments was made, and now commenced another struggle as determined as was the former senatorial conflict, — this time with the men from the new states as opponents. Senators Lane of Kansas and Wilkinson of Min- nesota were especially strenuous in their opposition, maintaining that the location of large bodies of land in their states upon the scrip proposed, would be exceedingly detrimental to them.
Senator Lane of Kansas urged that if the bill passed, his state would suffer a great injustice. Kansas, he declared, had an abundance of valuable land within her border but her school lands had not yet been selected nor did she have her share of railroad lands. The effect of this measure would be to throw into the hands of non-residents almost every foot of valuable land in the state. As an illustration he suggested that New York under this bill would get a million acres of land, that land-scrip for that amount would be issued and it would fall into the hands of specu- lators in New York City who would go to Kansas and locate it. 4 ' We shall have, ' ' he continued, ' ' entire counties thus held with- out a possibility of getting a school, without a possibility of work- ing roads; and shall I tell any western man here the terrific consequences growing out of lands held in large quantities by non-residents ? ' 71 1
Senator Wilkinson of Minnesota agreed entirely with Sen- ator Lane in his argument in reference to non-residents holding land, but he based his opposition on a broader proposition, one which in reality included the other: what the new states really needed was population; lands were of no value to them, they wanted an industrious, thrifty, virtuous people to settle within their border. The tendency of the homestead bill which was soon to go into effect would be to accomplish this while the bill under discussion would counteract the good effects of the homestead law. Wilkinson acknowledged the liberality of congress in grant- ing lands to Minnesota for railroad purposes but expressed the belief that, since the organization of the territory, no one act
10For action on the bill in the senate see Senate Journal, 37 congress, 2 session, 444 ff.
^Congressional Globe, 37 congress, 2 session, 2248.
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of congress had done Minnesota so much injury. " Besides," he argued, ' ' I greatly doubt whether the states receiving this grant will profit very much from the donation if it is made. Schemes will be set on foot by designing men to obtain the scrip, and the States themselves will realize but very little from it."12 In addition he maintained that it would encourage fraud and cor- ruption on the part of the men getting possession of this state scrip and that speculators would get the best land, to the detri- ment of the volunteers serving in the army at the time. The pow- erful combined effort of these two men at length succeeded in getting an amendment prohibiting the location of more than one million acres in any one state.
The weight of influence of leading senators, such men as Wade of Ohio, Harlan of Iowa, and Trumbull of Illinois, was thrown in favor of this bill. They made no long speeches, probably realizing that they had a large majority and that speeches were unnecessary. Their remarks were brief and pointed.
Senator Wade called attention to the fact that this bill, or one precisely like it, had been passed by both houses of congress, that it had been before the people and before congress for a long time and though vetoed it had, nevertheless, been very generally approved. He admitted he did not know what the situation was in Kansas in regard to her public lands. That she had been granted as much as, and even more than most of the new states, had been admitted. "I think," said he, "the General Govern- ment has a right to take all those lands wherever they may lie, and appropriate them to such purposes as in the judgment of Congress is thought best, and I do not think that the State has any right to complain of that. The Senator says it leads to a land monopoly. I cannot see that it does any more than the sale of the lands by the Government. The Government sells lands to individuals in any quantity without restriction, and that may lead to a monopoly just as much as this."13
The discussions, occurring on May 21, 24, 28, 30, and June 10, were long and animated. On the latter day Senator Wade decided emphatically that he would give way to nothing, and
^Congressional Globe, 37 congress, 2 session, 2395. ^Congressional Globe, 37 congress, 2 session, 2249.
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forced a vote, which was 32 to 7 in favor of the bill as amended. Wade's great parliamentary ability and the value of his long experience was constantly displayed in the skillful manner in which he guided the bill through and over the snags placed in its way by a number of energetic opponents.
It is a significant fact that Iowa and Ohio, with whom the Illinois men had had frequent correspondence on the subject of petitioning congress, both had instructed their senators to sup- port the land grant bill. Other states, too, instructed their sen- ators to support the bill but it was the powerful influence of the three leading senators mentioned above as favoring the bill that made success assured.
Thus Mr. Morrill was given the opportunity to make a final effort for the measure in the house; on June 17 he called up senate bill 298, and, after a contest with Mr. Potter of Wisconsin and Mr. Holman of Indiana on the question of referring it to the committee on public lands, he finally forced it to a vote and it passed 90 to 25. The ballots in the senate and in the house show two things : the reduced membership of congress compared with that of 1859, on account of the civil war, and the greatly reduced proportional vote against the bill. This measure which was essentially from the people and for them was in no danger this time of perishing by means of the veto; it became a law without hesitation or constitutional quibble on July 2, 1862, by the hand of President Abraham Lincoln.
This bill as finally passed was practically as it was when first introduced. The important changes were to insert thirty thou- sand acres of land for each member of congress instead of twenty thousand as first proposed ; the exclusion of the benefits to states while in the act of rebellion ; and the requirement to teach mili- tary tactics. This last clause was a birth-mark, that will serve forever to direct the attention of students to the perils of the republic at the time the law was passed. The very day President Lincoln affixed his signature the army of the Potomac began its retreat from the disastrous and bloody fields of Malvern Hill.
Thus after a long hard struggle the land grant bill became a law. Certainly not one of the sixty-nine institutions that have
Final Period Land Grant Bill 127
been created or greatly expanded because of this law, and prob- ably not one of the states that have accepted grants under it, today regret its passage. Although there may have been some frauds in the handling of the scrip and although the states, as predicted by the opponents of the bill, did not in some instances get the full benefits of the grants made, yet the plan on the whole has proved a wonderful success.
Of more value to education, however, than the actual appro- priation of lands, great as it was, was the fact of the creation of a great system of industrial universities which the states them- selves have learned to value and to foster.
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CHAPTER VI
THE MEN WHO LED JONATHAN BALDWIN TURNER
At the age of forty-three in the year 1848, Jonathan Baldwin Turner had proved himself eminently successful as a human being. Hq was broken in health ; he had just resigned his position as professor of literature and belles-lettres in Illi- nois college because he could not keep his distasteful views to himself ; he was poor, wretchedly, pinchingly poor with a wife and five small children dependent upon him. Yet in spite of these apparent evidences of failure, Turner had built for him- self enduring f oundationsi for his later success as a pioneer in educational reform. He was fearless, bold, free ; and he knew the educational needs of his state as few men could know them.
His path to financial safety was literally a thorny one : it was the path of the red raspberry and the osage orange. The Turner red raspberry is still the standard for this climate ; the osage was his answer to the question which involved the success of the state: "What shall we do for fences?" Without fences Illinois was destined to be, not a region of home-farms, but of great plantations or estates. And Illinois could not buy fences in that day ; she had to raise them and they must be ' ' horse-high, bull-strong, and pig- tight. ' ' The problem demanded the man. Variety after variety of soil- produced fencing Turner made the subject of his experiment only to discard each and all. Finally he found a hardy thorny native of Arkansas and Texas, the osage orange. Exultantly he said of the osage, "One good gate, well locked, makes the whole farm secure against all intruders." Then came the civil war. The osage must be brought from Arkansas by a north- erner as no southerner could be brought into business relations with the north. Turner was sure he had solved this problem when he induced an agent to venture into Arkansas for the seed. But when this agent beheld, hanging from trees, the
o
w
Men Who Led 129
bodies of three other northern men who had ventured into Arkansas on business, he resigned his position and Turner could not find another agent who would accept it. However, Turner was not defeated, he was merely confronted with a fresh prob- lem. Through the agricultural press he urged the farmers to plant the osage trees in their hedges twenty-five feet apart and to sell him the oranges. Thus he soon had seed for all. The old order has changed and we are grubbing out the osage, but it served a vital need in its day for it gave the 'state the chance to develop along natural lines.
At this period of his life when Turner was gaining an understanding of his particular corner of the earth, it is doubt- ful if ever again he intended to devote himself seriously to edu- cation. But his experience had fitted him to see the failure of the education of his day. He saw that the day 's work of a live man is a more rational basis for a man's education than the faded parchments of dead monks. As to the contempt in which the traditional schools of the day held the work of the men who are in the truest sense nation-builders, Turner declared: "Whenever this fatal delusion prevails, the necessary result must be a monstrosity, not a manhood ; a monk, rather than a man ; and it will be found, at last, to give the world pedants and pettifoggers for priests and teachers, rowdies and robbers for rulers, and only old vices under new names, for all the aban- doned and discarded vices of their forefathers/'1
Again with a direct and magnificent drive that shattered the proper, paper houses of convention :
"Can, then, no schools and no literature suited to the peculiar wants of the industrial classes, be created by the appli- cation of science to their pursuits? Has God so made the world, that peculiar schools, peculiar applications of science, and a peculiar resultant literature are found indispensable to the highest success in the art of killing men, in all states, while nothing of the kind can be based on the infinitely multifarious arts and processes of feeding, clothing and housing them? Are there no sufficient materials of knowledge, and of the high- est mental and moral discipline in immediate connection with
burner, Industrial Universities for the People, 7.
130 History University of Illinois
these pursuits? For wh&t, but for this very end of intellec- tual discipline and development, has God bound the daily labors of all these sons of toil in the shop and on the farm, in close and incessant contact with all the mighty mysteries of his own creative wisdom, as displayed in heaven above, and on earth beneath, and in the waters and soils that are under the earth?
Why has God linked the light, the dewdrop, the clouds,
the sunshine, and the storm, and concentrated the mighty powers of the earth, the ocean and the sky, directed by that unknown and mysterious force which rolls the spheres, and arms the thunder-cloud — why are all these mystic and potent influences connected with the growing of every plant and the opening of every flower, the motion of every engine and every implement, if he did not intend that each son and daughter of Adam's race should learn through the handicraft of their daily toil, to look through nature- up to nature 's God, trace his deep
designs, and derive their daily food, from that toil that is
ever encircled and circumscribed on all hands, by the unfath- omed energies of his wisdom and his power? No foundation for the development and culture of a high order of science and literature, and, the noblest capacities of mind, heart and soul, in connection with the daily employments of the industrial classes !"2
Then with the fine vigor of an upstanding man who has enough behind his eyes to see what is before them, he thunders :
"How came such a heathenish and apostate idea ever to get abroad in the world? Was God mistaken when he first placed Adam in the garden, instead of the academy ? or when he sentenced him to toil for his future salvation, instead of giving him over to abstract contemplation? when he made his Son a carpenter instead of a rabbi ? Or when he made a man a man instead of a monk ? ' '3
In Turner 's time these ideas were distinctly revolutionary. Work with the hands still was regarded as the primal curse and to transfer science from the class room and the laboratory
2Turner, Industrial Universities for the People, 12, 13.
is.
Men Who Led 131
to the field and the workshop, thus alleviating the curse of toil, was looked upon as little short of irreligious.
It is interesting to note that Turner came of a family whose members, men and women, were distinguished by fearlessness and force. His grandfather, Lieutenant Edward Turner, fought at Bunker Hill. When the Americans had to retreat because of the tragic fact of lack of ammunition, it was young Lieu- tenant Turner who, springing upon an embankment, encour- aged the soldiers into maintaining an orderly retreat. Turner 's father was Captain Asa Turner who fought in Shay 's Rebellion, that brave outburst against the misuse of authority. Turner 's mother when an old woman chased a party of Indian braves from the house with a fire shovel. The Turners were a doughty race.
Jonathan Turner was born in 1805. His boyhood was spent upon a New England farm. His college education he obtained at Yale where he ranked high in his class, winning prizes in English composition and Greek. In 1835 he married Rhodol- phia Kibbe who joined him in his life as a pioneer in the great northwest where he had been for two years, a professor in Illinois College at Jacksonville.
Shortly after Turner's arrival in Jacksonville an epidemic of cholera broke out. People fell dead like oxen struck by the butcher's ax. Early and late Turner nursed the sick. Upon one occasion it seemed his patient must die. Turner doubled the prescribed doses of medicine, quadrupled them; then, as death came nearer, he stopped measuring altogether and fairly fed his patient tincture of red pepper, laudanum, and brandy. The disease could not withstand such measures, the patient could and recovered.
Turner lost no opportunity of acquainting himself with conditions in the great northwest. In the summer of 1834 he made a seven weeks trip, visiting twelve or fifteen counties of Illinois, his object being to arouse people to the necessity of reorganizing their common schools. Upon this trip he learned all he could of the state of education among the people and he began to realize how little the education offered by the schools and colleges met the needs of their lives.
132 History University of Illinois
The years from 1835 on were eventful. For a time while he was professor in Illinois College he also had charge of the Congregational churches at Waverly and Chandlersville, for he was ordained a minister shortly after coming west. In 1843 and 1844 he was editor of the Illinois Statesman, the second antislavery paper in Illinois. So active in antislavery agitation was he that he received an anonymous letter in 1842 warning him that an attempt was to be made on his life. Later the letter was identified as having been written by Cassius M. Clay. His pamphlet on "Philosophy of money " which appeared in 1842 was highly commended by Daniel Webster. He invented a cornplanter, a plow, and other farm implements which served their purpose and retired honorably when others that served still better appeared. In religion he was aggressive, demanding that religion be an affair of life. His speeches upon religion abounded in sarcasm that cut through the sham of pious con- vention. We find in one: "For then as now, no faith was deemed orthodox that had not been settled down long enough to begin to petrify and turn to stone. "4 Of a certain good gentleman prominent in his time, he remarked: " — a most excellent Christian man, now in heaven, but then too orthodox for either heaven or earth. ' '5
This habit of vigorously piercing sham must have made him exhilarating and interesting, but a college faculty must look to its funds ; hence it can be understood that the resigna- tion of Turner in 1848 brought relief from uncomfortable sus- pense.
Turner was not connected with an educational institution when he first publicly announced his plan for industrial educa- tion. Undoubtedly the fact that he had no such connection was a help to him, for it is inconceivable that a college of the accepted type with a curriculum based on Latin and Greek would have endured his plan or his presence during the long years of the fight that followed its announcement.
Yet never in those years of fight did he think of giving up the cause. Long after the establishment of the system of land 4From Speech called Historic Morgan.
Men Who Led 183
grant institutions Bronson Murray, one of his strongest sup- porters, wrote to Turner's daughter, Mrs. Carriel: "Your father was the soul, spirit, and battle axe during all the fifties of the movement favoring Industrial Education as compared with and in preference to the Linguistic or Professional."6
Turner felt acutely, when he announced his plan in 1851, the dull tragedy of ignorance that was being enacted on our prairie farms and in our workshops. "As things now are," he said, ' ' our best farmers and mechanics by their own native force of mind, by the slow process of individual experience, come to know at forty what they might have been taught in six months at twenty ; while a still greater number of less fortunate or less gifted stumble on through life almost as ignorant of every true principle of their art as when they began."7 It was this drama of ignorance that he wished to stop ; thus preventing the tragic fifth act when a completely depleted soil brings the furies of famine and poverty. "It may do," he said again, "for the man of books thus to plunge at once amid the cata- combs of buried institutions and languages, to soar away to Greece and Kome and Nova Zembla, Kamchatka and the fixed stars before he knows how to plant his own beans or harness his own horse or can tell whether the functions of his own body are performed by a heart, stomach and lungs or with a gizzard or gills. But for the man of work thus to bolt away at once from himself and all his pursuits in after life contravenes the plainest principles of nature and common sense."8 The task of forcing upon his generation a more practical scheme of edu- cation than the one in vogue proved herculean. Truth is not a power that coaxes error gently from the lap of time ; she merely arms the devotee with a weapon that makes it possible for him to pitch it out if he has the strength. Turner gave himself un- sparingly to his idea : he wrote, lectured, thought, suffered dis- appointment, and escaped defeat only because he was not de- featable.
"Murray to Mrs. Carriel, November 10, 1901, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
7Turner, Industrial Universities for the People.
134 History ^University of Illinois
The bitterest opposition came from the classical and theo- logical colleges. Upon the occasion of the Springfield conven- tion in 1852 certain ' ' guests by courtesy, ' ' representatives and advocates of the established educational order, undertook to hold the new plan and its advocates up to ridicule. Being ad- mitted to the debate they persisted in hurling at the speakers a volley of abstract and classical questions thinking to reveal the ignorance of the men who sought to establish this new uni- versity, styled industrial. Turner arose and answered the ques- tions with a dignity and courtesy entirely lacking in those who asked them. When they had ceased to question, he in his turn questioned them upon the practical affairs of the day and then indeed an ignorance truly amazing was revealed. Having re- duced them to utter confusion he frankly told them what he thought of their behavior as invited guests. They were glad to make a hasty and unceremonious exit !9
His plan was widely read and had a decided influence in other states. In 1853 he wrote: "Our friends in New York have already reprinted our remarks — without honoring them with quotation marks — and thus, with our stolen thunder aroused their industrial population and called for munificent endowments for an industrial university. She has already her funds) and her university is in full blast and now calling upon her people on this basis for a second munificent endowment for the same end.
"Michigan many years ago established a State Agricul- tural College but she has never made any effort for Agricul- tural colleges outside the boundaries of her own state."10
During the years that Turner was carrying on his campaign for industrial education he was active in other public affairs. In 1846 Dorothy Dix came to Jacksonville to investigate the condition of the insane in that part of Illinois. She wit- nessed barbaric and ignorant treatment of this unfortunate class and1 at the next session of the legislature she went before it and told what she had seen.
BEelated by close friends and co-workers of Turner 10From address ' ' Millennium of Labor. ' '
Men Who Led 135
Her accounts aroused Turner who immediately set to work to procure more humane treatment for the insane. In 1847 an appropriation was made for the founding of a state insane asylum. On February 24, 1851, Turner was appointed upon the board of trustees, which consisted of nine members. Loyalty and vigorous honor marked Turner's course upon the board and one might almost think loyalty and honor were crimes, so high was the price he was called upon to pay for them in trouble and bitterness.
At the first state fair ever held in Illinois, Turner was scheduled to speak October 14, 1853, upon "the Millennium of labor." Men who had become his enemies because of his work upon the hospital board wished to prevent his delivering it. The night before the lecture was to be given while he was in Springfield, his barn in Jacksonville was set on fire in three different places. The fire spread to a long! shed and conserva- tory, just finished, which had meant much in economy and careful planning. All the animals, vehicles, and farm ma- chinery with grain and provender were burned.
But the incendiary did not accomplish his object. Mr. Turner, ascertaining that his wife and children were safe, deliv- ered his address. It was received with enthusiasm. At the conclusion Dr. John A. Kennicott of Chicago, corresponding secretary of the state agricultural society, stepped to the front of the platform and told the audience under what circumstances the address had been given. A little box was nailed up at the entrance gate and all who would, were given the chance to lessen the loss. Over five hundred dollars were contributed — a large sum in those days, — but the loss was four thousand !
His enemies, because of his work as a member of the hos- pital board, made capital of a certain speech of his against the "corporation law," under which bodies of men were perpetrat- ing hideous abuses. In this he said: "I am neither treating laws nor the decisions of our courts with undue disrespect. An unjust law or court decree deserves no respect from any free- man; and it shall have none from me."11 It was principally
"The address, called the " Heathen Chinee Speech," delivered in the Hall of Representatives, Springfield, 1874.
136 History University of Illinois
due to his activity against the abuses of corporations that the Illinois senate failed to confirm Turner 's nomination as trustee of the Illinois hospital for the insane in 1874 and his progressive career on that board was ended.
There is, in an article by F. G. Gary, president of Farmers college, Ohio, a notable account of a visit to Turner. "The Professor/' wrote Gary, "lives independently, thinks inde- pendently, and is a true philanthropist with an invincible repugnance to sectaries, creeds, and dogmatisms in religion, literature and politics. He is a stern supporter of religion, the state and education in all their essential, purifying and exalting principles and excellencies; * * * Having spent most of his life in teaching, he is one of the first educators. He is pomolo- gist, horticulturist, and farmer, as well as educator and relig- ious teacher ; and judging from what we were permitted to see, adorns every position he occupies. As a horticulturist, his fruits, strawberries, and flowers are unsurpassed." After comment upon his hedges and fruits, he continued : ' ' He also depends much upon trenching and underdraining, for the suc- cessful rearing of fruits especially. This gives equability of moisture that cannot otherwise be secured.
"Even the pieplant will yield' fourfold more by this treat- ment than by ordinary culture. From four rows four hundred feet long, thus cultivated, the Professor gathered the enormous amount of eight tons the past season. "
1 ' The Professor has invented a continuous drain- tile made of cement that he constructs as he goes, forming it upon a round stick, which, as fast as it sets he withdraws. The cost, he says, is but one cent per foot."12
When Turner went to Washington in 1862 to nurse his son Charles who had enlisted in the 68th regiment of Illinois volun- teers and had fallen ill of typhoid, he became a warm friend of President Lincoln. In a letter to his wife of September 19, 1862, Turner wrote :
"He (Lincoln) also told me that his only instruction in the English language he had from me, through the Green brothers of Tellula, Illinois, while they were students of Illinois College
"The Cincinnatus for 1858.
Men Who Led 187
and he was a hired hand working for their mother in the harvest fields. "13
Again he wrote :
"I had a long talk with the President at the White House yesterday. He is confined to his room with a lame ankle. He told me he intended to issue a proclamation of Emancipation which he said had been prepared for weeks awaiting the win- ning of a Union victory.
"With sly humor he also told of the visit of a delegation who claimed to have a message from God that the war would not be successful without the freeing of the negroes ; to whom he replied : 'Is it not a little strange that the Lord should tell this to you who have so little to do with it, and not tell it to me, who has a great deal toi do with it?' And the sly old coon at that very moment had the proclamation in his coat pocket. "14
When the bill creating the land grant institutions was passed in 1862 Turner felt that his long struggle in the interests of industrial education was ended. It seemed to him that there were others better qualified to carry the work forward and that he would thus be) eased of a great burden. Unfortunately for him and for the state there were influential men with mistaken ideas who would have wrecked the whole project of an indus- trial university and wasted the funds for its endowment had not Turner been at hand to fight them, reluctant as he was to do so. The next four of five years were extremely unpleasant ones for Turner in his relation to the proposed university. For three years after the opening of the university he felt it was a complete failure and he refused to have anything to do with it. A visit to the institution in 1870 convinced him that he was mistaken ; he saw that the university was developing along the lines that he himself had laid down and he gladly acknowl- edged it.
Turner held beliefs at which some of us may smile now. As an inquirer, he consulted spiritualistic mediums, sometimes unmasking them, sometimes believing he received true mes- sages. He believed in mental telegraphy and was able to cite
18Carriel, Life of Turner, 278. "Ibid; 274-275.
138 Hist or y^ University of Illinois
dramatic instances in his own life when he believed he had received messages from those far distant.
He wrote much ; besides what has been mentioned, he pro- duced books or pamphlets upon "The three great races/7 "Universal law and its opposites," and "Our republic. " He himself felt that the work -for which he would be remembered was his religious writing, ' ' The new American church, ' ' " The Christ word versus the church word," and "The Kingdom of Heaven. " Yet very few read his religious writings while on every hand his educational plan is shaping lives.
He died in 1899 at the grand old age of ninety-three. The work he did never has been recognized in any way commen- surate with its importance. Nor would he resent it, for all he asked was the privilege of doing that work. Yet it would be fitting if each industrial university had its Turner hall; and certainly if ever the central institution that was part of the plan is established, the name carved over the first building to be erected should be the name of Jonathan Baldwin Turner.
BRONSON MURRAY
Like his associate in the struggle for industrial education Bronson Murray was an eastern man. Although born to wealth and station in the city of New York, he had a natural affection for the soil that demanded satisfaction. His own education caused him to feel acutely the need of education for the farm and the practical industries, hence he eagerly indorsed Turner's plan. His most significant work was as originator of the Illi- nois industrial league and ardent supporter of it; he was also one of the founders of the Illinois agricultural society and for a time corresponding secretary.
He stood staunchly by Turner through the hard years of conflict, giving freely of his money, labor, influence, and en- couragement. When Turner's eyes failed and he was com- pelled to deliver his addresses blindfolded, he was led to and from the halls by Bronson Murray, tall, very straight, very patrician in appearance, called the handsomest man in Illinois. When misfortune came to Turner, it was Murray that was
BRONSON MURRAY
Men Who Led 189
always the first to offer his assistance. After the cowardly firing of Turner's buildings in 1853, Murray wrote offering to send him "a pair of good nags" to use until spring. He adds that while he has no money on hand he expects to have $500 or $1000 at any time as the result) of a land sale and he courte- ously makes it clear that it will be a joy to him to lend it to Turner.15
While a modest man he was too intelligent to underrate himself. When Turner spoke to him in high terms of his ability, he replied :
"What you say of my ability is flattering to me. I know I have never been stalled and that I have braved experience from the silken chambers whence I emanated to savage wilder- ness of Arkansas ruffians and woody swamps. That experience trains a man to know his capacity for* action tho it may not to judge how others view him."16
There is often in his letters a serene practical philosophy that recalls Marcus Aurelius, as when he says of the discourage- ments that first met the Morrill bill: "Perhaps Merrill's Bill is too good to make much progress yet. It must first be ' de- spised and rejected of men' if it be salvation in any respect for the human race or any part of them."17 Such a well poised spirit was invaluable in the discouragements and bafflements that met the new movement.
In regard to his early life it is possible fortunately to quote his own words: "In the year 1817," wrote Mr. Murray, "in the city of New York, my paternal grandfather, John Boyles Murray, was the owner of two four-story basement houses, Nos. 43 and 45 Barclay street, which he had built on two lots leased from Columbia College. Mrs. Okill kept a ladies board- ing school at No. 43, leased from my grandfather who occupied with his family, No. 45. Here I was born on the 15th of April of that year, my parents then temporarily residing there."18
"Murray to Turner, October 29, 1853, Turner manuscripts.
"Letter of October 29, 1853.
"Murray to Turner, March 11, 1858, Turner manuscripts.
™" Autobiography of Bronson Murray" down to about 1840, loaned by his son, James B. Murray of Yonkers, New York, to whose courtesy the author is indebted also for a sketch of Mr. Murray's later life. Words of Bronson Murray that are quoted are from the Autobiography.
140 History University of Illinois
Mr. Murray's father, James B. Murray, was a prominent army officer, a Colonel of a regiment of artillery in the War of 1812, a man who had traveled widely and was a friend of many of the leading statesmen and diplomats both at home and abroad. These facts explain an incident related by Mr. Murray of his early experience : "I remember my father taking me by the hand one day in 1824 and walking down to a Hudson river pier near the Battery, and, with a large number of persons, boarding a steamboat, I think it was called the Bellona, and I think Commodore Vanderbilt was its Captain. I was told we were going to meet General LaFayette and bring him to New York from Amboy. " A painful accident that occurred of a sailor having his arms blown off obscured in the young boy's mind any recollections of the noted Frenchman.
The account of his early education shows how he acquired not only a dislike to methods then employed in teaching, but to the "dead literature" the teachers endeavored to drive in. After referring to an incident of November 4, 1825, when he went with his father to witness the parade and procession on land and water in honor of the opening of the Erie canal, the "marriage of the waters" as it was called, he wrote further:
"Shortly after that I was sent to boarding school at Jamaica, Long Island. Here I remained for two years and be- came acquainted with the fever and ague, together with the rudiments of education, enforced dexterously with a flat ruler, by the learned teacher, on the prominent part of the person of the boy who was laying face downward over the edge of the platform while his feet were on the floor. Principal Eigen- broght allowed no other master to administer flaggelation, and he seems to have fancied that the dead languages could be incorporated by that operation into the vulnerable part of a recreant, who could not receive it intellectually otherwise, for I distinctly remember he would point with his rule at one boy in the class before him and order him to conjugate a Latin verb, and then, while the boy was conjugating, the ruler would be brought with a smarting smash upon the rotund muscle below, a pair of little heels would perform acrobatic motions in the air; the ruler would point at the next aspirant for dead
Men Who Led 141
literature in the class who would begin declining a Latin noun. The ruler would descend hitting its former mark, the heels flying again in the air, the ruler again pointed to the class and the operation again be repeated until a sufficient number of blows had been administered when the young recreant would be released with no increase to his knowledge of Latin but a supposed sufficiency of an improvement in scholarship." No wonder that in later years he cared little whether classics were ever taught in the new proposed industrial university.19
In 1832 Mr. Murray entered Columbia college as a fresh- man. He remained there for two terms. During this period his father required him to work in a carpenter's shop and later to attend lectures on civil engineering. In 1834 his father gave him three dollars and started him out to work as a rodman for an engineering party working on the Morris canal from Newark to Jersey City. Thus began his professional life of civil engineer which lasted some ten years. He worked in var- ious places on numerous jobs from New York to Michigan. The experiences of these years in the newly developing west gave him a confidence and a poise that were striking character- istics throughout all the remaining years of his life.
The panic of 1837, and the resulting financial depressions during the subsequent years, having destroyed all prospects of the early resumption of railroad construction and of public works and thereby his immediate outlook as a civil engineer, Murray decided to go west and settle on some 1,600 acres of land owned by his father. Therefore in 1844 he went out to Chicago, bought equipment and began farming.20 In 1847 he returned to New York state and in June of that year married Miss Anna E. Peyton, daughter of Colonel Rowzee Peyton of Richmond, Virginia, who had moved to Geneva, New York. Returning with his bride by stage coach to Chicago, they went then by canal boat to Ottawa and then by team to his farm at Farm Ridge, ten miles south of town. While living on this
19See Murray's "Suggestions for a basis of an Illinois Industrial Uni- versity," paragraph 1, in appendix p. 435.
20A receipted bill for a horse and wagon bought in Chicago shows that he paid the munificent sum of twelve dollars and some cents for them.
142 History University of Illinois
farm he became interested in the movement for industrial uni- versities. Here he frequently entertained Turner, Kutherford, and others of his friends.
"Being a firm believer in the future of Illinois farm lands, he put all he could raise into Government land warrants which he located in LaSalle and later in Livingston County. He then sold as many of the lands as the farmers and settlers wanted (often entering for them lands they desired), and retaining the balance, he later had them broken up and put under culti- vation, and they became the support of his family and himself for the rest of his life.
"He took Professor Turner's view of the value of the osage orange for hedge and fencing purposes, and along the lines of those lands which he retained in Livingston County, he had osage orange set out and cultivated with great care, — over 30 miles of it, — and so far ahead of time that when the lands were ready for improvement, the hedge furnished almost continuous fences. The hedges grew so luxuriantly as to cut off the breezes from the roads and therefore had to be trimmed down. Some of their stumps today measure a foot in diameter. ' '
"About 1855 he moved from Farm Kidge to Ottawa, Illi- nois, into a house he bought of Professor Charruaud on Rose Hill, just North of town, and there had furniture for the parlor sent on from one of the best makers in New York. ' '
"He was a strong anti-slavery man from the very begin- ning, a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, whom he warmly supported and he also favored the underground railroad, with which Capt. William Strawn of Odell had some connection. ' '
"In the fall of 1858 he left that house at Ottawa and moved East to his father's country house at Greenfield Hill, near Fairfield, Conn., where he remained that winter. The house was not fitted nor heated for winter. The coldest day that winter, — so cold that all the children had to be kept in bed to keep them warm, — he drove to Bridgeport, four miles away, in an open wagon to buy and bring back a stove for the hall, to keep them warm ; and so bitter was the day, that he met only one other person out on the road. But he brought the stove back with him.
Men Who Led 143
"In the spring of 1859 he moved to Fairfield, and in the fall of 1861, to Stamford, Conn., for better school facilities for the younger children.
"About 1863 he moved to New York and about 1866 to Newport, Rhode Island.
"In the fall of 1868 he moved back to New York City, where he bought for his wife, with the proceeds of her dower section, at the West, — recently sold, — a house in which they both lived quietly down to the time of their death. In summer, when his wife and family went to some place in the country, they could hardly ever persuade him to leave with them, as he said he preferred the run of the house with the air circulating through it, and bathing facilities, to a cramped room in some country hotel or boarding house.
"About 1879 he again took charge of his lands at the west which his oldest son had meantime had almost entirely broken up, ditched and rented out; and thereafter for a number of years, he insisted on going West and spending his summer at Odell and Pontiac, Illinois, to look after his lands, and in winter returned to New York."
"In 1904 his wife died, and as all his children were married, they persuaded him, about a year later, to have an attendant, who most kindly and faithfully took care of him during the six remaining years of his life. Her thoughtful and efficient care and judicious management undoubtedly prolonged his life sev- eral years. He died on January 10th, 1911, at the ripe old age of 93 years, the same age at which his faithful friend Turner had died.
"He always retained a lively interest in the University of Illinois, down to the time of his death.
"He never held public office, his father, who had had some experience along that line, having filled, among other offices, that of President of the Board of Health of New York City during the cholera epidemic, when a chain had to be stretched across the city at Canal street to prevent communication be- tween the upper and lower part of the city, and people sprinkled red pepper in their stockings to escape the dire de-
144 History Ifniversity of Illinois
stroyer, — having warned him on his death bed, against accept- ing public office.
"He was survived by five children, James B., living at Yonkers, N. Y. ; Caroline M., who married Lucius K. Wilmerd- ing of New York ; Olivia M., who married the late W. Bayard Cutting of the same city ; John Archibald, lawyer, of that city ; and Annie M., wife of C. Wickliffe Yulee, also of that city.
"He was a devoted father, — sacrificing his comfort, ease, means and even life for the best interests of his children, who also were devoted to him, whose company and companionship they ever enjoyed, and who were only too pleased when they could persuade him to leave his home in the city and visit them in their country places, — which however, they seldom succeeded in doing. ' '21
DR. JOHN A. KENNICOTT
Dr. John A. Kennicott was associated with J. B. Turner through the most trying years of the campaign that ended in the establishment of the land grant system of industrial univer- sities.
He died in 1863, when but a little over sixty years of age. He had lived to see the federal government make, what to him appeared a munificent grant to agricultural and mechanical education and to know that Illinois accepted her share; but to see the institution itself with young men thronging its halls was denied him.
Kennicott was a good fighter ; unafraid, direct, impulsive, often tactless, with a native simplicity which no experience in the duplicity and double-dealing that he saw practiced in polit- ical life, was ever able to cloud. When he fought he fought with pleasure, but he was always a generous foe. During his residence in New Orleans he was once challenged to a duel. He accepted heartily, chose pistols as the weapons with enthu- siasm, and looked forward to the affair with such interest that his opponent made an apology.
Kennicott had scant opportunities for education in early youth but he instinctively gave a close attention to flowers and
21From biographical sketch by James B. Murray.
JOHN A. KENNICOTT
Men Who Led 145
things that grow on the earth and his affection gave high value to his observations. As soon as opportunity to study appeared, he seized it with avidity and thanks to this habit of close obser- vation his mastery of botany was swift. At twenty-one he delivered a series of lectures on botany in Buffalo that were the subject of wide and favorable comment.22
He studied and practiced medicine. In New Orleans he taught, wrote, and edited a paper, the Louisiana Recorder. In March 1836 he moved to Illinois where he practised medicine, with unusual success for some twenty-seven years. When he first came to Illinois it was a new country and there was much sickness. He rode a circuit of thirty miles, often tiring five horses in twenty-four hours. Not only did he have to go on horseback but frequently it was over " impossible" roads, through frightful floods and storms, bridges washed away and mud beyond anything one can now imagine. Besides these physical difficulties he was obliged to undergo great mental strain for there were no "specialists" and the physician had to be a surgeon as well.
In the midst of the labors of his profession he found time for horticulture to which he was devoted. Besides J. B. Turner he had among his earnest friends A. J. and Charles Downing, leading eastern horticulturists; David Thomas, a Quaker, a wonderful florist and botanist ; and other leading scientists and editors. Then, too, he was for three years horticultural editor of the Prairie Farmer. He gave himself freely to public affairs. Among other offices of various societies and associations which he held, may be mentioned the office of secretary of the state agricultural society and president of the state horticultural society.
Of him J. Ambrose Wight, editor of the Prairie Farmer wrote : ' l His love of nature was genuine and he had a quick eye and a true appreciation of whatever was beautiful in it — fruit, flowers, birds, and beautiful trees were all his friends. He knew how to commune with them better than any man I have ever known. ' >23 At Kennicott 's home ' ' The Grove ' ' in -Cook county
Z2Prairie Farmer, June 4, 1863. ^Prairie Farmer, June 20, 1863.
146 History University of Illinois
all the flowers and fruits that endure this climate bloomed and bore.
He was loyal, affectionate, and generous. After reading Turner's plan for the first time, nothing could have been more boyishly enthusiastic than his letter to its author :
"The Grove-Northfield, Cook County, Illinois.
January 16, 1852. My Dear Friend : —
One hour ago the mail brought the pamphlet containing your "Plan for an Industrial University/' It is great — it is God-like — It is the best thought of the 19th Century and should be written in letters of gold on the front of every capitol, and on the walls of every college in the land — and should be read, as his bible by every son of labor in happy Illinois. I am grateful. I thank you with my whole soul. I am as glad and as proud of this whole production, as if it had come from my own feeble pen. God bless you — and he will.
"But I am too full of thoughts for words. You have but to command me in any capacity and I shall follow your lead in per- fecting this beneficent work. Go on and prosper. / think you cannot fail.
"Proudly and affectionately your friend
John A. Kennicott."24
Again in writing a pleasant acknowledgement of some praise that Turner had given him, he said : ' l You and I have labored for others if not successfully, certainly unselfishly; and if we cannot appreciate and approve the efforts of each other I don't know who will. The world is slow to find out the genuine phil- anthropist and seldom discovers his true worth until death has rendered all human appreciation personally worthless. You may live to see your fame — I probably shall go down to the grave without having accomplished anything worthy of a great name — for I feel that I am already worn out. ' >25
24Turner manuscripts.
25December 20, 1853, Turner manuscripts.
Men Who Led 147
DE. REUBEN C. RUTHERFORD
Dr. R. C. Rutherford was a professor of physiology with a gift for public speaking. He possessed a lively personality, the power of direct, convincing expression, plenty of humor, the peculiar gift of establishing the sense of intimacy between plat- form and audience, and the quick wit to turn adverse arguments to his own advantage. He loved an audience with the love that made him willing to work desperately to win one. In a letter to Turner he announces that he has presented the cause of indus- trial education to the Pennsylvania Dutch in northern Illinois and " 'got' all that I got to hear. I have gained great confidence in my persuasive powers since I have taken the Dutch. I despair of moving nobody after this. ' '26
His noteworthy work for industrial education was as lec- turer for the league, in the years 1853-1854. He traveled over the state acquainting people with the need for industrial educa- tion and he won practically all who were not hopelessly prejudiced against it. He was a master hand at leading people to put themselves on record and permitted none to leave the hall without signing as a member of the industrial league if he could help it. In the towns he visited he appointed committees of citizens to keep up interest in the league and to let no subscrip- tion fall into arrears.
He kept in close touch with Turner, writing to him with great frequency; usually in a spirit of jubilant success. The smallness of an audience never seemed to dampen his enthu- siasm ; he merely set to work to convince it so thoroughly that he would obtain one hundred per cent for members of the league. The fee he did not insist upon having paid at the time of joining. He knew rural human nature too well for that; "In country towns," he wrote Turner, "they never have any change in their pockets. I do not insist upon paying down, knowing that those without stones will withhold their names."27 This often caused him pecuniary embarrassment for he collected his salary of $600 a year from the fees paid him.
26April 30, 1854, Turner manuscripts.
"February 16, 1854, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
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Nor was lack of money his only limitation. He interested people so readily it was difficult for him to keep on hand a suffi- cient quantity of the league's literature. Upon one occasion, Turner who had been with him in Joliet forgot his carpet-bag. "I have got your carpet-bag," Dr. Rutherford wrote him, "and I'll just go unlock it and take out the reports. I'll swear to taking out nothing but the books — so if anything else is missing you can charge it over to prior thieves. By the way it is a good plan for a man who is going to cultivate' the practice of losing his carpet-bag to attach the key to the outside. It is a sure way to save the lock."
He joked constantly and not always delicately. He re- ferred to Ninian Edwards who disagreed with him as "Ninny." In a postscript to a letter he tells Turner he dreamed of thunder a few nights ago and wondered if it was only the faint rumble of Turner's snoring at Jacksonville.28
At first acquaintance Eutherford was distasteful to the dignified Bronson Murray. But in time Murray prized the man highly, and the two became fasti friends. Their friendship endured after the fight for industrial education was won and both had left Illinois for New York.
The leading facts of his life may be summarized as follows : He was born at Troy, New York, September 29, 1823, but grew up in Vermont and New Hampshire; received a degree in law when quite young, but afterwards fitted himself as a lecturer on physiology and hygiene, upon which he lectured extensively in Michigan, Illinois, and other states after coming west in 1849. In 1854-1855 he lectured for the Illinois industrial league after which in 1856, he located in Quincy, where he resided some thirty years. During the civil war he served as the first commissary of subsistence at Cairo, then was associated with the state quartermaster's department, finally entering the secret service of the War Department in which he remained until 1867, retiring with rank of brevet Brigadier-General. In 1886 General Rutherford removed to New York City where he renewed his friendship with Bronson Murray and where he died, June 24, 1895.
^February 16, 1854, Turner Manuscripts.
MEN WHO LED
J. B. TURNER L. L. BULLOCK
J. S. MORRILL W. A. PENNELL KALPH WARE
J. P. EEYNOLDS JESSE W. FELL
Men Wko Led 149
LEONARD LORING BULLOCK
Leonard Loring Bullock was a charter member of the Buel institute when it was organized in 1846 and one of the com- mittee that drew up its constitution; during the first three years of the society's existence he was recording secretary and during the remaining seven years before his death, in 1856, he was twice elected president and three times chosen vice pres- ident.
It was from the bafflement and disappointment of daily life that Mr. Bullock came to feel acutely the need of industrial education. He came as a pioneer to LaSalle county, Illinois, and engaged in the work of farming and stock raising. His mind worked alertly, precisely. He saw the needs of the farmer and felt keenly the limitations imposed upon him by his ignorance. He read the farm papers eagerly, he searched agri- cultural literature but he found himself constantly confronted with problems the solution of which baffled him. It was for this reason that he threw himself ardently into the work of industrial education.
It was during his first term as president of Buel institute that congress was petitioned in 1852 to establish an agricul- tural bureau. He had long felt the need of such a bureau main- tained by the federal government which should carry on practical experimentation and publish the reports of results as guides for the farmer. As president of the institute his name headed the petition.
In an article in the Prairie Farmer of June, 1852, he ex- pressed himself upon the need of establishing industrial educa- tion, as Turner proposed it, without delay. The communication is a reply to an editorial in the March number of the Prairie Farmer which cautioned against haste and hinted that it would be wise to let Massachusetts or New York take the initiative. ' 1 1 have but little hopes of witnessing the experiment in Massa- chusetts," he wrote, "and should it be made it would but illy test its practicability here. Here things are quite different; we have a soil and climate unsurpassed, but a system of agriculture ill-adapted to it. The improvement of our farm implements
150 History^University of Illinois
and machines, and architecture, open a wide field for mechan- ical skill and ingenuity where knowledge will be sure to meet a reward. These things are evident to every reflecting mind ; all who soundly weigh the matter favor the scheme, and if wisely managed, it cannot prove a failure. As you say the difficulties now standing in the way will vanish as we progress, but not if we stand still.
"The fact that thousands of our citizens are driven by necessity or ignorance from their homes while owning quarters and sections of land to endure all the hardships of a California journey, while their farms under a proper system of culture might have been made to roll in wealth as fast as it would have been good for them to receive, admonishes us that something must be done for mental culture, before our soil will receive its proper culture. "
Mr. Bullock himself was a man of education. In 1834 at the age of twenty he matriculated in Brown university but was compelled to cease study before he took his degree because of trouble with his eyes. He was a native of Massachusetts, a man of determination and vision, and he gave of his best that the world might be made better for the young man.
WILLIAM A. PENNELL
William A. Pennell was president of the Buel institute at the time when Jonathan B. Turner unfolded his famous Gran- ville plan. Also he was for a number of years an associate director of the Industrial league of Illinois. How he was re- garded by the agriculturists is shown in a letter to him written by Turner January 27, 1864. In this letter Turner requested Pennell to write to the Prairie Farmer giving a report of the earlier work of the Industrial league which people had almost forgotten. "You could speak of it more fully and at many points more explicitly than I could/' he wrote, "without even any apparent egotism or danger because you were not at that time so deeply involved in the transient contents of the hour. You are almost the only live one among the 'old wheel horses' from whom I am still permitted to hear. Alas how many of
Men Who Led 151
them are gone either to the war or to their graves. " Turner urged him to be active in the matter of locating the university now that the coveted fund had been obtained. "I hope you and your people will not be weary in well doing ; you first laid the egg; why should you not raise the eagle?"
Mr. Pennell was of sturdy pioneer mold. Born in Vermont in 1815 his education was received in the school of hard work helped out by a short term at the Bennington academy.29 He was but twenty-four when he came to Granville to make his home in Illinois. Already the town had a church and an academy. Mr. Pennell brought to his new home the best pos- sible capital for the day — industry, intelligence, a warm and broad humanity that eventually made him the friend and coun- selor of the entire community. He worked as a carpenter when he first came to Granville ; brought his parents there from Ver- mont, married, and only left, when, in 1863, he removed to Normal to educate his six daughters. Here he became ac- quainted with Jesse W. Fell with whom he was a co-worker in all public improvements.
Pennell, like all of the agriculturists, was disappointed when Champaign county obtained the location of the new insti- tution for he had worked with Fell to obtain it for Normal ; yet he did not for this reason lose interest in the cause of industrial education nor belief in its success. He died in 1893, too soon to see the university in the position of importance it obtained in later years.
JOHN P. REYNOLDS
John P. Eeynolds fought valiantly with Turner in the cause of industrial education. From 1861 to 1867 he was prominent in the work and with his power of forcible expres- sion and sound judgment a great help. He was an Ohio man, graduated from Miami university in 1838 at the age of eighteen years. As early as 1861 he was corresponding secretary of the Illinois agricultural society. In an article published in the Prairie Farmer January 2, 1864, is a paragraph that shows that he, like the other agriculturists, resented the fact that the old '"'Notes made by his daughter, Jane Pennell Carter.
150 History^University of Illinois
and machines, and architecture, open a wide field for mechan- ical skill and ingenuity where knowledge will be sure to meet a reward. These things are evident to every reflecting mind ; all who soundly weigh the matter favor the scheme, and if wisely managed, it cannot prove a failure. As you say the difficulties now standing in the way will vanish as we progress, but not if we stand still.
"The fact that thousands of our citizens are driven by necessity or ignorance from their homes while owning quarters and sections of land to endure all the hardships of a California journey, while their farms under a proper system of culture might have been made to roll in wealth as fast as it would have been good for them to receive, admonishes us that something must be done for mental culture, before our soil will receive its proper culture. "
Mr. Bullock himself was a man of education. In 1834 at the age of twenty he matriculated in Brown university but was compelled to cease study before he took his degree because of trouble with his eyes. He was a native of Massachusetts, a man of determination and vision, and he gave of his best that the world might be made better for the young man.
WILLIAM A. PENNELL
William A. Pennell was president of the Buel institute at the time when Jonathan B. Turner unfolded his famous Gran- ville plan. Also he was for a number of years an associate director of the Industrial league of Illinois. How he was re- garded by the agriculturists is shown in a letter to him written by Turner January 27, 1864. In this letter Turner requested Pennell to write to the Prairie Farmer giving a report of the earlier work of the Industrial league which people had almost forgotten. "You could speak of it more fully and at many points more explicitly than I could,'' he wrote, "without even any apparent egotism or danger because you were not at that time so deeply involved in the transient contents of the hour. You are almost the only live one among the 'old wheel horses' from whom I am still permitted to hear. Alas how many of
Men Wko Led 151
them are gone either to the war or to their graves. " Turner urged him to be active in the matter of locating the university now that the coveted fund had been obtained. "I hope you and your people will not be weary in well doing ; you first laid the egg; why should you not raise the eagle ?"
Mr. Pennell was of sturdy pioneer mold. Born in Vermont in 1815 his education was received in the school of hard work helped out by a short term at the Bennington academy.29 He was but twenty-four when he came to Granville to make his home in Illinois. Already the town had a church and an academy. Mr. Pennell brought to his new home the best pos- sible capital for the day — industry, intelligence, a warm and broad humanity that eventually made him the friend and coun- selor of the entire community. He worked as a carpenter when he first came to Granville ; brought his parents there from Ver- mont, married, and only left, when, in 1863, he removed to Normal to educate his six daughters. Here he became ac- quainted with Jesse W. Fell with whom he was a co-worker in all public improvements.
Pennell, like all of the agriculturists, was disappointed when Champaign county obtained the location of the new insti- tution for he had worked with Fell to obtain it for Normal ; yet he did not for this reason lose interest in the cause of industrial education nor belief in its success. He died in 1893, too soon to see the university in the position of importance it obtained in later years.
JOHN P. REYNOLDS
John P. Eeynolds fought valiantly with Turner in the cause of industrial education. From 1861 to 1867 he was prominent in the work and with his power of forcible expres- sion and sound judgment a great help. He was an Ohio man, graduated from Miami university in 1838 at the age of eighteen years. As early as 1861 he was corresponding secretary of the Illinois agricultural society. In an article published in the Prairie Farmer January 2, 1864, is a paragraph that shows that he, like the other agriculturists, resented the fact that the old 29Notes made by his daughter, Jane Pennell Carter.
152 History flniversity of Illinois
learning insisted upon an equal place with the new in the indus- trial university to be organized.
"I suppose it will be clearly the province and duty of the Legislature to require the organization of certain departments —Practical Agriculture, Practical Mechanics, Military Tactics, and, (whether some wily old fogy had it inserted in the act of Congress or not) Departments for teaching to some extent other scientific and classical studies. ' '
During the years that Reynolds was corresponding secre- tary of the Illinois state agricultural society he was also presi- dent of the Illinois state sanitary commission. He gave freely of his time to public affairs — in 1867 he was commissioner to the Paris exposition and in 1876 to the centennial exposition in Philadelphia, in 1891 he was chosen director-in-chief of the Illinois world's fair commission. At the close of the fair he practically retired from public life. From 1877 to 1881 he was chief grain inspector for Illinois. He died in Chicago, March 25, 1912.
RALPH WARE
Ralph Ware came from Massachusetts to Illinois in 1834, settling near Granville. Public spirit and hearty interest in all that stood for community advancement characterized the Ware family. It was members of this family, still in Massachusetts, who built the church where Jonathan Turner delivered his fa- mous Granville address ; it was here that the friends of agricul- tural and industrial education often met. As a member of the Buel institute Ware had frequent opportunity to aid indus- trial education.
Mr. Ware died in middle life, a farmer of influence and wealth.
JESSE W. FELL
Jesse W. Fell (1808-1887) came to Bloomington, Illinois, from Pennsylvania in the fall of 1832. His personal effects he carried in a carpet bag, his fortune was under the "oread brim of his quaker hat. He was Bloomington 's first lawyer but as the citizens of that day and district spent little upon the law, he soon looked about for a more remunerative field. He found
Men Who Led 153
it in real estate where he invested so shrewdly that by 1836 he was accounted a rich man. He was driven back to the law for a few years by the financial troubles of 1837, but in 1844 he left it definitely.
He was by nature an upbuilder of desolate places. He could look over the prairie and in his imagination see the steel rails, the spires, the big smoke belching chimneys that meant humanity's progress. He felt the worth of the broad acres. He knew that, trapped in the unplowed bosom of the prairies, was wealth that would magnificently support an energetic people. He devoted himself earnestly to the upbuilding of the corner of the earth that he had chosen for home. With his own hands he planted trees, for the prairie to him seemed to beg for trees, by his own efforts he furthered every movement that promised a better com- munity life. It was through his shrewdness and labor that Bloomington obtained the normal school, through his hard work that McLean county made the largest bid for the industrial uni- versity. As Frances Milton Morehouse in ''The Life of Jesse Fell ' ' has given a detailed account of his activities, nothing will be attempted here, beyond this brief acknowledgement that he deseives a place among the men who led.
JUSTIN SMITH MORRILL
The agriculturists in entrusting their plan for industrial education to Justin S. Morrill made a wise choice. Morrill was emphatically a man of the people, one who through his own experience knew the darkness of ignorance in which the work of the world was accomplished.
His life record is remarkable. He was a plain shop-keeper and farmer for the first forty-four years of his life, yet when he died December 27, 1898, he had spent half his life in congress having been six times elected to the house and six times to the senate. He came from Vermont, a state that sent eminent lawyers and jurists to congress, yet he, a man of scant schooling, the son of a blacksmith, had at his death been in public service for a longer consecutive period than any man in the history of the country. He was not an orator yet he was heard more
154 History University of Illinois
gladly than the orators for he never let delight in words obscure his vision nor egotism limit his wisdom.
The task of pushing the bill for a system of industrial uni- versities through congress was one that appealed to his under- standing. He knew the need of bringing science to the soil, of forcing the goddess of learning down from her pedestal and exchanging her flowing toga for a gingham apron. The defeats that met the bill were not defeats for Morrill, they were only lessons in the way to victory.
Under our system of government where every citizen is a sovereign and where the farmer, the artisan, the wage earner are the dictators of sentiment, it is of vital moment that this majority shall not be at the mercy of political demagogues but shall be guided by the conservatism and common sense that can only follow upon education. The plan for a system of land grant universities, therefore, appealed to Morrill as intensely patriotic. It had for its object the elevation of a large body of citizenship to a higher plane. What was of equal importance the elevation of this body would not detach its members from the masses of the people as had been the result of education heretofore, but would make them more than ever in sympathy with the toilers. Morrill had the vision to see the great signifi- cance of industrial education.
Besides the bill establishing land grant universities Morrill introduced the Morrill tariff act in the house during the closing days of President Buchanan 's administration. * * Previous to this act American industries were paralyzed, American labor was a wandering tramp in the land, American credit was so low that Government paper was sold at a discount of 12 per cent."30 The enactment of the Morrill tariff act changed the entire in- dustrial situation : it put new life into American industry and restored the credit of the Government. As Webster said of Hamilton, he "smote the rock of the national resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth."
Accounts of the life of Justin Morrill and interpretations of his work may be found in various publications. On April 14, 1910, centenary exercises were held by the State of Vermont
80Memorial address delivered by Mr. Powers of Vermont.
Men Who Led 155
at Montpelier in honor of the birth of Morrill. On that occasion the governor of the state of Vermont, a United States senator, and other well known men paid homage to the virtues of the man and his abilities as a statesman.31
"These and other addresses have been published and for this reason it has seemed unnecessary to give more extended account of Morrill in this volume.
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CHAPTER VII
SEMINARY AND COLLEGE FUNDS AND VARIOUS AT- TEMPTS TO ESTABLISH AN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OR STATE UNIVERSITY IN ILLINOIS
Federal land grants for the purpose of higher education have come to be considered an integral part of the national policy. A study of the motives prompting these grants reveals the unflattering truth that, contrary to the general belief, fed- eral aid to higher education was not the result of the beneficent foresight of our first congressmen, but was, in fact, the outcome of a rather clever bargain between a private land company and an unwilling congress, forced to yield to its purchasers' demands through sheer necessity. In other words, the prece- dents for land grants by the federal government for higher educational purposes had their origin in the land sales of 1787. l This subject of public land disposal was closely connected with questions of government with which the congress was then struggling.
The temporary government for the northwest territory which had been provided in 1784 had proved inadequate in many ways, and therefore in 1786 plans for a new and permanent arrange- ment were brought before congress. Discussion on the bill lagged for the reason that the enthusiasm of congress had been lessened somewhat by the inactivity of land sales and the consequent effect on immigration. The question, however, took on new force and significance when a memorial was presented to con- gress from a number of influential New England men connected with the Ohio land company. The originators of this organiza- tion were Generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper both of whom had been interested for some time in the questions of
'Treat, The National Land System, 265-270 and Knight, Land Grant for Education in the Northwest Territory uphold this view. See also Amer- ican Historical Association, Papers, vol. 1, No. 3, p. 17, 18.
Seminary and College Funds 157
western immigration and public grants of land. They issued a call through the newspapers of New England, inviting delegates to meet at the Bunch of Grapes tavern, Boston, on March 1, 1786. At this meeting the Ohio company was formed for the purpose of purchasing a large tract of land in the Ohio territory, and settling it with good, New England stock. During the year, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one-fourth of the stock of the company, was subscribed. This sum was considered suffi- cient to insure the success of the company ; therefore the stock- holders at a meeting in March, 1787, elected Samuel Holden Parsons, Manasseh Cutler, and Rufus Putnam directors, with full power to negotiate with congress for the purchase of the desired lands.2 Parsons drew up a memorial in which he set forth the desires and proposals of the company. It was pre- sented to congress in May, and was immediately referred to a special committee.3
This memorial of the Ohio company and the energetic work of Cutler, who reached New York on the fifth of July, moved congress to take up again the discussion of the bill for a perma- nent organization of the western territory. Aroused by the prospect of a large sale if a satisfactory form of government should be provided, congress speedily took up the measure and referred it to a new committee. The presence of Cutler, together with the assurance that if his plans matured, immigration into the western territory was practically certain, gave new life to the delayed bill, which finally passed on the thirteenth of July, and became the governmental instrument of the northwest ter- ritory.
This important work disposed of, congress was free to con- sider Cutler's plans for a purchase of land. The committee in charge reported favorably on the terms suggested, which among other things, provided for a reservation of four townships for a seminary of learning within the purchase, but congress con- sidered this too much and consequently omitted mention of it in an ordinance reported July 19th. Cutler, however, strongly felt the desirability of a provision of this sort, and therefore sub-
2Cutler; Life Journal and Correspondence, 1 : 180, 192. 'Bancroft, History of the Formation of the Constitution, 2: 109.
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mitted a new offer which provided, besides lot sixteen for main- tenance of schools and lot twenty-nine for purposes of religion, for "two townships near the centre of the second specified tract which comprehends the purchase amounting to the first-men- tioned million of dollars, and of good land to be also given by congress for the support of a literary institution, to be applied to the intended object by the legislature of the state. ' '4 Congress again objected but when Cutler expressed his intention of leav- ing New York, of giving up his plan of buying land from con- gress and of purchasing from one of the states instead, members of congress prevailed on him to remain and promised to meet his demands.5 In making this decision they took into account the desirability of opening up western lands and of stimulating immigration, the government 's need for the money which would result from the sale of this six million five hundred thousand acres of land and especially the fear that Cutler would fulfill his threat and buy from the older states. In view of these possibil- ities congress passed an ordinance on July 23, 1787, in which the Board of the treasury was ordered to contract with the Ohio company for the land desired. The resulting contract secured to the Ohio company two townships within the purchase for the perpetual support of a seminary of learning and it is the first provision made by the federal government for that purpose. The credit of this important precedent would seem to belong entirely to the first board of directors of the Ohio company, and especially to their able lobbyist, Manasseh Cutler. The far- reaching significance of the precedent may only be realized by a consideration of it in the light of its subsequent importance to higher education in the different states.
The federal grant of two townships thus secured for the Ohio company was handed over to the state of Ohio on her ad-
4At this time Cutler was prevailed upon by certain influential men to include secretly in his purchase offer the much larger offer of another company. In this way one million five hundred thousand acres of the Ohio company and an option of five million acres for the Sciota company were secured. Bancroft, History of the Formation of tlie Constitution, 2: 436.
"Cutler, Life Journal and Correspondence, 1 : 303-305.
Seminary and College Funds 159
mission to the union in 1802.6 The methods used for securing similar grants for other new states differed from time to time to fit conditions, but whatever the method used in making the grant, or whatever the amount of land obtained, the fact of federal aid to higher education through land grants remained constant.
The history of the Illinois seminary fund itself, dates back to 1804 when Indiana territory was divided into three land dis- tricts, in each of which one township was reserved for a seminary of learning.7 As the population increased these three land dis- tricts, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and Detroit, were formed into the territories of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and the townships set aside in each of the land districts were likewise reserved in the territorial enactments. On the. admission of Illinois into the union in 1818, the land reserved for the Kaskaskia land dis- trict in 1804 and one additional township were granted the new state and the control of both tracts was turned over to the state legislature.8 Thus seventy-two sections to be devoted to higher education, were granted to Illinois by the federal government and the fund accruing from this source came to be known as the seminary fund.
The township first set aside for Illinois was Township 5 N., Eange 1 W. 3d P. M. in Fayette county. In 1821 the auditor was instructed to lease this land but, situated as it was in the Okaw bottoms, a large part covered with lakes and swamps, it is little wonder that he found this order impossible of execution.9 In 1823 the general assembly, profiting by their experience with the first township, asked the president that the second township be
"When Ohio was admitted she received three townships from the federal government, two of which had been given the Ohio company in 1787 and one of which was given in fulfillment of the Symmes contract. This how- ever was considered an exception and did not affect the precedent estab- lished in 1787.
1Annals of Congress, 1803-1804, p. 1288.
"Enabling act in Annals of Congress, 1818, p. 2546. "Fourth. That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, which shall be designated by the President of the United States, together with the one heretofore reserved for that purpose, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the Legislature of said State, to be appropriated solely to the use of such seminary by the said Legislature. ' '
°Laws of 1821 p. 60.
160 History University of Illinois
located in separate tracts. This request was granted and com- missioners were appointed for the purpose and the lands were selected.
By 1829 Illinois finances were in such a condition that the legislators felt the necessity of resorting to any expediency to avoid an unpopular rise in tax rates to meet the ever increasing debts and the current expenses of the government.10 One such expedient was to sell the seminary lands and borrow the money for the state. A series of acts during the seventh and eighth general assemblies made possible the diverting of this fund from its original purpose to a cause which in no way could be sanc- tioned by the donors. January 12, 1829, the auditor received instructions from the assembly to advertise the lands already located and to sell them to the highest bidder, the minimum price being fixed at one dollar and a quarter an acre ; the same act provided a board composed of the governor, auditor, attorney general and secretary of state to invest the fund accruing from the sale. On January 17, 1829, another act was passed by which the governor was authorized to borrow this fund for the state at six percent interest, the latter to be annually added to the principal until the entire amount was repaid. In this way the state was under no obligation to meet even the interest.11
Late in December, 1829, a memorial was presented to con- gress asking that Illinois be allowed to exchange her valueless township in Fayette county, for an equal quantity of land to be located in different parts of the state, since, ''This township now is, and ever will continue to be, totally valueless for a sem- inary of learning. " This petition was granted March 2, 1831, and Illinois selected new lands, but so unseemly was the haste to realize on these grants that even before congress had acted in the matter the general assembly passed a law providing for the sale of the new land on the same terms as the other thirty-six sections.12
Thus the Illinois state legislature responded to the trust imposed on her by the national government. Seventy-two sec-
10Ford, History of Illinois, 79 ff. uLaws of 1829, p. 158, 161.
^-American State Papers, Public Lands, 6: 14. U. S. Acts and Eesolu- tions, 1831, p. 75. Laws of 1831, p. 171.
Seminary and College Funds 161
tions of land, designated for a particular purpose and capable of furnishing an adequate fund for the establishment of a sem- inaiy of learning were thrown on an already overstocked market and all but four and one half sections were sold. Of this amount all but three tracts went at the minimum price as might have been expected since there was comparatively little demand for land at that time and hence little competition at the auction. In all 43,200 acres were sold, the proceeds of which amounted to only $59,838.72.
By legislative act, it was provided on February 7, 1835, that the interest on the seminary fund should be loaned annually to the common schools. This arrangement continued until 1857 when the interest on the fund was finally turned over to the state normal university at Normal.13 On February 21, 1861, the four and one half sections which had not been sold were given to the Illinois agricultural college at Irvington. This land was sold and brought $58,000, but the legislature of 1871 was forced to bring suit against the college because of improper management of the fund and part of the land was recovered and sold at auc- tion in 1879. 14 By legislative act of 1873 the entire interest on this fund was given to the state normal university, but this was changed by an act of 1877 so that the income was divided be- tween the two normal schools.15
The utter wastefulness of the entire transaction is apparent at once. In the first place the land was sold nearly three decades before there was any legitimate reason for establishing a fund, fort there was no institution of learning on which to expend the money nor was there any particular demand to establish one. Then, too, by selling the land in large quantities at a time when
""Section 2. The Commissioners of the School fund of the State, shall annually loan to the school fund the interest of the College and Sem- inary funds, to be added to the interest of the school and township funds, for distribution among the several schools in the State established under this law." Laws of 1835, p. 22-24. In 1839 one fourth of one per cent of the interest on this as well as the college and school fund were given annually to the Asylum for the deaf and dumb at Jacksonville. Laws of 1839, p. 164. Laws of 1857, p. 300.
14The Irvington attempt is fully described on p. 173.
15Laws of 1861, p. 9-11; Laws of 1811-1812, p. 790; Laws of 1873, p. 23.
162 History University of Illinois
the other public lands had not yet been exhausted, the price necessarily was exceedingly low and the potentiality of the con- gressional gift was in no sense realized. The loss resulting from this policy is shown by the fact that the four and one half sec- tions which were held until 1861 brought $58,000 as compared with $59,838.72, the proceeds of sixty-seven and one half sections by the former sale ; at this rate if the land had been held until it was needed, there might easily have been a million-dollar fund at the present time. Finally, the loaning of the income to the school fund for twenty-two years was another serious blunder, for neither income nor interest on the income has ever been collected; the fund lost by this action of the legislature about seventy thousand dollars.
On the whole the seminary fund in the states of the north- west territory has had an unfortunate history: some sacrifice of the potential principle from premature sales or unfortunate location of lands characterizes them all ; a loss of a portion of the principal or interest through misplaced loans or unsound in- vestments characterizes some; but Illinois holds a unique place in that she excelled her sister states in all of these particulars, and to the charge of mismanagement and waste, may well be added the charge of an unjustified diversion of the fund from its legitimate use.
Another fund derived from federal grants and intended to aid the cause of higher education, was the so-called college or university fund. This fund, in the case of Illinois, represents a notable departure from preceding practice. When Ohio in 1802 and Indiana in 1816 entered the union as new states they were each granted five percent of the proceeds from the future sales of the public lands within the state for the building of roads and canals. When the enabling act, which permitted Illinois territory to take her place in the family of states, was before congress, Nathaniel Pope, then territorial delegate from Illinois, moved to amend the bill by striking out that portion which ap- propriated the five percent fund to the construction of roads and canals and to insert a clause by which only two percent might be used for that purpose while the remaining three percent should be appropriated for the purposes of education. This
Seminary and College Funds 163
amendment passed unanimously and when this bill became a law April 18, 1818, it contained the following proposition which was later accepted by the territorial convention : ' ' Third. That five percent of the net proceeds of the lands lying within such State, and which shall be sold by Congress, from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for the purposes following, viz : two-fifths to be disbursed, under the direction of Congress, in making roads leading to the State ; the residue to be appropriated, by the Legislature of the State, for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or university."16 This one- sixth part of the three per cent which was set aside for educa- tional purposes came to be known as the university or college fund.
Congress had stipulated that this money should be admin- istered by the state subject to congressional approval; conse- quently to provide for the execution of the grant, an act was passed by congress December 12, 1820, by which these payments should be made to the state in return for which the latter should render to the secretary of the treasury an annual report setting forth the disposition of the funds. The following year the state treasurer was authorized by the legislature to deposit the pro- ceeds from the three per cent grant, which included both the common school fund and the university fund, in the state bank at six per cent interest. By act of 1829, the state legislature authorized the governor to borrow the three per cent fund as well as the seminary fund to relieve the financial embarrassment of the state.17 The state was to pay six per cent interest but since this was merely added to the original debt each year and was not to be collected until the entire amount was repaid it entailed no pecuniary obligation and came to be a mere matter of bookkeeping. Naturally, under this arrangement, the state failed to make reports to the secretary of the treasury as it had agreed to do ; and therefore further payments were refused until
"Annals of Congress, 1818, p. 2546, 1678.
11 'Annals of Congress, 1820-1821, p.1790; Laws of 1821, p. 92; Laws o/ 1829, p. 118.
164 History finiversity of Illinois
on January 31, 1831, the difficulty was settled by act of congress repealing that part of the law that made these reports necessary.
In 1835 the state legislature ordered that the interest up to January 1, 1834, should be added to the principal and that beginning with 1835 the six per cent interest on the two funds should be distributed among the counties for the common school purposes.18 This fund increased until September 28, 1863, when the last of the public lands of Illinois were sold. At that time the university fund amounted to $118,790.89 to which $37,822.43 interest was added, making in all $156,613.32 which yields an annual interest of $9,396.80.
By law of February 18, 1857, authorizing the establishment of a normal university the interest on the college and seminary funds was appropriated to the support of the university. Actu- ally, however, there were two portions still missing. The one- fourth of one per cent given to the institution for the deaf and dumb at Jacksonville was not added until 1873. The four and one-half sections given to Irvington were a total loss, for the prin- cipal of these funds remains today as it was in 1863. Final dis- position of the interest of the two funds was made in 1877 by giving one half to the normal school at Normal and the other half to the normal school at Carbondale.
From 1833 to 1863 various unsuccessful attempts were made in Illinois to establish a state university or an agricultural college. Sometimes the plan involved aid from the state to support the institution and again the proposed institution took only the name of "state university," or "Illinois state uni- versity," or "Illinois agricultural college" without asking for funds from the state, perhaps, but with the hope, more or less concealed, of being adopted sometime by the state.
The mismanagement and misappropriation of educational funds by the legislature during this period were so frequent as to become a habit. Unfortunately the people back of many of the educational ventures of the time were no better. Too often they revealed themselves not only as narrow and selfish but even as dishonest and dishonorable. And yet it should not be for- gotten that it was the same period that produced the splendid
™Laws of 1835, p. 22 ; Illinois School Eeport, 1881-1882, CXXXIV.
Seminary and College Funds 165
group of men that labored so long and so successfully to bring into being the great system of agricultural colleges and univer- sities, the origin of which has been described in previous chap- ters.
The first attempt to establish a state university in Illinois was made at the session of the legislature in 1833, when a bill to incorporate an institution under the name of the Illinois university was introduced in the house on February 14, by Peter Cartwright, of Sangamon county.19
The bill provided for a university ' ' for the education of the youth in the English, learned and foreign languages, the useful sciences, and literature ;" for a board of ten trustees; and for the appropriation of twenty thousand dollars to purchase lands and to erect and furnish buildings. For the support of the university the interest arising from the proceeds of the sales of the seminary land and from the college fund was to be appropri- ated. The trustees were instructed to locate the institution in or adjacent to the town of Springfield.20
The bill failed for the following reasons : in naming Spring- field for the location of the proposed university it awakened the jealousy of Vandalia, a rival candidate for the state house, and that city, therefore, took occasion to stir up opposition of other cities; it aroused the fears of the friends of the colleges, Shurtleff, McKendree, and Illinois college, for they thought that a richly endowed state university would greatly overshadow their institutions; finally, and most important of all, it would have been very inconvenient for the state to restore those misappro- priated trust funds.21
In December, 1834, Governor Duncan in his message recom- mended that a state university be established, but no action was taken. For more than sixteen years there was very little attempt and no organized effort to establish a state institution of higher
™House Journal, 1833, 1 session, 533. The opposition to the bill was led by Zadok Casey. It is interesting to note that the man who introduced in the house this plan for a full-fledged university was the famous trav- eling Methodist minister, Peter Cartwright. He was not a college man himself, and was frequently quite scornful of those who were.
20The bill is given in full below, p. 525.
21Illinois School Keport, 1886-1888, CXVIII.
166 History University of Illinois
learning. The existing colleges manifested their desires and willingness to divide up the college and seminary funds, but the legislature thwarted these schemes by the shrewd maneuver of loaning the interest from session to session to the common school fund.
The next legislative attempt was made in 1851. For several years the need of a normal school had been much discussed through the state, as well as the propriety of devoting a portion of the college and seminary funds for its support. In the leg- islature of 1851 a bill for "An act organizing a state university7' was introduced by Newton Cloud, senator from Morgan county. It did not provide for a university in the usual acceptation of the term ; but attempted to divide the funds among the colleges under a decentralized arrangement. The governor, the secretary of state, and the presidents of the several colleges of the state were named as a board of education styled the ' ' Regents of the university of the state of Illinois;" and the annual income of the college and seminary funds was to be distributed annually among the colleges of the state if they fulfilled certain conditions ; each college receiving a share of the funds should maintain a professorship of English literature and normal instruction and should appropriate "at least two hundred dollars per annum provided it received so much under this act, over and above the salary of the professor of popular education, in promoting a knowledge of agriculture, chemistry, botany, geology, and min- eralogy."22 This bill passed the senate but was later recon- sidered and tabled.
At the same session the legislature passed a bill entitled "An act to incorporate the Farmer's college in Macoupin county, Illinois. ' '23 This bill was introduced by Thomas Quick of Mon- roe county who was later a member of the board of trustees of an agricultural college at Irvington, and in 1867 on the board of trustees of the Illinois industrial university at Urbana. Five trustees were designated who should have power to name others, not to exceed fifteen. The object of the college, which was to be permanently located in Macoupin county, was to promote
22The bill is printed below, p. 531.
of 1851, p. 181, see also below p. 529.
Seminary and College Funds 167
"the general interest of education, and to qualify young men to engage in the several employments of society, and to dis- charge honorably and usefully the various duties of life." The last clause of section four of the law indicates that there were to be departments for the study of agriculture and the mechanic arts when the need of the community demanded. No funds or lands were given it by the state ; these were to be collected by the corporation. It is interesting to note that this law, providing in a way for agricultural education, was passed nine months before Turner proposed his plan at the Granville meeting. Having no organized force back of it the college never developed into any- thing more than a paper institution.
In 1852 the legislature passed an act creating an institution to be known as the ' i Illinois state university ' ' and to be located in or near Springfield, Illinois. The act was entitled "An act to amend an 'Act to incorporate a literary and theological in- stitution of the Evangelical church of the far west, to be located in Hillsboro, Montgomery county, Illinois,' approved January 22, 1847." This act creating the "Illinois state university" was in force June 21, 1852, and amended in minor ways by an act of Feb. 3, 1853. The amended act authorized the board of trustees, the number of which should not exceed thirty-one, to establish the university in or near Springfield and to ' ' establish separate departments of the learned professions of the sciences and arts, including, besides the usual departments of theology, medicine, and law, a department of mechanical philosophy and also of agriculture, and shall assign to each department a compe- tent faculty of instruction." It was required that instructors in the theological faculty should be appointed by the Evangelical Lutheran synod. The bill did not ask for an appropriation from the state and there was no reason assigned why this denomina- tional institution should take the name of the ' ' Illinois state uni- versity. ' '
The institution thus legally recognized had begun its oper- ation in 1849, and had issued its first catalog in August, 1850. Its early work in Hillsboro, Montgomery county had been fairly successful, but believing a better field to be open in Springfield it moved there and changed the name to the ' ' Illinois state univer-
168 History University of Illinois
sity." Under its new name it began operations in Springfield, April, 1852, in a building previously occupied by the Mechanics' union. A family by the name of Enos gave the ground on which a new building was erected. As originally designed it was to be of brick, four stories in height, the main center being seventy by sixty-five feet wide with wings on each side forty-one feet wide, the whole to cost $35,000. Only the main center was com- pleted and at a cost of $25,000. It was dedicated in 1854 in the presence of Abraham Lincoln, who, it is said, delivered an oration on that occasion.24 At the first session, 1852, there were seventy-nine students enrolled and in 1853-1854 the number had increased to one hundred and sixty.
After 1858 the institution did not prosper, but struggled along until 1867 when it ceased to operate under the name of "university."25 The general synod of the Lutheran church,
24 Among the early students was Eobert Lincoln, son of Abraham Lin- coln. It is reported that Robert did not care much for his studies but was interested in political discussion of the time, so much interested in fact that instead of attending to his school duties he left Springfield and followed some of the stump speakers around from place to place. His father, learn- ing of this, called to see what could be done to get his son to attend school regularly.
25In view of the fact that a holder of a scholarship in this institution wrote a few years ago to the University of Illinois to ask if the scholarship was good in the state university the following copy of one of those early scholarships will be of interest. Thanks are due Mr. H. A. Cress of Hills- boro for the original.
No. 2. $300
CEETIFICATE OF SCHOLARSHIP
In the
Illinois State University
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS,
That the Board of Trustees of the Illinois State University, for and in consideration of the sum of Three Hundred Dollars, in hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, do hereby grant and guarantee unto Absalom Cress, of the County of Montgomery, and State of Illinois, his heirs or assigns, the perpetual privilege of sending one student to the Preparatory or Collegiate Department of said University, for instruction in any or all the studies pertaining to either Department, without any further charge for tuition.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF said Board of Trustees have caused this Certificate of Scholarship to be signed by the President and Secretary, and their official Seal to be attached thereto this first day of October A. D. 1854.
John T. Stuart, President SEAL Edmund Miller, Secretary
Seminary and College Funds 169
under whose auspices it had been established and conducted, found it a great financial burden and on numerous occasions had offered it for sale. Finally in 1873, under foreclosure pro- ceedings, it was sold to the ' ' Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other states. " Since then the building has been used to house a sem- inary. Concordia theological seminary, the present occupant of that old building of 1854, may be considered in a way a descendant of the "Illinois state university ;' ' very certainly is this true if it still operates, as its president thinks, under the charter granted by the legislature in 1853. 26
For a decade after 1853 the attempts by the state to es- tablish higher educational institutions were greatly influenced by the industrial educational movement then in full progress in the state. The first of these attempts was conducted by George L. Lumsden, a member of the legislature and a friend of Turner and Murray, who early in 1853 introduced a bill to incorporate the "Industrial university of the state of Illinois. " The bill which was referred to the judiciary committee in the senate and later reported and tabled as Lumsden intended,27 contained the following provisions as stated by Lumsden in a letter to Turner : « * * # My ^ar f rien(j — dismiss all your fears about the Act of Incorporation. It is only the first step to getting on our feet and to having a tangible existence. See the 1st Section. "Be it enacted etc. that Bronson Murray, L. S. Pennington, John Gage, Augustus C. French, L. W. Weston, H. C. Johns, D. L. Gregg, J. T. Little, D. Prince, John Russell, James Davis, Simeon Francis, W. F. M. Arney, William A. Pennell, John A. Kenni- cott, James Schoff, Alext. Starve, John B. Weber, and Joel A. Matteson, be and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, for the purpose of founding and maintaining an insti- tution of Learning to be known by the name of the Industrial University of the State of Illinois.
"2nd Section 'Said corporation shall be known by the style and name of the Board of Trustees of the Industrial Uni- versity of the State of Illinois, and by that name and style re-
26For a history of the institution see f ' Fiinf zig Jahrige's Jubilaum des Concordia Seminars zu Springfield, 111."
27See letter of Lumsden to Murray, above p. 62.
170 History University of Illinois
main and have perpetual succession, with power' etc. (without any fixed and limited amount whatever).
"3rd Section — 'The number of persons constituting said Board of Trustees shall not exceed that of one from each Sena- torial District within this State, five of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, at any regular or special meeting, duly notified and assembled.' (This will enable us to have 25 trustees.)
"4th Section — 'Said corporation may establish such depart- ments of Learning, Science and Art, including Agricultural, Mechanical and Anthropologic Philosophy, as may, in the pro- gress of time, be deemed necessary — and shall assign to each department a competent Faculty of Instruction. And no religious test shall ever be required of those who may constitute the Faculty or who may become students of such institution.'
"5th Section — The Corporation may (if it be not otherwise provided for by law) issue (Certificates of Scholarship), either limited or perpetual, etc.
"llth Section — "Provides that the Board of Trustees are authorized when they shall have the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) to begin the permanent organization and loca- tion of the aforementioned University — the creation of the Instruction Fund — provided for the education of orphan chil- dren of both sexes, and for such other purposes as the institu- tion may require in a general industrial system of education.
"In the Charter, everything is provided for that may be necessary to promote and advance Industrial and Scientific Learning ; the establishment of a Normal Department ; Branches of the University in District of counties, and everything that may be thought by the Board to be for <(the general welfare" of the cause, and, the best interest involved for all future time.
"Gov. Matteson told me today — it is all right. It is but laying the foundation, or marking out the ground for the Nation to found and consecrate a temple for the sacred purposes of Education in the things next us.
Yours — Geo. L. Lumsden."
During the same session of the legislature the representa- tives of the colleges were busy in Springfield to effect a division
Seminary and College Funds 171
of the interest in the college and seminary funds among the col- leges in a manner similar to the proposal of 1851. Their bill which was in the hands of Mr. Moulton, chairman of the house committee on education was entitled a "Bill for an act for the encouragement of practical and general education."28 It pro- vided that the annual income from the college and seminary funds was to be divided among the colleges that gave certain pre- scribed courses and that had an endowment of at least $30,000. The bill, which was to go into effect July 1, 1853, did not pass chiefly on account of the activity of Mr. Lumsden whose letter to Turner discloses something of the feeling of the time :
' ' Dear Friend Turner :
Such is the splendid affair I have caught them honeyfug- gling with. I have underscored such passages as give the key to the mystery of the colleges in general and the Priests in particular.
Your article will not be needed here, as the thing is crushed I believe, for good. (After you have taken a copy of this "Bill," send it back to me as I have not retained any other.) Through the kindness of Mr. Moulton, I have been able to get hold of this thing.
I have written a "Bill for an Act to incorporate Industrial University of the State of Illinois, and for the encouragement of Practical and general Education among the people." And have a pretty popular and strong Board of Trustees to commence organization and location etc., when there shall be $20,000 of Money. To have a normal department, with district or county branches if required. This will do no harm.
Yours truly, Geo. L. Lumsden."29
In February, 1853, the legislature passed a bill entitled "An act to incorporate the northern Illinois agricultural col- lege." The bill made no request for funds from the state but empowered the corporation to raise funds by selling shares and by receiving bequests and donations. The bill was -approved by
28The bill is printed below, p. 535. 29In Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
172 History University of Illinois
the governor on February 12, 1853.30 Apparently the project was not pushed for there is no mention of any move actually to establish such a college in the correspondence or papers of the time. The bill stated that the institution should be permanently located in Putnam county; that the object should be the pro- motion of the general interests of agricultural and mechanical education, to qualify students to engage in the several pursuits and employments of society, and to discharge honorably and usefully the various duties of life.
Just what connection, if any, this project had with the general state-wide movement for industrial education is not clear. Some of the men named as incorporators — L. L. Bullock and William A. Pennell — were close friends of Turner and it is not likely they intended to do anything that would interfere with the great plan advocated at the Granville meeting, though it does appear strange they had not consulted with Turner. The bill resembled that of 1855 prepared by Turner and his friends, but this was due possibly to the fact that these men held the same views on industrial education.
In 1855 the industrial university men made an united effort to get their plan of .a university for the state adopted by the legislature. After careful preparation "A Bill for an act to incorporate ' The trustees of the Illinois university ' ' ' was intro- duced in the legislature. Six trustees named in the bill together with six to be elected by the people were to choose a site for the institution in some central portion of the state. It was to be a university in the broad sense for they proposed that it should include all departments of useful knowledge beginning with those most needed by the citizens of the state : a teachers ' sem- inary, an agricultural department, and a mechanical department. For the establishment and maintenance of the university three funds were to be created : a donation of twenty thousand dollars to be collected by the trustees, the seminary fund, and the college or university fund.31
80The bill is printed below, p. 540.
^The bill and the report of the senate committee is printed below, p. 546. For history of the bill see p. 81. The bill for the "Illinois state normal university" will be found in appendix, p. 556. For the relation of this to the industrial university movement see p. 83-86, and for a history of the
Seminary and College Funds 173
In 1861 an effort was made to establish an agricultural college in Washington county by state aid. The institution was chartered by an act of the general assembly approved February 21, 1861, and entitled "an act for the disposition of seminary lands and to incorporate the 'Illinois Agricultural College.7 At this time there were four and one-half sections of the seminary lands belonging to the state still unsold and these were given to this new and, as it proved, ill-advised institution.
By the act of incorporation Thomas Quick, J. W. Singleton, William A. Hacker, Walter Buchanan, B. C. Eenois, Harmon Alexander, Curtis Blakeman, James G. Stipp, and Zadoc Casey, were constituted a body corporate by the name and style of the Illinois agricultural college "for. the purpose of instruction and science in practical and scientific agriculture, and in the mechan- ical arts."32 According to a statement by Newton Bateman, state superintendent of public instruction, the founder of the institution was Thomas Quick, who was also, according to the same authority, professor of law, and president of the board of directors.
The capital stock was to be not less than fifty thousand nor more than two hundred thousand dollars, and was to be devoted exclusively to instruction in practical and scientific agriculture and mechanic arts. The corporation sold the sem- inary lands, receiving therefor fifty-eight thousand dollars, and applied thirty thousand dollars of the proceeds in the purchase of the college farm at Irvington, Washington county, and in the erection of college buildings thereon.
A reprint from the catalog of the institution, shows what was actually done to establish this agricultural col- lege: "Six miles south of Centralia, at Irvington, Washington county, on the Illinois Central Railroad, they obtained 560 acres of rich, rolling prairie, pleasantly situated, well supplied with good water, and known as a healthy location — the climate and soil being well adapted to develop the agricultural resources of the State in a high degree of perfection.
funds that went to support it see, p. 86. A concise history' of the Illinois state normal university is found in Illinois School Report; 1886-1888, LXXVII by W. L. Pillsbury.
"Illinois School Report, 1867-1868, p. 259.
174 History University of Illinois
"On the farm they have erected a boarding house, twenty by fifty-six, with an L extending back seventy feet, and a college building forty by sixty. They have also furnished extensive philosophical, astronomical, and chemical apparatus, to which have been added, during the year, a valuable collection of geologi- cal specimens, and a laboratory for illustrations in practical chemistry. ' >33
The institution was opened for work in 1866, but it was already apparent to the managers that the funds were inadequate for obtaining the necessary outfit of shops and implements ; for the employment of mechanical and agricultural experts for teachers in the practical way required ; even a model farm was beyond immediate attainment. In order to secure a wider range of study, the legislature of 1867, granted the institution per- mission to give instruction in subjects that would make it more popular and more useful.
What the college had developed into by 1868 is learned from the same report of the state superintendent of public instruction: "This college includes pupils of both sexes. It has a preparatory course, and a collegiate; in the latter, as at present laid out, the Latin and Greek languages occupy but a very subordinate place, and are optional, while the sciences rel- ative to agriculture have a special prominence. Eegular classes are formed in the collegiate department. The Board of Instruc- tion includes the following: The President (Rev. D. P. French) who is Professor of Mental and Moral Science, and of practical Agriculture: a Professor of Ancient Languages and of Mathe- matics; a Professor of Law (Thomas Quick, Esq.) ; a Professor of Natural Science ; and a Professor of Military Tactics, Horti- culture and a Commercial Course Each county in
the state can send one student free of charge for tuition, the county court selecting the person. The catalog of 1867-1868 names eight counties in southern Illinois that have used the priv- ilege."
Affairs of the Illinois "agricultural college" did not run smoothly. In 1869 the legislature instructed a committee to investigate rumors that had come to it in regard to this insti- d., 258.
Seminary and College Funds 175
tution, and to find out why it had not made a report to the legis- lature as required by law. The committee did not find things satisfactory, therefore in 1871 the legislature by joint resolution, instructed the attorney general to take legal measures to dissolve the trust given the corporation by the act of February, 1861, and to recover the property given to the institution. The case was begun in the circuit court of Washington county, which court finally dismissed the bill, and assessed certain costs against the state. By direction of a joint resolution of the general assembly the case was then taken to the supreme court which reversed the decree of the Washington circuit court and sent it back for re-trial. According to the opinion of the state supreme court, the directors had provided no means for teaching scientific agriculture, had erected no work shops, and had provided no facilities for teaching the mechanic arts. On the contrary, the whole effort seems to have been a miserable failure and the insti- tution was in character no more than a common school.34
' ' The directors appointed A. D. Hay treasurer, and author- ized him and the secretary to sell the lands, which they did. The buildings were erected, and the money was advanced therefor by Hay, to be paid from the money for which the land donated by the State was sold, when collected. It was collected by Hay, and he reimbursed himself, used the balance and failed finan- cially, and, as the directors took no bond from him, the money was lost and the directors borrowed money of Sawyer, McCracken & Co. to meet expenses of the school, and gave a deed of trust on the property to secure its payment, which has never been paid.
' ' These facts, as are shown by the evidence in the case, seem most clearly to establish a waste and perversion of the fund donated by the State. That fund had been granted to the State by Congress for the purpose of maintaining a college or seminary of the character created by this charter, and there would seem to be no doubt that the General Assembly intended, when they donated it, that it should be held as a sacred trust fund for the establishment, improvement and carrying on a college of the character they were incorporating. It, manifestly, was not to ^Supreme Court Reports, 85: 516-521.
176 History University of Illinois
maintain a common school for that particular neighborhood. It was intended to be an institution for the benefit of young men throughout the entire State, and they so provided by the charter ; but the trust was violated, the fund perverted or squandered, and the purpose of the General Assembly defeated, and the bene- fits intended to be conferred by a judicious use of the trust fund
were lost In this case, the property being stamped
with the character of a trust fund, when sold the same character inhered to the money, and when paid for the farm and buildings, it attached and inhered to the farm and structures; and they being trust property, purchased with trust funds donated by the State, which held them for the purposes of the trust, and the cor- poration having shown themselves incapable or unwilling to execute the trust, the lands, buildings and property should be restored to the State, that it may use them for the purposes of the trust."35
Upon re-trial of the case April 27, 1878, the Washington county circuit court brought a decree favorable to the state, and directed that the legal title to the lands in question be con- veyed to the people of the state of Illinois. Meantime, there were certain liens against the land, as well as a trust deed or mort- gage to the sum of two thousand dollars. The attorney general was doubtful if that part of the decree of the circuit court which declared that the title of the state was to be taken subject to the lien of the several judgments were sound, therefore the matter was presented to the legislature in 1879 as to whether further litigation should be carried out. The legislature concluded that it would not be expedient to continue litigation, therefore an act was passed appropriating funds to take care of the trust deed and certain judgment liens, directing the auditor of the state to sell the lands, and to pay the amounts remaining after discharging the encumbrances upon the property into the treas- ury of the state of Illinois to be applied to such educational purposes as might thereafter be provided by law.36
The lands were valued by three appraisers appointed by the governor and their report showed a total value of $17,800
^Supreme Court Reports, 85: 518-519,521. ™Laws of 1879, p. 31.
Seminary and College Funds 177
for 548 acres remaining unsold including $100 of personal prop- erty. The property was then sold by the auditor at public auc- tion on July 25, 1879, at the college buildings in Irvington, and brought a total of $14,608, one-fifth to be paid in cash and the remainder in four equal annual payments. Against this prop- erty there were encumbrances amounting in all to $6,509.95. On August 8, 1879, the auditor paid over $4,855.80 to the state treasury, a balance he had on hand after paying $252.19 on account of the expense of sales. On November 15, 1879, $555.75 was paid to the state treasury by the auditor from the sale of products of the farm. By September 30, 1880 it was reported that $10,235.52 had been collected. This was $3,725.57 in excess of expenditures. There remained in notes still to be collected $5,188.27. This sum plus the surplus over expenditures men- tioned above, amounting to $8,913.84, should have been returned to the treasury and credited to the seminary fund.37
The records in the auditor's office and the treasurer's office do not show that the $5,188.27 in notes were ever collected and placed in the treasury. The money paid over to the treasury in August and November, 1879 amounting to $5,411.55 was credited evidently to the regular revenue fund of the state.38 Approxi- mately nine thousand dollars, the remains of the four and one- half sections of seminary land donated to the Illinois agricultural college at Irvington have not found their way back to the sem- inary fund where they undoubtedly belong.39
^Auditors Beport, September 30, 1879.
S8Letters from the auditor of public accounts and from the state treasurer, July, 1917.
89The old college building still stands in Irvington and has been used for a children 's home by the Baptists for a number of years. Incidentally it may be noted that at the Springfield meeting of the agriculturists in 1864 the institution made a bid for the funds arising from the land grant act of 1862, but nothing came of the effort. In the light of facts related above the state was fortunate that it did not turn any more funds in that particular direction.
178 History ''University of Illinois
CHAPTER VIII
ILLINOIS ACCEPTS THE DONATION OF CONGRESS
AND CONSIDERS ITS DISPOSITION
1862-1865
Illinois, having originated, developed, and brought to a suc- cessful issue the land grant proposition, had now the opportunity to accept the terms of the federal law and to enter on the task of creating her own university. By provision of the act con- gress was to give the states public lands or scrip for the same, in the proportion of thirty thousand acres for each senator or representative in congress. Illinois, with sixteen representatives in congress, was entitled to receive four hundred and eighty thousand acres in land or its equivalent in scrip. The proceeds of the sale of the land or scrip was to be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the states, or some other safe stocks yielding not less than five per cent to constitute a perpetual fund, the in- terest of which was to be used for the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college in each state, where the lead- ing object should be the teaching of such branches of learning as related to agriculture and the mechanic arts. It was further provided, that in order to claim the benefit of the act the legis- latures of the states must accept the provisions of the congres- sional grant within two years and provide for the establishment of at least one college within five years. Though Illinois was not the first of the state legislatures to accept the congressional grant there was no unnecessary delay, for it took up the question immediately upon assembling in January, 1863. Governor Yates in his annual message January 5, 1863, reminded the legis- lature that it was necessary to accept the grant within the two years allowed, and on January 8, Mr. Mason of Knox county pre- sented a bill in the senate for the acceptance of the grant. It was referred to the committee on education, which reported it back with a substitute on January 12. The substitute was adopted and the bill then passed the senate by a vote of 22 to O.1
^Senate Journal, 1863, p. 66, 82-83.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 179
In the house the bill was referred to the committee on counties which reported it favorably, and on February 13, it passed the house with a vote of 62 to 0 and was signed by the governor the next day.2
On the same day that the act accepting the donation of con- gress was signed, the legislature provided by joint resolution for a committee to be composed of three from the house and two from the senate to inquire into the best method of disposing of the grant from congress. The preamble to the resolution stated that one of the reasons for the investigation was because appli- cation had been made to the general assembly by various parties who desired to be invested with the benefits of this grant. Nat- urally the question arises as to the identity of the parties so eager in the interests of the industrial classes of the state that they were beseeching the general assembly, even before the accep- tance of the Federal act, to invest them with the benefits of the grant. As one might expect it was not the group of devoted men who had made the grant possible but it was a faction, or factions of the small college men, who had striven hard from 1852 to 1857 to get possession of the college and seminary funds, who had called the plans of the industrial league and of Turner ' ' chimeras, " " absurd, ' ' and ' ' ungodly, ' ' but who, now that the grant was within reach of the state, pushed forward in almost unseemly haste, to secure for their own institutions whatever part of the congressional bequest they possibly could.
The activity of the college men began as early as January 27, 1863, when a memorial of the trustees of Shurtleff college in relation to an agricultural colllege was presented in the senate by Mr. Underwood of St. Clair county, and referred to the com- mittee on education. On January 30, Mr. Mason of Knox county, chairman of the joint committee presented a "bill for an act to provide a college for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts." This was referred to his committee and re- ported to the senate, February 2, under the title of "Incorpora- tion of sundry agricultural colleges," with a substitute which was adopted and ordered engrossed for third reading. On Feb- ruary 11, this bill was read a third time. It now bore the title
2House Jowrnal, 1863, p. 116, 201, 288, C21. The act is printed in appendix p. 588.
180 History' University of Illinois
11 An act to establish two agricultural colleges, one to be known as the agricultural college of southern Illinois, and the other as the agricultural college of northern Illinois."3 The trustees named in this bill were men directly or indirectly, connected with Shurtleff or with Knox college and to them the eleventh section of the bill gave the power "to make arrangements with any existing college for the accommodation and instruction of the students of such Agricultural College, and for the use of lands, buildings, libraries, etc."4 These facts when made known revealed of course, that the bill was in the interests of the col- leges and was "a shrewd effort on their part to get possession of a valuable endowment and ally themselves to a vigorous popular movement. ' '5
The industrial university men were caught napping; in January and February Kennicott and Turner apparently knew nothing of what was being prepared and directed in the other camp. Turner in a letter to Kennicott published in the Prairie Farmer, February 7, 1863, said that he did not desire to touch the matter of the grant for he wished all the feelings aroused in the earlier contests wholly to die away. When he found, as he soon did, what the college men were up to, he entered with his usual vigor into plans to defeat them. Fortunately for the cause of the industrial men the legislature took a recess from February 14 to June 2.
Aware at last of the danger the friends of the industrial movement issued a call in the latter part of May "to the agri- culturists and friends of agriculture throughout the state" to meet in convention in Springfield on June 9, 1863. 6 After draw- ing attention to the munificent donation to the state by congress the summons stated that such enactment remained to be done as would secure two things beyond peradventure : the fulfill- ment of the conditions upon which the grant rested, so that its object would not fail entirely ; and the attainment of the great- est possible benefit to the industrial classes of the whole state,
3Senate Journal, 1863, p. 276 ; see also p. 141.
4See below p. 181.
Illinois School Reports, 1886-1888, p. cxxx.
"Prairie Farmer, May 30, 1863, and many other papers.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 181
whose highest interests it was specially designed to promote. This call was signed by twelve well-known leaders in the state from ten different counties headed by the enthusiastic John Kennicott.7
When the assembly reconvened on June 2, the effect of the work of the college men was readily recognized, and it caused no little discomfort and uneasiness among those who were opposed to a division of the funds. An effort was made by friends of the bill then pending in the assembly to push it through but John Reynolds, the corresponding secretary of the agricultural society, frustrated their scheme. He foresaw the danger and from the committee in charge of the bill in the house he secured a promise to defer its report until after the meeting of the convention.
The sixth industrial convention met in Springfield June 9, 1863, with James N. Brown, of Sangamon county as president and W. W. Corbett of Cook county and Thomas Quick of Wash- ington county as secretaries. The call for the meeting and the act of congress donating lands for the establishment of colleges were read: resolutions in honor of Dr. John A. Kennicott and expressing the sorrow of the convention at his death were also read, after which G. I. Bergen, of Knox county introduced the following resolution: "Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that the interests of agriculture can best be promoted by locating two Agricultural Colleges within the State." This was afterward amended, on motion of Dr. English of Madison county, by the addition of the words "in accordance with the bill now pending before the Senate. ' '8
Thus the college men threw down the gage of battle and the fight was on. All afternoon and evening a vigorous discus- sion took place in which some ten or more men of both parties engaged, including Bergen of Knox, Turner of Morgan, Roots of Perry, English and Edwards of Madison, Burroughs of Cook, Thomas of Jackson, Quick of Washington, and Lawrence of Boone. This was not the first time that a group of small college
7TMs was probably the last public act of the ' ' Old Doctor-' ' for he died before the convention met.
*Prairie Farmer, June 20; 1863, gives a full account of the proceedings of the convention.
182 History ^University of Illinois
men had ventured to meet Turner in debate upon this same sub- ject: eleven years before, at the second convention, Turner under rather dramatic circumstances had put them to flight, and now a new set of opponents representing the same prin- ciples as the former group faced Turner and its defeat was as inevitable.
The outcome of the discussion was the adoption of a series of resolutions offered by Turner in place of those proposed by G. I. Bergen : the preamble recited that amid the excitement of civil war the people needed time to reflect upon the best method of appropriating and applying the grant of lands, and, therefore, it was the sense of the convention that a committee be appointed to memorialize the legislature to defer all appro- priations of said funds for the present session, and that a com- mittee of one from each congressional district of the state be appointed to collect and report facts, statistics, suggestions, and propositions in regard to said proposed institution and to report to the committee on agriculture at the next session of the legislature.9 Thus those in control of the convention used the plea for fuller consideration in order to delay action in the legislature. It happened, however, that the next day, June 10, the governor prorogued the legislature and the crisis was safely passed.
Impressed with the necessity of action those who stood for the establishment of a new, single institution determined to have a bill ready for the next legislature, which would meet in January, 1865. They filled the interval of the year and a half with discussions, in lectures, in articles, in the press of the state, and with action in the form of resolutions at agricultural, horticultural, educational, and industrial conventions. Almost every issue of the Prairie Farmer during the latter half of 1863 and during 1864 had one or more articles on the subject of the industrial university. The writers, some of them from outside of the state, advocated strongly a single institution, separate from existing colleges, from which politics and sectarianism should be excluded. On August 29, 1863, the Prairie Farmer
9For the names of the members of the congressional committee and for the memorial to the legislature see below p. 472-473 and also Prairie Farmer, June 20, 1863.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 183
declared that not a single agriculturist had yet raised his voice through the public press, in favor of a disposition of the grant such as had been urged by the college men at the Spring- field convention.
At the Rockford Fair the state horticultural society held a meeting on September 9, at which a series of resolutions were passed declaring: "that the industrial interests of our state are one and indivisible; that one institution should be estab- lished independent of all existing institutions of learning ; that a course of lectures on the elements of agriculture be given in some city of Illinois during the coming winter under the auspices of the state agricultural and the state horicultural societies. "10 President George W. Minier of the horticultural society reported this action to the state agricultural society, which approved the report, adopted similar resolutions, and appointed a com- mittee to cooperate with its sister society.
That the agriculturists were thoroughly aroused is shown by the suggestion of President Van Epps of the state agricul- tural society in a letter to the Prairie Farmer of December 7, 1863, which called attention to the fact that if the supreme court should hold that the legislature, prorogued by the gover- nor, was in session, that it was highly important for the con- gressional committee appointed June 9, to be ready to report a bill at a moment's notice. President Van Epps addressed a letter on December 14, to President Minier of the horticultural society, suggesting to him that the horticultural society should be represented at a meeting of the executive board of the state agricultural society in Springfield on January 5, 1864, to dis- cuss plans for the organization of a state agricultural college. He added that the governor was already in possession of the scrip for four hundred eighty thousand acres so that the endow- ment was secure.11
At the annual meeting of the state horticultural society, held in Alton December 15, 1863, President Read of Shurtleff college was introduced and made a strong argument for the attaching of the agricultural college to some already existing
"Illinois State Horticultural Society, Transactions, 1863, p. 117. "Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5: 805.
184 History University of Illinois
education establishment, and set forth the peculiar merits and advantages of the institution over which he presided. He pre- sented the following resolution and urged its adoption: " Re- solved, That in our judgment it is expedient to establish in our state two agricultural colleges, one for the Northern part and one for the Southern part, in the immediate vicinity of well established literary institutions, so that by securing the advan- tages of their buildings, apparatus, libraries, and professors, we may thereby be able to employ the congressional fund for exclusively agricultural purposes."12 The society referred the resolution to a committee appointed to meet with the state agri- cultural society and instructed to report at the next annual meeting. President Read asked for more time to present the claims of Knox and Shurtleff, but was politely refused. Instead the society passed resolutions pledging cooperation with the state agricultural society, recommending the establishment of one school, and appointing a committee of ten to meet with the agriculturists January 5, 1864, in Springfield. Action by other organizations followed closely upon that by the horticultural society. During the Christmas recess the state teachers' asso- ciation declared in favor of one institution thus placing itself squarely on the side of the agriculturists.13
Extensive preparations for a convention in Springfield were made and articles by Secretary Reynolds of the agricultural society and by J. B. Turner appeared in the Prairie Farmer just previous to the meeting, in order to inform the public in regard to the situation. A severe snow storm and cold weather interfered materially with the attendance at this convention which met pursuant to the call on January 5, 1864, in Spring- field, but many organizations were represented notwithstanding the difficulties of travel. Delegates from nineteen different county agricultural societies, besides committees from the state horticultural and agricultural societies and the congressional committee of the sixth convention, were on hand. Dr. William Kile of Edgar county was chosen president. Briefly stated the convention recommended the following in regard to the organ-
"Illinois State Horticultural Society, Transactions, 1863, p. 56. "Prairie Farmer, January 9, 1864.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 185
ization of an agricultural college : there should be a single, new institution entirely separate from any existing college ; the man- aging board of which should consist of five members residing in different parts of the state, no two in the same congressional district, who should be nominated by the executive board of the state agricultural society, approved by the governor, and confirmed by the senate; the college should be established after considering the offers of such localities as chose to make them at the point which in the judgment of a locating board, offered the greatest facilities and inducements; an experimental farm of not less than one hundred acres should be established in connection with the college; agricultural tests and experiments should be instituted in different sections of the state for the pur- pose of determining the adaptation of climate and soils to the productions of various grains, grasses, roots, fruits, and animals.
These recommendations made by the committee headed by Turner, were adopted by the convention with minor changes. It was added by resolution that each county and representative district should havj representatives among the students, and another that students should be at least seventeen years old to be admitted.14 A final resolution by Turner, suggested "that while the final aim of the institution ought to be the highest that the hu- man mind can conceive, and that a great people can ultimately ex- ecute, we should attempt. to realize this high ideal by progressing toward it only by a slow and healthful growth, by the most cautious and limited expenditure of funds and resources from year to year." The convention provided a means of keeping the subject alive and before the people by appointing Reynolds, Minier, and Turner to write articles for the Prairie Farmer and other papers, on the origin, history, and proposed uses of the congressional endowment.
The agriculturists of the state were agreed on the chief principles involved in the disposition of the grant. "All the Conventions, and all the acts of Demagogue and Sophist in the world cannot change their minds now, ' ' wrote Turner ; ' ' they know what they want and they intend to stick to it ; others may indeed betray them; but they cannot change them. Oh, that "Prairie Farmer, January 16, 1864.
186 History University of Illinois
they might find honest men to honestly execute and carry out their desires. I hope and pray that they may. I am sure that at last they will, but it may be only after many sad reverses and experiences."15 One week later the editor of the Prairie Farmer stated that the sentiment of the recent convention was without any doubt the conviction of the agricultural and mechan- ical classes of the state en masse, but he recognized that there were in the state, men of influence and ability who held other views, who in working so earnestly for their own pet institu- tions, really believed they were laboring for the best possible disposition of the grant. ' * We have no blame to attach to these men," he added, "It was but natural and their enterprise and zeal praiseworthy, though it must be admitted that for Christian gentlemen it would have looked more becoming to have first consulted the desires of those especially contemplated in the Act of Congress itself. ' '16
It is apparent that the editor was endeavoring to deal justly in estimating those who held opinions contrary to his own. It seemed to him that the self interest of these people blinded them to the public interest. Since the time of the editor, quoted above, there have been those who have said that the Catholic church has been the great opposer of the extension and develop- ment of our great state and public educational systems. It may be well to remind those who may hold such opinions that there were in Illinois from 1852 to 1867 various colleges, representing sev- eral Protestant denominations, that struggled with all their might in the first place against the creation of one of the most beneficent systems of public education the country has known and then later strove equally hard to wreck it by attempting to take the benefits to themselves. The arguments they used to support their claims — -that the state was "ungodly" and "incapable" — have long since been abandoned. Some valuable time and energy have been expended in the course of years, however, in bringing it about. Fortunately, and this we deem extremely important, whatever the attitude of the various de- nominations both Catholic and Protestant has been in the past,
"Turner to W. A. Pennell, January 27, 1864, Pennell manuscripts. 16Prairie Farmer, February 6, 1864.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 187
their present relations with the state university are most cor- dial and satisfactory.
In the summer of 1864 the agriculturists placed no little blame upon members of the legislature for allowing themselves to be led and misled by the small college men. For this reason the farmers were exhorted to see that every candidate for the coming legislature should make public avowal as to his attitude on this great question.
In July a new element of disturbance was injected into the course of affairs by Colonel Francis E. Eastman of Chicago, who proposed to Governor Richard Yatcs that one-half of the fund derived from the land grant act be used by the agricul- tural interests to establish a college centrally located, and one- half by the mechanics to found a college in Chicago ; and that the governor appoint a commission to report plans for disposing of the lands and establishing the schools to the next general assem- bly. The next month Governor Yates, although he refused to commit himself to any particular plan of action, appointed a commission as suggested.17 This act brought down upon the governor the wrath of the agriculturists who considered that they had been insulted, since the governor, by following the advice of Colonel Eastman, had sanctioned a division of the fund and had ignored the committee already appointed. The agriculturists attacked also the personnel of the governor's commission — not as men but as representatives of interests inimical to the cause of the industrial classes. The following characterization was given by a writer : "I. W. W. Everetts, Baptist preacher con- nected with Chicago University, 2. Hon. J. H. Mulke, Chicago, — dry-goods merchant, 3. Judge C. B. Lawrence, Galesburg — is he not connected with the Galesburg colleges? 4. Kersey Fell, he will do, if you have others of right stripe with him. 5. Prof. J. M. Sturtevant, of Illinois College. 6. Cyrus Edwards, Alton — Trustee (?) of Shurtleff College. 7. Judge Harris of Cairo." Another writer said : ' ' I am sick of this damnable trifling with every interest of the farmer, making him only the hewer of wood and the drawer of water for the miserable 'cusses' who manage by chicanery and dishonesty to usurp all places of trust and ^Prairie Farmer, August 6, 13, 1864.
188 History University of Illinois
responsibility which should be occupied by honest men." These critics pointed out that not one of the men interested in the cause of the farmers or prominent for many years in securing the grant had received recognition by the chief executive of the state. The governor, accused of being under the influence of Chicago pol- iticians and of adroitly bargaining for votes, soon realized that he had stirred up a hornet's nest. He then attempted to appease the wrath of his critics by appointing Turner and a few others to the committee. Though a personal friend of Governor Yates, Turner refused the appointment and condemned the entire pro- ceeding in his usual vigorous manner.18
Early in September, 1864, the governor's committee added another blunder to those already made. It published a state- ment in the papers to the effect that all parties intending to apply for any portion of the fund should prepare a written statement of their claim. The Prairie Farmer in publishing this appended some caustic remarks on the ' l coolness of this formal opening of the 'grab game.'
To combat the various opposing schemes to get control of the federal fund and to perfect their own plans, the agriculturists called a convention to meet in Decatur, September 15, 1864, in connection with the state fair. President Van Epps of the state agricultural society in his opening address reviewed the situation, stating again the arguments for an institution separ- ate from existing colleges and urging mechanics and agricul- turists to act together. "Be not divided," said he, "and thus more easily conquered."19
Resolutions were passed condemning a division of the fund, endorsing the work of the sixth convention, June 9, 1863, and the seventh convention, January 5, 1864, resolving to support no man for office regardless of political status, without assurance of his support for the bill they would introduce, and selecting an able committee consisting of William H. Van Epps, J. B. Turner, John P. Keynolds, A. B. McConnell, and B. G. Roots
^Prairie Farmer, September 10, October 8, 1864. C. E. Griggs of Urbana was one of those appointed later by the governor on his commission. ^Prairie Farmer, September 24, 1864.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 189
to frame a bill and urge its passage by the next legislature.20 So much interest was manifest in the subject that three special meetings were held during the fair to consider it. Both General R. J. Oglesby, republican candidate for governor, and Governor Richard Yates, spoke at one of the meetings, and resolutions which were passed later stated that they considered both men to have pledged themselves for the cause of the agriculturists. The governor endeavored to justify his appointment of the com- mission, and admitted that he had not given as much attention as he should to the college situation. Resolutions were offered asking him to withdraw his appointment but they were not pressed to a vote.21
The agricultural press contained many articles during October, 1864, urging farmers to be at the polls on election day and to see to it that the right men were elected. Early in the same month, John P. Reynolds called the congressional commit- tee, of which he was chairman, to meet at Springfield on Tues- day, December 6, 1864, "for the purpose of reporting the views of the Committee to the appropriate Committees of the next General Assembly."22 The chairman of the governor's commis- sion, W. W. Evarts, called his committee to meet at Springfield the same day, and invited the committee of the state agricul- tural society to meet with them and to assist in their delibera- tions. At the same time he called a preliminary meeting of his committee for the second Tuesday in November in Chicago. At this preliminary meeting the governor appeared and stated to the members that since appointing them he had learned that a committee had been chosen by the agricultural society to bring the whole matter before the legislature and that, in order to avoid confusion, he desired the committee appointed by him to disband. After passing resolutions the committee acquiesced in the governor's request. Soon after the governor sent Turner a copy of the resolutions passed by his commission on disbanding.
One would think that the success won by the agriculturists in this affair would have pleased Turner, but as he wrote Rey-
^Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5: 986-987 and also see appendix p. 475.
21Illinois School Reports, 1886-1888, p. cxxxii. ^Prairie Farmer, October 8, 1864.
190 Histortf University of Illinois
nolds on November 19, 1864, it did not, for it disarranged all his plans.23 The wording of their resolutions led him to believe that the committee intended to cause division between the agricultural and mechanical interests and he foresaw that instead of having the ex-members as an organized force to fight in the open, the agriculturists would now have them firing from the bushes to) which they had driven them. The dissensions between the agricultural and mechanical interests which, fostered by poli- ticians and others, prevented any final action on the part of the legislature the next winter proved that Turner's belief was well-founded.
As the time for the legislature to meet drew near, interest in the subject became more manifest. There were four bodies of men to assemble during December and January whose acts would have an important bearing on the welfare of the state: the Decatur committee of September, 1864, and the congressional committee of June 9, 1863 ; the horticultural society ; the execu- tive board of the state agricultural society ; and the legislature.
The horticultural society at their meeting spent little time in discussion of the agricultural college question for there was little difference of opinion, but they passed a resolution to the effect that to divide the federal fund would be a perversion of the grant.24
In accordance with the calls issued, different committees appointed by mass conventions of horticulturists and agricul- turists of the past year met in the rooms of the state agricultural society in Springfield on December 6, to take into consideration the preparation of a bill to present to the next legislature for the disposal of the congressional grant of four hundred and eighty thousand acres of land. There were delegations from the south, central, and northern parts of the state to present "claims" for location of the school, division of the fund, and other matters. A large and influential delegation from the mechanics of Chicago was present to urge upon the convention the propriety of a division of the fund, in order to establish a mechanical school in Chicago and an agricultural school some-
23Turner to Eeynolds, November 19, 1864, Turner manuscripts. 24Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 5 : 925.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 191
where in the interior of the state. The committee from Chicago urged this proposition by many arguments, the leading one being that students attending such a school in Chicago would have better opportunities to learn the practical part of a mechanical education by observing the process of building and the manipu- lations in the various shops and factories of the city. Among those from Chicago who spoke for the committee were P. W. Gates and the chairman, A. D. Titsworth. Arguments for the unity of the fund in endowing one institution were presented by J. B. Turner, B. G. Roots, J. P. Reynolds, K. H. Fell, J. W. Fell, and N. M. McCurdy. The discussions were lengthy and earnest but carried on with much good feeling. Neither side was won over by the arguments presented and it was understood that the decision should be left to the legislature and the Chicago committee cordially tendered its support should the legislature decide not to divide the fund.
Perhaps the friendly attitude of the Chicago committee deceived Turner into thinking that the mechanics were really after all going to change their attitude, for in a letter to the Chicago Tribune dated December 27, 1864, he stated that many of the committee after ' ' the friendly conference ' ' had themselves concluded "that the policy of unity is far better than that of division."25 The Prairie Farmer pointed out, after publishing the report of the Chicago committee made at home, that there was no use in those who favored a single institution shutting their eyes to this movement for it was really a formidable affair.26
Besides the question of the division of the fund the com- mittees in session at Springfield listened to several propositions on the question of location : B. G. Roots on behalf of the South- ern Illinois agricultural college at Irvington, offered a building already erected, a cash fund of $60,000, and considerable land if a state institution should be located there ; Dr. Scroggs repre- senting a company at Champaign, stated that it would tender to the state at the proper time a large building erected for college purposes, with ten acres of land, the whole valued at $100,000. The committees, not deeming it in their province even to recom-
25In Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
26For report of the Chicago Committee see belo'.v p. 477 and also Prairie Farmer, December 17, 1864.
192 History /University of Illinois
mend a location, took no action on these propositions believing the question should be left to a locating board, empowered to receive proposals and to make awards. After spending some time in consideration of the bill to be presented to the legislature, the committee adjourned to meet again in January.27
During the weeks from December 6, 1864, to January 2, 1865, Turner, Reynolds, and a few of their friends consulted and labored together in the preparation of a bill to be introduced into the coming legislature. Reynolds consulted with McConnel, General Fuller, and Newton Bateman in Springfield and Turner frequently with Judge Dummer and Judge Berdan and other old friends of the cause in Jacksonville.28 They planned to have Judge Fuller father the bill but as he was chosen speaker of the house another man was) asked to do it. They struggled to word the bill so that people should know at the outset what kind of an institution the industrialists) desired, but at the same time they did not wish to enter too far into detail and possibly restrict the growth of the university. They considered at first the proposition of having names of trustees and commissioners in the bill, but later gave that up agreeing that it would be wiser to leave their appointment to the governor. Mr Reynolds in a letter to Turner gave a list of the difficulties in connection with the above subject, and said in conclusion: "To make a clear, intelligible organic act, expressing neither too much nor too little, meeting all objections and giving prominence to all excellence is no easy task but I hope it may be accomplished. ' '29 As finally formulated, the charter in a general way provided that an undi- vided fund be appropriated to the use of a single institution, the location of which should be determined by a commission.
The twenty-fourth general assembly opened on January 2, 1865, and Governor Yates in a message to that body recom- mended that a commission be appointed for the location of the university. He mentioned the fact that the farmers had a com- mittee that would present their views and a draft of a bill and
27Ibid., December 17, 1864.
2STurner to Reynolds, December 22, 1864, Turner manuscripts. '"Reynolds to Turner, December 22, 1864, Turner manuscripts, Spring- field.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 193
that a committee representing the mechanics of Chicago would lay a communication before the legislature.30
On January 10, 1865, the bill drafted by the Decatur com- mittee consisting of Van Epps, Turner, Reynolds, McConnel, and Roots, was introduced in the house by Mr. Tincher. It was entitled "An act to provide for the organization, endowment, and maintenance of the Illinois industrial college. " Ten days later the bill was referred to a special committee and then to the committee of the whole. Here it received numerous amendments, but of special importance was the one to section 11 which had to do with the location of the university. This amendment was in the form of a resolution, and proposed that the senators and representatives from the various congressional districts of the state name one commissioner for the location of the industrial university from each of the said districts and report the names. The bill with amendments emerged from the committee on February 10 and was ordered to third reading. The amendment to section 11 was laid on the table. Then came a move that was credited by the friends of the bill to the efforts of groups of men in Cook and Champaign counties. The significance of the endeavor was apparent when Representative Cook of Cook county submitted as a substitute to section 11 of the proposed bill, a proposition to locate the university at Urbana, Champaign county, whenever that county should convey to the trustees the ' ' Urbana and Champaign institute, ' ' building, grounds and ap- purtenances, certain lots and ten acres of ground composing the college campus and a farm of one hundred and forty acres connected therewith. It provided also that the trustees should have power to establish "now or hereafter " in the city of Chi- cago a "department of the said university for the purpose of teaching the mechanic arts," provided suitable buildings and ground should be donated, together with the sum of one hundred thousand dollars; similarly the trustees should be empowered to establish a department in southern Illinois for the purpose of teaching agriculture. After debate the substitute carried by a vote of 45 to 35. Then on February 13, the bill as amended
^Illinois School Reports, 1: 11-12. It is very probable that the mechanics of Chicago planned to present their views although they did not do so.
194 History ^University of Illinois
passed the house by a vote of 45 to 34. In the senate, Mr. Lind- say proposed a second reading but it was lost by a vote of 9 to 12.
Previous to this, on January 13, another bill on the subject had been introduced into the senate by Senator Lindsay. Back of this were the Champaign county men who had secured a copy of the bill formed by the Decatur committee, and striking out the eleventh section, inserted a clause which located the univer- sity between Urbana and Champaign. It was referred to a special committee of seven, but when after amendment it came to a vote on February 6, it was lost by a tie, 12 to 12.31
Difference of opinion upon the question of location of the proposed industrial university had brought about the defeat of the whole project. On February 16, 1865, immediately following the adjournment of the legislature, the Decatur committee made a report giving a full history of the situation. Upon the general plan of locating the institution the committee stated its attitude :
"I. As an equivalent for the local benefits likely to flow from its being fixed at any point, the interests of the university demand, and the State is entitled to, not only a good bargain, but the best one obtainable; and that the greatest possible advan- tages, physical, financial, social and educational be secured.
"2. If located in any manner which does not afford all portions of the State opportunity to make proposals, the sym- pathies and affections of the whole people cannot be expected to follow and bless it.
"3. The precedents of this State were in favor of the inter- vention of a commission of discreet persons, to be selected by the Governor and Senate, or appointed by vote of both Houses of the General Assembly. There could be no appearance even of want of equity in submitting the matter to a commission; there was nearly two years and a half within which to secure the buildings, and our friends therefore adopted this mode."
On the question of division of the fund the report says: ' * Even before the first day of the session, the advocates of a division of this fund among several of the existing literary insti- tutions commenced pressing their peculiar views upon the atten- Journal, 1865, p. 122, 305, 670, 700-702, 788, 806-811, 1000.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 195
tion of members; but soon becoming aware that success was not possible, abandoned that movement as hopeless. ' '
In regard to the llth section and the attempt to locate direct by law the report has the following:
"Immediately upon the presentation of the bill by our friends in the House, a copy of it was obtained by those repre- senting an interest in Champaign County, the eleventh section, which provided for a commission to locate, stricken out and a provision was inserted and introduced into the Senate locating the proposed university between the towns of Urbana and Champaign on condition of the transfer for use of the University of a certain edifice and grounds there situated.
"For reasons at once apparent, our friends could not give this scheme their support. The point of location was not in itself objected to, but to locate direct by law without chance for competition would be a breach of faith to the remainder of the State and sacrifice if not the life, at least the usefulness of the Institution. This claim, was however, most persistently pressed, and, during nearly the whole session stood in the way of the pas- sage of any other act upon the subject.
' ' Near the close of the session, failing to bring the majority of both Houses or of either House to the support of their plan, a combination was formed and an amendment made t9 our bill in the House, providing for the location of the University proper in Champaign County, the creation of a school for the mechanic arts in Chicago, and a school for agriculture in South- ern Illinois, dividing the fund among them in no very definite manner and thus practically dismembering the Institution itself.
"Aside from the mere fact of division, this scheme was objectionable because it provided for two schools of practical art only, a thing as already stated, not contemplated by the act of Congress, and worse than useless anywhere. The bill, thus amended passed the House, and sent to the Senate, and there sleeps, we trust in death."32
The Springfield papers, the Register and the Journal, had articles and editorials supporting the bill framed by the Decatur
32The complete reports of the Decatur committee is given in the report of 1867, appendix, p. 492.
196 History University of Illinois
committee, and opposing the proposition that arose once more to divide the fund. The Journal in an editorial on February 13, 1865, stated very clearly and concisely the objections to the amended bill :
" 1. It provides for a virtual division of the fund into two or three parts, when no one knows what can be realized from the grant.
"2. The harmony among the industrial classes so essential to the success of the scheme, is sacrificed by a departure from a principle universally acknowledged to be vital, and by an arbi- trary location of the institution, thereby endangering the whole enterprise.
"3. The buildings at Urbana, no matter how well adapted to the use for which they were originally designed, can scarcely be adapted to the use now proposed to be made of them. It should be the object of every friend of the measure in the State, to secure buildings which shall be models of their kind and which shall stand for centuries in the future as monuments at once of the taste, skill and munificence of the present time. These results can only be obtained by the construction of new build- ings.
"4. The location of a line of colleges at Chicago, Urbana, and in some part of Southern Illinois ignores the whole western half of the State, and practically excludes it from the benefits designed to be conferred upon the citizens of the State in general.
"5. The bill as amended allows to Southern Illinois the privilege of bidding for the location of the institution proposed to be established in that section of the State while it denies the same privilege to the rest of the State. Why is this difference?
"6. While the amended section of the bill requires the trustees to establish a department of the Institution at Chicago, it simply authorizes them to establish another department in Southern Illinois. The mandatory portions of the section with reference to Southern Illinois are so loosely written that they may be evaded, if the Trustees choose to do so. Is the object of this to sell Egypt out?
"We might multiply objections and illustrate the unequal character of the provisions by quoting the amended section which
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 197
has made the bill in its present shape so obnoxious to the leading friends of industrial education, but these are sufficient Rather than that the bill in its present shape should pass, every impar- tial friend of the measure will say, let it be defeated, and great as that calamity would be ; let all action be deferred two years. ' '
The new factor, the group espousing the cause of Champaign and Urbana, that had now entered publicly into a contest to secure the location of the proposed university, had not been previously identified in any way with the industrial educational movement that had been going on in Illinois for some fourteen years. In this group of men there were those who were undoubt- edly interested in industrial education, but the incentive that was urging them on to obtain for their community the benefits of the federal grant was something else.
The movement to secure an agricultural college in Cham- paign county had its origin during the discussion of a project to erect a building, known later officially as the "Urbana- Cham- paign institute" on a site between the towns of Urbana and West Urbana.33 In the week of January 20, 1859 there appeared in the two towns, a certain Jonathan C. Stoughton, formerly of Aurora but then from Freeport, Illinois. He was both a minister and a promoter and acting chiefly in the latter capacity he succeeded in launching a project that profoundly impressed citizens of the Urbanas. Reverend Mr. Stoughton represented a company com- posed besides himself, of a Mr. Hodgerson, J. E. Babcock, and George Harvey, which hoped to establish seminaries at different points throughout the state. Already they had founded the Clark seminary at Aurora, Illinois and had settled upon the Urbanas as a point suitable for the establishment of a similar institution. In the furtherance of this purpose the Reverend Mr. Stoughton came to open negotiations with influential men in the two towns.
The project as stated by the Urbana paper, Our Constitution, the week following the Reverend Mr. Stoughton 's visit was this : ' ' They desired to purchase two hundred acres of ground between here and West Urbana; and upon this they proposed to erect their seminary at a cost of $60,000 to $80,000. The only condi-
83To make clear the references to West Urbana it may be noted that the name of West Urbana was changed by a vote of the board of supervisors of the county in May, 1860 to Champaign. Urbana Clarion, May 5, 1860.
198 History ^University of Illinois
tion they make is, that the land shall be sold to them, not at a low but at a reasonable price. They ask no special favors, nor any particular display of liberality: they propose to carry out the project with their own means, if the above condition shall be complied with. This project deserves encouragement. The company will expend not less than $100,000 in our midst, and leave us an educational establishment of the first class. Of course those who have it in hand expect to find their profit in it. They expect to be able to sell a sufficient number of lots at a sufficient price to repay themselves for the outlay."34
The promoter seems to have made it clear to the citizens that the company was acting from motives of personal gain. The project was placed on a business basis chiefly, though along with it was the attractive educational appeal which was perhaps stronger because merely incidental. The plan appealed to the citizens of the two towns because it offered means of stopping up the ' ' awful ' ' gap between the towns. With apparent readiness they immediately took up the task of finding out the sentiment of the community and of devising methods of procedure.
On Saturday evening, January 29, 1859, citizens of Urbana met at the court house, discussed the scheme and appointed a committee of three to confer with a like committee from West Urbana, which was appointed two days later, in reference to the proposals they could secure from the holders of the land lying between the two towns. The discussions in the meetings and in the local press were mostly favorable to a careful consideration of the plan and it was even suggested by Dr. C. A. Hunt of Urbana that in case the present company did not choose to accept their land proposals a company of citizens might organize to secure funds for a seminary.35
Negotiations were delayed on account of the illness of Mr. Hodgerson 's wife, for according to Reverend Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Hodgerson, who lived in the east, furnished all the money for the seminary projects.36 In July Stoughton and Babcock visited
3*0ur Constitution, January 29, 1859.
35llid., February, 19, 1859.
"Central Illinois Gazette, Champaign, July 13, 1859 published two letters from Stoughton, dated April and June, 1859, to Dr. Scroggs explain- ing that Mr. Hodgerson was prevented from coming by the sickness of his wife.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 199
the towns, feeling out the sentiment of the community in regard to their enterprise. During the remainder of the year there was some further discussion of the plan but nothing definite was accomplished until June, 1860, by which time Hodgerson seems to have withdrawn from the company.
On the evening of June 18, 1860, the friends of the project met in Champaign and after a number of rousing speeches favor- ing the plan a subscription paper was circulated that brought $10,000 in pledges. A committee of four from each town was selected to canvass the county, and on June 27 it was reported that $40,000, the amount desired, had been raised by subscrip- tion.37 They were ready now to enter into a contract with the company to erect the seminary building.
In this connection it is interesting to observe the shrewd foresight of the Urbana leaders : a letter from them offering for the purposes of a state agricultural college a building erected at a cost of $100,00038 was read June 27, 1860, at an industrial educational convention in Bloomington. The speculative nature of the offer is seen from the fact that it was made some five days before the contract with Stoughton and others for the erection of the building was actually signed; the citizens were certainly alive to their opportunities in thus seeking to get a state agri- cultural college — that did not exist — to occupy a seminary building that was not yet even on paper.
On July 2, 1860, arrangements having been made by which the promoters had secured sufficient land and the necessary amount having been subscribed, a contract was made and signed that provided for the erection of the seminary building.
The parties to the contract were : for the company, Jonathan C. Stoughton of Freeport, Illinois, John E. Babcock, of Aurora, Illinois, and George Harvey of Fort Edward, Washington county, New York ; for the citizens, Joseph W. Sim, Jr., William Park, William H. Romine, Carter F. Columbia, John H. Thomas and James S. Wright of the county of Champaign, Illinois.39
31Central Illinois Gazette, June 20-27, 1860.
3RChicago Weekly Times, June 27, 1860. Vrlana Clarion, June 30, 1860 confirms this by saying that a project was under consideration to have the state agricultural college occupy the building.
39The contract is printed in full, below p. 458.
200 History University of Illinois
The agreement stated that the company was the owner of certain tracts of land lying between Wright street on the west and Lin- coln avenue on the east, Springfield avenue on the south, and north beyond the city limits, amounting to 193.9 acres which it agreed to plot and lay off into town lots, except eight acres thereof, upon which should be erected a building suitable for a seminary of learning. The building was to have a stone founda- tion and brick walls of equal size, capacity, and of the general form and model of Clark seminary at Aurora, Illinois. It was to cost no more than Clark seminary would if made of brick and was to be built between August 1, 1860, and November 15, 1862.
The citizens on their part agreed to secure by August 1, 1860, a valid subscription list of stock, acceptable to the company, to the amount of forty thousand dollars. One share of stock was quoted at one hundred dollars. Each subscriber to the stock was to be permitted, on payment of fifteen percent of his sub- scription and giving notes for the remainder, to select a town lot, or lots from those not disposed of, to the amount of his sub- scription, at an average price of two hundred dollars per lot. Such lots would be conveyed by deed in fee to the subscriber, or his heirs, on payment of the promissory notes.
When the whole cost of the eight acres and the construction of the seminary building upon the said eight acres had been paid for from the subscriptions of stock, the promoters of the enter- prise, were to turn over to the stockholders, or their trustees, the said seminary and the eight acres upon which it was located. The amount paid by the company for the 193.9 acres of land was $19,298.7940 As the amount of subscribed stock asked for in the agreement was $40,000 and from this the cost of the build- ing; and eight acres was to be paid it seems quite apparent that the $40,000 was expected to cover the cost of these two items. Profit to the promoters would come, then, from the sale of lots adjacent to the seminary grounds, other than those assigned to the subscribers of stock. It was known that the price of the lots at an average of $200 per lot was exorbitant but as shares in the seminary building were included it was considered not so bad.
is shown in three deeds, two made on June 30, 1860 and the third of August 17, 1860, purchased from William H. Eomine, James S. Wright, and the Busey heirs.
Jonathan C. Stoughton (1820-1900) was a native of New England who, through early choice of the ministry as a profession, received a good education. He settled at Aurora, Illinois in 1848, joining the Rock River Conference. He held several pastorates in the state one of them being in Chicago at the Grace Methodist church. His chief interests were in education and in temperance and being a speaker of ability and able in dealing with men, he made himself felt in both lines.
Dr. Charles A. Hunt was a native of Trenton, New Jersey. He studied medi- cine at Springfield and Cincinnati, Ohio, and came to Urbana in the fall of 1855. He suggested the donation of the Urbana- Champaign Institute to the state for the new university and his name headed a petition from Champaign County citizens to the legislature in 1861. Dr. Hunt en- tered the Army in 1862 as a physician and died in the U. S. General Hospital at Mound City, 111., 1863, from overwork and exposure.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 201
There seem to be three principal reasons advanced for pro- moting the enterprise; the interest in education, the hope of allaying the jealousy between the twin cities, and the opportunity for personal gain through increased value of property. At this time the citizens had no specific plan for establishing a school even when the building was constructed, other than they hoped the state would take the building off their hands.
During the summer and autumn of 1860 preparations went forward looking to the construction of the building. Early in December Eeverend Mr. Stoughton, now of Champaign, preached in Champaign. His immediate object was "to commend the seminary enterprise to the moral and religious sympathies of his audience." When the legislature met in January, 1861, it was presented with a memorial signed by sixty-two prom- inent citizens of the twin cities, headed by Dr. C. A. Hunt.41 The memorial argued that it was important for the agricultural interests of the state, that there be established an agricultural seminary of learning, and in connection with it an "agricul- tural bureau" under state jurisdiction and support. It called attention to the advantages of Champaign county as the location for such an institution or institutions, and suggested that a portion of the seven per cent tax fund arising from the Illinois central railroad be set apart to support the enterprise. In this memorial was used, too, the argument so effective six years later, that Champaign county and the eastern portion of Illinois had received no patronage from the state treasury. Finally, they made the proposition that Urbana-Champaign donate the seminary grounds and the building in process of erection to the state for the proposed institution.42
It was thought at the time that the legislature of 1861 might establish an agricultural college in the state. The Bloom- ington convention of June, 1860, had this idea in mind. Again it is observed that the Champaign county leaders in sending the memorial of January, 1861, were neglecting no opportunity to get aid from the state to relieve them of the burdens of that
"According to Judge J. O. Cunningham, one of the signers, Dr. Hunt was the author of this memorial, which was printed in the Champaign County Democrat, January 26, 1861.
42The memorial is printed below p. 462.
202 History University of Illinois
seminary project. The Champaign-Urbana memorial was pre- sented in the house on January 31, 1861, and referred to the committee on education.43 The legislature took no other action in regard to it.
On February 21, 1861, however, the legislature granted a charter incorporating the "Urbana-Champaign institute" for the purpose of ''establishing and maintaining a seminary of learning comprehending an agricultural, or other departments as the public may demand,"44 but made no provision for state aid of any kind to the institution. The incorporators named in the act, B. F. Harris, William Park, J. T. Everett, John Insley, J. S. Wright, John Penfield, J. W. Sim, Jr., C. F. Columbia and Henry Nelson were to constitute the first board of trustees, and were given authority to manage the property and the financial concerns of the corporation and to confer degrees and diplomas. The real estate in the seminary plat as laid out into lots was to represent the capital stock of the corporation. The capital stock could be increased to two hundred thousand dollars in shares of one hundred dollars each. On August 6, 1861, the corner stone of the institute was laid, Bishop Matthew Simson delivering the address on this occasion.45
By the latter part of August, 1861, there were many evi- dences of distress in the affairs of the institute. Civil war had begun and finances throughout the country were in such an embarrassed condition that collections were well-nigh impossible. Under these circumstances the trustees of the Urbana-Champaign institute held their first meeting in Champaign on August 31, 1861. After reviewing the financial condition of the institute, and with the express understanding and agreement with the builders, Stoughton and Babcock, the trustees voted to delay the erection of the institute building until the next season when it would be pushed to completion if possible. On September 25 the minutes of this meeting together with a full statement from Stoughton and Babcock were published in the Central Illinois Gazette. The essence of their statement to the people was that
"House Journal, 1861, p. 284.
"See "act of incorporation" below p. 466.
^Central Illinois Gazette, July 31, 1861.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 203
under their contract they should have received in February, 1861, six thousand dollars in cash, fifteen per cent of the sub- scribed forty thousand dollars, to use for incidental and current expenses. In this they had been wholly disappointed ; they had paid out between eight and ten thousand dollars and had received less than twelve hundred dollars. Worse than this failure to pay on the part of the subscribers was the refusal to sign notes which could have been used as collateral security. They admit- ted the times were difficult and declared their intention to carry through the project as soon as at all practicable. Thus work on the seminary building was suspended.46
After the land grant act of July 2, 1862, had been signed, Dr. C. A. Hunt of Urbana suggested again that they take advan- tage of the situation and attempt to secure the location of the proposed agricultural and mechanical college for their unoc- cupied and as yet unfinished building.47 This suggestion was taken up by the local papers and adopted by the people as the policy to be followed. It was right in line with the course they had already entered upon, but from this time on it assumed new importance because Champaign county, through its board of supervisors, backed this project of its citizens to secure the state agricultural college.
On May 4, 1864, Supervisor Bailey offered resolutions that were adopted to the effect that Illinois having accepted the dona- tion of congress "of 150,000 acres" (it was 480,000 acres), that they ask the legislature to locate the college in Champaign county, and that they use all honorable effort for the accom- plishment of this object.48 Before definite offers could be made to the state it was found necessary to make satisfactory arrange- ment with Stoughton and Babcock. At a meeting of the sem- inary company on Monday evening, December 12, 1864, Mr. Stoughton gave the people to understand that before any dona- tion could be effected the rest of the stock would have to be sold. This would amount, he said, to some thirty-five or forty thousand
"Probably no more than the foundation had been completed for only eight to ten thousand dollars had been expended on it up to this time. 47Stated on authority of Judge J. O. Cunningham. 48Eecord of the board of supervisors, III : 298, May 4, 1864.
204 Historfi University of Illinois
dollars.49 The Gazette in commenting on this said it was all right for the builders to endeavor to secure the payment of this to reimburse themselves for their outlay, but to insist upon the payment of this before any conveyance could be made, was arbi- trary and contrary to the interests of the community and to the interests of the promoters as well.50 A week before this, on December 6, 1864, Dr. Scroggs had been sent to Springfield to meet with the Decatur committee of the farmers' convention and had offered them "a magnificent building" for the agri- cultural college.51
As the legislature was soon to meet and something had to be done, the county supervisors came to the rescue in their meeting of December 19, 1864 : they proposed to accept the offer of Stoughton and Babcock to transfer the Urbana-Champaign institute for $24,000 if Illinois would locate the industrial uni- versity in it; appropriated $15,000 to buy a farm, or to use in securing the location of the university; appointed a committee of five to confer with Illinois central railroad company to secure cooperation for location of university; appointed a committee of twelve to visit Springfield the next session to secure an act to enable the county to borrow money and issue bonds ; and made arrangements whereby $5,000 of the $15,000 above mentioned might be secured from the treasury and one-twelfth given to each member of the committee to be used in securing the university.52
The supervisors were careful for they specified that no payment should be made until the state had by law located the university in Champaign county. They had received some encouragement for their hope that the state might so locate the
49Supposedly this stock had all been subscribed in I860 but, according to the statement of Stoughton and Babcock, the citizens had failed to pay or to sign notes.
^Central Illinois Gazette, December 16, 1864.
^Turner said later that Scroggs had been in apparent agreement with the aims and proposals of the Decatur committee, and that for this reason he had been freely admitted to their meetings; they were surprised and somewhat shocked when later he appeared as an ardent Champaign partisan.
62Eecord of the board of supervisors, III: 332, December 19, 1864. The committee of twelve consisted of W. D. Somers, J. W. Scroggs, C. B. Griggs, W. C. Coles, T. E. Webber, A. B. Condit, W. Nebeker, John S. Busey, J. C. Stoughton, A. H. Bailey, M. L. Dunlap, and William A. Conkey.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 205
proposed institution: the governor's commission before it dis- banded in November, 1864, visited the institute and it was believed to be almost unanimously in favor of locating the uni- versity in Champaign county.53 This amounted to little, of course, except as it might be interpreted as encouragement. According to a local paper, Dr. Scroggs reported favorably the meeting he had attended in Springfield. He reported thus, perhaps, from the cordial manner in which he had been received for apparently there was nothing else to base it upon. Such was the condition of affairs, when the legislature met in January, 1865, and, as has been related finally adjourned without action because of the disagreement upon the subject of the location of the proposed industrial university.
It will be recalled that the bill introduced in the senate on January 13, 1865, by Senator Lindsay was the same as the bill introduced by the agriculturists with the exception of sec- tion 11. The substitute section shows just what Champaign county offered the state in 1865 :
' * It shall be the duty of the board of trustees to permanently locate said university at Urbana, in Champaign County, Illinois, whenever the county of Champaign shall, according to the proper forms of law, convey, or cause to be conveyed, to said trustees, in fee simple, and free from all incumbrances, the Urbana and Champaign Institute building, grounds and appur- tenances, together with the farm of one hundred acres, connected therewith, as proposed in the following offer, in behalf of said county, to- wit:
'The undersigned, a committee appointed by the Board of Supervisors of Champaign County, are instructed to make the following offer to the State of Illinois, in consideration of the permanent location of the Illinois Industrial University at Urbana, in Champaign county, viz: We offer the Urbana and Champaign Institute building, the college grounds, containing about ten acres, together with the appurtenances thereto belong- ing, with one hundred acres of land adjacent thereto, valued at one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, free from- all incum-
KPrairie Farmer, November 12, 1864. According to the Union, Cham- paign, the commission must have visited Champaign sometime in October.
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History University of Illinois
brance — the building to be completed in accordance with the original plan and specifications — title to be perfect, and con- veyance to the State made or caused to be made, by the county of Champaign upon the permanent location of the Illinois Indus- trial University upon the said grounds, so to be conveyed as aforesaid.
W. D. SOMERS
W. A. CONKEY W. N. COLER
A. H. BAILEY
J. C. BUSEY
J. C. STOUGHTON
A. B. CONDIT
J. W. SCROGGS
T. R. WEBBER WASHINGTON NEBIKER M. L. DUNLAP C. R. GRIGGS Committee. ' ' '
That there was "push" back of this so called "substitute bill" is evidenced by the fact that early in the session a joint committee was sent by special train to visit Champaign county on January 21, 1865. The report of this committee gives some interesting facts in regard to Champaign county at that time, the progress made on the seminary building, and the general impression made on the committee :
"Your Joint Committee, appointed to visit Urbana, find the proposition from Champaign County substantially as rep- resented in the bill containing the proposition of said county.
"The general appearance of the country is unsurpassed in the west, for the beauty of its landscape, the richness and vari- ety of its soil, interspersed with groves of fine timber and streams of pure water.
' ' Champaign county is located about the center of the State, North and South, and midway between Bloomington and the State Line on the east, it is remarkably healthy, and long cele- brated for its fine cattle and abundant harvests. It is included in the great coal fields of the west, and at a depth of less than two hundred feet, as is shown by actual experiment, are found rich veins of the best bituminous coal.
' ' The Illinois Qentral railroad runs through the county from north to south, and the Great Western railroad runs from east to west. The cities of Champaign and Urbana are connected by street cars, and contain a population of about eight thousand.
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 207
"The Urbana and Champaign Institute is a substantial brick building, with stone foundation, standing on a beautiful elevation of ground, about one-half mile from the Illinois Cen- tral railroad at Champaign City, and about an equal distance from Urbana, the county seat of Champaign County. The whole structure is beautiful in its architectural proportions, and very imposing in its appearance.
"The main building is 125 feet front, by 40 feet in depth, and five stories high. From the center a wing projects, 44 by 70 feet, four stories high. The front wall has a projection eight feet by forty, with pilasters and towers ornamenting the corners. The stories are from 10-14 feet in height. The inside of the building is unfinished, and may be somewhat modified from the original plan, if desired, as to size and number of rooms.
' ' The original plan contemplated some 85 or 90 dormitories, or students' rooms, 10 by 15 each with suitable rooms for the principal and professors, large and commodious recitation, paint- ing and society rooms ; ample dining room and chapel with base- ment, kitchen, and cellar, halls and storage rooms, amounting to one hundred and seventy or eighty rooms in all with accom- modations for from four to six hundred students. Accommo- dations for a much larger number of day students could easily be provided by reducing the number of dormitories. The walls are without crack or blemish, and the whole structure is very substantially built. The building is under the contract to be wholly finished, complete and entire, at the expense of the county in the early part of the coming summer.
"The farm, of one hundred acres, is contiguous to the build- ing, and is a handsomely elevated tract of land, with a stream of living water running through it.
"We have examined the abstract of title to these grounds and find the title perfect, and in a condition to be conveyed unincumbered.
"The building and grounds are admirably adapted to the purposes of the Industrial University, and the surrounding country is most charming. This offer to the State indicates the thrift and enterprise of the people.
208 History University of Illinois
"In the opinion, therefore, of the committee, the proposi- tion of the County of Champaign is a most generous and liberal one, and the location most desirable. Yet, while your committee admit all this, we do not desire to compromit any one to the proposed location.
W. BUSHNELL, Sen Ch'n. W. T. HOPKINS
A. J. HUNTER 0. W. BRYANT
J. H. ADDAMS J. T. SPRINGER
D. K. GREEN R. C. DUNN
JNO. B. COHRS SCOTT WIKE
LEANDER SMITH GEORGE H. DIKEMAN."
The Gazette said to its readers following the visit, that from appearances the bill of Senator Lindsay would pass.54 This con- clusion was perhaps justified by the report above which appeared so favorable to the offer of Champaign county. In the papers of the state during the latter part of January, 1865, many arti- cles appeared discussing the whole subject of the agricultural college. The Central Illinois Gazette among other things in defense of Champaign county said :
"The fight upon the location of the proposed Agricultural College has opened in earnest and Champaign county is receiving from jealous towns and the thousand lot and land speculators in other parts of the State a tremendous shower of epithets and kicks now, that for the first time in the history of Illinois, she has the temerity to show her face in the city when the wisdom of the State biennially assembles, and for the first time asks for herself a favor. Stock jobbers and professional thieves who have all their life time hung about the capital and fattened upon the taxes, paid by us, in common with the people of the state, welcome the representatives of our county with contemptuous jeers for making a bid for the University, which at once commands the respect and commendation of the legislature .and every disin- terested person about the capital. The self appointed agricul- tural committee, who in defiance of the plain designs of nature, arrogate to themselves all the wisdom suited to the purposes of the proposed institution in the State, flutter and fight, and in
"Central Illinois Gazette, January 27, 1865.
- -
B
CQ
i
Illinois Considers Disposition of Donation 209
turn denounce and slander us for daring to come at once before the representatives of the people and ask that the State accept the handsome gift tendered by our county thus refusing the medi- atorship of their graces. Political mendicants who have looked to such occasions as this for opportunities to set themselves up for sale to towns asking for the location of a State Institution, snap and snarl, curse and swear, because our proposition looks to a settlement of the question, by the representatives of the people, in a fair and open manner, thus cutting off their oppor- tunity, as members of the proposed locating commission, of re- ceiving themselves from rival towns the money which should go for the benefit of the Institution, instead of towards the purchase of these men who are always in the market for such occasions.
The Gazette in the same article scored the Chicago Tribune for favoring the commission plan of locating the college. The Illinois State Journal printed an article about the same time written by a friend of the agriculturists that declared the Tri- bune was on both sides of the fence. The author thought the Tribune was right on one point, the location of the college by a commission. On this point the writer aimed a fiery shaft at Champaign county : * ' Indeed the only opposition to this feature of the House bill, so far as I can learn, has emanated from an effort at town lot speculation some years ago, on a naked tract of land lying between Champaign and Urbana, in the East part of the State. A certain company, it seems, undertook some years ago to lay that tract off in lots, and bring them into market by building on it a school or seminary of some sort. They have since, in some way, transferred their rights to Champaign County, and made that county the ostensible profferers of the donation. It is a quite respectable bid, for the first time. But it probably does not amount to one half the amount of money which the location of the University there will give of additional value to their naked town lots, aside from all its other advantages to the place. Of course these bidders are exceedingly jealous of throwing the thing, in any way, open to the public,, and partic- ularly jealous of town lot speculators in Chicago* and elsewhere. They keep a troop of men here lobbying for their interests, all
210 History ^University of Illinois
the time. They labor particularly to show that the Governor and Senate cannot be trusted to select one man from each Congres- sional District, to decide on the location of the Institution, guard and define their action by law as we may ; while their bill pro- poses that this same Governor and Senate shall appoint the Trustees to manage the vast accumulating interests of the Uni- versity, in all coming time. All the old friends of the grant, and all the constructive and appointed representatives of the industrial classes, the officers of their societies, the representa- tives of the teachers in the state, and the committee who drew the House bill, are opposed, to a man, so far as I know, to this whole proceeding. ' '
Later in this session of the legislature the Chicago and Cham- paign interests united in a plan to divide the proposed institu- tion. Eepresentative Cook of Cook county on February 10 intro- duced a substitute to section 11 of the house bill that was in fact only an addition to the section as it then stood and as quoted above. It provided that the trustees of the industrial university which was to be located in Urbana- Champaign should be 11 required" to establish a department in the city of Chicago for the purpose of teaching the mechanic arts and that they have the " authority" to establish a department to teach agriculture at "some time" at "some place" in southern Illinois.55 These loosely worded but carefully planned paragraphs might have been used, as it was claimed, to sell out the southern friends of the measure, though whether that was the purpose would be difficult to establish. The adjournment of the legislature with- out deciding the question of the location of the industrial uni- versity was unfortunate, for it prolonged an unseemly scramble of Illinois men to obtain control of a prize that was intended to benefit all the people. It was particularly unfortunate because it had drawn into the struggle some of the men of Illinois who, through long years of sacrifice and labor, had made the grant to all the states possible. The struggle, however, was only fairly begun. The next two years were to be utilized by the various contestants in preparation for the inevitable " fight- to-a-finish " upon the question of the final disposition of Illinois' share in the federal land grant.
KHouse Journal, 1865, p. 808.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 211
CHAPTER IX
PREPARATION FOR THE FINAL STRUGGLE
FOR THE LOCATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY
1865-1867
After the adjournment of the general assembly in 1865 the various parties in the contest for the location of the industrial university were busy putting up their own fences and knocking the props from under those of their adversaries. Party lines were by this time very sharply drawn and the differences in principles or mere desires of the contestants were capable of definite statement.
The Champaign county group earnestly desired to have the industrial university located in the Urbana-Champaign insti- tute, and they preferred to have an undivided institution located in the seminary building, but if they could not get the whole they were equally determined to get a half or even a third. There was a certain bull-dog tenacity of purpose in their efforts that boded ill for their opponents. The agricul- turists* group was headed by Turner and the leaders in the state agricultural and horticultural societies. Some of them, who had been leaders in the movement for industrial education ever since the Granville convention of 1851, could not help the feeling and belief that they had a kind of proprietary right in this proposed university, the very possibility of which had been due in a large measure to their foresight and energy. They had fought and would continue to fight as a unit for a separate and distinct institution supported by undivided funds. They agreed that the best method of locating the institution was by a commission, but they disagreed necessarily on the question of place, for the members were scattered through the state and local interests made such appeal that the members were unable to stand as a unit opposed to Champaign county. The group
212 History University of Illinois
of college men, composed mostly of the presidents of the col- leges, had striven for years to get the state to appropriate the college and seminary funds to their needy institutions. They had zealously opposed the plan of the industrial league for an industrial university in Illinois and for each of the states, and to them it had seemed an absurd dream, as undesirable as im- practicable. But the dream realized, the funds available, they had no objections to have a portion appropriated to the insti- tutions over which they presided. Then, too, they had an abid- ing faith in their own ability to carry on educational affairs, but none in the state. Other groups organized later for the chief purpose of making bids for the location of the university.
With the renewal of activity by the various factions in the contest, feeling became more intense and the expression of resentment very vigorous. In declaring the attitude of Cham- paign county the Gazette said: "The enemies of Champaign county may perhaps think that the failure of our county to secure the location of the Industrial University is in effect their final triumph and the sharks who had hung like vultures upon the flanks of the legislature for years, under the various guises of agricultural and educational committees, may likewise think the fund sacredly dedicated to industrial advancement will, like well ripened fruit fall into their basket.
' ' They will however, observe in due time, that their fancied security is but an illusion. The beautiful structure offered by our county is rapidly approaching completion and will, in a finished condition, lose none of its claim upon the attention of the State. It will commend itself to our law-makers as just the place to rock the great enterprise in its infancy. The contest during the past winter in which the friends of our county have been engaged, has been but the school of preparation for the final contest; and while our enemies have been putting forth their best efforts to secure the temporary success which accrued to them finally by default, our friends have not exhausted their preliminary tactics."1 From the above and from later state- ments in local papers it was quite evident that Champaign county was so certain of winning the location, that she determined to
Centra! Illinois Gazette, Urbana, March 31, 1865.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 213
negotiate at once for the purchase of the seminary building and grounds.
At a meeting of the board of supervisors on March 20, 1865, Stoughton and Babcock appeared, supposedly on invitation of the board, and submitted a proposal to sell the institute building for $30,000. The proposition was laid on the table until the June meeting, and then postponed from meeting to meeting for more than a year. The supervisors felt now that matters could be safely delayed, for they knew that the "elephant," as the institute was termed by its enemies, could not get up suddenly and walk away.2
By September, 1866, the time for definite action had arrived, for in a few months the legislature would assemble again. For the purpose of getting things under way Supervisor Cosgrove invited C. R. Griggs of Urbana to address the board at its meet- ing of September 12 in regard to the location of the proposed industrial university, after which Cosgrove offered the following resolutions :
"Resolved, That the proposition now on file with the clerk of this Board of Messrs. Stoughton and Babcock, for the sale of the building, known as the Urbana and Champaign Institute with its adjacent grounds made to this Board at the session held in Sept. A. D. 1865, dated Sept. 11, 1865 be accepted and that said building be offered to the State of Illinois for the purpose of the Industrial University.
"Resolved, That a sum not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars be appropriated for the purpose of purchasing said build- ing, a farm for the use of said Industrial University and for the purpose of bearing such other expenses necessarily involved in securing the location of the Illinois Industrial University in this county
"Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions and appropria- tions are to be made upon the express condition that the said Industrial University be located in this county by the Legisla- ture at its next session.
^Record of the Board of Supervisors, III: 365 June 6, 1865, and Sep- tember 13, 1865, p. 385.
214 History University of Illinois
"Resolved, That this Board appoint a committee to take charge of all appropriations made by this Board, and that said committee be held responsible to and accountable for all monies committed to its charge and amenable to this Board for all ex- penses incurred by it.
''Whereupon, Supervisor Condit offered the following sub- stitute :
"Resolved, That the question of appropriating funds for the purpose of securing the location of the Agricultural College in Champaign County be submitted to the legal voters of said county at a special election to be held on the 10th day of October next, at which election ballots shall be provided on which shall be written or printed, 'For Agricultural College' or 'Against Agricultural College.' "3
The substitute resolution was adopted and then Supervisor Cosgrove offered the following which was also adopted :
"Resolved, That should a majority of the votes cast at said election as authorized in the above resolution be found ' For Agri- cultural College' then and in that case the resolutions above offered, by Supervisor Oosgrove are adopted by this Board and the appropriation of One Hundred Thousand dollars ($100,000) is hereby made for said Agricultural College by this Board. ' '
In accordance with the above resolutions the question at issue was submitted to the voters of Champaign county at an election held on October 10, with the result that 4,601 voted for the college and 1,085 against the college ; a majority, therefore, of 3,516 was in favor of bonding the county to the extent of one hundred thousand dollars, and this amount, by reason of the resolution passed by the board, was appropriated for an agricul- tural college.
On December 4, 1866, the board met again and appropriated five thousand dollars to be expended "cautiously and judi- ciously " by a committee of three for the purpose of securing the location of the agricultural college in Champaign county.4 The preamble to the resolution stated that the towns of Urbana and
*Eecord of the Board of Supervisors, 111:482, September 12, 1866. *Eecord of the Board of Supervisors, 111:487, December 4, 1866.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 215
Champaign had recently appropriated five hundred dollars for the location of the agricultural college, and that a like sum had been donated by citizens of the towns for the same purpose. Meanwhile some newspapers in eastern Illinois were publishing articles in support of Champaign county. The Wabash Valley Times of Paris, Illinois, in a lengthy article favoring Champaign, propounded this question: "Is it possible that the people of the east half of Illinois are to be denied equitable rights in the dispensation of favors and the West and North to appropriate all?" 5 The Danville Commercial came up to the same general level in its issue of November 22, 1866. It said : "Inasmuch as everybody else will grab, we are not in favor of standing back on dignity. We shout for Champaign. It is just as good as any other place — better than most. Let the entire fund be expended at one point, and let it be given to a portion of the State which is ready to do as much as any other and which has never yet been granted the least crumb of public favor. ' '
The Champaign County Union and Gazette in commenting on the article in the Commercial made this statement, somewhat startling in view of the fact that the division of funds which it so uncompromisingly condemned had been attempted by Cham- paign county in the bill it supported before the legislature the year before : ' ' We agree with the ' ' Commercial ' ' as regards the attempts of the Professors of the various colleges, to divide the funds, and thus rob the agriculturists of the benefit designed by the Government. No words of ours can express the contempt with which we regard the movers of this project. It exhibits a selfish, grasping character, that stops at nothing short of the accomplishments of its own ends, the rights and interests of others ruthlessly disregarded. ' ' 6 From this statement it is ap- parent that nothing short of the whole loaf would now appease the gnawing appetite of the Champaign contingent.
The Chicago Journal, an enthusiastic supporter of Cham- paign, gave way to its imagination in the following : ' ' The gen- eral appearance of the county (Champaign) is unsurpassed in the West, for the beauty of its landscape, the richness, and variety
*Wal)ash Valley Times, October 13, 1865.
^Champaign County Union and Gazette, November 30, 1866.
216
History University of Illinois
of its soil, interspersed with groves of fine timber, and streams of pure water. The 'big grove' containing thirteen thousand acres of fine timber, is within half a mile of the college building. ' ' In regard to Champaign's offer of an institute building and one hundred and forty acres of land the writer was equally optimis- tic. It will add he said, to the federal grant * ' in buildings, lands, and money, what could not now be furnished for five hundred thousand dollars." 7
Inasmuch as the items of the offer as then proposed actually cost the county a few months later only fifty-five thousand dollars, one can judge of the extravagant statements then floating about. The Union and Gazette copied the entire article from the Journal — perhaps with the purpose of spreading the good news abroad and to furnish some amusement to the citizens in the quiet of their homes.
During the autumn of 1866 preparations of another kind were entered upon that were to prove most decisive for Cham- paign's interests. A movement had been started for a railroad from Danville through Urbana and Bloomington to Pekin, and during the summer of 1866 a committee of citizens was formed for each of the two cities to push the matter. The members of the committees were Judge J. 0. Cunningham, Colonel Sheldon, Henry Miller, Dr. J. W. Scroggs, M. L. Dunlap, Colonel Busey, Dr. Parks, Judge Sims, Messrs. Cosgrove, Gardiner, Shirfy, and Helberstadt. They needed an executive agent and on looking over the field they chose one of their own citizens, Clark Robinson Griggs. In the fall of 1866 the district republican convention was held in Urbana, and through the influence of this joint com- mittee Mr. Griggs was nominated for state representative, to which office he was elected in November. Thus connection was made between Mr. Griggs, ,the railway and the legislature, the importance of which will appear later. According to Mr. Griggs' own statement, confirmed by Judge Cunningham, shortly after his election he set out on a quiet tour of the state, interviewing members of the lower house in an effort to pledge votes to Cham- paign county. He avoided Jacksonville, Lincoln, and Bloom- ington, not wishing to put these cities on their guard. In the
'Copied in Hid., December 7, 1866.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 217
course of five weeks he thus interviewed nearly forty members out of a total of eighty-five, and secured pledges, slightly if at all qualified, from perhaps fifteen. At the capital he made himself acquainted with Governor Oglesby and Lieutenant-Governor Bross, both of whom listened to him with interest. As the next step was vital in the later success of Champaign county it is best to let Mr. Griggs describe it. He said many years later that he "saw the Republican State Chairman, Mr. Babcock, and the Democratic State Chairman and induced them to become paid servants of the Champaign County Committee. ' ' 8 The money to finance such propositions had already been raised in Cham- paign county, in part at any rate, therefore, Mr. Griggs was con- scious that whenever his persuasive tongue failed to win over those whose influence he needed, he had other means at hand that were even more effective. Other things were done on this trip about the state that give an insight into the shrewd methods employed.
In his tour Griggs learned that a greater number of special interests would be before the coming session of the legislature than ever before in Illinois history: Chicago was anxious to secure legislation in regard to Jackson and other parks and the boulevard system, and for the deepening of the Chicago river ; southern Illinois wanted a projected new penitentiary; Peoria and Springfield were rivals for the new state house, although it was commonly felt that Peoria had little chance. He noted these ambitions as useful in future bargaining. At Pekin and at Dan- ville he urged that the location of the college at Urbana would assist the prosperity of the railway then planned. Elsewhere he pointed out that Jacksonville already had a number of institu- tions of a charitable sort, that Bloomington had the normal col- lege, that Chicago would grow fast enough without such a gift, and that none of the cities could offer such agricultural advan- tages as Urbana-Champaign.
No other county made a similar preliminary canvass. Cham- paign county sent delegates to conventions and kept in touch with the agricultural and horticultural societies, and although they
8From a memorandum by Clark E. Griggs; manuscript at the Univer- sity of Illinois, appendix, p. 515.
218 History University of Illinois
won little sympathy and comfort from these associations, they were kept well informed as to what was going on. In these var- ious ways the county made preparations for the contest.
During the early summer of 1865 the agriculturists were resting on their oars. A letter from Turner to John P. Keynolds, secretary of the state agricultural society, July 23, reveals his disgust at the proceedings of the last legislature. In a jesting manner he said that he had stood for principles long enough he was now going in wholly for profit, adding : ' ' But more seriously my dear friend, let us thank God and take courage, and still ' Keep our powder dry, ' in that the great state of New York has accepted the magnificent offer of Mr. (Ezra) Cornell, of Ithaca, of $500,000, and has thus located its University there with a fair start of a million and half of dollars." He then asks Reynolds to send Mr. Cornell the last agricultural society report and any others that would throw light upon these industrial matters, and urged Reynolds also to include in the forthcoming report of the society an article on the real origin and general history of the industrial education movement in Illinois. He reiterated what he had said a number of times : ' ' This whole matter was really begun and urged on to its present position by citizens in our own State. ' ' 9 Later he himself wrote the suggested article in the form of a letter which was published in the transactions of the society and is invaluable for a true understanding of the early work of the Illinois men.
In a letter to Reynolds a few weeks later Turner declared that they must work together to bring Illinois "up to her duty before God and man" and that he hoped the state would do even better than New York.10 In August George W. Minier wrote Turner "We must remodel our Legislature or we will all go to the mischief. ' ' n The next .month these men were in action. On September 8, 1865, the executive board of the state agricul- tural society met in Chicago and on motion of G. W. Minier it was resolved that the board recommend that a convention of agriculturists, mechanics, and manufacturers of the state be
9Turner to Reynolds, July 23, 1865, Turner manuscripts.
"August 3, 1865, Turner manuscripts.
"August 4, 1865, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 219
called to assemble at Bloomington to consider the measures to secure the proper location of the college in a fair and impartial manner. In consequence of this recommendation John P. Rey- nolds, on behalf of the executive board issued a call for a conven- tion at Bloomington on December 14, 1865. It was suggested that members of every county agricultural and mechanical asso- ciation in Illinois, assemble at their respective headquarters and select three delegates to represent them in the convention. In counties where no such organization existed, it was thought that the board of supervisors, county court, or mass meeting of the friends of the cause might properly appoint delegates. "The only serious question to be yet decided by the people in such man- ner that their representatives in General Assembly shall be left without excuse for not regarding it, is, How shall the proposed College be located? Not where shall it be located, but How, so that no lingering shadow of just cause of complaint, in that re- gard, shall be left to any section, locality, community, sect, party or institution within the bounds of the state. ' M 2
The method proposed for obtaining a representative con- vention was democratic, at least to the extent of including the industrial classes or elements of the population, the only ones that had any moral right under the circumstances, according to the leaders of this group, to determine what should be done with the proceeds of the federal grant.
As a result of the call a convention organized at Blooming- ton, December 14, 1865, with John H. Bryant of Bureau as president and J. C. Conklin of Springfield as secretary. Twenty- six of the one hundred and two counties in the state were repre- sented; vice-presidents were selected from each of the congres- sional districts. On motion of 0 B. Galusha, a committee of five was appointed to draft resolutions for the consideration of the convention, which committee consisted of J. B. Turner, 0. B. Galusha, G. W. Minier, Henry Tubbs, and A. R. McMasters. It was decided that each delegate in the convention be allowed to cast one vote and that all persons present who were not delegates be invited to take part in the discussions of the convention. The committee appointed for the purpose presented the following resolutions :
^Prairie Farmer, October 14, 1865.
220 Histortf University of Illinois
"Resolved, That whereas the true principles of education like the true principles of civil government, every where require the greatest practicable union, co-operation and concentration in all its higher departments, combined with the utmost practi- cable diffusion in the lower departments, Therefore,
"Resolved, That the State of Illinois should, at present at- tempt to build only one university of the highest order, and that the energies and resources of our people should now be directed to that one end, and the undivided funds of our congressional grant be appropriated thereto.
"Resolved, That we approve of the principles of location adopted by former State conventions, and presented to the State Legislature at its last session by the committee of the State Agri- cultural Society.
"Resolved, That we approve of the general principles adopted and approved by all parties at the last session of the Legislature, that in preparing the charter for the University all mere details of organization and government should be left to the future necessities of the institution, the direction of the people, and the existing Board of Trustees, and that the charter of the University should limit their freedom only on those points indis- pensable to a fundamental law.
"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to urge these views upon the next Legislature.
"Resolved, That we urge upon the people the necessity of keeping the principles embodied in these resolutions before aspi- rants to office, and that they emphatically reprobate any man as a candidate for the Legislature who is unfavorable to these views.
"Resolved, That we request the Chicago and Springfield papers, and all others in the State, to publish the proceedings of this Convention. ' '
Jonathan Turner, in presenting the above resolutions stated that the committee emphatically endorsed the action taken by the agricultural committee last winter, and approved the bill which it presented for the action of the legislature, but which was de- feated by combinations which were familiar to the readers of the Tribune and other papers.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867
221
After the reading of the federal land grant act of 1862 and the bill submitted to the last legislature by the agricultural com- mittee, the convention entered upon a discussion of the resolu- tions. Among those who declared themselves in favor of a single institution and the resolutions, were Smiley Shepard of Putnam county, Mr. Sanford of Grundy, J. B. Turner of Morgan, 0. B. Galusha of Grundy, and W. Martin of Knox. N. C. Meeker of Dongola announced that he was in favor of two agricultural col- leges, owing to the differences in climate and soils in the state. W. H. Pierce of Champaign declared himself opposed to the third resolution for he believed the question of the location of the university belonged to the legislature and not to a commission. Finally the resolutions were adopted as a whole, after which 0. B. Galusha offered the following which was also adopted by the convention :
"Resolved, That the committee who have presented the re- port before this meeting shall constitute the committee contem- plated in the resolutions, and that we instruct them to secure the revision of the bill presented to the Legislature of this state at its last session by a committee appointed by a convention of the people of this State, and cause 1,000 copies of the bill to be printed ; also, that they be instructed to secure the appointment of sub-committees in each of the representative and senatorial districts of this State, whose duty it shall be to present a copy of said bill to each and every person whose name shall be before the people as a candidate for nomination to the offices of Representa- tive and Senator to the General Assembly of this State, and shall receive the public pledges of such candidates for nomination that they will use all laudable endeavors, if nominated and elected, to secure the passage of said bill; and that in case any candidate shall refuse or neglect to give such pledge, such sub-committee shall publish the fact of such refusal throughout the district in which such candidate resides through the newspapers published therein."13
The Tribune called this convention the "Bloomington anti- monopoly convention," 14 while the Central Illinois , Gazette con-
™Chicago Tribune, December 15, 1865. "Chicago Tribune, December 20, 1865.
222 History University of Illinois
demned the ' ' self appointed guardians of the industrial interests of Illinois. " "The convention, ' ' it asserted, was a "packed affair from beginning to end, ' ' and that a scheme was hatched for packing the next legislature.15
Champaign 's committee, sent by the board of supervisors to this Bloomington convention, made its report, which was pub- lished in the Union and Gazette, March 2, 1866. In this report they condemned the second and fourth resolutions of the conven- tion and stated that other parts of the state did the same. They remarked on the small attendance, only 24 out of 102 counties represented, and on the general spirit of the convention. They objected to Turner's assumption that his views should dominate the next legislature. Finally, they urged the necessity of taking action, and mentioned among other things that some of the coun- ties wishing the location did not expect it and would yield their claim to Champaign, and other counties if convinced that they could not obtain it, would shift their support to Champaign, and lastly, that Champaign county should be vigilant and should expend money, if necessary, promptly and without stint.16
Another side-light on this convention is furnished by the report of the Mercer county committee to the convention. It commented on the earnestness and unanimity of the members and the determination that the next legislature should not use these industrial matters "as a mere log-rolling measure."17 The comment by the Prairie Farmer was similar in spirit on these points for it urged, also, that the people should see to it that members for the legislature were selected who should "be ready and willing to carry out the wishes of those by whom the move- ment was begun and for whose benefit the fund was donated." 18
Although the college men had received little attention at the session of the legislature in 1865, they had not given up hope. On October 5, 1866, an informal meeting of several college pres- idents was held in Chicago and it was decided that a meeting of all the college presidents of the state was desirable. A com-
^Central Illinois Gazette, Urbana, December 22, 1865. 18The report is printed in the appendix, p. 481. "Illinois State Agricultural Society, Transactions, 6:240. ^Prairie Farmer, December 23, 1865, October 20, 1866.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 223
mittee was then appointed and a letter was sent to each president inviting him to be present at the office of Dr. J. C. Burroughs, president of the University of Chicago, on the 29th of October, to discuss among other subjects, the propriety of a joint appli- cation to the state legislature for aid to the colleges, the college and seminary funds, and the agricultural college fund of this state. In response to the call an important meeting of college presidents was held on October 29 and 30 in Chicago. At the first meeting Reverend J. Blanchard, who was elected temporary chairman, made the following significant statement : ' ' It is not the desire of the meeting to attack in any manner any legislation made respecting the endowment of land for a State Agricultural College." 19 The necessity for the remark is found in the ex- planation that no attacks could possibly avail and besides the college men would now be glad to share in the benefits of the federal grant which had been made for the industrial classes. The conference then appointed a committee on "legislative aid" which made some definite and comprehensive recommendations.20 The committee thought the colleges should ask the legislature to allow them something for the education of the state troops whom the colleges had not charged for tuition when these had entered the colleges on their return from! the civil war. The committee declared the college men had seen the college fund first borrowed by and afterward devoted to the common schools of the state in the normal university, and had made no complaint because they were friends of the common schools. In regard to what the law of 1862 for a federal grant to agricultural colleges really pro- vided, the committee argued : ' ' the idea of the law is plainly that though Ehode Island may need one College, the large states will need more. Hence the phrase 'at least one college.'
"Under this law Massachusetts has connected its share of this fund with Amherst — Rhode Island with Brown — New Hampshire its share with Dartmouth — and Connecticut with Yale ; and besides that those legislatures doubtless understand the law. There seems to your committee no difference in principle
^Chicago Tribune, October 30, 1866.
^The committee consisted of Eeverend K. Allyn of McKendree college, Eeverend J. Blanchard of Wheaton college, and Reverend W. S. Curtis of Knox college.
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between one connecting this fund with a college or colleges already built, and connecting it with a new college after it shall be built.
"Now your committee are not in favor of connecting this vast fund with one college in one locality, for many reasons.
"1. Such single college and its model farm can only repre- sent the soil, crops, season, atmospheric changes, etc., of one spot in a state running thru five and a half degrees of latitude on our globe.
11 2. Such single colleges will teach only some three or four farmers' sons to each of our counties, if it teaches even one to a county.
"3. Such single colleges must either exclude Christianity entirely, and so be either atheist or pagan, or if it admits Christi- anity at all, it must support that form of Christianity, which it admits with our State fund, and so be a cause of jealousy and wrangling among sects, and political parties.
"Your committee therefore think that our State Legislature should by this fund, and a small additional appropriation if needed, boldly attempt to teach agriculture and mechanics in every considerable college in this state, instead of teaching all the various branches of a college education in one college.
"Some of our reasons are:
"1. The fund is adequate, or nearly so. Two thousand dollars a year, fifteen hundred for the Professor, and five hun- dred for his books and tools, would respectably support an Agri- cultural department in a college.
"2. By establishing a central board, or college, with branches, the Legislature, without meddling with the religion of the existing colleges, could forever retain control of the agricul- tural fund, and drop at will any branch, in any institution, which should be found unworthy or incompetent.
' ' 3. And then such a diffused college, with branches set in the different colleges throughout the State would teach Agricul- ture or mechanics, one or both, to all our youth, male or female, who in coming generations shall frequent these colleges, and thus
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 225
agriculturize the education and educationize the agriculture of the state, which was and is the object of the bill creating this fund.
' ' 4. And finally by a small model farm connected with each college for trees and flowers with a few acres for experiments in soils and crops which farm, like public parks will be places of popular resort. The art of agriculture will be placed, as it ought to be in the fore front of the educational forces of the whole state. Each religious denomination satisfied with its just and equal treatment by the state, will have no motive to plot or wrangle ; a wholesome rivalry without the possibility of conflict will incite each to excel the other in carrying out the objects of the fund, and courtesy and kindness in the intercourses of annual meetings will perpetually soften denominational peculiarities without weakening the denominational attachment to the truth as each conceive it. The meeting of the college officers with the farmers at our state fairs in connection with which the Agricul- tural College should meet, will give each the benefit of each oth- er's scholarship and strong sense, and thus make us homogeneous, intelligent people, and so more than any other agency contribute to the true greatness and glory of the state." 21 The report of the committee brought forth earnest discussion from the eight college presidents in attendance, and much comment in the press of the state upon their action and their statements.
Dr. Sturtevant, president of Illinois college, who was not present at the convention was sharply criticised by the presidents of the colleges for his attitude of opposition to the purposes of the college men. They accused him of siding with the people, the common school men and the state authorities against the col- leges. "From this simple statement, it will be seen," remarked the Jacksonville Daily Journal, "that these learned college pres- idents have made out a very bad case against themselves and their colleges."
The argument of the college committee in favor of dividing the funds and establishing a professorship of agriculture in each of the colleges of the state, sounds absurd at present, and, fortu-
*CMcago Tribune, October 31, 1866.
226 History University of Illinois
nately, there were those who saw its absurdities clearly at that time. The Jacksonville Daily Journal for example, said in ex- posing the weakness of the proposition of the college men: t ' From so much of their action as looks to a division of the agri- cultural college fund, and its appropriation to a number of existing colleges, in the form of one professorship to each, we must respectfully dissent. Our general views on the agricultural college question were expressed during the last session of the legislature, and we have no good reason to change them. In our opinion the agricultural fund should be invested in establishing the highest course of free instruction in those branches of science ' which are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, ' and not in adding a professor of agriculture or agricultural and mechan- ical science, to existing institutions. If the entire fund were added to some existing college, giving it a great superiority in those branches of instruction as could be attained by judicious application of the proceeds of the congressional land grant, we can conceive that the spirit of the law might be thus carried out, though such a plan would not be free from objections of a de- nominational nature. But to divide the fund into fractions, and make a certain number of existing colleges a trifle more efficient than they are now, in respect to scientific studies, and not one of them preeminently so, seems to us equally at war with the spirit of the law and with the best interest of the state. The law certainly requires that the 'leading object* of the college or col- leges established by the congressional grant, shall be to teach those branches which are related to agriculture and mechanic arts. How the 'leading object' of any existing college would be changed by the addition of one professorship in the manner sug- gested we do not perceive, nor can we see how it would be worth while for any existing college to change its object for so small a compensation." 22
There appeared during the month of November in the Chicago Tribune a series of articles by President Blanchard in defense of the colleges and their plan to divide the agricultural college fund. His argument for the division of the funds was as follows : ' ' The effect of the diffused plan must begin on the 25 'Jacksonville Journal, November 2, 1866.
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whole of the educational forces of the state. It will agriculturize education and educationize agriculture. If we have one single Agricultural College fixed like a plant to one particular spot, it must be like West Point, essentially aristocratic. Three or four farmers' sons taken perhaps, by favoritism from each of our hundred counties would fill the institution, and thus educate only ten where the diffused plan would educate hundreds and thou- sands. For most of the existing colleges have academic or mis- cellaneous departments where a majority of the neighboring youth attend during some part of their school life. All these multitudes would therefore, hear lectures if not recite lessons in agriculture.
"And then if we have but one institution and that filled with young men, why should our daughters, who had their rep- resentative by the side of Adam in the first garden ever culti- vated by human hands, why should our daughters be counted out when fields and fruits and flowers are the lessons of the school? Many of our colleges are mixed, educating the sexes together, and if our State will bless this institution with Agricultural teachings, both sexes will get the benefit of it, and our State will be the mother of our daughters as well as our sons.
"And why should our noble State by setting up another college and taking our text-books of botany, chemistry, geology, and mathematics (for no one supposes that new books are to be written throughout for a single Agricultural College) why should our State take our text-books and set up another college in rival- ship of existing colleges, and thus become their declared rival instead of their mother and nurse? Forgetting the hundreds and hundreds of both sexes in their preparatory and academic as well as higher departments, some have sneered at our colleges as making only ' ' doctors ' ' and ' ' lawyers ' ' and so call them pro- fessional colleges.
"But supposing it were so; is that a good reason for keeping agriculture out of them? If our colleges are already monastic and professional is that a good reason for making them more so by sending our farmers to one school and everybody else to others? It seems to me this complaint, if true, should lead the complainers to our conclusion instead of theirs, to wit : that the
228 History University of Illinois
science of the soil, like its flowers, should grow in all gardens instead of being shut up in one. ' ' 23
President Blanchard's articles in the Tribune "Sectarian- ism in colleges, ' ' " The agricultural college, ' ' and others of sim- ilar nature brought forth vigorous replies both from editors and from farmers. A writer from Morrison, Illinois in the Tribune of November fifth, under the name of "A Farmer" made the following points among others equally keen: "I believe in churches, and am in favor of theological institutions being under the control of their respective conferences, synods, and assem- blies ; but I am not prepared to denounce everything not under denominational control as * atheistical or pagan. ' Are our insti- tutions for the instructions of the blind, and the deaf and the dumb, atheistical or pagan? Without mentioning our common schools and our city graded and high schools, is our State Normal University atheistical or pagan? I have noticed the teachers that graduate from that institution and must confess that they are morally and religiously fully equal to the average of gradu- ates from our denominational colleges and seminaries. The heterodox President of Lombard University must have felt fool- ish during this discussion, knowing that these very sticklers would rule his institution ungodly, though under denominational rule. But what would this central College or Corporation that they propose to have established as the Agricultural College of the State be? Would not its huge atheistic shadow poison and contaminate the branches?
"The present anxiety and agitation of the Presidents, are small matters compared with what would happen were they to succeed in the division of the spoils. Academies and seminaries would pitch in for their share and perhaps compete successfully with one or two institutions represented at the meeting of the Presidents. "
The discussion with the college presidents in Illinois at- tracted attention outside the state. Suel Foster of Iowa who had corresponded with Turner years before in order to get the benefit of his ideas and advice on the establishment of an insti- tution in Iowa wrote to the Prairie Farmer: "How singular to ^Chicago Tribune, November 2, 1866.
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the( intelligent reader of the Prairie Farmer the proceedings of these learned men. ' ' Mr. Foster accused the presidents of mis- quoting the law of 1862 in omitting the word " leading" from the sentence " support and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be. ' ' 24 Mr. Foster defended Turner against the charge of prejudicing the farmers against the colleges.
Mr. Turner in a letter to the Prairie Farmer in January, 1867, discussed fully the question of the intent of the law, the relations of the college to the college and university fund, his own attitude, and much of the history of the movement. The statement of Turner is so illuminating and reviews the whole subject so thoroughly that it is1 given in full : ''The convention of Presidents at Chicago seemed to complain that the people and the common schools are hostile to the colleges. And as, in some of their published strictures, I am especially included among the list of opponents, I deem it important to inquire into the cause of that supposed hostility.
"The great good which existing colleges have done to the people of Illinois I presume no sensible man would question; certainly I do not. It is not needful to disparage sickles, flails and carts, because we now need reapers, threshers and locomo- tives, even though the former have gone wholly out of use, which our colleges have not done, and, I trust may never be compelled to do.
"But whether the political state, as such, is bound to pay those colleges for the good they have done or are now doing, either in part or in whole, as these gentlemen assume in the re- port, is quite another question. Our manifold churches, schools, academies, workshops and farms, imperfect as they still are, have done immense good to the State ; but if the State as such should therefore assume to foot their bills for them, in part or in whole, it would strike not a few 'unlearned' people that our taxes might become inconveniently high.
"Now, it is the obvious disposition to urge this absurd claim, that has done more to render some, though n6t all of the colleges obnoxious to the people of this State than all other
^Prairie Farmer, November 24, 1866.
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causes combined. When any number of men at their own free will and accord commence any enterprise in the State however needful and good, independent of all legislative control, and pri- marily designed to promote their own peculiar personal, or edu- cational, or religious views and ends, it is self-evident that whether such an enterprise may result well or ill to the public, it can lay no shadow of a joint claim, either legally or morally, on the treasury of the State. No State can possibly undertake to discharge any such debts. It does indeed sound very strange for learned and sensible men to come forward and urge such claims upon our legislators, on the express ground that the people and the common schools of the State are hostile to them. My general experience and observation has been, that, legislators are not very apt to jump aboard of a ship, simply because they are told that it is sinking. However, these are revolutionary times, and we do not know what strange leaps men may take.
"The reason of the hostility of the common schools towards colleges so far as it exists, is equally apparent. These gentlemen still affect to lay legitimate claim to the old ' College or Univer- sity' fund of the State, which was some years ago in part given to the interest of the common schools to endow the State Normal University. They say in their report : ' The friends of colleges in this State have stood silent, though neither dead nor sleeping, and have seen the income of this College Fund devoted to the common schools of the State, in the Normal University/ Now, Messrs. Editors, many of our citizens well recollect that while this old college fund was being disposed of, at all our called con- ventions, at all our meetings with the legislature, wherever we met, we were sure also to meet the attorneys and representatives of some of these same old colleges, and sometimes the Presidents and Professors of the colleges themselves, most vehemently urg- ing their claims to these same funds, and on precisely the same grounds they now take. I was never in Springfield in my life when any portion of these funds was in issue, but what I met more or less of them, as our most vehement and bitter opponents ; and if they had had their way the common schools would have had no State school for teachers, and the State would have had no Normal University to this day : and, long before this, the funds
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 231
by which it was endowed would have been frittered away among some twenty or more of these colleges, catholic and protestant, to no good purpose whatever ; for the funds so divided could neither have done them, nor anybody else any real good. Moreover, if I do not distinctly remember meeting each of the authors of this strange report at Springfield, at different times, on this same errand for funds, I certainly dreamed it so very distinctly that it seemed a reality to me ever since, and I presume many others can testify that they have had the same remarkable dreams. Now, if this is what these gentlemen call ' silent, dead and sleeping," etc., I hope, for Heaven's sake, they will wake up this winter ; for I am curious to see what they will do when they are wide awake, alive and kicking! If ever a single dollar of State school funds has ever gone out of the State Treasury that these same friends of the old colleges have not been after 'with a sharp stick' I know not where it has gone to. The public papers of those days are filled with notices of their efforts in this regard ; so that their present action is only the same old story over again.
11 Again, in spite of their persistent opposition, and con- tempt, and ridicule, the friends of the industrial classes have, after years of patient labor, secured this Congressional grant; while their old fogy opponents were everywhere, year after year, denouncing their efforts as ' radical,' ' revolutionary, ' 'chimeri- cal/ 'visionary,' 'quixotic,' and 'absurd,' just as they now de- nounce all legitimate and proper modes of organizing and using the fund, now it is secured. But the fund is now on hand, and it had not had time to cool, after its arrival in Springfield, before these same old college parties, in one shape or another, were on hand, the same as before, to gobble it up.
"As already intimated, in my opinion, our existing colleges never had the least shadow of claim to either of those funds, either legal or moral. The first, or old college fund, was given by Congress to endow colleges or universities under state or legisla- tive control, and not under mere denominational or independent corporate control, of whatever kind the states might prefer ; or, in other words, it was given to the state as a whole, and not to any independent sect, party, or interest in the state, however good. Against the persistent efforts of these same parties (though made,
282 Historty University of Illinois
as it now seems, in a sort of fit of sonnambulism, and not at all consciously) , our Legislature chose to endow, out of this fund, a state university for our common school teachers, under their own control. This second, or last fund — the present university fund — was granted to our state in answer to an express petition, by joint resolution of our Legislature, in February, 1853, asking that Congress would donate public lands, not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars to each state, ' for the liberal en- dowment of a system of industrial universities, one in each state of the Union. ' (I quote from the petition itself.) Such was the object sought; and such was the only intention of the grant, ex- cept that it was thought that some of the older and richer states, like New York, which had one or two agricultural colleges, might desire to found more than one. But nobody, who knew anything about it, supposed that this grant itself would fully and properly endow even one.
' ' Now, is there a man on the continent who does not know that if either of these Congresses had been asked for grants to enlarge and complete the endowments of mere denominational colleges, outside of state control, or that if we had gone to Con- gress with this scheme of these presidents, all hatched out and pinf eathered and flying ablaze as it is, not one single solitary vote for such a grant could have been obtained on either plan ? Nay, no single representative would have hazarded his good name by even proposing such a bill. What, worse than idle mockery it is, to pretend that any such scheme is an honest, and due ,and proper use of the fund, now it is obtained. Is the great state of Illinois reduced to the shameful necessity of obtaining funds on false pretexts ?
' * "We need no further proof of the utter incapacity of these gentlemen to manage these funds than their own published re- ports give us. They evidently have no just conception of what the fund is really for, nor of the primal uses to which it should be put. For this they are not blameworthy, for it lies wholly out of the line of their experience and action. But if they can't eat the hay themselves, they should quietly let the ox eat it. If the state listens to their advice now, a few years hence it will have no state university, as it would have had no normal university
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 233
under the same guidance. The miserable sham which they pro- pose is not worthy of the name of an university. It would be a disgrace to any people who should inaugurate it. Just look at it : More than a round hundred corporators, gathered promis- cuously, by a sort of accidental drag-net, from all classes, pro- fessions, and conditions in life, without the least possible regard to their knowledge of educational interests, and set to do what ? Why, simply to dole out and watch the miserable pittance of two thousand dollars a year, distributed among some twenty or more rival colleges agreed in nothing but a present want of funds. Who, thereupon, are to teach 'agriculture and mechanics, one or both, to all our youth, male and female?' (I quote from the report itself.) 'It is so nominated in the bond.' What troops of crinoline carpenters and farmers the state would then have! Outdoor labor would then be nothing but one everlasting honey- moon ; and all sorrow and tears as well as all university funds, would soon fly away.
1 ' Of all the strange and uncouth and unlawful schemes that have anywhere been proposed for utterly wasting, and worse than wasting ,these noble state funds in the several states, I think this the worst of any one I have seen. I hardly know which would be most disgraceful : for the state to grant, or for any college to accept of, such a miserable pittance, on any such conditions. If Massachusetts has, as reported in the papers, already utterly wasted the income of her endowments on one college, that is no reason why Illinois should worse than waste hers on twenty others. After all this, can we wonder that the people and the common schools of Illinois are becoming hostile to some of their colleges? They must have been possessed of something more than African patience not to be so.
"But if this university fund was let alone, and suffered to be quietly applied to the great industrial interests for which it was intended, and as it was intended, it would never harm the colleges in their chosen proper sphere. It would only facilitate and enhance their real usefulness and prosperity. And at this point President Wallace, of Monmouth, is entirely in- the right, and seems to have some just and adequate conception of what the fund is really for. We do not propose to meddle with their time-
234 History University of Illinois
honored ' curriculum, ' as it is called. Whatever there is, either of good or of evil, in that, we propose to leave wholly to them in all coming time. We oppose it only as a thing that we neither need nor want. We will leave it wholly and quietly to them. Indeed, our proposed charter forever prohibits us from giving the degrees to which it implies, and we desire that it should. But we insist, on the other hand, that they should leave us to do our own proper work, and organize our own proper school in our own way ; and if, with such advice, as we desire to ask, we have not sense enough to do it, it will be our own fault. Their com- ments on our plan seem to show that they have no idea how we want them to organize, even after we have told them. For ex- ample, they seem to understand our proposed system of volun- tary experiments, through our county superintendents, as so many branches or departments of the university, while they rep- resent their own schemes as a scheme of union and concentration. It is, indeed, the same sort of concentration that a brisk north- wester gives to an open bag of feathers.
' * I have no hostility to the study of the ancient languages, or any other language which any one desires to learn. I have studied them some myself, and so have several of my children ; but I do not like to see people run stark mad over a Latin gram- mar or imagine that there is nothing else in the world that can properly discipline the human mind.
"The time was when all literature, and all known science such as it was, was locked up in these languages alone, there were no books of any sort in the English tongue. Of course these languages were then not only practical, but they were as utterly indispensable as the alphabet or the spelling book are now to all classes of scholars alike. I can myself very well remember when social custom, and formal law in some of the States, rendered it practically impossible for any man to gain a standing in any pro- fession, or to get into any high public office of any sort, who was not a graduate of some college. So long as this aristocracy of pedantry could be kept up, of course these languages were the most useful and practical to all men who aspired to any mode of professional or public life. But to set up the same exclusive claims for them now, when all literature of all languages, and all
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 235
sciences, have been translated into plain English, and are hawked about at our very doors, and when all offices and all professions in life are thrown broadly open to all men, and when such multi- tudes of uneducated men as they are called, are constantly out- stripping, in every sphere of life, our so called educated men, is simply ridiculous. What President, even of a college on this continent, has ever met with greater practical success than the uneducated but world-renowned Dr. Nott, of New York. While Abe Lincoln, in this country, and John Bright, of England, are alone (to say nothing of thousands of others of the same stamp) worth all the graduates that have come out of old Oxford and Cambridge for the last half century, for any use which either God or man has to make of humanity here on earth. I am perfectly willing still to let Latin and Greek do all they can in the world ; but I would really like to leave a chance for God and nature to do some little, too. It seems to me that they have a right to do this, whether they talk Latin or English, or whether they have taken the degree of * Bachelor of Arts, ' or ' Doctor of Divinity ' or not.
"It is not therefore, of this course of study, in itself consid- ered, that I complain; but of its assumed exclusiveness, and of the supercilious insolence of stigmatizing in this age of the world, all men as uneducated and boorish, from Abe Lincoln up through Washington, even to Christ and his Apostles themselves, who do not happen to have been ground through that particular mill. The Divine Providence has manifold ways of educating men on earth, and doing it in the best possible manner, too, wholly out- side of any conventional curriculums which men ever did, or ever will devise. And the more various, and free, and open we make all our modes of public culture, the more shall we elevate the race of man and conform to His eternal kingdom and law ; and, though such ideas may strike some as ' Pagan and Atheistic, ' they seem to me most eminently true and humane, and Christian and devout — sanctioned by every law of God and every present need of man. I confess I know little about this great enterprise of properly founding a State University for all the teeming and on- coming millions of this great industrial State of Illinois, worthy of herself and worthy of the empire and the age to which she belongs. I expect to have but very little more to do about it;
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but I think I know that the way to sow wheat is not to throw it up to the roof of the barn and appoint a committee to hear the doves coo as they pick it up while it is sliding down.
"Whether in haranguing the farmers and mechanics at Monmouth for an hour or more on this topic, without notes or memorized speech, I said wise things or foolish things; or whether the brief report of that speech contained the almost in- evitable amount of errors and misprints or not, it is not worth while to inquire. The people of Illinois feel very little interest in anything that I have said, or may hereafter say, unless they feel deeply conscious that I have spoken to them words of truth, that affect the well being of themselves and of their children after them."25
This letter from Turner was published after the session of the legislature had actually opened, and it made complete the victory of the agriculturists for a single institution and an undi- vided fund. There was no time for more discussions and the college men, realizing their defeat, made no concerted attempt to influence the legislature then in session.
Early in 1866 Morgan county began to organize its resources with a view of making a bid for the location of the industrial university. On January 25 a circular letter was issued setting forth the conditions and asking cooperation and support of all citizens. The circular was signed by J. B. Turner, Joseph Mor- ton, and William Brown, who had been chosen by a meeting of citizens of Morgan county, as a central committee to call meetings in different precincts and to inquire how best to obtain coopera- tion in the county and in the state to secure the ends proposed by the Bloomington convention of December 14, 1865. 26
The circular letter stated that the principles upon which the university was to be chartered were well understood and agreed upon by all parties ; that the difficulty at the last session of the legislature was not on the question of principles and aims but merely as to where the university should be located; and as
^Prairie Farmer, January 19, 1867.
26The circular letter in the Turner manuscripts is printed. Turner did not know at this time what the college presidents would attempt by the following November. See a Circular Appendix, p. 565.
Struggle for Location 1865-1867 237
all counties of the state were not then prepared to make proposals it had been deemed wise to postpone action until all could have a fair and equal chance.
The circular said that Ezra Cornell had given three-fourths of a million dollars to secure the location of New York's univer- sity at Ithaca ; that Illinois having been the first state to petition congress for an appropriation for industrial universities should not fail to build up an institution worthy of her position. After stating in a general way what they thought the institution would be worth to any county that secured its location the committee urged that Morgan county had sufficient resources and that they hoped citizens would meet in precinct and district meetings to discuss the subject and take action.
During the next few months meetings were called in various precincts of Morgan county at which members of the central committee and others addressed the citizens. It was proposed to vote a tax of $300,000 as part of the bid of Morgan county to secure the location of the university. On February 5, 1866, citizens of Jacksonville met to discuss the means of securing the location of the university in Morgan county. Among the speak- ers were Judge Brown, Colonel G. P. Smith, Dr. Egan, and Dr. McFarland. Turner on this occasion gave a talk on the general plan and aim of the industrial university. This was the first time he had said anything about it to the people of his home town though he had been lecturing on the subject in other counties of the state for nearly twenty years. The reason for this was that* 'as the other institutions of Jacksonville once stood" Turner was opposed to bringing this new effort under their social in- fluence for he feared they would attempt to crush it out as a rival. He was now convinced that this was not the case and that they would one and all heartily sustain and cherish it.27
Various papers in Morgan county, particularly the Jackson- ville Journal, worked earnestly in behalf of the project. On March 1st, 1866, Colonel G. P. Smith, the editor of the Journal, published a sketch of the rise and progress of the industrial university scheme. The article argued ably for the education of
2TThe address was published in the Jacksonville Journal, February 8, 1866.
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every man in the profession or business of his life. He gave credit to his fellow townsman in the following unmistakable terms: "Professor J. B. Turner is fairly entitled to the credit of having first suggested and urged the founding of a series of great colleges or universities for the education of the agricul- tural, commercial, and mechanical classes of our people in their various callings. For a year or two his views made but little impression upon others ; but took firm and fast hold upon his own mind and heart. Becoming thoroughly in earnest, his zeal rather than his opinions began to attract attention.
"It is to be regretted that we have no distinct and chrono- logical account of the first two years of Professor Turner's labors in behalf of this scheme. The unwritten history of nearly all great measures is generally regarded as the most interesting if not the most important. ' ' 28 Colonel Smith continued his article by giving the leading events in this early movement after 1851.
Thus by means of articles in the press and by addresses in numerous meetings the effort was made to inform the public of the importance of securing the university for Morgan county. In October of this year one article appeared in the Jacksonville Journal in opposition to the proposed $300,000 tax. The editor of the Journal said that it was the first article that had appeared in print in opposition to the measure and that he regretted it was not abler and more truthful.
The vote in the county on the question of the $300,000 tax came not long afterward and to the surprise of Turner and his friends the measure failed. There had been very little opposi- tion and the result came as a decided shock to the friends of the cause. Their only explanation was that many did not really un- derstand the proposition.
Following this public agitation in Morgan county and the failure of the voters to sanction the tax President J. M. Sturte- vant of Illinois college wrote Turner under date of December first and proposed that the university charter be so framed that it w^ould permit the establishment of "As many colleges in con- nection with it, as component parts of it, as individuals or cor- porations may choose to endow-— said courses to be controlled in ^Jacksonville Journal, March 1, 1866.
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239
their courses of study, the management and use of their funds and the appointment and the removal of teachers, by such boards of trust as the Founders may severally direct. ' ' This plan was further elaborated by President Sturtevant in letters of Dec. 21 and 24, both of which seem to indicate from the language used, the cooperation of Turner in the plan. President Sturtevant admitted that he was assuming the responsibility of the offer himself without the consent of the trustees of Illinois college and indeed with the opposition of two of them. This plan, which had the fatal weakness of proposing to unite an old institution with a new one, would not be accepted in Illinois. Morgan county 's prospects at the moment seemed hopeless but yet in the end she offered a bid that commanded the respect of all.
During the year 1866 an episode occurred that threatened for some months the usual harmony among agriculturists. The delegation of the Buel institute in reporting the farmers' con- vention held at Bloomington in December, 1865, condemned the action of that body in throwing the meeting open to all who de- sired to participate and also objected to leaving to the discretion of a committee the calling of another convention. It reminded the executive board of the institute, that as members of an or- ganization that had given the first active impulse to the idea of a practicable and scientific education for the laboring classes, they claimed the right for Buel institute to issue the summons for a representative convention "to prepare, discuss, and adopt a form of Charter for legislative enactment, suited to secure the end arrived at in all your former efforts. ' ' 29
The Prairie Farmer interpreted this report to mean that the Buel institute objected to the bill of 1865 drawn up by the agri- culturists. The editor defended the bill, condemned the attitude of the Buel institute, and opposed the assembling of another con- vention, but offered to publish the call for one if the institute should decide to send it. Already the Buel institute had formu- lated plans for a convention and early in August the summons went forth for a meeting of duly appointed delegates at Phoenix Hall, Bloomington, on September 11, 1866.30
^Prairie Farmer, July 14, 1866.
^Bloomington Pantagraph, August 10, 1866 ; Prairie Farmer, August 4, 1866. The call was signed by the committee: Smiley Shepherd, Will- iamson Dudley, and Joshua S. W. Mills.
240 History University of Illinois
As this action of the Buel institute puzzled Turner he wrote to John P. Reynolds to inquire what it really meant. Reynolds replied in a humorous vein that struck close to the truth : l ' From expressions I have hitherto heard I conclude that Buel Institute regards itself as the father, mother, doctor, nurse, and attendant of the baby which was born in this state some years ago and was christened 'Education of the Industrial Classes' and is jealous lest history shall be distorted from the truth so far as to record that anybody else was even present at the bornin'." 31
Turner in the spirit of the peacemaker wrote a long letter to the Prairie Farmer reviewing the actions of the former con- ventions and showing the danger of appearing before the next legislature with two bills emanating from the farmers and me- chanics. He did not question the right of the Buel institute to summon a convention but he did question the wisdom, the expedi- ency, and the courtesy of it. This letter had the desired effect and after some correspondence and explanations the Buel insti- tute in the interests of harmony gracefully withdrew the call for the convention.32
"Eeynolds to Turner, August 7, 1866.
"Prairie Farmer, August 25, September 8, 1866.
The University Located 24
CHAPTER >X
CONTEST IN LEGISLATURE OF 1867
Much preparation had been made during 1865 and 1866 by the various parties for the concluding struggle over the question of the location of the industrial university. It seems rather strange that McLean county and Logan county, both of which finally did make important bids had made up to January 1867 no public preparation for the final contest. At the opening of the session of the legislature on January 7, 1867, a great deal of interest was manifest on the question whether the university should be located directly by the legislature or by a commission appointed by the governor. Champaign and her champions maintained that the time was past for locating by a commission because the state had already discussed the subject for two years. The agriculturists thought it was necessary to locate the univer- sity by commission in order to secure proper consideration of the merits of various locations and to insure honesty.
On the question of the date upon which the university had to be established in order to fulfill federal conditions, there seems to have been unaccountable ignorance. It was a fact that all inter- ested parties should have known, that congress had, on July 23, 1866, passed an act extending the time five years beyond the date set in the law of July 2, 1862. Those wanting direct loca- tion by the legislature ignored this act of congress in saying that Champaign's offer was superior because it had a building ready for occupancy at once while there was no time to erect buildings before the expiration of the time allowed by congress.
Some of the leading papers of the state, such as the Chicago Republican, Journal, and Post, and the Springfield Journal and Register favored Champaign. They argued that the rest of the state owed it to the eastern portion for the reason that it had not received its share of political plums ; that Champaign was admir- ably situated and the location was especially appropriate for an agricultural college; and that such a generous offer deserved success.1
JSee Champaign Union and Gazette, January 4, 1867.
242 History University of Illinois
The statements in these papers in regard to the cost of the Urbana-Champaign institute building varied greatly for some reason. The Chicago Post said the building had cost $80,000 be- fore the war and was worth, with the ten acres of land, at least $150,000. The Chicago Journal said the building had been " erected in 1861 at a cost of $175,000 when labor and material were worth not much over half their present value." The Springfield Journal estimated Champaign's offer at $500,000. These extravagant statements may have influenced the mind of the public but did not deceive the legislature. It made an inves- tigation of its own later in which it came close to the truth in re- gard to the value of the various offers. What the legislature did, it did with real knowledge of the situation.
On Champaign's activity in Springfield at the opening ses- sion in 1867, there is the testimony of Mr. Griggs, the acknowl- edged leader, who is responsible for the substance of the follow- ing statements. The legislature opened the first Monday in January, 1867. The Champaign county committee, at Mr. Grigg's prompting, had prepared for the fight of the next three months by engaging the principal reception room of the Leland hotel, with several suites of parlors and bedrooms on the second floor. The reception room, holding two hundred people, was used for general entertainment. A buffet service was installed, and arrangements were made for serving elaborate meals. Near Mr. Griggs ' quarters were placed those of the democratic and re- publican state chairmen. At once lobbying was begun on a lavish scale. Members, whether democrats or republicans, hostile or friendly, were invited to the Leland for drinks, for light refresh- ments, or for huge oyster suppers or quail dinners. They were pressed to bring with them any of their constituents who hap- pened to be in town, and to order for such guests as freely as for themselves. They were supplied with cigars, and groups of them were taken to the theatre. During the week three or four of the Champaign county committee were always on the ground, and at week ends, when entertainment was at its height, eight or ten would come over. All bills were sent in to be paid from the $40,000 fund subscribed or appropriated for the purpose. No other community had fitted up headquarters in this way, or made
The University Located 243
any preparations for the entertainment of members. The house was greatly impressed by the earnestness of Champaign county, and many a representative voted for the Champaign bill because Mr. Griggs and his followers * ' had worked so hard. ' ' 2
Although Morgan county had in 1866 defeated the proposi- tion to vote -a tax of $300,000 to secure the location, Jacksonville still had hopes of gaining the prize. On January 1, 1867, a meet- ing of citizens was held and a resolution passed requesting the trustees of the town to hold an election on the seventh for or against a tax of $50,000 upon the town to aid in securing the location of the university.
It was the idea of Jacksonville to obtain $50,000 by tax and an additional amount sufficient to acquire the location by indi- vidual subscription. One such subscription was made at this meeting by Mrs. Ayres. She offered to give the state, in case the university was located at Jacksonville, the Berean college build- ing. This was considered a munificent gift and valued at the time at $60,000. It was included in Morgan county's bid later at $25,000 and so estimated by the legislative committee. Such was the situation at the opening of the legislative session of 1867.
The speakership was one of the things for which Mr. Griggs bargained. As the time of the opening of the session drew near, Mr. Griggs carefully planned his campaign to be carried forward on the floor of the house. Quoting from an interview with Mr. Griggs: ''It was understood that the Senate would accede to whatever the House did, and though Mr. Tincher, of Danville, was deputed there to take care of Twin City interests, he had little to do. At the opening of the session Mr. Griggs was named for speaker by one faction of the republicans, and Mr. Corwin, of Bloomington,3 by another. This was upon the initiative of Mr. Griggs' friends; and while Griggs did not court the position as aiding him in passing the bill, he later saw in the nomination the possibility of a helpful bargain. The contest was regarded as indicating that the struggle for the college would lie between Bloomington and Urbana-Champaign, and that Chicago, Jack-
2Clark Eobinson Griggs and location of the university, manuscripts at University of Illinois.
•Mr. Corwin was from La Salle, not Bloomington.
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History- University of Illinois
sonville, and Lincoln were already falling behind. For two days Mr. Griggs commanded thirty-five votes, and prevented the or- ganization of the House. On the night after the second day he was visited in his parlor at the Leland by Senator Washburne, who asked what he would require in return for giving up the contest to Mr. Corwin. Mr. Griggs replied that he wanted the chairmanship of the Committee on Agriculture and Mechanic Arts and the privilege of naming a majority of its members — it being the body before which all bills for the location of the col- lege would come. Mr. Corwin was called into his room, and the bargain struck. The next day Mr. Griggs, upon the floor of the House, withdrew his candidacy and asked his supporters to vote for Mr. Corwin. The bargain was carried out to the letter." 4
It is quite probable that Mr. Griggs in the above quoted re- port gave the essence of a ' * fixed up ' ' bargain he had made with Mr. Corwin of La Salle. He is incorrect in many details as shown by the journal of the house. He says he was ahead thirty- five votes for two days thus preventing the house from organiz- ing, and that on the next day he publicly withdrew his candidacy in favor of Corwin. The house journal states that on the after- noon of the first day, January 7, Mr. Corwin was elected speaker, his only opponent being Mr. Casey of Pulaski county.5 There were a number of candidates for the speakership, the Chicago Tribune mentioned six names, but whatever contest was made and bargains struck was done outside, apparently, and before the afternoon of the first day of the session.
On this same day, January 7, Governor Oglesby in a message to the twenty-fifth general assembly made mention of the location of the industrial university as one of the important tasks before the legislature. He expressed the belief that a generous rivalry for the location would insure sufficient funds for the purchase of necessary grounds and buildings. Should these anticipations fail, the state, he said, would not be released from its duty to pro- vide funds for the purpose in some other way. Thus the prelim- inaries had been taken and the way opened for legislative action on the question of location of the industrial university.
4Clark Bobinson Griggs and location of the university, manuscripts at University of Illinois.
"House Journal, 1867, 1 session, 8.
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The next six weeks, which are crowded with many events in connection with this subject, divides itself naturally into the following three periods : introduction of bills, locating the univer- sity and passing of the bill enabling counties and cities to vote a tax for funds, preparation of bids by various counties and the visit of the legislature's committee to inspect locations, and legis- lative action on the bills and the passing of the act locating the university.
Legislative activity on the question of the location began in the senate although it was unable to devote much time to the sub- ject until the election of United States senators was out of the way. The first step was taken January 10th by Mr. Tincher of Vermilion county, chairman of the committee on agriculture and a strong friend of Champaign, who introduced a bill entitled "an act to provide for the organization, endowment and main- tenance of the Illinois university ' ' and provided for its location in Champaign county. It was read twice and ordered printed. The same day Mr. Fuller of Boone county introduced a bill with the same title which took the same course and which provided for a commission to locate the university.6 Senator Fuller intro- duced two other bills on the subject. The first one was "an act defining the duties of the commissioners to locate the industrial university." This went to second reading and was ordered printed. The second bill was one to enable counties and cities to raise funds by taxation. This bill was passed by the senate with- out opposition on January 16, passed by the house on January 23, and signed by the governor on January 25.
On January 11 Mr. Eastman of Chicago introduced a bill that asked for a division of the fund to establish a polytechnic school in Chicago. This bill was referred to Mr. Fuller's com- mittee on state institutions and on January 16 was laid on the table indefinitely. It gave rise to a resolution offered by Mr. Hunter declaring against any division of the fund.
In the house on January 11, Mr. Baldwin of LaSalle intro- duced Mr. Fuller's bill which was at first laid on the table and later referred to the committee on manufactures and agriculture where it was finally smothered by the chairman, Mr. Griggs. On eSenate Journal, 1867, I session 71.
246 History ^University of Illinois
the same date C. R. Griggs introduced in the house the bill for an industrial university that ultimately passed. It was referred to Mr. Griggs' committee on manufactures and agriculture.
The ignorance of the house of representatives of federal laws in regard to the establishment of agricultural colleges was displayed in a resolution offered by Mr. Eddy on January 12, suggesting the need of haste as the college must be in operation by July 2, 1867, and providing that corporations desiring the lo- cation should notify the legislature by the twenty-third day of the session. Not till four days later did a member of the senate, Mr. McConnell, inform the legislature that congress had passed an act the year before extending the time five years.7 Even after this, on January 23 the house considered the resolution and amended it before it concluded to drop the matter altogether.
On the question of locating the university by a commission a lively debate occurred in the senate on January 16. Mr. Fuller's bill was reported back favorably and Mr. Tincher moved to amend it by striking out the llth section providing for a commission. Mr. Tincher argued against location by commis- sion on the following grounds : the people had chosen representa- tives to do their legislative work, that in this instance he believed a combination had been formed to secure the location in certain places and other claims would be ignored ; he feared, too, that the governor would be influenced by Jacksonville and Bloomington in the appointment of the commissioners, that both these towns had been over patronized so far, and as partial proof gave figures to show that Jacksonville was then receiving more than one-half the state tax ; that while two years before a commission was feas- ible, now that they had had two years to think the matter over it was not necessary ; and finally no other county had yet submitted a direct offer.
Mr. Cheney of McLean and Mr. McConnell of Morgan each defended his county against the assault of Mr. Tincher. Mr. Cheney said he knew of no conspiracy afoot in Bloomington to locate the university. He had always advocated a commission and had done it from the purest motives. He believed Gover- nor Oglesby capable of choosing men to do the work honestly and 7Act of July 23, 1866, noted previously.
Tine University Located 247
that he considered it beyond the power of the legislature to locate this institution and do justice to their constituency also, since the time for ordinary business was in fact altogether inade- quate. For these reasons he insisted upon a commission.
Mr. McOonnell of Morgan asked why the assault upon Mor- gan county? Was it because a great many institutions were there already ? To his mind that was an argument in its favor. He believed the institution should be located where property was rising and increasing in value every day. As Mr. Tincher had cited statistics in relation to Morgan county he would do the same for Champaign and make a comparison between the two. He proceeded to show by figures that the taxable property in Morgan county had increased from 1865 to 1866 $7,995, in Cham- paign county the taxable property had decreased in the same time $527,567. It was strange to have this falling off if Champaign were a rising county; a county getting richer every day. He said that though Champaign county was getting poorer every year that after all if it produced the money for the proposed university it was none of his business where the county got it. But he insisted, a commission should be appointed to take the time necessary to consider the offers from all the places.
The result of the debate was that the Tincher amendment was made a special order for January 23 and then postponed until the 24 when it was passed by a vote of fifteen to nine. Other evidence that affairs were moving to suit Champaign was the reference of the Fuller bills to a special committee of five, four of whom, Mack, Tincher, Cohns, and Bushnell, appointed by Lieutenant Governor Bross, were avowed Champaign advocates. Then next day Senator Tincher reported back his own bill and on his recommendation it was referred to the special committee.
Meantime a petition of Morgan county backed by an offer of $520,000 in cash and real property (as estimated) had been pre- sented in the house, January 16, by Mr. Baldwin.
McLean county, contrary to the example set by Morgan and Champaign, delayed activity on the vital question of securing the location until the latter part of January. Not until the enabling act of January 25, which gave the light to towns and counties to tax, was passed did McLean become aroused. Once
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started she rushed through all her arrangements within a couple of weeks. McLean organized her resources in much the same way that Morgan did through mass meetings and articles in the daily papers. In these arguments were set forth, the people's sentiment tested, a vote taken, and an offer submitted to the legislature.
From articles that appeared in the Bloomington Pantagrapli and in the Jacksonville Journal it is entirely clear that McLean and Morgan had friendly feeling one for the other. It is equally clear that these counties looked with disapprobation upon Cham- paign's efforts almost from the first and finally charged Cham- paign with dishonest methods. The Pantagraph said on Jan- uary 26, the day following the reference of the various bills in the senate to the special committee of five : " Of course things are now fixed up in the interest of Urbana." The Pantagraph thought, however, that when liberal offers came in from other counties it would make a difference and that in the end the place that could offer the best inducements would obtain the location. It hoped it was not placing too much faith in the honor and can- dor of its fellowmen. On the 29th of January, the Pantagrapli had an article on "The Worth of a College," in which it pointed out both the material and educational advantages of such an insti- tution. By way of illustration it pointed to Normal and Normal university. It quoted prominent citizens, as Jesse Fell, H. Gridley, R. E. Williams, E. R. Roe, A. B. Ives, Geo. W. Parke to the effect that to secure the agricultural and mechanical college was the greatest thing they could do to insure the future growth of McLean county.
At a meeting of citizens held in the court house in Bloom- ington on the evening of January 29 was urged a proposition to raise by tax $200,000 from the county. Meetings at various places throughout the county were announced on February 1 to be held during the next few days when leading men would dis- cuss the subject with the citizens.
On February 1 a committee of the legislature consisting of five senators and nine representatives made a visit to Normal. After viewing the one hundred acres of land owned by the state and the Normal university building the committee returned to
The University Located 249
Springfield without riding through Bloomington as the citizens had hoped they would. As this was not the committee on the location of the industrial university not so much importance was attached to its visit.
On the same day that the committee visited Normal, Jesse Fell and fifteen other citizens presented the claims of McLean county in a statement to the legislature. They offered for the location of the university $200,000 worth of city bonds, $200,000 of bonds (a contingent fund) to be voted by the county February 5, and $100,000 in real estate and cash. In accordance with the expectation of these men, the county voted the bonds on Febru- ary 5 by a majority of nine hundred and sixty three. To the $100,000 fund two large individual subscriptions had been made, one by Judge Davis who offered 10,000 acres of Missouri land, and the other by Mr. Fell who gave $15,000.
The statement which follows contains a summary of Mc- Lean's offerings, answers the charge that had been made that McLean county had not paid its subscriptions made in 1857 to se- cure the location of the state normal university, and other inter- esting and important facts :
"To The General Assembly of the State of Illinois
"In behalf of the citizens of McLean County, we respect- fully ask to present to your honorable bodies the following state- ment of facts, and our action in reference thereto.
"Since the passage of what is commonly known as the 'Agricultural College Bill,' providing for the organization and endowment of State Industrial Schools, or Universities, our peo- ple in this vicinity in common with those of the State generally, have very confidently indulged the hope that no location of such an Institution in this State should be made till ample time had been given to any and every point in the State desiring its loca- tion, to thoroughly canvass the matter before the people, and to submit in legal form propositions to be voted upon to accomplish that object. It will doubtless be remembered by many of you that at the last session of the Legislature, efforts were made to have an enabling act passed for this purpose, similar to the one which has recently become a law, and that those efforts were de-
250 History University of Illinois
feated by the defeat of the other bill of which it was a supple- ment.
1 ' We did not then suppose that it was practicable to make a bid at all commensurate with the importance of the object, or the expectations of the people of the State, without an enabling Act by which to equalize the burdens thus sought to be imposed on any community, and recent events have fully vindicated the cor- rectness of that opinion. We make this statement in answer to a question that has frequently been raised during the present Session, why we were not sooner prepared to submit to you some definite proposition to secure the location of the proposed Uni- versity.
"The developments of the last two weeks in both Houses having fully satisfied us that it is your determination not to devolve the duty of fixing the location upon a Commission, but to settle it by direct vote of the Legislature prior to its adjourn- ment, we have in conformity with that apparent determination, caused elections to be held in the city of Bloomington, and also in the town of Normal, at which propositions were voted upon to issue by the properly constituted authorities of each of said localities, One Hundred Thousand Dollars of 10 per cent Bonds, redeemable in twenty years.
"Though the notice on which said elections were held was necessarily brief, we are happy to state that the unanimity of our people in responding to the appeals which have been made to them in behalf of the proposed measure, is perhaps without parallel in popular elections. In the city of Bloomington where at the ordinary annual elections about a thousand votes only, are polled, 1492 votes were cast, of which one only was in opposition to the proposed donation. In the township of Normal — includ- ing a territory of six miles square — a majority of all the votes hitherto registered were polled, with but one dissenting vote to the measure. This unanimous and hearty appreciation of the benefits likely to result from such an institution if planted in our midst, is not only in the highest degree complimentary to the character of our people, but affords, we respectfully submit, an unmistakable guarantee that the University if here located, will receive at the hands of our people that fostering care and atten- tion necessary to its proper development.
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"In addition to this a proposition is now pending before the people of the County of McLean, to be decided on the 5th, inst. for a further issue of $200,000 of 10 per cent bonds, having a like time to run, with every prospect of its being carried by a decided majority.
' ' It is proper to observe in this connection that arrangements have also be^n consummated with Eastern Capitalists by which all our bonds to be issued for this object, are to be cashed at their par value ; thus securing their conversion into currency without any dimunition to the State as fast as the money is needed by the Board of Trustees. So well assured are we of this fact, that this convertibility of our bonds is guaranteed by responsible parties. Nor is this all. Subscriptions of over 7000 acres of real estate — including two or more magnificent sites for the University build- ings— and other valuable property are offered by various individ- uals, the various cash value of which cannot be estimated by any competent unprejudiced mind at less than $100,000 — thus mak- ing an aggregate of $300,000 which has already been secured, with the prospect amounting to almost a certainty, that Two Hundred Thousand Dollars more will be added, making in all $500,000.
"To recapitulate, we submit the following items of property, to wit:
1. City Bonds of Bloomington $100,000
2. Bonds of the Town of Normal $100,000
3. Eeal Estate and other valuable Property. .$100,000
Making our present offer $300,000
With a contingent offer, as above stated, of $200,000 Making in all $500,000
"In fixing values to the property covered by the 3rd item above enumerated, the undersigned have been scrupulously care- ful to avoid any unfairness or disposition to exaggerate, prefer- ring rather to be under than above the actual cash value of the Property therein referred to.
' ' To each and all of these items, both in regard to their value and the title by which they are held, we challenge the closest,
252 History University of Illinois
severest scrutiny. With no desire to disparage or undervalue in any degree the bids made by other localities who are so nobly competing for the prize which you hold in your hands, we feel conscious of having made an offer not only creditable to the com- munities by which they are made, but in some degree correspond- ing in its magnitude with the noble State of whose interests you are the appointed guardians; and we respectfully ask at your hands, that such action be taken as may seem to you most appro- priate, to examine thoroughly not only what we have thus offered, but what has been proposed at other points. If after a fair and impartial examination of all the claims that probably attach to each locality, taking everything into account, affecting the future well-being of the institution, you shall decide that the interests of the State will be best subserved by locating it elsewhere, we shall cheerfully acquiesce in that decision, but to secure that hearty acquiescence on our part, as well as other competing points, we invoke on your deliberations on this subject that fair- ness and rectitude of action, which we are fully assured you will bring to bear in the settlement of this important question.
1 'To our advantages, geographically, situated as we are at the center of population of the State and near to the geograph- ical center also, at a point where two of the most important rail- roads of the State intersect, and to which other roads are speedily to be built, thus making it a place of easy access to the people of the whole State ; to our advantages on the score of health, pleas- ant and attractive surroundings, high moral tone of society, the absolute and unqualified prohibition of the liquor traffic at that point — Normal — near which its location is invited; we say, to these and other advantages of our position it is scarcely necessary even thus briefly to allude, as they are extensively known and appreciated throughout the State.
' ' It may not be improper to state that in close proximity to the Normal University, the State owns one hundred acres of land, covering a beautiful site for the proposed Institution, and that this land was donated with the distinct understanding of being used for this purpose.
"It is proper to say, however, that in our above estimate of values no account is taken of this tract of land, and should
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it be objected to, other sites will be offered. The benefits how- ever of close proximity to the Normal, where there is an extens- ive museum of Natural History, and other kindred advantages, are such as we trust will secure the location on this ground.
"Our citizens further propose that should the location be made in this vicinity, adequate accommodations in the way of buildings, free of rent, at either Bloomington or Normal, will be furnished till the necessary buildings are erected by the State.
' * As one of the considerations moving us to present to you a proposition four-fifths of which will be cash, allow us to call your attention to the fact, that to meet the current expenditures of the institution in supporting a faculty and defraying other incidental expenditures, large sums of money will be needed before they can be realized by the proceeds of the land scrip held by the State. It will also be borne in mind in this connection, that no part of the principal fund arising from the sale of said scrip is applicable to this or any other object, and that in the absence of a cash donation on which to draw, the institution becomes at once a charge upon the State, not only for these current expenses but what is more, for the erection of the nec- essary buildings. To raise the endowment fund by thrusting into the market the 480,000 acres of scrip at the present de- pressed prices, and with the disability which it now temporarily, as we hope, labors under, would not only involve a ruinous sac- rifice, but largely defeat the beneficent purposes of the grant.
"A word on a point that may seem foreign to the subject in hand, but which by outside appliances, is sought to be made ax? element of weakness to the locality we represent. It has been industriously charged that our county and local subscriptions made in 1857, of $141,000, to secure the location of the State Normal University, was not paid as agreed, and hence our sub- sequent applications to the Legislature for appropriations. In answer to this we beg leave to refer to a report made by a select Committee of the House at its last session, charged with the investigation of this subject, by which it will be seen that our people were not only acquitted of these charges, but the strong- est testimony borne of the fidelity and good faith with which said subscriptions were paid. If as we hope, it is your pleasure to
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History University of Illinois
reopen that investigation, either on the grounds alluded to, or to inquire into the manner in which the location of that institution was made, — the integrity of which has been by some called in question, (from motives we will not stop to inquire into) — we shall cheerfully co-operate in the most thorough and searching scrutiny of the whole subject.
"We would state in conclusion, that the foregoing offer is made with the distinct understanding that the fund donated to the State is to be preserved in entirety, and that consequently, should you see fit to divide it by establishing two or more insti- tutions, we shall withdraw our bid and retire from the contest. Sincerely hoping your action may be such as to draw around the proposed Institution the cordial support and co-operation of the whole people, including that noble band of co-workers who for the last twenty years in defiance of many obstacles have so freely spent time and money to bring it into existence, we are Very respectfully yours,
Jesse W. Fell,
George W. Park,
John L. Eoutt,
F. K. Phoenix,
Daniel Wilkins,
A. Gridley,
John B. McClun,
W. A. Pennell,
The last sentence in the above document is especially sig- nificant in that it explains the close friendship existing between McLean and Morgan counties. Jesse Fell, William A. Pennell, and others of the signers were included in the "band of co- workers " who had striven along with Turner for more than twenty years to bring the proposed university into existence. During the next few weeks there were many articles in the Bloomington Pantagraph answering charges, encouraging the workers, announcing meetings, and giving results of various activities.
Logan county was also interested in the situation and assemb- ling her forces on February 6, voted $300,000 in bonds. To 8From a printed circular in the Turner manuscripts.
W. R. Duncan, E. M. Prince, I. J. Bloomfield, John Niccolls, L. W. Capen, Geo. Bradner, E. Barber, L. A. Hovey."8
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this amount the city of Lincoln added $50,000 in bonds and the Chicago & Alton railroad offered $50,000 in freight. In lieu of $50,000 of city bonds the county offered the choice of three farms all within one mile of the court house in the city of Lin- coln. In the closing statement to the legislature presenting their bid they summarize as follows :
" In brief we propose to give the State for the use of the University, a most eligible and desirable farm on which to locate the Institution. We propose further to give the State enough money to erect a building, better and more costly than the pres- ent capital of the State, or the Normal University ; and when all this is done, there will be the magnificent surplus of $100,000 left in the hands of the State to be expended in the supply of apparatus, machinery, and appliances of every sort necessary for the successful operation of the University. The State cannot ask more. Believing that no other location has submitted a more generous or liberal proposition or one more advantageous to the State, the citizens of Logan County ask for their proposition the candid! and just consideration of the Legislature. ' ' 9
By February 8, 1867, four counties had presented petitions including offers of money, bonds, and lands, to the two houses of the general assembly to secure the location of the industrial university in their respective localities. In view of this situ- ation the general assembly appointed a joint committtee of fif- teen to visit these counties, to examine the items of the respective bids, and to report on or before the 15th of February on the cash value of each bid and the sufficiency of the titles by which the property was held.10 On the 9th of February the joint com- mittee visited Champaign county, on the llth Bloomington, on the 13th Jacksonville and then Lincoln. There were the usual reception committtees, speeches, dinners, and inspection trips.
The report of the Committee to the legislature, made on February 16, was accurate in its statement of fact and fair in
'Ibid.
"House Journal, 1867, 1 session, 23-24, 26-27; Senate Journal, 1867, 1 session, 499-550. The committee consisted of the following in the house: the chairman Mr. Enoch, Messrs. Hollowbush, Straun, Funk, Beesley, Stage, Hanson, Odell, Bninner, and Harlan; in the senate: Messrs. Chittenden, Fort, Patton, Reilly, and Pinkney.
256 History University of Illinois
/•
estimating and presenting the cash values of the bids that had been made. The value of the bids in cash in order mentioned by the committee were: Champaign $285,000; McLean $470,- 000 ; Logan $385,000 ; and Morgan $315,000 without including Illinois college property, or $419,000 including Illinois college. ''The joint committee appointed in compliance with a cur- rent resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives, beg leave to report: That they have endeavored to discharge the duties assigned them by said resolutions, in visiting the counties of Champaign, McLean, Logan and Morgan, and, as fully as possible, in the limited time allowed them, have examined the propositions of each of said counties in relation to the loca- tion of the proposed Industrial University, and find the same to be as follows:
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
"The County of Champaign proposes to donate the Cham- paign and Urbana University, a new brick building, with stone foundations : the main part 125 feet front and 40 feet deep, five stories high, and a wing in the rear 70 by 44 feet and four stor- ries high, containing 181 rooms, having cost $120,000. Said building is nearly ready for occupancy. We estimate its cash value at $75,500. Also, 10 acres of land, in the center of which said University stands, being about equi-distant between and within one mile of the depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, in the city of Champaign, and the court house, in the city of Urbana. We estimate the cash value of said land at $2,500. Also, 1601/2 acres of well cultivated farm land, within one-half mile of said University and adjoining the city of Champaign, through which runs a stream of ever-living water — the cash value of which land we estimate at $20,000. The average assessed value thereof is $20 per acre. .Also, 410 acres of like farm land, adjoining thereto, with orchard, farm-house and barn — the esti- mated cash value of which is $30,000. Its average value by the last assessment, was $15 per acre. Also, 400 acres of like farm land, within about two miles from said University — the cash value of which is estimated at $20,000. The average of the same, by the last assessment, is $15 per acre. The entire amount of
The University Located 257
land offered by Champaign county is 980 acres. Also, $2,000 worth of shade, ornamental and fruit trees, at catalogue rates — to be delivered from the neighboring nursery of M. L. Dunlap, Esq. Also $100,000 in Champaign county 10 per cent. 20 year bonds — the cash value of which is estimated at $100,000. Also, $50,000 in freight on the Illinois Central railroad, for the said Industrial University — the estimated cash value of which is $35,000.
"The total offers of Champaign county are estimated, in cash, at $285,000.
MCLEAN COUNTY
"The county of McLean proposes to donate $200,000 in McLean county 10 per cent. 20 year bonds — the estimated cash value whereof is $200,000. Also $100,000 city of Bloomington 10 per cent. 20 year bonds — the estimated cash value of which is $100,000. Also, $100,000 township of Normal 10 per cent. 20 year bonds — estimated cash value of which is $100,000. Also, $50,000 in freight on the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad, for the proposed University — valued, in cash, at $35,000. Also 431/2 acres of land, for the proposed University site, adjoining the Normal University, through which runs a stream of water. The estimated value of this tract is $15,000. The average of last assessment was $18 per acre. Also, 100 acres of land, adjacent to the Normal University, and now held, in trust, by the trustees of said Normal University — the estimated cash value of which is $20,000.
"The total offers of McLean county are estimated, in cash, at $470,000.
"McLean county offers, in lieu of the said lands, other lands at the option of the State, equally valuable. All the foregoing offers of McLean county are guaranteed by a bond, signed by its citizens, who are represented to be good and fully responsible for the entire amount.
LOGAN COUNTY
' ' Logan county proposes to donate $300,000 in Logan county 10 per cent, ten year bonds — the estimated value of which, in
258 History ^University of Illinois
cash, is $300,000. Also, $50,000 in city of Lincoln 10 per cent, five year bonds — the cash value of which is estimated at $50,000. Also, $50,000 in freight on the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad, for said University, which is guaranteed by the cit- izens of Lincoln, and valued, in cash, at $35,000.
"Logan county offers in lieu of $46,000 of said city bonds, 355 acres of highly cultivated farm land, adjoining the city of Lincoln, averaging, by the last assessment, $10 per acre, or 640 acres, of like land, also adjoining said city — the last average assessment of which is $14.25 per acre ; or 420 acres of like land, also adjoining said city — the last average assessment of which is $15 per acre. A stream of water runs through each of the said tracts, and each is estimated to be worth, in cash, from $40,000 to $50,000.
' ' The total offers of Logan county are estimated, in cash at $385,000.
MORGAN COUNTY
"Morgan county proposes to donate $200,000, in Morgan county ten per cent, ten year bonds, whose estimated value, in cash, is $200,000. Also, $50,000 in city of Jacksonville ten per cent, ten year bonds, whose estimated cash value is $50,000. Also 200 acres of highly improved farm land, south of and ad- joining the State Hospital for the Insane farm, the estimated cash value of which is $40,000 — the average of which, by the last assessment, was $55 per acre. Also, the Berean College building, in the city of Jacksonville, whose estimated cash value is $12,000. Also, about six acres of land, in the center of which said college stands — the estimated value of which, in cash, is $13,000. The above offers are estimated, in cash, at $315,000. Morgan county also offers to put in the Illinois College building, whose estimated cash value is $21,000. Also, 31 acres of beautiful land, in the center of which said buildings stand, estimated, in cash, at $60,000. Also a library and apparatus, estimated as worth, in cash, $5,000. Also, the college endowment fund — estimated, in cash, at $90,000. Said Illinois College property, in all, estimated, in cash, at $176,000. Said Illinois College property is under the control of its trustees, who propose to merge it into said In-
The University Located 259
dustrial University, as far as they can under their powers, but will be bound, under the terms of their charter and the conditions of the endowments to said college, to continue the organization of said board of trustees, and see that their trusts are faithfully executed and the funds and endowments are not diverted from their original purpose.
"All the lands offered by each county are eligibly situated, of the best quality, and well adapted for the purposes of model and experimental farming, or pasturage. The titles to the lands are all good, or can be made good, upon the acceptance of the offer by the State. The abstracts of title, together with the plats of the lands, are now in the hands of the committee.
"All of which is most respectfully submitted.
A. I. ENOCH,
CHAIRMAN OF JOINT COMMITTEE. Springfield, Illinois, February 16, 1867." n
Following the visit of the joint committee of the legislature, Champaign county issued a statement signed by the committee of the board of supervisors that Champaign county's bid, if valued as the joint committee valued McLean's bid, would have amounted to $555,400, an excess of $85,000 over Bloomington. They claimed also that a scarcity of water in and about Bloom- ington rendered it wholly impracticable as a site.12
McLean county replied by issuing a statement in circular form to the general assembly, signed by ten leading citizens headed by J. W. Fell, in which it declared that the joint com- mittee of the two houses very properly based their estimates of value on actual cash sales and not on town or county assessments. "This effort," they said, "to destroy the force of the commit- tee's report by a process of reasoning so notoriously unreliable, demands at our hands no further notice." The committee de- nounced as "absolutely and transparently false" the charge about the "scarcity of water" in and about Bloomington.13
^Eeports General Assembly, 1867, 1:443-445.
"The committee consisted of W. D. Somers, T. A. Cosgrove, and C. B. Morehouse. See documents in Turner manuscripts, Springfield, also Appen- dix, p. 485.
260 History, University of Illinois
Champaign's method of procedure — unfair in the estima- tion of her competitors, her lobbying committees, the suspicion concerning her influence over the press, chiefly Chicago and Springfield papers, also her exaggerated statements in regard to the value of her bid — made her a target for a vast amount of criticisms from other communities throughout the state. On Feb- ruary 9 the Prairie Farmer had an article with the title "Is Champaign selling out the farmers?" It stated that it had inside information that Champaign contemplated incorporating in the bill locating the institution in Champaign a section for the benefit of a polytechnic school in Chicago — thus dividing the fund to secure the vote of Chicago members for the location of the agricultural department in their city. The article closed with this sentence: "If Champaign cannot afford to stand its chances, fairly, in an open competition, legislators should see to it that she is counted out of the number of competitors." 14 The attitude and actions of Champaign were criticised not only abroad but at home. The Champaign papers of the time had lit- tle to say of this dissension at home but the press in other local- ities commented on the fact that all was not peaceful in Cham- paign county. Some of the comments were based upon a circular distributed in Springfield on February 6, which caused excite- ment about the capitol, but had little weight apparently with the legislature. The essential portion of the circular read as follows : ' ' To the Senate and House of Representatives of Illinois.
We, the undersigned tax payers and legal voters of East Bend Township, Champaign County, State of Illinois, do hereby petition your honorable bodies not to legalize the proceedings of our County Board of Supervisors at their Annual Meeting in September, 1866, appropriating one hundred thousand dollars to secure the location of the Agricultural College at our county seat. Also we pray you not to legalize an appropriation of $5,000 made at the adjourned meeting in December, 1866, to pay inci- dentals, sundries, etc. to secure the location of the Agricultural College in Champaign County. The reasons for our prayer are as follows :
First : Our county is already heavily in debt for the par-
'rn.i/ria f? n.vm.p.v TfpVirniirv Q 18,fi 7
"Prairie Farmer, February 9, 1867.
Tlie University Located 261
tial payment of which we are this year paying two per cent upon the assessed value of our taxable property. ,
"Second: Our county Board of Supervisors at their ad- journed meeting in December, 1864, appropriated five thousand dollars to meet incidental expenses in securing the location of the Agricultural College in our county. Our lobbies (to whom this money was paid, and who went to Springfield at the last sit- ting of your honorable bodies in the winter of 1865) refused upon their return to us to account as to how this money had been expended, and we have good reason to believe that it was ex- pended illegitimately; and we further believe that a good por- tion of the five thousand dollars appropriated in December, 1866, has already been used to bribe the public press, and that almost the entire sum is to be squandered corruptly, as the five thousand before.
"Third: We consider the election held on the 10th of Oc- tober, 1866, as illegal, and (that it) did not fairly represent the views and wishes of our county, particularly the farming community.
"Signed by Isaac Devore and 49 others.
"If the accompanying is not granted, we humbly pray you to exempt our township from this oppressive tax, as we are unanimously opposed to said tax, as the following list embrac- ing the entire vote of our township, will fully show.
Here follow the names of tax payers and legal voters of East Bend Township, Champaign County, Illinois.
' ' There are some more similar petitions of the same general tenor, from seven different towns of Champaign county, namely : Urbana, Homer, East Bend, Pera, Tolono, and Eantoul Town- ships, covering all the same points and signed, one by 280 voters, another by 94, and others by different numbers. The origin- als of these petitions and papers are now all in the hands of General McConnell, in the senate chamber, who will at any time substantiate these statements.
"The committee of citizens of Champaign started to bring these petitions to the legislature some time ago, but they were met by their representative, Mr. Griggs, who falsely told them
262 History ^University of Illinois
that the bill had passed and that they were too late, and they returned back, but afterwards finding that they had been de- ceived, they sent them forward by other parties.
" Together with these petitions are several quite interesting documents which throw great light on the state of things now at the capital and at Chicago, especially as regards the press. We will give one or two specimens. The specimens that implicate some of the ' powers that be' by name we will withhold until we see how they behave." 15
Among the documents published were extracts from the proceedings of the board of supervisors of Champaign county; also a letter from Supervisor Harnit of Champaign county dated Springfield, January 25, 1867, in which he openly and definitely accused certain citizens of Champaign county of saying to him that they had bought members of the legislature to secure the location of the university for less than one hundred dollars per member. Supervisor Harnit seems to have been a difficult one for Champaign to handle. It is hard to determine whether he sold out or simply did not approve of Champaign's tactics. The Union and Gazette called him a traitor and accused him of having procured and distributed the circulars in Springfield.16
During this period from January 26 to February 18 the various bills were held in committee and were not allowed to be presented for acceptance or refusal. Mr. Griggs of Champaign took the credit of all this to himself in saying that repeatedly Mr. Epler of Morgan would arise and inquire the reason of the delay in the case of the Jacksonville bill, and that as often, he, Griggs, would inform him that he had attempted to call his committee together and had failed to secure a quorum. "He would publicly and ostentatiously summon the members of this committee and later whisper them not to appear. " In this man- ner the bills were prevented from coming up until Mr. Griggs had marshalled his strength.1 7 There is no evidence in the house journal that Mr. Griggs did not do these things and since he was charged with indulging in sharp practices it seems reasonable to allow his admission to stand as something quite probable.
™Bloomington PcmtagrapJi, February 8, 1867. 1GChampaign Union and Gazette, February 15, 1867. "Memorandum by Clark E. Griggs at University of Illinois.
The University Located 268
The joint committee, appointed to visit the different counties desiring the location and which made its report on Saturday, February 16, to the assembly, did not consider that it was within its province to recommend any one place but merely to report on the value of the bids. The whole question was, therefore, squarely before the legislature.
Immediately on the Monday following, the fight in the leg- islature was resumed. In the senate Mr. Fuller's bill was re- ported back, amended by the special committee to which it had been referred and with the recommendation that it should pass. It was made the special order for the next day but that was the last heard of it.
In the house on the same day Mr. Griggs' bill was taken up and amended in minor details. Mr. Bond of Cook county endeavored to amend by a clause permitting the establishment of a polytechnic institution in Chicago. This amendment was withdrawn on the 21st — apparently because it was amended so that the amount of money to be raised by Chicago to establish the polytechnic institute was increased from $50,000 to $150,000. The decisive struggle on this particular bill as well as on the whole subject came on February 20 in the house on the question of section 11 of the bill proposing to locate the university in Champaign county. The first onslaught was made by Morgan county in the attempt by Mr. Epler of Jacksonville to amend by substituting Morgan county's offer and Jacksonville for the location in place of Champaign. It was defeated by a vote of sixty-one to twenty. Mr. Green of DeWitt then endeavored to amend by substituting McLean county's bid and Normal in place of Champaign. Again there was a defeat. It was de- cided in the negative, the amendment losing by a vote of fifty- eight to twenty-six. Next to make the attempt was Logan county. Mr. Gaillard moved to substitute Logan's bid and Lin- coln for the location in place of Champaign. It was decided in the negative sixty to twenty-one. The bill with section 11 intact locating the university in Champaign county — became section 12 in the act — was then passed with a vote of sixty-seven to ten.
The bill reached the senate on February 21 and on the 25th there was repeated here what had occurred in the house. Mr.
264 History ^University of Illinois
Metcalf endeavored to amend in favor of McLean; McConnell tried an amendment for Morgan county and, failing in this, endeavored to secure one for Lincoln. All attempts failed. Mr. McConnell endeavored then to get through an amendment look- ing to the protection of the scrip, which amendment also failed. Mr. Fort tried one in regard to deciding on another location in case Champaign county did not fulfill its promises and this failed. Finally Mr. Strain became quite facetious and moved that this act should not be held to be invalid by reason of its having ignored the superior bids of other counties, nor by reason of its having been passed by a combination with the new state house, canal, and southern penitentiary "ring." Needless to say this amendment was promptly tabled. The bill having with- stood all assaults was read a third time and passed by the senate with a vote of eighteen to seven, and on February 28, the bill was signed by the governor.
Thus the long contest on the question of location was finally closed. Immediately upon the passage of this bill both houses hastened to take action to protect themselves against their own work. In the senate a supplemental bill was introduced by Mr. Fort providing that if Champaign did not "pay up" by June 1 the trustees ' ' shall ' ' locate the college in one of the other three counties bidding. Mr. Mack tried to turn the ' ' shall " to ' ' may ' ' but failed and the bill passed twenty-three to nothing, and on the same day, February 25, it passed the house sixty to one and was approved by the governor on March 8, 1867.
The results of the contest were the kind that usually and almost inevitably follow a long and bitter struggle. After the legislature adjourned in 1867, there were those who hastened to congratulate the winning county while some hesitated to do this for the reason that they doubted that Champaign would make good her promises. The Chicago Journal and the Repub- lican which had championed Champaign 's cause now came out in praise of the county and were particularly complimentary to its skillful representative Mr. C. R. Griggs. The attitude of mind of the Champaign county leaders on the question of their success was reflected in the Champaign County Union and Ga- zette:18
"March 15, 1867.
The University Located
265
"That our good county went through this trial and came out the winner is to us a matter of proud satisfaction. That this result was attained without the lavish expenditure of money that attended the efforts of other competing points, or the pledg- ing the faith of the county for the payment of enormous sums of money as a bonus, is a matter of congratulation, and proves to us that in locating this college, the legislature was actuated by higher considerations than money alone. That the beauty of our scenery, the fertility and varied character of our soil, and with- out egotism, we may add, the energy and intelligence of our cit- izens were the levers that moored the Agricultural College within our midst. ' '
On the part of Champaign county's competitors there was a natural disappointment because they had made a great effort and had been defeated. Added to this disappointment was bit- terness because they earnestly believed that they and the state also, had been cheated. They based their complaints on the grievance that the university had gone to the lowest bidder- McLean having bid at least $200,000 more, according to the report of a committee of the legislature, and also on that of unfair methods — especially in the use of a "slush" fund to influence unduly members of the legislature.
The parties that were exasperated beyond limit at this sit- uation were the organized agriculturists of the state headed by J. B. Turner and a small group of men who had worked with him for sixteen weary years in the interests of industrial education. To them it seemed as though the whole project had gone to smash on the rocks. A few days following the enactment of the law locating the university a report was published by the committee appointed at the state fair in Decatur and reappointed by the Bloomington convention in December, 1865. This state- ment, which was made to the people of the state concerning the action of the committee and the cause of its failure to secure the charter proposed, was signed by J. B. Turner and was printed and sent out on request of the members of the committee who were present at Springfield during the contest. It was chiefly a scathing arraignment of what the committee called the "Champaign ring" and of those members of the legislature
256 History University of Illinois
who supported it. The tone was undoubtedly bitter, the lan- guage at times decidedly strong and the statements in spite of prejudice uncomfortably near the truth.
Among the leading charges against Champaign county were : that it professed a desire to keep the funds undivided and then in, order to secure votes from Chicago and Egypt it violated its pledge, that it was interested in industrial education only for the purpose to foist on the state the "elephant" — the result of a speculative scheme that had failed, that it had tried to bribe Turner by offering to elect him regent and thus get him to be- tray the agriculturists, that it had indulged in log-rolling in re- gard to the location of the state capital, a branch of the insane asylum, and a canal and river scheme, that it employed a ' 4 slush ' ' fund to buy up correspondents of the press, editors, legislators and others needed, and that it had greatly overvalued its bid to the state as the report of a legislative committee showed.
In the long report there is only one hopeful note and that is found in the last paragraph in which the author wrote: ''But we do not, after all, in the least despair of the great and good cause of popular Industrial Education. These western states must and will learn to organize and control institutions so indis- pensable to their prolonged republican existence and life and power." 19
The interval between the passing of the supplementary act of March 8, 1867, and June 1, 1867, within which Cham- paign county had to make good her titles and get the approval of the people of the county to the bond issue of $100,000 was crit- ical and had possibilities of disaster. There were serious oppon- ents to the project within Champaign county's own borders and there were those without who would gladly have humiliated Champaign. The publication of a "History of the Champaign 'Elephant,' by One of the 'Ring' " in the Chicago Times just a week or two before Champaign county was to vote on the bond issue was calculated no doubt to cause dissension in the ranks and if possible defeat the plan.20 It pretended to be an expose by a member of the "ring" who, disappointed by his failure to
19The report in full is given in appendix, p. 492.
20CMcago Times, March 21, 1867, and printed in full below p. 506.
The University Located 267
obtain the "chair of moral philosophy" in the institution, turned "state's evidence." It seems probable rather that the extended article was written by a clever reporter who had been in touch with the situation at Springfield during the preceding months. Behind the tone of raillery and slang expressions there are some very keen thrusts and like the report of Turner it was in its statements uncomfortably near the truth.
The article declared that the "ring" had a corruption fund, that the Urbana- Champaign institute was a speculative scheme that was a failure, that the press was subsidized, that a suite of rooms at the Leland was engaged at the trifling cost of $30 a day ; it estimated Champaign 's offering as having cost the county $200,000 and the "corruption" fund at $29,800 and then re- hearsed a lot of the arguments to be used in 'Champaign county to persuade the people to vote the bond issue. The Urbana-Cham- paign people were not to be defeated even by such clever attacks. Meetings were arranged in the various precincts of the county and speakers explained the benefits that would come to the county if the bond issue was passed. The election for or against an appropriation of $100,000 to secure the industrial university was held on April 10, 1867, and carried in favor of the appropri- ation by a vote of two thousand two hundred and ninety-one to five hundred and eighty- two.21
Already the board of trustees of the industrial university had held its first meeting in Springfield and had organized for work. It now became imperative that the deeds and titles to the various lands and other property offered the state should be made secure and ready to present to the board of trustees at its next meeting in May at the institute building. The many details in regard to the purchase of the land for the Urbana- Champaign institute, the purchase by the county of these and other lands, and the transfer to the state cover a period of some eight years and the whole subject is now at a distance of fifty years. It has been difficult, therefore, to get a clear and accurate account. The following statements have been carefully verified from the records and compared with the best contemporary accounts from various sources.
^Reports of the board of supervisors, April 23, 1867, p. 513.
268 History ^University of Illinois
The lands purchased in 1860 by the promoters Stoughton, Babcock, and Harvey, consisted of one hundred ninety-three and nine-tenths acres and cost $19,298.79.22 Harvey sold his one-third interest in all the lands purchased to Stoughton and Babcock on September 11, 1861, for an amount not mentioned in the records. About one hundred and ten acres were platted and laid off in town lots — the number was approximately six hundred and twenty-four as shown on the plat. On five and seventy-five hundredths acres, including besides alleys, twelve lots, a seminary was constructed and to these grounds there were added later between four and five acres.
The cost to Champaign county of buildings, grounds, farms, and bonds given to the state for the location of the Illinois in- dustrial university was as follows:
Seminary building and grounds, about eight acres, $40,000 ;23 the Busey farm of four hundred and five and twelve- hundredths acres $28,700 ;24 the Griggs farm of four hundred acres $22,000 ;25 an additional farm — one hundred sixty acres near Cemetery, $14,510 ;26 fruit and other trees from M. L. Dun- lap $2,000.27 Champaign county bonds $100,000,28 making the total paid by the county for the above items $207,210. The Illinois Central gave $50,000 in freight, the cash value of which was estimated by the legislative committee at $35,000. The total cash value of all items given to the state by Champaign county was $242,210, the same being estimated by the legislative com- mittee in 1867 at $285,000 and estimated by the Champaign
'"Shown in three deeds, recorded in Book R, pp. 549, 550, 634.
"Deed made April 25, 1867, Book 9, p. 173 and filed May 10, 1867.
^S. H. Busey to the trustees of the industrial university, Book 10, p. 25, 26.
^Clark E. Griggs to the board of trustees, May 10, 1867, Book 7, p. 305.
26Four deeds : Jesse and Henry Clements of Ohio, April 26, 1867, filed fifty-three and thirteen twentieths acres; Morris Burt, May 10, 1867, filed seven acres in Book 9, page 170 ; Albert G. Carle, May 10, 1867, filed eighty acres in Book 9, p. 171 ; Jesse Burt, May 10, 1867, filed twenty-one acres in Book 9, p. 172.
^Reported in the proceedings of the supervisors' meetings, September 18, 1867, p. 548.
28Voted April 10, 1867; in proceedings of the supervisors' meetings, p. 513.
The University Located
269
county committee in its report included in the law of February 28, 1867, at $450,000.
There came to the treasury of Champaign county one hun- dred and forty-seven lots, the residue of those unsold and turned over to Champaign county by Stoughton and Babcock in May, 1867. 29 A local newspaper of the time estimated them as being worth $50,000. As lots were actually selling in this addition during these years as shown from the record that estimate was about double their value. Of the other four hundred and seventy- seven lots that had been laid off a few — perhaps twenty-four — had been included in the seminary grounds, some had gone with shares to stockholders, the great bulk of them had been sold by Stoughton and Babcock during the years 1860 to 1867. The records show that many sold from $50 to $250 a lot. Apparently 80 acres of the original one hundred ninety-three and nine- tenths acres were not platted and undoubtedly were sold separ- ately.
Above is shown what Champaign county actually paid for the property it gave the state. What did the county, township, cities, and citizens actually appropriate for the purpose of ob- taining the industrial university?
From a careful comparison of records and reports the fol- lowing seem to be certain: appropriated by the county super- visors in December, 1864, $5,000, October, 1865, $100,000, April 10, 1867, $100,000, a total of $205,000 ; appropriated by the town- ships of Urbana and Champaign in March 1867, $45,000 of which amount only $30,878.99 was spent ;30 appropriated by the councils
''See deed of Stoughton and Babcock to N. M. Clark, trustee for the county, Book 9, p 152. the plot being in Book Y, p. 208.
80The items for which the $30,878.99 was spent are given in a report signed by Thomas Cosgrove, W. D. Somers and C. A. Morehouse. Many of these, perhaps all, can be verified from the records of the township of Urbana and Champaign. It does not appear from this record for what purposes the $12,500 borrowed from D. Garner & Co. and $3,000 borrowed from banks were expended. This committee reported to the supervisors on April 23, 1867, that these borrowed sums were expended "judicially and cautiously" for the location of the university.
"Cash paid: To W. Campbell, for land $5,300, Jesse Burt, for land $2,210, Morris Burt, for land $1,000, National Bank, for money and interest as per note $1,047.78, D. Gardner & Co. money and interest as per note $1,047.78, Exchange Bank, for money and interest as per note $1,045.83, D.
270 History /-University of Illinois
of the twin cities in December, 1866, Champaign $300 and Ur- bana $200, making a total of $500; donated by the citizens of Champaign, April, 1867, $2,000 and of Urbana $1,000, making a total of $3,000, while the total amount spent was $239,378.39.
The conclusion seems to be from the records found that Champaign county and citizens of same contributed $239,378.39 and that Champaign county paid in cash for property given the state $207,210 leaving the amount used for other purposes at $32,168.39. Of this latter amount the county paid out to local men for services rendered, for printing and other incidental expenses some $13,536, leaving about $16,789, spent for purposes not mentioned. Apparently it was this sum of $32,168.39 which the county had available to aid in securing the location of the university, that was called the ' ' corruption ' ' fund by the oppon- ents of Champaign county. They estimated it, as has been noted, at from $29,000 to $40,000. C. R. Griggs, Champaign's repre- sentative, who very likely knew more about this than any other man of the time, said they had $40,000 to use in securing the location of the university, for which amount they were not re- quired to give account. It is possible more was used — secured by subscription or otherwise — for these particular purposes than the $32,168.39 that the records show. The records do not show that any of it was used in an illegal manner.
Not in justification of any act, or methods of wrong doing, if any such were employed, but rather as an explanation it should be said that honesty at this period was largely a matter of per- sonal not public conscience. Many honest citizens commended,
Gardner, loaned $12,500, D. Gardner, for interest on same $412, Shannon & Johnson, livery hire $10, Phillips, for livery hire $10, Ermentrout & Alex- ander per order of Somers $10, W. D. Somers, for services rendered $500, B. E. Morehouse, for services rendered $100, T. B. Webber for services ren- dered $300, J. O. Cunningham for services rendered $100, L. A. McLean for services rendered $100, G. W. Flynn for services rendered $100, O. O. Alex- ander for services rendered $50, O. O. Alexander paid for abstracts $40, F. G. Jacques, for services rendered $50, W. H. Somers for services rendered $50, Thomas J. Smith for services rendered $50, T. A. Cosgrove for services rendered $500, J. W. Scroggs for services rendered $500, M. L. Dunlap for services rendered $500, G. W. Flynn, for printing $0.60, expenses negotiating bonds east $185, discount on bonds $900, retained for B. Burroughs, ser- vices rendered $100, retained for John S. B'usey for services rendered $100, M. L. Dunlap for trees $2,000.
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271
no doubt, shrewd manipulations and so-called ''cautious and judicious'' use of money that secured advantages for themselves or their community. There is no desire, probably, at home or abroad to make the transactions of those years appear worse than they were.
Kightly or wrongly, intentionally or unintentionally, a most unfortunate result immediately followed the act locating the industrial university. This result was the alienation of the organized agriculturists of the state, led, as has been noted fre- quently, by Turner, Reynolds, Galusha, Pennell and others. How great was this misfortune and how far reaching in its conse- quences will be shown in succeeding chapters.
272
History University of Illinois
CHAPTER XI
THE ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY ORGANIZES FOR WORK
Two utterly dissimilar groups of men had now done their work for the industrial university. The first, with Jonathan B. Turner at the head, had fought valiantly and intelligently for an idea ; the second, with Clark R. Griggs at the head, had fought dauntlessly and shrewdly for a political plum. The Turner group felt when the industrial university fell into the hands of the Griggs group which secured its location, that its work had been lost, that the fund which would have meant so much for the education of the industrial classes would be dissipated. The university now passed on to the tender mercies of a third group — the first board of trustees, with the first regent of the university, John Milton Gregory, at its head.
To the industrial men, it was cause for foreboding that many members of the newly appointed board of trustees belonged to a particular religious denomination and especially disastrous that the regent, or president, was a minister of that denomination. The reason for this attitude is found in a statement made by Turner to the Bloomington convention of 1860, to the effect that to place a clergyman at the head of an agricultural college would be as serious a blunder as to place General Scott with his vivid heaven-and-hell-searching vocabulary at the head of a theologi- cal seminary.1 And now this very thing had come to pass in Illinois. It had happened, too, not by accident or coincidence but ' ' by ways that were dark and by tricks ' ' more or less ' ' vain. ' '
According to law, the board of trustees, consisted of one trustee from each congressional district, thirteen in all, and five from each one of the three grand judicial divisions of the state. After appointment by the governor, it was noted that the members displayed remarkable unanimity upon one point — the denomination of their religion. A considerable proportion ^Chicago Weekly Times, June 27, 1860.
University Organizes 273
were of the Baptist faith, and at least three were clergymen of that denomination.2 Observers were not lacking who made this the subject of comment and it is told that Dr. Fred Wines, a Presbyterian clergyman of Springfield, having heard of this, sought out the governor and asked: "When did you become a Baptist?" "Who said I was a Baptist?" "Well, I see you have appointed a majority of Baptists as trustees of the new Industrial University, and I supposed you had become a Baptist yourself. ' ' A little inquiry satisfied Governor Oglesby that the new board was, indeed, largely Baptist. He remembered then that certain estimable gentlemen had slipped lists of names into his hand, quietly suggesting that, if they met the governor's approbation, these men were exceedingly well qualified to serve upon the new board. The executive mind had been open to conviction ; the appointments had been made, and, the reverend informer avers, when the governor realized he had been made the victim of a conspiracy in the interest of a particular denom- ination, he swore a blue streak. The chief harm was in the fact that this thing had been done. The bias looked for by some did not appear, unless, perhaps, the first election of a regent is ex- cepted. As for Dr. Gregory, if he was chosen with any expecta- tion of giving a denominational bias to the university, those who voted for him must have felt disappointment, for it would be difficult, in his long administration, to point out anything in his action tending in that direction.
The new board, despite the method of appointment, was an average one. Better material could have been chosen; worse was equally available. Dissension of various sorts was ready made, for several of the members had opposed the location of the new university at Urbana, and came to the first meeting prepared to oppose the proposition that the location was final until they were convinced beyond chance of cavil that there were no latent defects in the titles of the lands granted. Most of the members of the board, doubtless, were innocent of sound ideas or convic- tions upon the subject of agricultural education; they merely had a vague notion accented by a strong feeling that something of the sort was wanted. A few had been associates and warm
^Cunningham manuscript at University of Illinois.
274 History University of Illinois
friends of Turner. One of these, M. L. Dunlap of Champaign county, was articulate, alert. Whenever the new institution be- gan a comfortable straying into the ruts of the old education, he was on hand to prod it out; sometimes not wisely, but usually very well.
Besides the twenty-eight appointments to the board made by the governor, there were four members ex officio — the gover- nor, the state superintendent of public instruction, the presi- dent of the state agricultural society, and the regent of the uni- versity, who was also to be president of the board. At the first meeting held in Springfield, March 12, 1867, in the hall of the house of representatives a temporary organization was effected by the election of Governor Oglesby as chairman and James Rea as recording secretary. Under the law the first business to be transacted by the new board was the election of a regent, which all who understood felt to be a position of great difficulty. Dr. John Milton Gregory, president of Kalamazoo college, Michigan, was chosen. Several of the board members who knew him per- sonally spoke in unqualified terms, of his ability and energy.3 It is related that Thomas Quick, who had heard Dr. Gregory preach in Chicago and later investigated his work, was so im- pressed that he urged him for regent most earnestly.
Dr. John Milton Gregory was a graduate of Union college, New York, studied law, and for a brief period served as min- ister for a Baptist church. The fact that he was a Baptist min- ister has been over-emphasized. It should be noted that he did not have a theological education. He was essentially an educator and was so considered by his family, friends, and contemporaries who knew him best. His early life was spent among farmers, as his father was a farmer and tanner by trade. In early boy- hood he read widely owing to the fortunate fact that a circulating library was kept in his home. What he read he discoursed to the workmen about his father's place, thereby obtaining invaluable practice in imparting what he had learned, a practice all the more effective because it was spontaneous.
His education he obtained by his own efforts, teaching and studying alternately. Following his brief ministry he was for
•Ibid.
University Organizes 275
a time a teacher and an editor of an educational journal, then for three terms state superintendent of public instruction for Michigan and was president of Kalamazoo college, a Baptist institution, when called to the regency of the new Illinois indus- trial university. He was a fine, virile, definite man, who knew what was in his own mind and was able to give it expression.
It may be true that he had come to the task of organizing the new industrial university with a deeper reverence for the classics than was precisely necessary for that section of the corn belt. If true it was a reverence that was susceptible of modification. But Dr. Gregory had received special training and experience for his new work, of which those who have written of him appar- ently have been unaware or else have ignored. From 1859 to 1865 Dr. Gregory was a member of the board of education that controlled and managed the State Agricultural College of Michigan. As secretary of that board and as state superinten- dent he was an influential member and upon him devolved much of the labor of direction of the affairs of the college.
In his first report as state superintendent of public instruc- tion in Michigan is found an expression of his ideas of agricul- tural education. ' ' No department of human industry, ' ' he said, ''seems to furnish a wider field for professional education, than that of agriculture, and none more urgently demands the aid of such education." 4 He thought the project of building an agri- cultural college was eminently wise and farsighted and he did not consider it premature as some claimed. He had a hand in remod- elling the organization and the courses of instruction of the state college for the purpose of making it "more purely a pro- fessional school, so that it shall be sought not by those who merely wish a general education, but by those who desire to fit themselves for practical and scientific agriculturists. ' ' 5
The difficulty of accomplishing these things he understood even then for he wrote : ' ' The real obstacles that have lain in the way of its (the agricultural college) success have been the immature condition of the farm, and the great difficulty of ob- taining in this country men of competent scholarship, united
*Eeport of the superintendent of public instruction, Michigan, 1859, p. 13-15.
*Ibid., 126.
276 History University of Illinois
with practical skill as agriculturists, to fill the various offices of the College. These difficulties will soon disappear, as the farm improves and agricultural science advances, and it may be con- fidently expected that the enterprise will then reap its desired triumphs. ' '6
Thus Dr. Gregory had already faced the problems of creat- ing an agricultural college in a western state. .The questions of the purpose of such an institution, of its finances, of its admin- istration, of its courses of instruction, had all been thought over, discussed, and in many cases acted upon by Dr. Gregory some eight years before he was called upon to aid in organizing the Illinois Industrial university. Even Turner, with his deeper knowledge, perhaps, of agriculture and the needs of the industrial classes had not this practical training and experience in the actual organization and development of an agricultural college. Had these facts in regard to Dr. Gregory been properly recog- nized when he became regent, it would have saved very prob- ably some serious misunderstandings of the next few years.
The most important business at this first meeting, next to the election of the regent,7 was in connection with the polytech- nic branch of the university which it was proposed to establish in Chicago. It will be remembered that the proposition for a school of mechanic arts in Chicago appeared at the session of the general assembly in 1865. Although not clearly stated in section three of the charter granted in 1867, there is no doubt that what Was especially meant was a polytechnic department in Chicago. This section was valuable because it aroused enthusi- asm in the 'Chicago contingent who liked the thought of a poly- technic branch of the great new university in their fair city ; ana it brought to the charter strong support which, as may be cas- ually mentioned, was sorely needed and could have been obtained in no other way.
At the first meeting the members of the board of trustees residing in the third grand judicial division and first congres- sional district were empowered to receive contributions and
14.
7Besides the regent, other officers elected at the first meeting of the board were John W. Bunn, treasurer, Willard C. Flagg, corresponding sec- retary, and O. B. Galusha, recording secretary.
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subscriptions for the new branch.8 The committee proceeded to action in entire good faith and at the meeting of the board in November, 1868 a communication from the common council of Chicago was presented in regard to establishing such a depart- ment in Chicago and to the action of the board thereon.9 In a word the council offered to donate two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the endowment of the mechanical depart- ment of the university if legislative authority for the issuance of bonds to that amount could be obtained, provided the trustees agreed to establish the department in Chicago upon receipt of the donation. Therefore the following resolution was adopted without a dissenting voice:
"Resolved, That in accordance with the resolution of this board of March 13th, 1867, establishing a Mechanical Depart- ment of the Industrial University at Chicago, as near as possi- ble to the center of the city, the members of this Board residing in the Third Grand Division and First Congressional District be, and they are hereby, instructed to accept said proposition and notify the said city thereof; and they are authorized and instructed to execute and deliver such contracts as may be nec- essary or proper in the premises.
"I. S. Mahan, Chairman of Committee.'*
This is the last reference to the polytechnic department in Chicago. It died on paper. There is no evidence that the city of Chicago ever sought legislative authority therefor. It would seem, as the agriculturists and others had said, that the whole scheme of establishing departments in Chicago and other parts of the state had not been made in good faith but merely to catch votes.
The second meeting 10 of the board of trustees which was held in Urbana May 7, 8, and 9, 1867, was presided over by the regent. Dr. Gregory was to receive four thousand dollars a year
"First annual report of the board of trustees, 27.
"Second annual report of the board of trustees, 40.
"Between the first and second meetings of the board of trustees occurred a stormy part of the struggle for the location already referred to in chapter X.
278 History University of Illinois
t-
for his services, more by a thousand dollars than the board had at first proposed to offer. At this meeting the question of the location of the university was settled for good and all. Thomas Bonfield, a lawyer of Kankakee county, hired to examine the deeds, abstracts, certificates of election, and bonds offered by Champaign county, found the titles all without latent defects ; whereupon the following was read by A. M. Brown of Pulaski county, and unanimously adopted :
"WHEREAS, the county of Champaign has caused to be conveyed to the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial Uni- versity, by good and unimcumbered titles, the building and grounds known as the Urbana and Champaign Institute, de- scribed as follows : Commencing at the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of the south-east quarter of section seven (7), town nineteen (19) range nine (9) east; running thence east four hundred and sixty-two feet; thence south seven hundred (700) feet; thence west four hundred and sixty-two (462) feet; thence north seven hundred (700) feet, to the place of beginning. Also, a part of the southwest quarter of section number eighteen (18), in said township, as follows; Beginning at the north-east corner of said tract; thence west eighty (80) rods; thence south one hundred and seven and thirty one-hundredths (107 30.100) rods; thence east eighty (80) rods; thence north one hundred and seven and thirty one-hundredths (107 30.100) rods, to the place of beginning. Also twenty-eight (28) acres off the north side of the south half of the south-east quarter of said section number eighteen (18). Also, the north half of the south-east quarter of said section eighteen (18). Also, the north-west quar- ter of section ninteen (19), in said township. Also, the north half of the south-west quarter, the south half of the north-east quarter, the north-west quarter of the south-east quarter, and the north-east quarter of the north-east quarter, of said section nineteen (19). Also, the south half and the south half of the north-east quarter of section twenty-one (21), in said township; and,
"WHEREAS, also, said county of Champaign has issued under the forms of law, and delivered to said Board of Trustees, one hundred thousand dollars in the bonds of said county, due
University Organizes 279
and payable ten years hence, bearing interest at ten per cent, per annum. ; and,
"WHEREAS, also, the contract of M. L. Dunlap for the delivering, upon the order of the said Board, of fruit, shade and ornamental trees and shrubbery, to the value of two thous- and dollars has also been delivered to this Board ; and,
"WHEREAS, the Illinois Central Railroad -Company has likewise assured to said Board the sum of fifty thousand dollars in freight over said Road: and in consideration of the forego- ing premises, therefore be it,
"Resolved, That the Illinois Industrial University be and the same hereby is permanently located at Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois."11
The adoption of this resolution caused a different and dis- tinctly more fortunate feeling to permeate the meetings.12 Trustees who before had looked askance at the tender of com- pliance on the part of the county of Champaign now took hold of affairs as if they always had believed in the good faith of the county.
The first necessity in the organization of the new university was money. The university owned four hundred and eighty thousand acres of land scrip of uncertain value but could not command enough hard cash to buy a record book. Some means had to be devised whereby ready money could be obtained. At the May meeting the treasurer was instructed to sell one hundred and eighty thousand acres of the land scrip on the best possible terms. But this did not remove the difficulty. The fed- eral act provided that the fund arising from sales of this grant should never be used, except as an endowment, the proceeds only being available for the expenses of the institution.13 Con-
llFirst annual report of the board of trustees, 35.
"Cunningham manuscripts; Judge Cunningham, a resident of Urbana, was instrumental in securing and perfecting deeds and titles to the property offered to the university. Shortly before his death, he informed the writer that he himself had carried the papers and deeds to the May meeting of the board of trustees.
"The federal law did provide that ten per cent of the fund might be used for the purchase of land for sites in experimental farms, if authorized by the legislature. Federal Law, 1862, section 5, paragraph 1.
280 History ^University of Illinois
sequently an evasion was resorted to. This money, or as much of it as was needed, was transferred to the funds for improve- ments and other expenses, the irregularity being excused in the following way: it was ordered that the money arising from the sale of scrip, or a sufficient sum thereof, be invested in the bonds of Champaign county held by the board as a part of the bonus paid, and those bonds be transferred to the permanent endow- ment as the representative of the money so used. This done the board was in possession of the funds necessary in the pre- paration for the opening of the university.14
But just what did the necessity for such skillful manipu- lation cost the university? It must be confessed that it came high. Cornell college which did not part with its lands, because of the generous money gifts of Ezra Cornell, in time came to enjoy a magnificent sum through the increase in value of its federal land endowment. Illinois might have enjoyed such an income had the tender of McLean county which was two hundred thousand dollars higher than that of Champaign been accepted. The report of the federal bureau of education of 1874 shows that in that year 454, 560 of the 480,000 acres granted by congress to Illinois had been sold at a price averaging seventy cents per acre. It is not necessary to point out how great a treasure was lost.15
The board then turned its attention to the building and the grounds it had acquired. Both were uncompromisingly ugly,
"Cunningham manuscripts and also First annual report of the "board <tf trustees, 37-45.
"The money obtained by the sale of land scrip donated for the Illinois industrial university was invested as follows according to the report of the bureau of education of 1874.
Sangamon county 9% bonds .. . $50,000
Morgan county 10% bonds $25,000
Pike county 10% bonds $30,000
Chicago water 7% bonds $24,961.80
Kankakee county 10% bonds $29,700
Putnam county 10% bonds. . $13,000
Champaign county 10% bonds $115,000
Illinois state 6% bonds $31,653.34
$319,315.14 Balance due scrip account 178.87
d
University Organizes 281
sadly in need of improvement. The building was unsuitable in many respects, the campus was a desolation for wandering cattle and pigs. Judge Cunningham has written a description of the appearance of the new university which is in rather strong con- trast to the glowing accounts given out by local papers when the county was seeking the location.
"The building and grounds in which our people hoped to house the new university, a five-story structure, with a four-story ell on the south, stood alone out on the bare prairie, unfenced, towering high above anything in either town, and very conspic- uous for miles away. It occupied ground equal to two squares of the ordinary size. The line of White Street in Champaign and West Main in Urbana extended, was its south line while on the west side Wright Street, as then laid, occupied fifty-two feet of what is now the west side of the north campus, or the athletic park. The entrance to the front, the north side of the building, was at the natural grade line of the ground, with no outside steps, and the building had an appearance suggesting that, as a stake, it had been driven into the ground. From the entrance at the north front, stairs began which led from story to story until the upper or fifth had been reached. In the front portion of the building, which was 125 feet in length from east to west, were rooms to be used for recitation rooms and dormitories, while in the wing were more recitation rooms with kitchen and dining room, and a chapel in the fourth story, the original design hav- ing been to prepare for the conduct of a boarding school. No bush or shrub had ever grown upon that bare piece of prairie. What was known as the ' Griggs Farm, ' part of the donation of 400 acres to the State, lay away to the southeast two and one- half miles from the building and grounds; the Busey Farm of 420 acres was a little over a mile to the south; while the 160 acres farm commonly called the ' experimental farm ', was a little over a half a mile south, with a forty acre tract, half a mile long between. Some of the trustees questioned whether the latter farm was in fact 'adjacent* to the buildings and grounds."16
The board then at the May meeting decided to build a fence around the "white elephant," put a portico on it, rearrange 16Cimningliam manuscripts.
282 History ^University of Illinois
certain rooms, grade the grounds, and otherwise improve the property which had figured so bravely in Champaign county's offer, so far as the sum of $7,850 made improvement possible. The date of opening the university was decided. It was to open its doors to students on Monday, March 2, 1868. The date was the result of a compromise. Some of the board believed it im- possible to have a course of study worthy of offering so soon, others believed it should open much sooner.
The next serious matter to be settled was the course of study. At the first meeting of the board a resolution had been adopted directing the appointment of a committee on courses of study. Governor Oglesby subsequently named as members of the com- mittee, the regent of the university, Mason Brayman, S. S. Hayes, Willard C. Flagg, and Newton Bateman, then state superin- tendent of education. Gregory, Flagg, and Bateman were all schoolmen of ripe experience and Brayman and Hayes were men of long and close contact with the affairs of state both in public and private life.
It is probable that the report of this committee was largely the work of Dr. Gregory, but his associates were all capable of contributing to the document which was to fill so large a place in the work of the university. From their correspondence it is learned that the associates did, in fact, spend time and energy in investigating various subjects, reported by the chairman of the committee.
The proposed departments and courses of instruction were given as follows:
"I. The Agricultural Department — Embracing: 1. The course in Agriculture proper; 2. The course in Horticulture and Landscape Gardening.
"II. The Polytechnic Department — Embracing: 1. The course in Mechanical Science and Art; 2. The course in Civil Engineering; 3. The course in Mining and Metallurgy; 4. The course in Architecture and fine Arts.
"III. The Military Department— Embracing: 1. The course in Military Engineering ; 2. The course in Military Tactics.
"IV. The Department of Chemistry and Natural Science.
University Organizes 283
' * V. The Department of Trade and Commerce.
11 VI. The Department of General Science and Literature — Embracing : 1. The course in Mathematics ; 2. The course in Natural History, Chemistry, etc. ; 3. The course in English Lan- guage and Literature; 4. The course in Modern Languages and Literature ; 5. The course in Ancient Languages and Literature ; 6. The course in History and Social Science; 7. The course in Philosophy, Intellectual and Moral.
"For the courses in agriculture and mechanic arts the fol- lowing brief exposition was given :
"I. The course in agriculture proper may embrace the study of common tillage, arboriculture, fruit growing, cattle and sheep husbandry, veterinary art, agricultural chemistry, and rural engineering and architecture.
"Its aim will be to give a practical knowledge of the various kinds of soils, their composition and improvement, by chemical or by mechanical treatment; the several classes of crops, with the preparation of the soil, seeding, cultivation and harvesting of each ; the rotation of crops, and preparation and use of fertiliz- ers; vegetable anatomy and physiology, with the classification, values, and laws of growth and culture of the cereals, grasses, and other useful plants, together with general botany; fruit- growing, and the several modes of propagation, and the pro- duction of new varieties; arboriculture, with the nature and value of the various species of ornamental, shade and forest trees, the propagation, growth and care of forests, their importance and value in a prairie country, in their effects upon climate, vegeta- tion and health ; animal anatomy and physiology, with a study of the breeds of domestic animals, and their values for the dairy, for fattening, for draught, and for wool or other products, and of the principles of stock breeding; veterinary art, with the laws of feeding, care and training of domestic animals; the apiary and poultry yard ; agricultural chemistry, applied to the analysis of soils, fertilizers and food, etc ; entomology, especially including the useful insects and those injurious to animal life; meteorology and climatology; rural architecture and engineer- ing, embracing the planning of farm buildings, and the laying out, draining and fencing of farms ; political economy, the laws
284 History ^University of Illinois
of production, consumption and markets; real estate juris- prudence, the laws regulating the tenures and transfers of land, and the laws relating to rural affairs ; the history of agriculture, and general views of the husbandry of foreign countries. To these studies should be added, either to prepare for the fore- ging, or as necessary to complete education, courses in mathe- matics, language and literature, mental and moral philosophy L gic, history and science of government.
' ' The instruction should be partly by textbooks, and partly by lectures, enforced by observation and practice in the lab- oratory, and the various departments of the experimental farm.
"2. The course of instruction in horticulture may compre- hend most of the studies already described under the course of agriculture, omitting stock-breeding and veterinary art, and ad- ding to the fruit-growing, the culture of the small fruits and cul- inary vegetables, and the culture of flowers; the construction and mangagement of the hot-bed, the' green-house, the grapery, the seedplot and nursery; landscape gardening, the laying out and ornamentation of public and private pleasure grounds, parks, cemeteries, etc. The methods of instruction should be like those in the department of agriculture.
"3. The courses in mechanics, civil engineering and mining belong, properly, to the polytechnic school. All the fun- damental sciences involved in them being taught at the Univer- sity, these courses may also be developed there. The committee defer the delineation of a course of instruction in this department till the question of the extent of its means of development is settled/'17
For permission to enter on the work of these regular courses the committee recommended in the report that a fair standard of admission requirements be insisted upon. While it was de- sired to open the university as widely as possible to the youth of the state, it could not do the work of the public high schools. Grammar, geography, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, natural philosophy, and a knowledge of Latin sufficient to enable a stu- dent to construe any passage in Cicero's Orations or Vergil's Georgics and Aeneid, was, in the opinion of the committee, a cor-
^First annual report of the board of trustees, 47.
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285
rect admission requirement. The reason for not attempting to admit students who could not offer such preparatory work, was that until a student had traveled that far intellectually, he had not usually "-formed his purpose and tested his strength and ability to pursue a course of liberal or scientific study. The his- tory of preparatory schools is full of proofs that many of those who set out for a college course stop short of the college doors. Science, like scripture has its ' stony ground ' hearers who at first receive the word with joy, but who when the hot sun of hard study is up, wither away." A comparison of the admission re- quirements with those of the eastern universities shows the sur- prising fact that the published standard of the industrial uni- versity for its regular courses was quite as high as theirs at that time.
Requirements commonly made in universities — Har- vard, Yale, Princeton, Mich- igan, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, and Williams.18
1868
Modern Language — None
English — None beyond Eng- lish Grammar
Science — Descriptive Geog- raphy the only approach to science
Latin : Virgil — Aeneid, Eclo- gues, Georgics. Cicero — Select Orations Caesar — 'Commentaries
Greek — Grammar, Anabasis, Homer
Mathematics — Arithmetic Geometry (Part of Plane) Algebra (to quadratics)
Requirements for admission to the Illinois Industrial Uni- versity (At the first require- ments were higher than as stated below; changed in 1868-1869 to the following) 1868
Modern Language — None English — Only English Grammar
Science — Descriptive Geog- raphy
Latin : ( E ssentially the same as other universities)
Greek : None
Mathematics — Arithmetic Geometry— (All Plane) Algebra — ( to quadrat- ics)
"See Edwin C. Broome, "A Historical and Critical Discussion of Col- legiate Admission Eequirements."
286 History University of Illinois
Naturally it was far more difficult to carry out such a pro- gram in Illinois than in the eastern states where well established academies, high schools, and other secondary schools of long standing were comparatively plentiful. However, that students who could not present such qualifications might not be excluded from participation in the benefits of the university, two sets of qualifications were adopted ; the one for candidates for the reg- ular university courses, the second for students who wished to pursue some select or partial courses.19 The qualifications for admission to the select courses were : "A thorough examination in the common school branches of reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and grammar, and on evidence of sufficient maturity and intelligence to pursue successfully the studies selected by them."
Selim H. Peabody, second regent of the university, com- mented thus upon the subject of the early admission require- ments: "To secure members the standards of admission were fixed at what were known to be low grades of scholarship. The examinations were mild, and the topics those on which prepar- ation could be made in the common district schools of the state. The students so admitted were employed in their first collegiate years upon very elementary branches of learning. The attend- ance rapidly increased, but was, to a considerable degree, epher- meral, composed of persons who came for a term, or for a year, rather than with the purpose of pursuing an extended, consecu- tive, and symmetrical course of collegiate work. This early pol- icy was wise and necessary at the time, but if it had been long continued, it would never have established a university worthy of the name. It was needful that the youth of Illinois should learn the value of the institution which was opened for their benefit. It was necessary that the current should be turned into these channels. After the current had definitely set it was necessary, and it was possible, to elevate by degrees both the
19The law of 1867 provided: "No student shall be admitted to instruc- tion in any of the departments of the university who shall not have attained to the age of fifteen (15) years, and who shall not previously undergo a satisfactory examination in each of the branches ordinarily taught in the common schools of the state." This, the committee on course of study in- terpreted not as fixing the qualifications for admission, but only as defining the minimum requirement.
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aspirations and the preparation of those who should attend." 20 As a matter of fact in the infancy of the industrial univer- sity the great majority of the students were engaged in prepar- ation work. No collegiate work whatever was done by the stu- dents of the university in the spring of 1868 but in the fall of that year there were some twelve students sufficiently pre- pared actually to enter upon work of a collegiate grade. The twelve students qualified for college work under the admission requirements contained in the first circular published in the spring of 1868. These requirements were considered too high and were therefore lowered — reluctantly by the regent — during the year 1868-1869 so that a number of students doing senior preparatory work were advanced to college rank.
The committee was ardent in its recommendation of the manual labor system which was adopted. It was a mistake that Turner, for instance, would not have made.21 Required manual labor on the part of all students seems to be the surest means of forever condemning an educational institution to the status of a mere trade school.22 Henry M. Dunlap, son of M. L. Dunlap of the first board of trustees, who entered the university in 1868, says he has a lively recollection of daily trundling bricks from one part of the campus to the other ; and, after a lapse of years he can testify, that while neither he nor the bricks were seriously harmed, he, at least, was not helped.
Though the question did not arise at this particular time it is well to note here that a policy was entered upon by the Illinois university at the beginning, different from the practice of the colleges and universities of the time, of granting certifi- cates of scholarship merely, instead of diplomas and degrees, to those completing the regular four year courses. The first faculty and the board of trustees had no choice in the matter for the law of 1867, establishing the university, had provided that no degrees should be granted. The agriculturists, who had
20IlUnois School Eeport; 1881-1882, p. 3.
2lSee Turner 's own words as quoted by Bateman below, p. 299.
22This system was adopted because it was considered a success at the Michigan agricultural college though — as the committee said — it had been a complete failure in many places. Mr. Dunlap opposed it then, and one year later, on his motion, it was made a voluntary system.
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written all of the law of 1867 except the twelfth section, con- sidered this one of the effete customs of the old system of educa- tional institutions. Some ten years later, however, on petition of the alumni the law was altered making it permissible to confer degrees and then, following a conference of land grant colleges and state universities, the Illinois university took up the old custom of granting degrees.
The regent spent busy months previous to the opening of the university, traveling about the state setting forth the aims and prospects of the new institution, directing examinations for the free scholarships, and journeying into other states to locate the lands belonging to the university. The meeting of the board of trustees held November 26, 27, and 28, was the last before the one held at the time of the inauguration and much business was transacted ; among other things the selection of the first faculty. Two professors were elected, William M. Baker and G. W. Atherton, at salaries of two thousand a year, their chairs ' l here- after to be named, ' ' and Jonathan Periam of Chicago was elected head farmer at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars.
Among the preparations for the opening of the university at the November meeting one thousand dollars was set aside to purchase the nucleus of a library, and a sum not to exceed six thousand was allowed for the Bromby cabinet.23 This cabinet was in the three departments of mineralogy, geology, and conch- ology and was the work of Professor Bromby of Georgia who had been twenty-five years collecting it. But when Dr. Gregory inspected the cabinet in New York about January first, he found that it was in poor condition ; many of the specimens had been ruined by careless packing, and the purchase was not made. It was expected there would be a cabinet, for an appropriation of five hundred dollars had been made to Major J. W. Powell of Normal for his "Kocky Mountain" expedition, one of the pur- poses of which was to acquire a natural history collection for the university. By-laws for the government of the board were adopted which gave the rates of tuition, officers and appointees of the board, duties of the various officers, and other important matters.24
KFirst annual report of board of trustees, p. 122.
"For the by-laws, First annual report of board of trustees, p. 76.
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At the same session General Mason Bray man, as the chair- man of the committe on military department, made an extended report. General Brayman was by education and training well equipped to lead in the foundation work for the establishment of a military department. Then, too, he was so interested in this particular duty that he went to Washington where he had an interview with the acting secretary of war who referred him to Major J. H. Whittlesey of the United States army, an officer detailed to report a method of introducing a suitable system of military instruction into such colleges of the United States as might desire it. General Brayman then had much correspon- dence with Major Whittlesey, with Brigadier General Haynie, Adjutant General of Illinois, and others so that he was fully informed as to what was desired and what was possible to accom- plish at that time. All of these things were quite fully discussed in the report made by the chairman of the committee who then offered the following resolutions which were adopted by the trustees and which definitely established the military department in the university :
' ' 1. Resolved, That in compliance with the laws on that sub- ject, the military department of this university shall be estab- lished as part of the regular and necessary means of education.
' 1 2. Resolved, That there shall be appointed, as soon as the same shall be needful and proper, a Professor of Military Tactics and Engineering, and such assistants as shall be necessary in his department.
"3. Resolved, That all students shall be taught in the branches appropriate to this department, to such extent, and with such modifications and exceptions, as shall be provided in the code in force for the regulation of studies.
"4. Resolved, That in order to secure neatness and economy, and to distinguish the students of this University, a uniform shall be prescribed and worn, of material known as cadet gray, appropriately made, and furnished with a University button, having apt devices, and a University cap, in such form as shall be prescribed.
"5. Resolved, That the Military Professor, or the officer or person having, for the time being, charge of the military
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department, shall have the authority and perform the duties of military commandant, and shall, under authority of the Regent and Faculty, enforce such rules and orders as are usual at West Point and other military schools, comprising the regulation of hours, personal deportment and intercourse, and in such manner as shall insure order, obedience and discipline, and promote the general objects contemplated; and that suitable music consist- ing at least of the drum and fife, be provided. These duties to be so arranged in rules and regulations as to comprehend the entire police and administration of the University, and subject to such control and supervision as will promote harmony and efficiency.
"6. Resolved, That the Regent, the -Chairman of the Mili- tary Committee, and the Treasurer, be instructed to procure from the proper authorities of this State such arms and accoutrements as shall be necessary for use of students in drill, and such books of tactics as may be required to begin instruction in military exercises.
' ' 7. Resolved, That these regulations be put in force as far as feasible on the opening of the institution in March next ; but that the University uniform may not be required to be worn by students until the fall term, when it shall be worn by all.
"8. Resolved, That this Board cordially approve, and re- spectfully recommend to the favorable action of Congress, at its coming session, the bill and general plan reported to the War Department by Major J. H. Whittlesey, U. S. A., for providing a system of National Military Education in colleges, and earn- estly request the Senators and Representatives from this State, to support the same.
' ' 9. Resolved, That this University will hold itself in readi- ness to adopt fully the proposed national plan, and make the same a part of the permanent system of instruction in this insti- tution, as the best means of securing to the people the benefit of military education, and for establishing upon an enduring foundation the cherished institutions of our State and common country."25
Upon the basis of these resolutions the training of students
KFirst annual report of the board of trustees, 85.
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in military science and tactics began as soon as the university opened in 1868. The plans were formulated in a spirit of sincer- ity and earnestness and ever since instruction has been given continuously and the department built up in exactly the same spirit in which it was established.
About this time, November, 1867, the opposition of M. L. Dunlap, a member of the board, to the policies of the regent and of the board of trustees began to develop. Of this opposition, which was serious in its consequences, J. M. Gregory wrote in his private journal. ''In the course of the fall an opposition began to show itself. M. L. Dunlap one of the trustees and a correspondent of the Chicago Tribune began to assail the plans of the University in his letters to the Tribune and to make per- sonal assaults against my character and doings. These became shortly very bitter and malignant. They were thought to be caused by his disappointment in not receiving an official place in the university as superintendent or professor and his mortified vanity at not being consulted more and asked for his council. ' ' 26
In attributing to Dunlap disappointment at not receiving an official position as " professor or superintendent" Gregory was merely noting, apparently, some talk of the neighborhood. In view of the fact that Dunlap rejected years before a good busi- ness position in Chicago in order to take a family of growing boys to the farm, and again in 1860 had refused an offer of Abraham Lincoln to go to Washington as commissioner of agri- culture it does not seem probable that he would have cared for or even accepted a position of the kind suggested in Gregory's journal.27
To get Dunlap 's viewpoint one must look, briefly at least, to a few leading facts of his life and habits of thought. At that time he had already become a successful horticulturist ; one who had used his own brain in the study of the evolution of problems of soil and climate and often had regretted that his own studies had not been of a sort to help him more in solving his practical problems. Of this he says in an article over the pseudonym 1 ( Rural" in the Chicago Tribune of December 26, 1867 : "Born and reared on a farm, my schoolboy days given to the study of the common English branches, chemistry, mathematics, natural
26 Abstract from journal of J. M. Gregory. 2TThese facts based upon, authority of his son.
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philosophy, vegetable philosophy, history, medicine, and what was considered a commercial course; add to this thirty years actively engaged in the culture of the rich soil of the prairie, in agriculture, horticulture, and forest tree planting. This training and this experience give me some assurance, or at least some claim, to speak my mind more freely on the course of study that ought to be pursued in the industrial university. I do so the more freely that I have often felt the want of a more thorough scientific course of study ; that my researches in the department of chemistry had not been more given in the direction of soils, rather than to medicine. ' '
He had found that the new science as advocated by Turner and the agriculturists was sadly needed in Illinois to enable the farmers to meet new conditions, ' ' in a soil so peculiar in its struc- ture and mechanical condition as that of the prairie country. Accustomed to a maritime climate, where homes were hewed out of the primeval forest, and the snow covering was ample to shield the more tender plants from the severity of winter, it need not be wondered at that mistakes occurred in many attempts to adopt the same general system of culture that had been taught in boy- hood. A continental climate, the surface laid bare to the sudden changes that come without warning; now a wave of cold from the Polar regions, pushing its icy breath over the most treeless plains, and destroying vegetation in its rapid march far south of the Ohio. This in turn followed by the warm trade winds that have been deflected north by the Andes, and hurled through the gulf, a part following the gulf stream and a part driven up the Valley of the Mississippi ; where it is spread f anshaped, through- out the whole region of the Northwest, and makes its exit to the east"28
It was these new and puzzling problems which Mr. Dunlap had hoped the new science would set itself earnestly to solve. But he felt that it could be done only by men who knew the region, who had themselves felt the bitterness of bewilderment and defeat, the joy of occasional victory. The course of study as proposed by the committee met his approbation but he had no faith in the abilitv of the men who were to teach the different
2SChicago Tribune, December 26, 1867.
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subjects. Of the first faculty he says that the regent's education ' * is but classical and theological ' ' 29 and of the two professors one would ultimately have the choice of Greek, Latin, and French and the other was prepared to teach the social sciences. It was, in his opinion a poor outlook for agriculture and the mechanic arts.
Other items to which Mr. Dunlap objected were: the pro- posed purchase of the cabinet of Professor Bromby of Georgia. He thought that a collection of the conchology of the Illinois rivers, of the fossils, plants and shells of Illinois coal mines, of the insects that lowered the profits upon Illinois crops and samples of the clay, marbles, and minerals in the state would be of much more benefit to the youth who would attend the insti- tution ; the thousand dollars voted for the nucleus of a library he pronounced too small. He thought that it would be spent to "meet the wants of the professors in moral and inductive lit- erature. It is not likely that Faraday, Liebig, Johnston, or Davy will be consulted in so small a collection." He objected also to the fact that the university Was to be open for instruction for nine months of the year. ' ' The law as has been before stated, provides for six months of school during the autumn and summer months, but the trustees more wise than the Legislature, or without any regard to the law, provide for three terms, begin- ning September 18, and closing June 6, or occupying a little over nine months. This leaves no time for the students to return, as the law directs ' ' to their several industries during the spring and summer months." Then, too, Dunlap had no belief in the value of manual labor by the students. He said in regard to stocking and carrying on the university farm :
"It is to be hoped that the folly of attempting to carry on the farm and horticultural department by the labor of students will be saved us." As a matter of fact the system of required student labor was proved, by experiment, a failure. As regards the number of months of school for each year the law, in fact, left the matter somewhat to the discretion of the board of trustees.
The controversy between Mr. Dunlap and Dr. Gregory arose
28The regent 's education was classical but he had received no training in a theological institution.
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very naturally out of the construction each put upon the law of the university. According to the language of the grant "the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the me- chanic arts." Of the "teaching of such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, ' ' Dunlap said : "These it made its duty — a mandatory order that should be obeyed. But this was not all ; there were other classes that might in the course of time come under the sunshine of its usefulness, and a permission was implied that after the first mandatory order was obeyed, and there were funds for the purpose, other 'classical and scientific studies' might be pursued but until that period arrived, the school should be for the sole benefit of those who belonged to those industries. Such is the law and such is the expectation of the people. ' '
In Gregory's opinion the phrase "without excluding other scientific and classical studies, " implied that such studies should rank equally with the branches of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts and be provided for at the same time. Compared with colleges of law and medicine "its central edu- cational courses, while equally broad and liberal, are to be se- lected to fit men for the study and mastery of the great branches of industry, rather to serve as introductions to the studies of law, medicine, or theology."30
It was not long before this difference of opinion began to cause dissension. A prominent graduate who came as a student with the class that entered in the autumn of 1868 says: "M. L. Dunlap gave the new president his earnest support until the proposed curriculum of studies revealed Latin and Greek as the corner stones of the contemplated new structure and also when it developed that every student was ' advised' by the presi- dent to take Latin as one of his basic studies. "31
Dunlap felt sure of his position, for he believed that it squared fully with that of the founders of the institution. As far back as 1855, when the agriculturists introduced a bill into
^Chicago Tribune, November 2, 1868. "Private letter of March 12, 1917.
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the legislature which was reported upon favorably by the senate, but too late for action, for "an act to incorporate the trustees of the Illinois university, " the objects of the university were stated as, first: to provide a normal school department; second, an agricultural school department; third, a mechanical depart- ment. After these were provided for and not until then were other departments to be added as the bill itself states: — "To these departments others may be added from time to time, as the wants of the people may require, and the funds and means of the University will justify, so that finally the university may become a place of resort for acquiring an accomplished and fin- ished education in all useful, practical, literary and scientific knowledge.''32
This was the position of the founders — to be sure the normal department had been cared for elsewhere so that was eliminated — that the agricultural and mechanical studies should be pro- vided for first, from this the founders never had swerved, nor should Mr. Dunlap.
Eight here a question may be raised. The attitude of the agriculturists was unmistakable but was it entirely in accord with the federal law ? The law states unequivocally that classical sub- jects were not to be excluded just as Dr. Gregory had contended. Suppose such subjects as pertained to agriculture and the me- chanic arts only had been provided for in the curriculum of the new university and the classics omitted until it was convenient to provide for them, would not critics have arisen in their right- eousness to point to the law ? To be sure the law also states that the branches of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts should be the leading subjects and Dr. Gregory, perhaps, erred when he accorded to agriculture, mechanics and classics an equal place in his theory and possibly an emphasis on the classics in his practice.
From documents now at hand it appears that it was at a meeting of the board of trustees held in Urbana on March 10, 11, and 12, 1868, that a majority of the board brought M. L. Dun- lap to task for statements that he had been making in the press and elsewhere which they considered injurious to' the welfare »2Bill of 1855, appendix, p. 546.
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of the institution. To them it seemed unfortunate to have a deep distrust in the institution created before it ever was opened. There has been confusion and misunderstanding as to what hap- pened in this connection, chiefly for the reason that the board determined later in the session not to publish in the minutes of the sessions the action taken upon this subject. Without going into details or attempting at this late date to say who was right or who was wrong a few simple facts, supported by documentary evidence, may be stated in order to have a clear record of events.
The board passed at one of its sessions a preamble and reso- lution in which were rehearsed the ways that Mr. Dunlap, in the board's estimation, was injuring the industrial university and proposed to proceed by committee or otherwise to inquire into the matter.33 A special committee of five was appointed which made an investigation and then an extended report closing with a series of five resolutions.
During the sessions and following an interview of the spe- cial committee with Mr. Dunlap, J. C. Burroughs of Chicago, a member of the board but not a member of the special committee, counseled with Mr. Dunlap ; Burroughs pointed out that Regent Gregory had undertaken a difficult work, one in which he had to make precedents and blaze trails and that in an unfamiliar region. He pointed out also the unmistakable sincerity, clarity of judgment and common sense of Regent Gregory. Dunlap be- gan to think perhaps he could safely be more lenient — a man should be given time to prove himself — perhaps he, Mr. Dunlap, knowing the state as few men could know it, acutely conscious of its educational needs was, by his very ardor, made over-crit- ical. He saw hope for the future. He decided that perhaps he had judged the new man too harshly, he would give him a chance to prove himself.
Then occurred a reconciliation. Dunlap crossed the room and shook hands with Regent Gregory. Just what was said or promised by Dunlap is not certain. The members of the commit- tee said later in letters that he promised not to pursue such a course in the future, and that he voted for the first resolution
"Original copy of preamble and resolution, manuscript at University of Illinois. See appendix for resolutions, p. 579.
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submitted by the special committee in its report ; the resolution reading as follows : ' ' Resolved, that this Board of Trustees have undiminished confidence in the integrity, ability and fitness of the Regent, and pledge him a firm support in the performance of his duties. — "
For the sake of harmony the board then consented to have the special committee withdraw its report, and no record was made in the official minutes of the meeting, though the newspa- pers of the time had more or less accurate accounts of this epi- sode.
These events ended the most serious part of the friction and from this time on the feeling between Dunlap and Gregory was more fortunate. In later months the members of the spe- cial committee and certain other members of the board thought that Dunlap had broken his promise. In this it is quite con- ceivable that they had read into whatever Dunlap had promised an erroneous interpretation. They seemed unable to get his point of view. He held firmly to the idea, and he desired the public to get the conception, that no man and no body of men, regent or board of trustees, were identical with the university. As a faithful friend of the institution he had deemed it his duty in the past and he still considered it an obligation; in the future to be ever alert to its interests as he conceived them, and when- ever the courses of study or the actions of individuals showed a tendency in his estimation to disregard the classes for whom they were designed, his pen promptly hastened to the well.34
Mention may here be made of the first attempt on the part of the new university to reach out to the farms of the state. On
84The Tribune, editorially, had invariably supported its correspondent " Rural" through the first two or three years of his struggle to shape the university along the lines desired by the agriculturists. On December 18, 1867, in a short editorial it said after referring to " Rural V articles: ' ' Men of Illinois, your university, for which you have toiled so long, is thus far a farce." On March 4, 1870, again referring to his articles and to a set of resolutions passed by the students condemning them it uttered a state- ment decidedly different: "But we have always expressed the opinion, editorially, that his (Dunlap) conception of the mode in which the univer- sity should be conducted is unsound. He believes, and we do not,
that the university ought to be, and can be, a technical school. ' ' Judging from these editorials, either a new editor had taken possession, or the former editor had suffered a mental lapse.
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December 1, 1867, a list of nineteen questions was sent out widely to the farmers. The inquiries concerned the character of sur- face soil and subsoil, location of the farm, crops taken off, live- stock raised, rotations followed, notable successes, pronounced failures, cost per acre of good farming, and other facts. Thirty- four answers were received, many of them revealing an alert and affectionate acquaintance with the soils and their products. The answers were printed with the first annual report of the board of trustees and five thousand copies sent out at the expense of the state.
The university opened Monday, March 2, 1868, with fifty students which during the week increased to sixty-eight. The inauguration was held March 11 and the second annual meeting of the board of trustees was in session March 10, 11, and 12. At this meeting of the board Major John W. Powell appeared and gave an account of his Rocky Mountain expedition. He assured the board that the new university would not long be without a cabinet as his collections were being classified and soon would be ready for presentation to the board. Remnants of this collection are still in the present university cabinet although the university never received so large a collection as was expected from this source.
The report of the finance committee showed the university to be safe financially.35 An estimate of receipts for the year 1868 and 1869 yielded $33,373.10, while an estimate of expenses including $1000 for unforeseen incidentals amounted to $28,295 leaving a comfortable balance of a little over $5,000. They based this upon the expenditure for the year of organization which had been $35,076.90 while the receipts were as follows : —
' * Sale of Champaign county bonds, as per order of the board $40,000 ; interest on Illinois bonds $3,750 ; rents of farm $1,500, making a total of $45,250."
The inauguration of the new university held March 11, 1868, attracted considerable attention throughout the state. It was held in the university hall with the national flag, the picture of Washington as the great farmer of the revolutionary period, the American eagle and the university motto " Learning and Labor" **First annual report of the 'board of trustees, 127-130.
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forming the decorations. Letters were received from Governor Oglesby, Richard Yates, C. B. Lawrence, B. N. Stevens, John A. Logan, S. M. Cullom, S. S. Marshall, and Green B. Raum, who were unable to be present. Addresses were delivered by Dr. Newton Bateman, state superintendent of public instruction, and the regent.
Dr. Bateman in his address ably reviewed the steps in the struggle that had culminated in the establishment of the land grant universities. He had known Jonathan B. Turner for over thirty years, was his near neighbor for twenty of them and a student under him for four years. Mr. Turner it was who gave to the ambition and the determination of the inarticulate toiling masses a voice. He was definite, eloquent, determined, and in- spiring. He never, as is the mistake of so many leaders, con- fused himself with his cause ; always he saw that his cause was greater than himself and when it demanded he stepped aside. Dr. Bateman quoted a passage from Turner that takes up one of the reasons for failure in previous attempts to estab- lish industrial colleges and strikes at its root so directly that it must be quoted here :
" 'One capital and fatal error has been the idea that we should send a boy to school to learn to WORK, and not simply to learn to THINK ; thus absurdly attempting to teach, by public endowment and munificence, the little arts of PERSONAL MANIPULATION, instead of the magnificent SCIENCE of UNIVERSAL SUCCESS. Nothing could be more fatal. When I have taught a boy merely to hold a plow, I have only taught him to be a two-legged jackass twin brother of the team in front of him. But when I have taught him truly and scientifically all the mighty mysteries of seas, stars, oceans, lands and ages that are concerned in that act of plowing, I have made a man of him — had we not better say, an angel? Art, in the sense of mere labor, mere servile imitation alone, is only animal; the common property of asses, dogs and monkeys. But true labor, inspired by universal science and intelligence, is not only characteristic- ally human, but also Divine. What could be more absurd than to take a hundred boys, in their teens, away from their parents, the year round, and set them to dabbling with a hundred teams,
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for a few hours per diem, half of which break their traces and run away the first hour, under the absurd pretext of teaching these boys how to plow? When Almighty God created the heavens and the earth, and ordered man to ' eat his bread by the sweat of his brow/ he created and most liberally endowed the best possible University for learning all such mere manual arts ; and if we expect to supersede Omnipotence by grants of land for endowments in this line, it will prove worse than a Bull Run defeat; for no institution for teaching the arts and the habits of bare manipulation and industrial skill, can ever be endowed at all comparable with those which the great Father of All has most munificently spread abroad over every household, every shop, and every field, throughout the civilized globe. The PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE, therefore, and not the bare manipulations of art should form the SOLE END of Industrial Universities/ !
"So wrote Prof. Turner, " said Mr. Bateman, "four years ago, demolishing a great fallacy and enunciating a great truth, in a manner, not to be resisted or forgotten, whatever may be said of his zoological illustrations. ' '
There is no record while these remarks were in progress of the emotions of those who had insisted upon manual labor on the part of the students. Whether or not they cringed under the zoological comparison will never be known.
Mr. Bateman 's interpretation of the purpose of the university as defined in the law is interesting. It is the interpretation of Dunlap, and, undoubtedly that of the agriculturists who worked for the establishment of the institution. He said: "The pur- poses for which this University was established, the work which it must do and may do, are here stated and defined, by the su- preme and authoritative laws of Congress and of Illinois, in a manner so plain that only the most hopeless ignorance or willful perversity can misconstrue or misunderstand them.
"It will be seen that the law in respect to the instruction to be given in the University is two-fold, MANDATORY AND PERMISSIVE — certain things must be taught, certain other things are NOT EXCLUDED. Respecting the latter the Trustees seem to have discretion ; they may provide for them or
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not, as they see fit ; in respect to the former, they have no choice or discretion whatever, they must provide for them, or violate their oaths and the laws.
' ' The departments of instruction for which the trustees are positively and peremptorily required to provide, and that 'in the most thorough manner,' are two:
" 1. ' Such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, ' and
"2. 'Military tactics/
"Instruction in these is a sine qua non, a condition pre- cedent, default in which would work the forfeiture of the endow- ment.
"Those branches of learning which are 'not excluded ' and for which the Trustees MAY therefore, provide, at their discre- tion, are embraced in the comprehensive phrase, ' other scientific and classical studies/
"The boundaries of the present inquiry are thus sharply defined, both inclusively and exclusively. If the Trustees have arranged a course of study embracing ' such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts,' and also ' military tactics, ' they have strictly complied with the law ; and if in addition to these they have also provided for SOME ' other scientific and classical studies,' they have therein done precisely what the law, in so many words, allows and empowers them to do. Indeed, a much stronger interpretation of the clause, 'WITHOUT EXCLUDING other scientific and classical studies,' is held by many eminent lawyers and jurists to be legitimate, if not even obligatory. In their view it would be by no means an unwarrantable construction to regard the italicized words in the above quotation as but another form of REQUIREMENT — as coupling the duty of not excluding certain studies, with that of including certain other studies, and embracing both alike in the positive injunctions of the statute. But while this view is not without much force, and is strenuously maintained by many, I have preferred to adopt the permissive or optional theory, be- cause it is the one about which there cannot be the semblance of cloud or doubt."
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There is no doubt, then, that the interpretation of Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Bateman was the interpretation of the founders ; and if a little more liberality than they might have allowed, in the direction of the classics was, on the whole, not unfortunate for the institution, it cannot be denied that it also was fortunate that there was one on hand to prod the new institution out when it began a comfortable straying into the ruts of the old educa- tion. That the new education was intended to be 110 royal road to learning is attested by the following paragraph still from Mr. Bateman 's significant address.
'•'There is one proposition of fundamental importance in this whole matter of industrial education: If the pursuits of agriculture and the mechanic arts are ever to take, in the esti- mation of men, the commanding position to which they are justly entitled, those who are educated for them must be AS THOR- OUGHLY AND COMPLETELY EDUCATED, as those who are trained for other pursuits and professions. I consider this truth, and the recognition of it, as absolutely vital to success. If a farmer or an artisan is AS WELL EDUCATED as a lawyer, a physician, or a senator — if he has, I mean, as much knowledge, as profound a mastery of scientific and philosophical principles as much self-knowledge and self -independence, as much varied at- tainment, as much BEAIN POWER, THOUGHT POWER, and HEART POWER, he will be the PEER of the latter, in influ- ence and honor and usefulness and force, anywhere and every- where and always — but if not, he will be inferior to the other in power and influence, and no device, or pretense, or declamation, or protest, or sophistry can make it otherwise. The difference will exist precisely as long as the causes that produced it; it is simply the difference between weakness and strength. I have nothing whatever to do here with the means and instrumental- ities of education, but only with the FACT, the PRODUCT, the FINISHED WORK of culture. And I affirm again, that the cause, and the only cause, of the immensely superior power here- tofore wielded in the affairs of men, by the professional classes over the industrial classes, is that the one have thus far been better educated than the other. And now, if these Universities of the people expect successfully to compete, in their appropriate
University Organizes 303
spheres, with those which are already hoary with age and vener- able with honors; which are completely equipped and manned, and impregnably intrenched among the very foundation stones of our whole educational and social system, and interwoven with all of our ideas of intellectual culture and progress as a nation — if this is expected, (and to expect less would be to invite contempt and defeat, at the outset), the one palpable, essential and indis- pensable condition is, that the education for which they provide must be equal in ALL ESSENTIAL POINTS, in extent, in com- prehensiveness, in thoroughness, and in inspiration and power, with that afforded by the old colleges and universities of the country. Our courses of study must be as broad ; our apparatus, libraries, cabinets, and other auxiliaries and appliances, must be as ample and as good; our professors, lecturers, and teachers, must be able and earnest, as learned, adapted, and devoted, as theirs. "
In the regent's address there is abundant evidence that he already appreciated the difficulty of the pioneer in a strange land in a new cause : ' ' The Industrial University is peculiarly a child of the popular will," he said. "Designed to promote, by education, the industrial interests of the largest classes of the peo- ple, and challenging, on this very ground, popular sympathy and support, it is on these accounts more liable to be affected by the fluctuations of public sentiment regarding it than institutions of a less popular constitution. A thousand noble but vague hopes and aspirations will look here to find the help they crave; a thousand deeply felt needs of skill or power will turn to this University for their supply without knowing precisely how it is to be gained. Evils long endured will send up here their ap- peal for remedies. Fierce resentments against old wrongs or fancied wrongs, and still fiercer resolves in favor of cherished reforms or fancied reforms, will demand or battle in their cause. Urged by such a variety of notions, and viewing the matter from such a diversity of standpoints, it will not be wonderful if an almost endless variety of plans shall be presented for our guid-
ance.
"36
It must be confessed that the regent's ideas of what con-
™IUd., 177. Bateman's address. Ibid., 155.
304 History University of Illinois
stitutes industrial education seem vague when compared with those of Turner and the agriculturists.37 Possibly it was because he realized as they did not the great difficulties to be met. He emphatically avers that the highest culture is compatible with the active pursuit of industry and the richest learning will pay in a cornfield or a carpenter's shop, and that if the people can be convinced of this they will have it. "Prove that education in its highest form, will 'pay' and you have made for it the market of the world." But just wherein this culture consists, and how it is to be presented to a world willing to pay for it if only said world can be brought to a conviction of its need, does not appear.
The newspaper reports of the inauguration vary from ful- some adulation of the new enterprise to open and hilarious dis- belief. The Champaign Democrat of March 14, 1868, waxes thus enthusiastic over the inaugural :
"This may be justly called a magnificent affair throughout; happy in its conception and successful and harmonious in its execution. The substantial feast prepared for the occasion was highly creditable to our citizens, and was destroyed with a relish.
"The music — ah, the glorious, delicious music! The en- chanting harmony, the inspiring melody, the very soul of sound grandly swelling or sweetly dying away like ' angels ' whispers. ' ' Then came the announcement that the piano which aided so ma- terially in producing this "soul of sound" was for sale and that "here is a rare chance for some of our citizens to secure and keep among us this chef d'oeuvre of musical art."
The Chicago Evening Post of March 12, 1868, viewed the inauguration from a very different angle. The dinner ironically referred to as a "banquet" was, according to the Post's scribe, "gotten up in the highest style of Central Illinois, hog and hominy." Compliments to the faculty of the new institution were expressed in the following terms: "Gentlemen of the Illi- nois Industrial University the spouting of the spouters cannot save you ! Your institution in the hands of a parcel of decayed or otherwise incapacitated preachers, who have not the remotest comprehension of the demands of modern civilization upon the young men of the West, will, for all the higher purposes for which it was founded, be useless ; hence a bore and a nuisance. ' ' , 182.
University Organizes 305
Compliments to the board of trustees were delivered thus: "Between the Trustees, some of whom are incompetent, others of whom are careless in their duties, and still others of whom have an eye to bringing the institution under theological control, — between these Trustees and the Faculty, composed for the greater part of preachers who are ignorant of Science in its ap- plication to industry, we shall have — let the course of study adopted at the University of Illinois tell what ! ' '
The university, of course, could not be conducted long on either flowery eloquence or virulent criticism. Real, consistent, hard, every day labor must be performed and to do this the faculty was employed. In addition to the regent and the two professors elected in November, a fourth man was added during the spring term. On the first day recitations were held Judge Cunningham stepped into a recitation room where the regent was teaching mathematics. Dr. Gregory said that he really had not the time for such work but was compelled to do it because he had been unable to find a suitable man for the position. Cun- ningham recommended the principal of the Urbana schools, Thomas J. Burrill, who had accompanied Major Powell on his "Rocky Mountain" expedition the previous summer, as an en- thusiastic and promising young man. The fact that the Urbana schools closed early for lack of funds to continue, made it possible for Burrill to accept the place in the faculty of the new univer- sity in April. Thus began one of the most noteworthy educa- tional careers in the middle west, a career that ended only when death claimed him, a simple grand old man too busy to realize it could be quitting time.
The first faculty meeting of the university was held on March 13, a few days after the inaugural exercises. The record of the first two meetings is brief but reveals much :
"1868 Friday evening, March 13th.
1. A meeting of the Faculty of the Illinois Industrial
University was held this evening at the room of the Regent— Present, the Regent (Dr. Gregory),' Prof. Baker and Prof. Atherton.
306 History University of Illinois
The working plan which has been in operation since the opening of the term, March 2d, was considered somewhat in detail, and no present changes found nec- essary.
The following votes were passed —
That a meeting of the Faculty be held every Mon- day evening.
That under authority conferred by the Trustees, tuition be remitted to students Cragie and L. E. Shinn of Champaign Co., and to students Eader and Stoddert of Coles Co.
That the Honorary Scholarship of Sangamon Co. be awarded to student Staples.
That Prof. Atherton, for the present, act as Secre- tary to the Faculty.
Adjourned.
G. W. ATHERTON, Sec."
2. Monday evening, Mar. 16, 1868.
At the meeting of the Faculty the following votes were passed —
That labor hours be, for the present, from 1 :30 to 3 :30 P. M.
That lectures on U. States History be delivered by Prof. Atherton ; be delivered the first hour on Mon- day morning, and from 4 to 5 on Thursday afternoons.
That lectures on Physiology be delivered by Dr. Gregory on Tuesday afternoons.
That Military drill, under supervision of Prof. Ather- ton, be held Monday, Wednesday and Friday after- noons.
Adjourned.
G. W. ATHERTON, Sec."*8
"Faculty Record; I. I. I. U. (Illinois Industrial University).
University Organizes 307
The military drill thus begun under direction of Professor Atherton was continued the next two terms under the supervision of Colonel S. W. Shattuck, and in the spring term of 1869 by Captain Edward Snyder who held the position of commandant until the United States government assigned a regular army officer to this work in 1878.
The university was actually started, it had a regent, a faculty, and a student body ; three essentials of a modern educa- tional institution. Different groups of men had contributed to its establishment ; it was now to be seen what spirit would domi nate its accomplishment.
308 History University of Illinois
CHAPTER XII THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF UNIVERSITY WORK
After the enthusiasm incited by the inauguration had died away, the university settling down to every day existence found itself confronted with hard facts and hard times. It had to work its way against unbelief; money was far from plentiful and a proper expansion impossible without it. It was soon apparent that unless the legislature could be induced to appropriate funds for the new enterprise, it must certainly fail. Attention was then directed to the method that should be employed to secure legislative aid.
In 1868 Dr. J. W. Scroggs obtained the republican nomina- tion for representative, and one fact strongly urged in his favor was that he would push the financial interests of the university in the general assembly. At least one newspaper, when it was understood that the legislature was to be asked for appropria- tions, recalled that Champaign had grandly announced when bidding for the location, that she had ample buildings and means to run the university without cost to the state.1 But what a group of politicians eager to possess had promised, a group of educators had to fulfill and fulfillment was impossible. Money was absolutely essential and in the opinion of the Champaign Gazette J. W. Scroggs was the man to get it. But the mention of money plus the name Scroggs aroused apprehension, and the Illinois Democrat, of July 3, 1868, in its alarm thus indignantly inquires :
"Are those 'several things' which the Gazette says the uni- versity wants, an intimation that Champaign is to send agents to the legislature to repeat the infamy of 1865 and 1867 ? Is the Champaign swindle ring about to reorganize, and is another fraud to be perpetrated among the people by the county and an- other raid made upon the county treasury? Has somebody another tumble down old man-trap to sell to the county at three or four times its value? Is another committee to be appointed
^Jacksonville Journal, December 17, 1868.
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First Years of Work 809
and commissioned and furnished with funds for the open and avowed purpose of bribery and corruption? Are rooms to be again taken at the Leland House, an agent procured to open a whiskey chebang, and ten thousand dollars put into his hands to buy ten votes with, and all this in the interest of the industrial university ? ' '
The article concluded with the fervent hope that if the uni- versity wanted anything of the legislature it should ask for it through the regent and the board of trustees and not again ap- proach the legislators as they were approached when the loca- tion was sought. ' ' The location of the College here was obtained by means that were infamous," declared the Democrat, "and if the trustees consent to see such means continued to obtain an increase of endowment or other favors we shall consent to see that institution take its final step into contemptible oblivion." Apprehension was soon allayed, however, for Regent Gregory had no intention of allowing the work of petitioning the legis- lature for funds to devolve upon a politician; therefore, at the meeting of the board of trustees held in Urbana, November 18, 1868, he announced that the vital question that should engage the attention of the members was the propriety of asking the legislature for funds.2 It was obvious that the interests, if not indeed, the success of the university depended upon prompt and sufficient state aid and in this it did not differ from agricultural institutions in other states. In order to carry on the experi- mental work, the farms and gardens as the public expected, money that would strain the available funds to the point where the work of instruction would be seriously crippled, was re- quired ; therefore the necessity of an appeal for financial aid to the legislature.
In a business like manner the needs of the institution were spread before the legislators, instead of the latest delicacies of the cook 's art ; the power of a strong agricultural college to the future was used to persuade instead of the popping cork and jingling pocket. Yet the new methods impressed, for when the committee on education of the house of representatives had re- ported in favor of the appropriation, Gregory vigorously defined 2Second annual report of the board of trustees, p. 48.
810 History University of Illinois
the aims of the university.3 He said that the university was not organized, as many were inclined to insist, to educate the great masses of the people, and to say that was mere rhetoric and pretense for it was something that one industrial university abso- lutely could not do. Nor was it to educate the people or any part of them in simple elementary learning ; that was the prov- ince of the common schools. The object of the industrial univer- sity was "to instruct those who aim at higher scholarship and who wish to fit themselves by a thorough and liberal education, not merely for manual labor but for the science of the shop and farm — to be able to solve the great problems of agriculture and to teach to others its truths." Therefore in offering a liberal education it was necessary that the university be prepared to give such instruction that its graduates would come out as broadly and as liberally educated as graduates of law or medicine. This was properly not an appeal at all but a statement of the cold hard truth and yet it proved that it was possible to influence legislators through the understanding and reason instead of through the physical senses.
Gregory, in order to inform, to arouse interest, and to bring influence to bear upon the state assembly, put the university's needs before various groups of men who from their occupations understood the need of industrial development. As a result of a convincing address by the regent on the need of a fund for ex- perimental purposes, the Illinois state horticultural society in its thirteenth annual meeting at Bunker Hill, commencing Decem- ber 15, 1869, passed resolutions asking the general assembly to ap- propriate $22,000 for a system of experiments in horticulture. Yet at this meeting Jonathan B. Turner expressed his utter dis- belief in the new enterprise.
He reminded his hearers that for two years he had been silent upon the subject of agricultural education for there were certain things in connection with the location of the industrial university that he considered shocking, that he had been unable to get over, and for these reasons he had not been near the institu- tion. From the newspaper reports and from the circulars issued by the university itself, he felt that he must pronounce it a com- 8Springfield, State Journal, February 5, 1869.
First Years of Work 311
plete failure. The men at the head were honest but they failed to comprehend the purpose for which the institution was founded. They attended conventions and agreed with the prac- tical agriculturist in all the abstract theories, and then went home and did precisely as they had been doing. He believed that the world advanced but that the men at the head of the industrial university were hopelessly stationary, and that a fatal mistake had been made when these men had been placed in their positions. Theologians, according to Turner, had no proper place in the building up of an agricultural college because they were absolutely unable to understand the problems. "The ele- ments of an agricutural education, ' ' he said, * ' are not all found in books but also in observation ; and these teachers ought to be men who have made the sciences of agriculture and horticulture their special studies — not mere book scholars. "4
In spite of opposition, however, there was sufficient belief in the university and hope for it to guarantee success to the cam- paign for funds. It was a crucial period in the history of the institution for if further financial assistance had been refused at that time, it probably would have sunk to the level of an insignifi- cant classical school with a few cows and pigs and an ill kept farm to give it an agricultural flavor. As the first appropriation meant so much to the future of the university, the text is given in full.
"An act making appropriation for the benefit and completion of the Illinois Industrial University.
"Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, that the sum of sixty thousand dollars be and is hereby appropriated to the Illinois Industrial University, located at Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois, in amount and for the purposes hereinafter set forth viz. : To the barns and other outbuildings for the experimental and stock farm; houses for the farmer and farm laborers; fencing, draining, wells, teams, tools, seeds, bridges, roads, fruit and forest trees, and stock of several breeds and varieties, twelve thousand five hundred dollars per annum for two years.
'Prairie Farmer, January 30, 1869.
312 History University of Illinois
"To the Horticultural Department, including horticultural buildings and structures, house for gardener, barn and tool house, horticultural implements, fencing, underdraining roads, forest and fruit trees, shrubs, plants, etc., ten thousand dollars per annum for two years.
"To the Chemical Department, the sum of five thousand dollars.
"To be used for other apparatus and for books, by direction of the Trustees, ten thousand dollars.
* ' Sec. 2. The Auditor of Public accounts is hereby author- ized and required to draw his warrants upon the treasurer of the State of Illinois for the said sums of money upon the order of the Board of Trustees of said university, signed by the Regent, and attested by the secretary of said Board with the seal of said institution affixed thereto; and it shall be the duty of the treas- urer, and he is hereby authorized to pay the same out of monies in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Provided that said orders of said Trustees shall not be given except as in their judgment the necessity arises for the ex- penditure of the monies so appropriated for the specific purpose herein provided.
"Sec. 3. The act shall be deemed a public act, and be in force from and after its passage.
' ' Sec. 4. The Board of Trustees shall not create any indebt- edness, nor incur any liabilities beyond the provisions of this act.
"Approved March 27, 1869. "5
Sixty thousand dollars for the biennium ; it was a generous sum for the time and was probably just about as much as the university could make wise use of.
The university opened for its second term of work on Sep- tember 18, 1868, with an attendance of only seventy-two students, which by March, 1869, had increased to one hundred and thirty- six. It is difficult to state the distribution of the students through the various courses as many of them were engaged in prepara- tory studies, but, in the opinion of the regent, at least one-third "Laws of Illinois, 1869 ; published in Prairie Farmer, April 24, 1869.
First Years of Work 313
were taking the course in agriculture or had signified an inten- tion of entering upon it when prepared.6 The first catalogue is interesting in that it reveals the paternal attitude of the time toward students. "No pains will be spared to counsel the inex- perienced," is promised, "to admonish the careless and to save the tempted. Especially will it be an object to establish and maintain that high toned, refined and honored public sentiment, which is at once the best safeguard against meanness and vice, and a constant inspiration to nobleness and virtue. ' ' The students lived in the university building, which had sixty private rooms, each designed to accommodate two persons. The students brought their own furnishings including stoves. Naturally the personal upheaval of fuel caused long remembered episodes. Students were urged, in this catalogue, to come to the university, and not to let the mere lack of money keep them from its benefits. ' ' You can find work on the university farm and gardens, or in the shops for which you will be paid twelve and one-half cents per hour, if diligent and faithful. You can easily, without hindering your studies, work three hours a day, and if needful the whole day on Saturdays. Come without fear. What man has done man can do." Prize scholarships and honorary scholarships were offered to increase attendance, but even so the student body increased in numbers slowly.
The student life of the time is best ascertained from those who participated in it. J. A. Ockerson of the class of 1873, the well known engineer of St. Louis, Missouri, writes :
"In those days, 'burning the midnight oil' in study was the rule rather than the exception. There were no 'pampered sons of the idle rich' among the students and some of us were com- pelled to use the strictest economy to eke out a bare existence. A carefully kept account of food expenses shows an average month- ly cost of $4.10 during one college year.7 The food was pre- pared in the dormitory rooms by our own hands and needed no Mr. Hoover to conserve the supply.
'Second annual report of the 'board of trustees, p. 62. 'Charles Wesley Eolfe of the class of 1872 says this monthly expense was a bit high.
314 History^ University of Illinois
1 ' Some found it necessary to remain at the dormitory during the Christmas holidays on the score of economy, but still were alive to the necessity of ushering in the New Year with a big noise of welcome. With meagre facilities for such work we borrowed a musket from the armory and loaded it with a goodly charge of powder and when the proper time arrived a dormitory door was opened, the gun pointed down the corridor, the trigger was pulled and a satisfactory noise shook the walls of the old building. More that that, the concussion blew out the window at the end of the corridor. By the time the rattle of glass had ceased, the dormitory door was closed and silence reigned in the darkened room where the occupants had learned a new lesson in the effect of concussion.
"The University itself furnished employment in digging ditches, laying drain tile, planting trees and various other work paying therefor at the rate of 15 cents per hour. Even at that rate we were in some cases overpaid. ' ' ,
The great inspiration possible to the young men and women attending this new and struggling institution can not be better expressed than in the words of Lorado Taft, the sculptor, who received here the great impulse for his life's work. In writing of the period of the early seventies he said :
"As a near neighbor and later a pupil, it was my privilege to see Dr. Gregory almost every day for ten years. Two in- cidents remain particularly vivid. The first was a wonderful lec- ture on sculpture illustrated with stereoptican views more beau- tiful than I have ever seen since. I was thirteen or fourteen and the enthusiasm of the speaker made my blood tingle ! Nothing had ever so appealed to me. A new heaven and a new earth were opened up to my imagination. Unconsciously that night settled my fate. It is hardly necessary to say that when the entertainment was repeated at Urbana, a few evenings later, I was in a front seat.
"The purpose of the lecture was a most novel and improb- able undertaking: to awaken interest for a local art collection. Dr. Gregory's eloquence won the day and all of the leading citi- zens of Champaign and Urbana, and particularly the Faculty, contributed to a fund of several thousand dollars for the pur-
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First Years of Work 315
chase of plaster casts and photographs of the world's master- pieces. Dr. Gregory went abroad and expended the money wisely, selecting with the judgment of an authority.
' ' My second great memory was a scene in the west basement of University Hall. Scores of strange-looking packing cases and bushels of fragments of plaster casts! It might have been Armageddon or the Last Judgment ! Some few figures came forth from their shrouds intact and a small number were but slightly damaged, but the majority were smashed apparently beyond re- demption. The 'hope of Western art' lay reduced to an ash heap.
"Not a bit of it! Dr. Gregory and my father put on their overalls and devoted hours every afternoon to patching those fragments together. I was fascinated with these magnificent puzzles and soon became expert in finding ' fits. ' Then Mr. Kenis, a little Belgian sculptor, was lured from -Chicago and the work went merrily on. The Laocoon group, now standing in the vesti- bule of the Auditorium, was in a thousand pieces. If you do not believe it, let a committee scrape away the paint and you will find them!
"When the collection was opened to the public it was the first thing of the kind in all the West ; a wonder to countless visi- tors, an inspiration to generations of students. Dr. Gregory on the platform and Dr. Gregory in blue overalls had made it possible.
"Every University of Illinois student of the 70s will tell you of Dr. Gregory's morning chapel talks, those earnest, kindly appeals with their almost personal challenge to each one of us. Proud as we are today of the giant institution which we claim as Alma Mater, with its army of teachers and its cityful of pupils, one must acknowledge that something very precious has been lost in the passing of these intimate chapel meetings. On the occasional Sunday afternoon addresses the attendance was al- ways large and eager. How eloquently that rich voice used to ring in our ears ! The very reading of the Scripture was impres- sive. Across all these forty years I recall some of the texts and the very intonation with which they were spoken: "Vanity,
316 History University of Illinois
vanity: all is vanity ' and 'Though I speak with the tongues
of men and angels and have not charity '
"But closer and dearer were the ties of class room and lec- ture hour. I remember with especial pleasure a course of lec- tures, in the early days, on French history, a subject on which Dr. Gregory was unusually informed. Each character was por- trayed with masterly strokes. One saw Louis XI as on the stage. Richelieu's triangular face lived again before us. *Le Roi Soleil' shone resplendent for a glittering, gorgeous moment — and was gone ."
The every day life of the student during these first years is described by F. Adelia (Potter) Reynolds of the class of 1874, and, it may be mentioned parenthetically, the first woman grad- uate to be married. Mrs. Reynolds' father and mother con- ducted the boarding-hall in the old university building on the request of Dr. Gregory, who explained that there were no ade- quate means for providing rooms and board for students near the university, and he had a great desire that the boys just com- ing from home for the first time might find a sort of home at reasonable rates.
"We arrived, " writes Mrs. Reynolds, "about midnight at our destination and the next morning took up our quarters in the university building. You notice I say the building, for there was but one. A large, plain, red brick five story building set down flat, in the black Illinois mud, with not a tree nor a shrub, a spear of grass nor a fence. It was as desolate a place as possible to imagine, and to us, just from a pretty little village home, (in Wisconsin) surrounded by trees and flowers, it was enough to make us homesick.
"But we were speedily too busy to be homesick. We had for our private use, a sitting-room, a sewing-room and three bed- rooms on the second floor. Separated from them by a little hall Was the large dining room for the students. This afterwards became the library, and our rooms were thrown together and be- came the art museum. In the basement was the long kitchen, and a large dumb waiter carried the food to the dining room.
"My mother made every effort to carry out Dr. Gregory's wishes with regard to having a home-like table for a reasonable
First Years of Work 317
price. I think the board was $3.00 per week. In the dining- room were six, and sometimes eight long tables each seating ten persons. These were always nicely set with white linen and pretty china. There were generally sixty or over at table for the first term. Professor Atherton boarded at the Hall, most of the time he was there. He and Professor Baker (not I. 0.) were Dr. Gregory's only associates at the opening of the classes. Among the boarders were Jim Mathews, Willie Reiss, James Graham, Abbott, Sawyer, Lawver, Will Hubbard, and others. I presume they all remember bright red-cheeked Lucy and her quiet assistant who waited on table. We had a good cook, and there was an effort to make the table attractive to the boys from the farms who had always had good living. The result was that in a little over a year's time we found it could not be done, and the boarding-hall was given up. The boys boarded in clubs, or took care of themselves in their rooms, or roomed and boarded with near-bye residents."
' ' In those days all the boys were obliged to work
two hours a day, and did so until there were too many, and then those were allowed to work who needed the money to help pay expenses. There were great changes in the first few months. Fences were built. Trees and shrubs were set out. Grass was sown, and the refreshing green took the place of the mud. Gravel walks were laid out, and made it possible to step without sinking shoe deep in the mud. Altogether, at the end of the second spring the surroundings were entirely changed. ' *
In regard to the spirit of the institution, the origin of the literary societies, and the effect of the admission of women, an interesting account is given by Charles Wesley Eolf e of the class of 1872 who was for thirty-seven years an instructor and profes- sor in the university.
"When the University opened its doors," says Professor Rolf e, ' ' we were in a period of transition between the old educa- tion as it was then called, based primarily on a study of Latin and Greek, and the new which had for its basis the application of science to the affairs of daily life. The movement away from the classics and toward the sciences was then relatively new and was being vigorously pushed, so the contest between the two
318 History University of Illinois
schools of education was exceedingly bitter. Some one at that time characterized the two methods of education in this way. ' The old school trains the student to express his thoughts clearly and effectively, the new school gives him some thoughts to ex- press. ' This statement points out what was then and is now the weakest point in a scientific education. It was not and is not at all difficult to find a man, scientifically educated, thorough master of his subject, yet utterly incapable of imparting his knowledge to others, and who in consequence is an entire failure as a teacher.
' ' Dr. Gregory saw this danger very clearly and as one means of counteracting it he devoted a large share of his daily chapel talks to different phases of this subject. These talks were all the more effective because he had in his faculty at the time an exceedingly brilliant man, universally liked by the students, unusually successful in all his personal undertakings and yet except for the enthusiasm he inspired in his students a com- plete failure as a teacher. Dr. Gregory was so much in earnest about this matter that he sometimes permitted himself to use rather startling methods in order to drive home his point. One morning, having been detained in his office a few minutes beyond the time for chapel assembly, he hurriedly entered the room, walked quickly up the aisle, mounted the platform and as he suddenly turned said ' Boys, it does not make any difference how much good stuff is in a jug, if the stopper is driven so tight it cannot be drawn the whole thing is almost worthless.' Then using this as a text he talked to us for half an hour on the loss of efficiency which many men suffer through their inability to tell other people the things they really know. This talk was cer- tainly effective not only through the clearness with which the subject was presented but quite as much through the unusual character of the introduction.
"As another means to the same end, Dr. Gregory an- nounced one morning at chapel that the faculty had de- cided to organize two literary societies, and to assign each student to one or the other. He then proceeded to read the roll with the statement that the even numbered students were assigned to the Philomathean and the odd numbered to the Adelphic. It will be seen that such an arrangement came as
First Years of Work
319
near as was possible to giving the two societies an even start, yet no two groups of young men would be likely to differ more widely in their attitude and aims than did these. From the very beginning the Philos emphasized extemporaneous speaking and parlimentary practice, making quick decision, ready command of parliamentary law, and the ability to think clearly while on the feet and to put the thoughts into correct and accurate English the main points aimed at, while the Adelphics paid most attention to written production, essays and orations, making rhetorical finish in their writings, rather than ready command of their powers in emergency, the main objective. Both groups were enthusiastic in their work and their Saturday evening meetings were often extended far into the night. The characteristics of these two groups can easily be traced in the after life of their membership.
"The law under which the University was organized pro- vided that students who were not physically disabled should drill. Consequently drill was a part of the program from the beginning. We were required to drill twice a week whenever the weather permitted and as companies of militia were not very common in those days, an extra was likely to be called for when- ever prominent persons visited the University. Company escorts were also frequently called for on special occasions by both the faculty and the people of the two cities. We drilled through the entire four years. For quite a number of years, perhaps fif- teen or more, the military idea was carried much further and entered much more largely into student affairs than has been the case since. The change, I think, was for the better.
1 ' The students of the early days were mostly from the farm, and were full to overflowing with physical vigor and as a con- sequence, while there was very little that could be called mean- spirited in their fun, there was a good deal of roughness and horse-play. Sometimes this was carried so far as to be rather unpleasant to those who were not accustomed to life on a western farm, but as I said before there was very seldom any intentional meanness about it. The admission of girls to the university at the beginning of the third year had a tendency to modify this roughness to a considerable degree. The girls were mostly town bred and looked with disapproval on that peculiar type of rough- ness. They were few in number and highly respected by the
320 History University of Illinois
boys, so to a large extent their will became law in such matters, at least during school hours and to some extent throughout the day. I do not think the admission of girls had any other appre- ciable effect for a considerable number of years. The University was a boys ' school to which girls were admitted. ' '
The faculty list as presented at the beginning of the second term in the fall of 1868 was distinctly promising and rather im- posing, not only as to numbers but as to talent represented. In addition to the four instructors of the spring term, Gregory, Baker, Atherton, and Burrill, there were now on the list J. W. Powell,8 professor of natural history and geology; Willard F. Bliss, professor of agriculture, A. P. S. Stuart, professor of theoretical and applied chemistry ; Colonel Samuel W. Shattuck, assistant professor of mathematics and instructor in military tactics; Captain Edward Snyder, assistant professor in book- keeping and German : non-resident professors ; John A. Warder, Cincinnati, lecturer on vegetable physiology and fruit growing and Edward Eggleston, Chicago, lecturer on English literature.9 Most of these men had notable careers, some of them honored the Illinois industrial university with the labors of a lifetime, while others did significant work elsewhere.
The task of organizing the work of agriculture, which de- partment was intended to be particularly emphasized in the new institution, was stupendous. In the first place to put the univer- sity farms into such shape that they might serve as a laboratory for the agricultural department, proved a huge task in itself. Jonathan Periam, head farmer, undertook the work with grim determination, large enthusiasm, and exceptional ability and found them all sadly strained before even a good beginning was made. From the depths of a spirit sorely vexed, he exclaimed against "so much stock running, at large, ranging from sucking pigs to droves of cattle and horses, some of them, I am sorry to say, owned by persons who ought to have felt above allowing their stock to pasture in the road."10 Not only had predatory stock
8Other interests, chiefly journeys of exploration, took the time of Major Powell so that he never actually served the university as a professor. His resignation was presented to the board of trustees in March, 1869.
"Sketches of the lives of the members of the early faculty and their pictures will be found below, p. 348.
™ Second annual report of the board of trustees, p. 43 (a).
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to be reckoned with but predatory humans as well; who, when fences were down or easily broken through, regarded the univer- sity's carrots and potatoes as a legitimate means of lessening the cost of living. In addition to these troubles, the spring of 1868 was unusually rainy ; in several instances the first planting was entirely washed out and had to be done over. The plan of let- ting out the lands to tenants had not proved successful ; not that the tenants were unfaithful, such was far from the fact, but in order to bring the farms up to a plane where the term "model" might be even remotely applied, very different agri- cultural methods from those ordinarily in use must be introduced and consistently followed. The lands had been badly worked. Draining, clean culture, clover, and fallow crops were necessary if the soil was to be sufficiently improved to show an accomplish- ment distinctly beyond that of the neighboring farms. To do all this meant that the university must have more help and help would cost money. Yet in spite of all discouragements a real beginning was made during the year. A part of the land was kept absolutely clean and as a result sixty-one varieties of vege- tables, displayed at the Champaign county fair, received as a whole a complimentary premium besides notice on specialties. They were not placed for competition as it was considered in- advisable for the university to enter such contests with private collections. Periam resigned in March to enter upon other work, and the task of developing the university's agricultural proper- ties devolved upon Professor Bliss with three assistants ; an Eng- lishman, Thomas Franks, appointed by the board with the title of gardener to the university; Vickroy, to help in the nurseries and orchards, and Upstone, to help on the farm ; all employed by Professor Bliss under authority given by the board.
Like Periam, Bliss found his task appalling, and he, too, al- most went down in despair before the problem of the main stock farm. The former owner assured him that it was because it was such capital ground for the application of agricultural science that he had sold it — it had reached that state of exhaustion where it no further could be expected to pay until considerable money had been spent upon it. What better could an agricultural col- lege ask than broad, completely exhausted acres that required
322 History University of Illinois
only the expenditure of unlimited time, money, science and per- serverence to respond nobly ? Bliss after one year of grim, hard work was able to see success ahead ; a long time ahead, it is true, but still success. Nor was agriculture proper his only burden. He had charge of the execution of the plans of the committee on horticulture and the superintendence of the farms, literally the work of three men. Therefore at the annual meeting of the board in 1870, Bliss respectfully and wearily asked to be re- lived of the charge of the horticultural department and of the active superintendence of the farms.
Although the conduct of the horticultural department had been discouraging, much hard work had produced some good re- sults. An orchard of 2,193 trees of 1000 varieties had been planted and about 600 apple trees one to three years old had been planted in the nursery for the purpose of filling in wet places and replacing any that might die. Also there was planted in the nursery 3,000 green ash, 1000 white elm, 1000 american arbor vitae, 1000 balsam fir, 1000 red pine, 200 austrian pine, 100 scotch pine, a number of varieties of pears, cherry, tulip and sycamore, 400 soft maple, 10,000 white pine, 1000 white spruce, 1000 red pine, and 1000 hemlock, besides osage hedges which thrived so stoutly all of them are not grubbed out yet, and shelter belts of trees set twelve feet inside the hedge.11 The ornamental gardens had displayed all the seasonal blossoms in the orderly stars and circles that were the delight of the time. The vegetable gardens had produced a considerable quantity of vegetables, that had been marketed, not only in Champaign and Urbana, but in Chicago as well. Small fruits were growing, a green house was in process of construction, a portion of the gardens was underdrained, and the work of underdraining the remainder was being pushed. ,
Mention here must be made of a significant series of lectures held at the industrial university from January 12-22, 1869. In holding the series the university was following the precedent of the Yale agricultural lectures of 1860. The lecturers were : Regent Gregory, Professors Stuart, Baker, and Burrill, H. C. Freeman of the state geological survey, Dr. John A. Warder, Dr. L. D. "Ibid., p. 64.
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Morse, editor of the Journal of Agriculture, M. L. Dunlap, W. C. Flagg, Jonathan Periam, Captain Edward Snyder, Dr. E. S. Hull of Alton who spoke on ''orchard fruits," George Husman of Hermann, Mo., Samuel Edwards of Lemoille, Col. N. J. Cohnan, editor of the Rural World, Elmer Baldwin, A. M. Bar- land, president Illinois sheep growers association, John H. Tice, secretary Missouri board of agriculture, and 0. B. Galusha.
The lectures were received enthusiastically and the discus- sions were earnest and lively. The attendance was small, but those who were present expressed deep satisfaction in the stimula- tion to increased effort in their work that they had received. It was not strange that the attendance was not large for the two towns were not equipped to care for many strangers; railroad travel was not as common as today nor as pleasant ; * ' good roads" had not yet become the subject of a movement and a journey of thirty or forty miles over existing roads, and that in the dead of winter, was a hazardous undertaking; also, it was known that the lectures and discussions would be printed in the annual re- port of the board of trustees, and most people preferred to wait and read them comfortably by their own firesides, where they could, in imagination, take part in discussions, flooring all who disagreed with them in a manner far more satisfactory than they probably could have done in the flesh. A large portion of the lectures were published in the report of the Missouri board of agriculture, whose secretary, L. D. Morse, made this comment: 1 1 Thus was inaugurated a new and probably important improve- ment." Morse was right for what was inagurated was a fore- runner of the modern "short course" with attendance running up into the thousands.
It was during a discussion at this course of lectures that Gregory plunged M. L. Dunlap, who was beginning to entertain hopes of him, into despair. "Altho," Dunlap had said the month before the discussion in question, "the practical part of Dr. Gregory's education may cost us eight thousand dollars, it may yet be worth the full sum to us."12 But at this discussion Dunlap repented of his optimism when Gregory arose and sug- gested, as a mere theory it must be admitted, that as the human
"Chicago Tribune, December 22, 1869.
324 History University of Illinois
system, if frozen, dies, so a tree frozen to t'he heart will die also. Over this Dunlap sorrowed publicly in the Chicago Tribune of March 2, 1869. He said plainly that what was needed at the university was not a theological professor "certainly not a man who thinks that because a man dies who is frozen stiff ergo that a tree dies that is frozen to the heart, but what is needed is a good business man."
Yet at the second annual meeting of the board of trustees held at the university March 9, 1869, Dr. J. M. Gregory was elected regent. The name of Jonathan B. Turner was proposed and he received two votes notwithstanding the fact that he was not seeking the office. A friend on the board thought Turner might accept the position if it were offered; and, with him at the head, the uneasiness and public lack of confidence in the uni- versity would disappear. But the majority of the board had confidence in Gregory's power to succeed in a difficult situation. Also they felt that his two years experience in Illinois as the head of the institution was too valuable to lose, that he was a man with the ability to grow and that he had the interest of in- dustrial education at heart. In his journal for this period Greg- ory comments thus briefly upon the course of events.
"1869 — In March the Trustees at their meeting re-elected me Regent for two years, the legal time. In May, having asked leave of absence for the summer, I sailed for Europe purposing to spend the vacation in visiting the schools of Europe. During the summer I visited England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, and Belgium, experiencing great pleasure and gaining much useful information. I returned in September after an ab- sence of about four months, very much improved in health. ' '
During the summer of 1869 an expedition through Illinois, the first effort of the kind undertaken by the university, was made for the purpose of survey and collection in the department of na- tural history. The appropriation of three hundred dollars for the expedition had been made at the annual meeting of the board in 1869, and the expenditure of that sum was placed in the com- petent hands of Thomas J. Burrill, who with five or six students, was thus enabled to make for the university a collection of plants, birds, reptiles, insects, mammals, a number of fossils, of fresh
First Tears of Work 325
water shells, and of minerals together with some specimens of different kinds of wood, soils, materials of manufacture, and of manufactured articles.
With the opening of the university year in 1869 an increase in attendance began. Early in the autumn of that year one hun- dred and thirty-two students were enrolled which by winter had increased to one hundred and fifty-seven. One new name ap- pears in the list of professors for 1869 — S. W. Robinson, profes- sor of mechanical science, and three new; names appear among the instructors of lower rank — James Belangee, teacher of archi- tectural and mechanical drawing, H. M. Douglas, assistant in laboratory; Alexander Thompson, C. E., practical mechanic and foreman of machine shops ; and as a non-resident professor, be- sides John A Warder of Cincinnati, Professor Sanborn Tenny as lecturer on zoology.
A significant development of the mechanical department be- gan in 1869 with the arrival of Robinson from Michigan univer- sity who was little short of a genius in mechanics and nothing short in handling boys. His work was practical for it squared with men's needs. With the help of an assistant, Alexander Thompson, a graduate of the scientific department of Michigan university and an accomplished draftsman and civil engineer, he devised and constructed an engine instead of purchasing one outright. It was made with different sets of valve gears which made it possible to exhibit several distinct forms of the steam engine at comparatively small expense. The mechanical students helped, both in the actual work and in the making of the pat- terns. The result was the completion of a fine ten-horse power engine which probably had as much human satisfaction wrought into it as any other engine in the world. Robinson was adequate for all emergencies. When his department needed more room he inspired the members of the department until they longed to raise the roof of the carpenter's shop and add a second story; thus a good shop was secured at small expense. The fame of the department spread and the students who came proved the in- tense eagerness that existed for sound instruction along prac- tical lines. Carpenters, cabinet makers, blacksmiths,' carriage makers, house painters, coach painters, and machinists were
326 History University of Illinois
among the students enrolled.13 One master mechanic even sold his shop and presented himself as a student. These men, who already knew their trade, were a vigorous and valuable addition to the student body. Thus was organized the first educational shop work in any American university.
The university was beginning to attract the attention of men engaged in the industries and allied professions out in the state. Among the speakers at the agricultural lectures and discussions held at the university January 10 to 14, 1870, was a veterinary surgeon of Quincy, Illinois, H. J. Detmers, a German, trained in the severe and exact methods of his native land. He outlined a course that he thought would be advisable for the industrial uni- versity and planned a stable and hospital. Commenting upon the condition of veterinary science as he found it in the United States, he said : ' ' The veterinary practice is with few exceptions in the hands of quacks, horse jockeys and ignorant blacksmiths. Maltreatment kills in this country more valuable animals than die by disease." For several years following Dr. Detmers was a member of the university staff as lecturer on veterinary science. It happened that a man named Whitney was present who had been a blacksmith since he was eleven years old. Naturally alert and curious, he had treasured the old dried bones of dead horses and studied them. He found that he could perform many opera- tions while shoeing a horse ; for instance, in the case of a quarter hoof ; when the shell of the hoof was thick enough he bored a gim- let hole each side of it, put in a wire and tied the parts together. Again by properly shoeing a fine horse that was offered for sale at a fraction of his value because of a lame sore foot, he was able to cure the lameness. The relation of such experiences in the discussions impressed the hearers with the value of knowledge; forced attention upon it and gave to the work of the masses a new dignity.
In the winter of 1870 instead of holding a single series of lectures at the university, three were held, one at the university, the second at -Centralia, and another at Rockford. Apparently the plan was not considered especially adapted to the situation at that time for it was not continued in the years immediately following.
"Third annual report of the board of trustees, p. 199.
ALETHANAI SOCIETY 1871
Cary
Douglas
Stewart
Baker
Chase
|
Whitcomb Cheever Fillmore Hunt Gregory |
Anderson Kellogg Baker Merriam Whitcomb |
Columbia Canine Gregory Walker Detmers |
Campbell Stewart Romine Coffeen Steele |
Blaisdell Lee Folk Potter Reynolds |
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827
In order to stimulate interest in the studies for which the university was especially established, the board of trustees in March, 1869, voted that, with the opening of the academic year in September, tuition should be free to students pursuing work exclusively in the agricultural, polytechnic, and military depart- ments.14 As for the military during the first two years, the students were drilled in the manual of arms and in the evolutions of the company. As yet there was no drill hall but in 1870 a bill that had for its object the erection of such a building a year later came before the military committee of the board, and as a result the legislature appropriated $25,000 for a shop and drill hall.
At the annual meeting held March, 1870, a question that recurred as surely as the seasons was settled. Women had been knocking for admission at the doors of the university from the first. The question came to a vote in the board in 1869, but a majority of the trustees were not ready for the departure. The knocking was stopped in the only way possible — by letting the ladies in. Gregory, as early as 1867, had emphatically asserted his recognition of the right of women to equal educational privi- leges with men. He had found that when women were admitted to classes with men they equalled or excelled them in scholarship and he was in favor of their admission whenever the state should provide ''suitable buildings and appliances for their educa- tion at the University. ' >15 The fact that he was not in favor of ad- mitting women until suitable buildings were ready for their re- ception, gave rise to a misunderstanding which traveled widely. Gregory was opposed to the admission of women, was asserted, and this was often used against him. The students themselves, ac- cording to tradition were glad to have their sisters share their privileges. It is related that a number of students, knowing the subject of the admission of women was to be brought up at a meet- ing of the board, posted themselves above the room at a convenient stove pipe hole to hear the outcome, and were so delighted when the decision was made that they forgot quiet is best for eaves- droppers and burst into applause.
"Second animal report of the board of trustees, p. 88. "Transactions Illinois horticultural society, 1867, pp. 85-86.
328 History University of Illinois
It was evident by 1870 that the university was growing in power and strength. Criticism had helped it and there was more of that kind of aid immediately ahead. The agriculturists and other sincere educators of the state, rather out of touch with the progress of affairs at the university, had consigned it to the limbo of a one horse classical institution, with — most damn- ing curse of all! — a preacher at the head, and mourned over it as lost to hope. It is very probable that it was through the ef- forts of these men that in March, 1869, the legislature passed condemnatory resolutions in regard to the industrial university. These resolutions were introduced in the house, March 19, 1869, by Mr. Parker of the 39th district, and were passed by a vote of 49 to 12. They were as follows :
"Whereas complaints are made in every quarter of the state that the Illinois Industrial University, located at Urbana, is be- ing diverted in its management from the ' leading objects' for which said institution was endowed and established, and is prac- tically conducted on the basis of an ordinary academic and classic school, and whereas, it is deemed advisable for this General As- sembly to give expression to the views and wishes of the people of the State as to the objects and management of said institution ; therefore be it
"Resolved, That the Illinois Industrial University has for its leading and essential objects the teaching of such branches of learning as relate to agriculture, horticulture, and the mechanic arts, and the consequent promotion of the industrial classes in the various pursuits of life by imparting to them a liberal and practical education.
"Resolved, That it be the duty of the board of trustees to adopt and enforce such rules and regulations for the conduct and management of said institution as will peculiarly adapt to the educational wants of students who are looking forward to the adoption of farming or mechanics as their chosen avocation in life."16
The painful effect of such action upon those immediately concerned with the conduct of the institution was greatly less-
Journal, State of Illinois, 111:329, (1869). Senate Journal, II; 718, (1869).
First Years of Work 829
ened by the fact that this legislature had also voted the first ap- propriations for the university. Undoubtedly, however, the reso- lutions bore fruit for in 1870 the constitutional convention of Illinois was asked to include a provision for a university in the new constitution; one that should be, in the language of Jesse Fell, "what has not been fully organized upon this continent, a university in fact, a grand and comprehensive school, equal in its scope and power of development to our present and future greatness, and in harmony with the advancing civilization of the age. ' n 7 Among the men at the head of the movement were Jonathan B. Turner and Jesse W. Fell, each of whom had striven so valiantly to obtain the location of the industrial university for his own county, but who had ever been friendly and in entire accord upon the leading features of education. One idea now advanced was to establish a great university with headquarters at Chicago, perhaps, and affiliated institutions throughout the state. For this Jesse Fell had pledged $100,000 and found six others willing to do the same. John Eberhart of Chicago pledged $100,000 and found two others willing to do likewise. This alone meant an endowment of one million dollars.18 In a paper prepared by Turner and presented to the constitutional convention, he suggested the incorporation in the fundamental law of a provision for the establishment of a university of the highest grade, adequately endowed to do work of the most fin- ished order. Whether the endowments proposed should be con- ferred on any institution existing or whether some entirely new institute should be endowed for the purpose, was not at that time to be determined. It was neither desired nor expected that every state should support a university of the magnitude proposed. Turner suggested one for the Pacific slope under the general direction of the mining interests ; a second under the cotton and planting interests of the south ; a third under the manufacturing interests of the east; and a fourth under the agricultural inter- ests of the west. He urged that there were a sufficient number of colleges and universities of ordinary character. The one pro- posed ' ' should be such a one as shall tower above them all ; one
"Memorial to Constitutional Convention, January 31, 1870. 18Fell Memorial, transcripts at the University of Illinois.
330 History University of Illinois
that shall be so endowed and so planned that it can command the very highest order of talent, and teach all the branches of science and every useful knowledge. For a beginning and a permanent support it was suggested that a certain per cent of the revenue derived from the Illinois central railroad should be devoted to its support and maintenance.
He went on to explain that both the normal school and the industrial university would be parts of the proposed larger in- stitution. His disappointment in the industrial university crops out: "It is a certainty," he said, "that the Industrial Univer- sity cannot under its present management and in the direction in which it has been conducted, fulfill all the grand hopes and expectations that were incited at its conception and inaugura- tion." He was sure that it would confound any man to tell wherein the industrial university differed from or excelled the ordinary college, but, Turner finally averred, "as a coordinate branch of the great University, where should be gathered the finest intellects in the various departments of instruction, where there shall be abundant apparatus and cabinets, and where narrow minds shall not rule, and bigotry find no home, its grand scope, end, and aim may be attained. ' n 9
Jesse M. Fell also addressed a memorial to the convention the last day of January, 1870, as a representative of the Illinois state teachers' association. He urged the establishment of a university which should be in fact a "universal school" where all branches of learning and the professions should be taught. Anything that fell short of this large conception "at least in its scope and constitution is alike unworthy of us as a people and of the age in which it is our privilege to live. ' '20 He suggested that such a university be supported by setting aside the one- tenth part of the two mill tax, but not until after the existing state debt was extinguished. Fell gave freely of his time and enthusiasm in the attempt to bring the proposed institution into reality, but the plan was not incorporated in the new constitu- tion. Oppressing the future with a financial burden seemed manifestly unjust to certain members of the convention; other
^Prairie Farmer, January 8, 1870.
20Life of Jesse Fell, p. 80, Frances Morehouse.
First Years of Work 331
members who it was thought would be ardent in urging the uni- versity, grew cold at the time of the test. The very act of giving expression, however, to what would mean satisfaction in a pro- posed educational institution, centered attention upon causes of dissatisfaction in the institutions existing.
When the northern Illinois horticultural society met in Dixon, January 27, 1870, the industrial university was the sub- ject of thorough discussion and thorough disapproval. It was, in the estimation of the gentlemen discussing, a pitiful failure with a preacher at the head. The following resolutions offered by Smiley Shepherd expressed their sentiments :
"Whereas, By an act of Congress, a fund for an endowment of institutions in each State has been granted for teaching, as its leading objects the sciences relating to 'agriculture and the me- chanic arts/ without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, for the advancement and elevation of the laboring classes ; and
"Whereas, In our State Institution organized under and in accordance with the provisions of said endowment, the Trustees do, by their published curriculum, give each student the right to decide the course of study to be pursued, irrespective of the declared design of the endowment.
"Resolved, As the sense of this society that any and all teachings in said institution that supersedes or comes in competi- tion with the declared leading design of such grant should be ruled contraband, and be disallowed at all times in such school.
"Resolved, Further, as the sense of this Society that it is imperatively necessary for the preservation of the funds to the leading design of the grant that the charter of our State in- stitution should be so amended as to confine its teaching to agri- culture and the mechanic arts until the pupil has taken a full course in them, and then if so desiring, may have such classical and literary instructions as the institution may be able to afford.
"Resolved, further, That the exclusion of the female sex from a full participation in the advantages of such education in our agricultural schools as they should be able to give, is a fla- grant wrong to both male and female, and ought not to be tolerated.
332 History University of Illinois
"Resolved, That this society earnestly ask a representative convention from all the county societies, agricultural, mechanical and horticultural, to take into consideration the present state and future prospects of our Industrial Institution, and to make such indications of their wishes as will be a sure guide in at- tempting their reformation."21
A committee was appointed to call a convention as recom- mended in the resolutions. This it was that led to the Bloom- ington convention of 1870, one of the most significant in the whole history of the agricultural college conventions. Here it was that the bitter unbelief which appeared to check affairs every time they started to run smoothly, was forever dispelled.
Considering the Dixon resolutions from the standpoint of simple fairness, it must be conceded that they showed poor com- prehensions of the policies of the university. As for allowing the student the right to choose the studies he would pursue, it was no more than the fundamental law implied in the clause " without excluding other scientific and classical studies." The faculty of 1869-1870, as a glance at the catalog reveals, was not largely made up of classicists but of men who were teaching the practical branches: Bliss in agriculture; Stuart, in chemistry; Shattuck in mathematics and engineering; Burrill in natural history; Robinson in mechanics; Belangee in mechanical draw- ing; Dr. Warder in horticulture; Snyder in bookkeeping, mili- tary tactics, and drawing ; Franks as florist ; and Vickroy as gar- dener and orchardist. This left only Professor Baker, who taught English; his assistant, Douglas, who taught Latin and French; and Dr. Gregory, who filled in wherever occasion de- manded— now teaching a class in history, or in physiology, mathematics, French, agriculture, or Latin. The men were able, earnest, enthusiastic, and, as Dr. Gregory once pointed out, had come up from a youth of hard labor with the habits learned by labor.22
The truth is that at this period what was most needed for the welfare of the institution was that the agriculturists and sharp critics of the university's policies should make an honest
^Prairie Farmer, February 5, 1870.
^Second annual report of the 'board of trustees, p. 63.
First Years of Work 333
334 History University of Illinois
man could not be found to give such, instruction — it was ex- tremely difficult to find one qualified both theoretically and prac- tically. One man had been under appointment for over a year, and then finally had declined to come. The newness of the enter- prise, the fact that it was made the subject of constant and bitter attack, caused men at all suitably located to hesitate before attach- ing themselves to it. "Rural" had placed at least a part of the blame for the alleged failure of the university upon the heads of the trustees, asserting that failure was foreordained when a majority of the trustees were clergymen, schoolmasters, lawyers, doctors, and politicians. To this "A Professor" re- torted : ' ' By actual count full two-thirds of the present members of the board are engaged either in farming or horticulture." "Rural" spoke of the sweeping condemnation of the institution issued by the last legislature. ' ' A Professor ' ' replied that it was easy to endure as it amounted to $60,000. Other objections made by ' ' Rural ' ' were taken up and answered.
The Bloomington convention was held as planned but it was poorly attended. A delegation of ten or twelve from the uni- versity and two towns, was made to feel decidedly unwelcome. The Champaign County Gazette of March, 1870, stated that the attendance was absurdly small for the great work undertaken — the expression of the wishes and views of the industrial classes on the questions of industrial education. A count proved that there were only twenty-eight persons present when the meeting opened, which was increased to thirty-five according to the same paper, "by going out into by-ways and corners and hauling in convenient strangers who were willing to be hastily branded as delegates." As soon as he could, Gregory rose and invited the entire body to adjourn to the university, that they might see for themselves just what was being done there. He urged it upon them; he insisted, even offering them free transportation over the new I. B. & W. railroad. It was an invitation difficult to decline and "evidently disconcerted the convention, till Turner suggested that while it would be improper to attempt to examine into the administration at such a distance, it was quite possible for them to look into the organization."
In the evening about fifty people assembled and a committee appointed for the purpose, reported the following resolutions:
EARLY ALUMNI WHO HAVE DEVOTED THEIR LIVES TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Charles Wesley Rolfe of the class of 1872 entered the Illinois Industrial Uni- versity in September, 1868. He was a member of the Philomathean society. From 1872-1873 he served as an assistant in natural history; from 1881 to 1917 he was connected with the university as professor of Geology and most of the period as head of the department. He has rendered special service in originating and organizing the school of ceramics and in making a contour map of Illinois — of each county in the state. In 1917 he was made professor of geology emeritus.
Nathan Clifford Kicker of the class of
1872 entered the University in 1870. He was second president of the college gov- ernment. The first two terms of 1872-
1873 he was in charge of the department of architecture and the summer term of 1873 he spent in study in Berlin, Ger- many. From that time until the present he has been connected with the University as instructor, professor and dean. His contributions to the science of his pro- fession have been many. He is, too, the architect of the law building, the (old) armory, and the natural history hall. He has been made professor emeritus.
Ira Osborn Baker of the class of 1874 entered the University in 1870. He was a member of the Adelphic society. Im- mediately upon graduation he became an assistant in Civil Engineering and physics at the University. He advanced rapidly through the various ranks, instructor, as- sistant-professor, and in 1880 was made professor of civil engineering. He, too, has contributed much to the science of his profession and though made professor emeritus he is still active in many duties at the University.
First Years of Work 335
"Resolved, 1. That it is the sense of this convention, judg- ing from the annual report of the Trustees of the Illinois Indus- trial University, that the course of studies of the University is not in accordance with the design of the originators of the scheme of industrial education in the United States, or with the act of Congress, or with the charter establishing the institution.
"2. That in our opinion the ancient languages should not be made prominent or taught as an independent course in the Industrial University, but only in connection with an agricul- tural and mechanical education.
"3. That we claim the right, as citizens of Illinois, to freely criticise the doings of our State Institutions, so far as the same are made public in their published reports.
"4. That a committee of five be appointed by the Chair, in compliance with the invitation of the Regent of the Industrial University, to examine into the management of the same, and make such report as circumstances shall seem to justify to a future meeting, to be called by said committee. ' >23
Turner, called upon for an expression, said that he had tried "to secure for Illinois a great Industrial University, such as Mr. Cornell had secured for New York. He then took up the Annual Report of the University and read from its course, ' First, we find here Chemistry, ' said he, ' this you will say is right. Next comes Natural History. This is as it should be. Then follows Agriculture, Mechanical Philosophy, Mathematics, -Civil Engi- neering, etc., and this you will say is right. And what comes last? The Languages, just as they should. All this is much better than the old system, and this institution is far in advance of others in those particulars.' ' The criticism he made then was that the student must be ground through a four years' course while he thought "a young man ought to be permitted to take what he pleases — to take chemistry alone, if he wishes it, for three months."
Had Turner given the catalog a thorough reading he would have found that the very elasticity for which he pled was ac- corded. Under the heading, "Departments of Study" in the first catalog is found this paragraph: "It is expected that each "Champaign County Gazette, March , 1870.
336 History University of Illinois
student will pursue studies^ in three or more departments at the same time, in order to fully employ his time. But, on special re- quest, he may give his whole time to any one department, if the studies and practice in that department will afford him full em- ployment. ' '
Turner acknowledged, however, that the industrial university had worked its way against disadvantages. * ' If the State would give them $500,000 to begin with, and $100,000 a year through all coming time, then we might expect great things of them." He then went on to state his idea of what such an institution as the industrial university might become. This greatly impressed his audience, as the following from the Gazette's account of the convention shows:
' 'We could have wished the whole state present to hear his eloquent exposition of the sublime scope of the true Industrial University. Without knowing it, (for he had evidently misread the report) he made a most effective defense of the plans of the Trustees, and we count confidently on Professor Turner, as a firm supporter of those plans when he shall give them more careful attention."
Nor was the writer mistaken in his confident expectation as will appear later. William M. Baker of the university faculty made a statement of what the university was doing, and showed that it was fulfilling the law, according to his interpretation at least. Whereupon the resolutions were passed with but little show of interest. Turner obtained the passage of a resolution declaring it to be the unanimous wish that the constitutional convention should take such action as the honor of the state demanded in behalf of university education. Another member moved that the convention ask the legislature to make liberal appropriations to the industrial university and the convention broke up in the midst of good feeling.
It was good feeling that became more pronounced when the committee appointed at the convention visited the university and made an honest investigation. And best of all Turner was completely won over to the new institution of which he had hoped so much. The impossible had happened — the preacher at the head of the university had made good and the Grand Old Man
First Years of Work
337
in the cause of industrial education was the first to rejoice in the fact that he himself had been mistaken.
The visit of the committee was made September 20 and 21, 1870. They found in attendance 194 men and 14 women students divided into classes as follows; each student carrying three or more studies: agriculture and horticulture 50, mechanics and civil engineering 54, chemistry 65, comparative anatomy 15, mathematics1 138, military tactics 23, commercial 50, English lit- erature etc. 92, German 63, French 27, Latin 20, Greek 0, which w'as precisely the number the committee was pleased to find pur- suing that ancient and time honored means of culture. The farms, gardens, and machinery were found to be, like patients recovering from small pox, doing as well as could be expected. The investigations by this committee cleared up the misunder- standing that had prevailed, and laid to rest the distrust that had so hampered the development of the university. All parties now could unite in pronouncing the first years of foundation building successful. Upon these foundations which had been well laid in spite of and because of keen criticism, there now could be reared in the course of the next half century, a structure of the highest significance and truth.
338
History University of Illinois
CHAPTER XIII THE FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES
In pursuance of the law creating the university, Richard J. Oglesby, Governor of Illinois, on March 1, 1867, appointed the following to the first board of trustees.
Name
Allen, Lemuel Blackburn, Alexander Bateman, Newton, LL.D. Brayman, Mason Brown, A. M. Brown, E. L. Burchard, Horatio C. Burroughs, J. C. Cobb, Emery Cunningham, J. O. Dunlap, M. L. Edwards, Samuel Flagg, Willard C. Galusha, O. B. Goltra, M. C. Hammond, David S. Harding, George Hayes, S. S. Hungate, J. P. Johnson, John S. Lawrence, Luther Mahan, Isaac S. MeConnell, A. B. McMurray, L. B. Pickrell, J. H . Pullen, Burden Quick, Thomas Scroggs, J. W. Topping, Charles H. Van Osdell, John M. The Governor The Begent
District
8th Congressional 9th Congressional Ex offieio
2nd Grand Judicial 13th Congressional 3d Grand Judicial 5th Congressional 3d Grand Judicial 3d Grand Judicial 2nd Grand Judicial 7th Congressional 5th Congressional 12th Congressional 6th Congressional 10th Congressional 1st Congressional 2d Grand Judicial 3d Grand Judicial llth Congressional 4th Congressional 2d Congressional 1st Grand Judicial Ex offieio
1st Grand Judicial 2d Grand Judicial 1st Grand Judicial 1st Grand Judicial 2d Grand Judicial 1st Grand Judicial 3d Grand Judicial Ex offieio Ex offieio
Post Office Pekin Macomb Springfield Springfield Villa Eidge Chicago Freeport Chicago Kankakee City Urbana Champaign Lamoille Alton Morris Jacksonville Chicago Paris Chicago Louisville Warsaw B'elvidere Centralia Springfield Effingham Harristown Centralia Irvington Champaign Makanda Chicago Springfield University
County
Tazewell
McDonough
Sangamon
Sangamon
Pulaskl
Cook
Stephenson
Cook
Kankakee
Champaign
Champaign
Bureau
Madison
Grundy
Morgan
Cook
Edgar
Cook
Clay
Hancock
Boone
Marion
Sangamon
Effingham
Macon
Clinton
Washington
Champaign
Jackson
Cook
Sangamon
Champaign
Lemuel Allen (b. 1818 — d. 1905) who served as trustee from 1867-1871 always took an active part in the educational and religious life of his community. He served Tazewell county for
MEMBERS OF FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES
LUTHER LAWRENCE ISAAC MAHAN EMORY COBB
NEWTON BATEMAN EICHARD OGLESBY
LUTHER W. LAWRENCE MOORE C. GOLTRA ALEXANDER BLACKBURN
The First Board of Trustees 339
ten years as superintendent of schools ; he taught in Springfield, Decatur and Pekin; he helped in organizing the first Baptist church in Decatur and also in Pekin. He was alert, aggressive, and ever alive to the educational needs of his community and time.
Newton Bateman, LL.D. (1822-1897) was trustee ex officio from 1867-1873. Bateman was in his time one of the noteworthy figures in the state, being a man of extraordinary personality as well as unusual mental gifts. He was a graduate of Illinois college at Jacksonville. He entered upon his life work as a teacher by accepting the principalship of an English and classical school in St. Louis ; later he was professor of mathematics in St. Charles college, St. Charles, Missouri. He left Missouri to re- turn to Jacksonville where he served as principal of the main public school, county superintendent of schools of Jackson coun- ty, and principal of Jacksonville female academy. In 1858 he was elected state superintendent of public instruction. By suc- cessive re-elections he continued in this office fourteen years, serving continuously from 1859 to 1875 except for two years (1863-1865) when he was refused in his campaign for re-election. These years were for Bateman joyous with production. He worked earnestly and successfully to develop the efficiency of the common school system. He also prepared some seven volumes of biennial reports, portions of which have been republished in five different European languages, besides a volume of "Common school decisions," originally published by authority of the gen- eral assembly. This volume has been recognized by the courts. In addition to his official duties Bateman, during a part of this period, served as editor of "The Illinois teacher" and he was one of a committee of three which prepared the bill adopted by congress creating the national bureau of education. A few months after his retirement from the state superintendency in 1875, Bateman accepted the presidency of Knox College in Gales- burg where he remained until 1893. Naturally he was a most useful member of the board of trustees of the new university. He served upon the committee on course of study and library and cabinets.
Alexander Blackburn (1805-1897) was a member of the board of trustees from 1867-1873. He was a farmer and teacher
340 History University of Illinois
and understood, through toeing one of them, the educational needs of the sons of the soil.
Mason Brayman (1813-1895) served as trustee from 1867- 1873. Brayman, a scholar among lawyers, had long held a high position in his profession. At one time, some years before this date, having been appointed to revise the statutes of the state, his work was eminently satisfactory to courts and lawyers, and filled an important place in the judicial affairs of the state. As a soldier he had served the Union cause in a manner that won the good opinion of all. The scholarly attainments of General Brayman marked him as one well chosen to further the new edu- cational movement. General Brayman served on the committee on faculty and course of study and military department.
Horatio C. Burchard, (1825-1908) who served as trustee from 1867 to 1870, was an eminent lawyer of Freeport. He had much experience in state affairs as a member of the general assembly and a large acquaintance with the leading men who were then directing public opinion in the state. Mr. Burchard was a man of scholarly attainments, and for several terms repre- sented the Freeport district in the lower house of congress, fol- lowing which service he filled the position of director of the United States mint at Philadelphia.
John -Curtiss Burroughs, (1818-1875) who was a trustee from 1867-1870, was president of the old Chicago University then on account of its poverty in a dying condition, and had had long experience in the education of the old type of college. That was, however, in a manner, to be discarded in the new movement which was to introduce a system of education more practical in character. Not a few members of the board, especially those leaders in the agricultural and horticultural societies who had a place there, looked upon his presence on the board as portend- ing no good to their views. Dr. Burroughs was also a strenuous churchman as were Messrs. Edwards, Galusha, Goltra, Mahan, Quick, Van Osdel, and Lawrence. Thomas Quick was at the head of a denominational school in one of the southern counties. As these gentlemen all belonged to one particular church — Baptist — it took some time and experience to allay suspicions which naturally arose among those who wanted an entire absence
The First Board of Trustees 341
of denominations in the new university and devotion to worldly matters alone. However, Burroughs proved a most broad minded member of the board. His experience as the head of the Chicago university and as an educator of wide practice gave him the very qualities needed. All through the work of the session he showed himself capable, and under his influence were many others of the trustees who were aided in their work. Burroughs served on the committee on library and cabinets.
Alexander Montgomery Brown (1818-1879) who served as trustee 1868-1879, was a man of broad and generous ideas, though not an educator by profession and very practical in all his views. He was a lawyer and possessed the confidence of all who were so fortunate as to make his acquaintance. He was a most useful member of the board, his practical turn of mind and great business sagacity at all times being found most useful in solving difficult questions concerning the management of the affairs of the university. He served on the auditing committee and the committee on by-laws and rules.
Emory Cobb, (1831-1910) served as trustee from 1867-1893. His connection with financial matters eminently fitted him for the position of financial director of the new university and he was appointed on the committee of finance by Governor Oglesby, acting president of the board upon the first day of the first session of that body. In that position he continued as long as he served as a trustee. The appointment was a most fortunate one, and brought into the services of the university one whose work had well fitted him as a manager and director of any great financial affair, and one whose devotion to the interests of the university called into action all the power he possessed.
The time and attention given by him to the affairs of the university for more than a quarter of a century would have com- manded from any financial institution a salary of the most liberal dimensions, but he cheerfully and freely gave all his efforts to the university. Without exaggeration it can be claimed for him that he exerted a greater influence upon the financial, agri- cultural, and educational policies of the university than any other member of the board of trustees. He served only, however, upon the financial committee.
342 History University of Illinois
Joseph. Oscar 'Cunningham (1830-1917) was a trustee from 1867-1873. He was a lawyer of keen insight and large vision which made him a valuable member of the first board of trustees when vexing questions in regard to land titles frequently arose. Cunningham served one term as judge of the county court for Champaign county ; was joint author of Jones and Cunningham's ' ' Practice in the county courts of Illinois ; ' ' and author of ' ' His- tory of Champaign county. " As a member of the executive com- mittee and living in Urbana, his work on the board and his coun- sel available at all times were invaluable.
Matthias Lane Dunlap (1815-1875) was a trustee from 1867- 1870. He was one of the notable agriculturists of the state. Himself a farmer, nurseryman, and fruit grower, he resented bitterly the attitude of the schools of the day towards agri- culture. He longed ardently to alleviate the weight of ignor- ance which he saw on the farms all about him. As ''Timothy Hardup ' ' he published in the Chicago Democrat and the Prairie Farmer an account of the hardships he had met and overcome while farming in the 40 's and early 50 's. Later when the Demo- crat was merged into the Chicago Tribune, Dunlap under the pseudonym "Rural" became its agricultural editor, and a real power in the agriculture of the state. When the new university especially founded for the sons of the soil opened its doors, he was determined that it should not stray from the purpose to which it had been dedicated, and it can truly be said that when- ever he saw it straying he forcibly prodded it back. Dunlap was for a term a member of the Illinois House of Representa- tives; in 1852 he was nominated for lieutenant governor but declined the nomination. Political life he could endure as a duty but he would not seek it from choice. The home that he established known as the "Rural home fruit farm" situated three miles south of the city of Champaign under the ownership and expert management of his son Senator Henry M. Dunlap has become one of the model farms of the state.
Robert Douglas was at the time a practical florist and nur- seryman of Waukegan, and besides a thorough professional knowledge possessed by him, was a man of the most advanced practical good sense in a general way. Mr. Douglas appeared
The First Board of Trustees 343
at the meetings of the board for the first time at the November session 1867.
Samuel Edwards (1819-1898) of Bureau county, a trustee from 1867 to 1873, was also a practical farmer and horticulturist, and an efficient member of the state horticultural society. Mr. Edwards served upon the committee on horticulture and upon the auditing committee. He was a most conscientious and devoted friend of the university.
Willard Cutting Flagg (1829-1878) served as trustee from 1867-1878. He was a valuable member of the first board for he was a graduate of Yale and a successful horticulturist and prac- tical farmer. In 1856 and 1858 Flagg wrote campaign literature for the republican party and was, in 1860, a member of the republican state and county committees. President Lincoln appointed him internal revenue collector of the twelfth Illinois district in 1862 which position he held until 1869 when he was elected to the state senate for a four-year term. He rendered valuable service to the university for several years as director of experiments and superintendent of the farms. As trustee of the university he served upon the committee on the agricul- tural department and the committee on library and cabinets.
Moore C. Goltra (1810-1881) was a trustee from 1867-1873. He was the contractor and builder of the first institution for the insane and school for the deaf in Jacksonville. He did much of the work of locating lands for the university; making long, wearisome journeys into Minnesota and Nebraska for this pur- pose. He was a member of the state board of agriculture and as trustee served on the committee on mechanical department and the building and grounds committee.
Orson Bingham Galusha (1819-1898), who served as trustee from 1868 to 1873, was likewise by occupation a horticulturist. A life-long friend of J. B. Turner he worked earnestly with him to secure the university of Illinois. He was one of the organizers of the state horticultural society and a frequent contributor to horticultural journals. He was a member of the auditing and finance committees of the board of trustees.
844 History University of Illinois
David S. Hammond (,1811-1883), who served as trustee from 1867-1870, was a member of the committee on horticultural de- partment.
George Harding was a farmer and stock raiser of long and successful experience. He was appointed upon the finance com- mittee, but died in 1868, at Paris, 111.
Samuel Snowden Hayes (1820- ), who served as trustee from 1867-1870, w;as at the time of his appointment a lawyer of large acquaintance and more than state reputation. He came to the state in 1838 from the south and for many years exercised a very great political influence in the south part of the state. He occupied seats in both the constitutional conventions of 1848 and 1870, and had a marked influence in the shaping of the fundamental law of the state, besides having served several terms in the general assembly. Mr. Hayes was a man of marked and distinguished appearance and with his long public service was a most able counsellor in the early history of the university. He served upon the committee on faculty and course of instruc- tion.
John Stephen Johnson (1818- ), who served as trustee from 1867-1873, was a practical farmer of Hancock county and by his regular attendance upon the sessions of the board during the six years of his connection with the body, and his practical good sense, was a useful member. [He served upon the commit- tee upon buildings and grounds.
J. P. Hungate of Clay county seldom attended the meetings of the board and hardly established a reputation with its mem- bers. He was appointed upon the committee on mechanical department. He served as trustee only about a year.
Luther W. Lawrence (1808-1886), who served as trustee from 1867 to 1873, was much interested in the new institution, and gave it careful attention. Mr. Lawrence was a clergyman of the Baptist church and a man of wide acquaintance in the northern counties. He had served in three sessions of the general assembly and in the constitutional convention of 1863. At the time of his connection with the university and for some years before and after, he was judge of county court of his county.
i
MEMBERS OF FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES
WILLARD C. FLAGG M. L. DUXLAP BURDEN PULLEX
MASOX BRAYMAN A. B. MCCOXNELL
CLARK K. GRIGGS LEMUEL ALLEX J. O. CUXXIXGHAM
T~he First Board of Trustees 345
lie served most acceptably on the committee on military depart- ment.
Isaac Sanders Mahan (1828-1893), who served as trustee from 1867 to 1875, was also a Baptist minister, and one who took very great interest in the institution. He was appointed on the committee on library and cabinet. Mr. Mahan soon after his appointment changed his residence to Champaign for the edu- cational advantages to his children and graduated two from the university in its early years.
L. B. McMurray, who served as trustee from 1867 to 1873, attended the sessions of the board but seldom. He was appointed upon the committee on agricultural department.
Richard J. Oglesby (1824-1899) was trustee ex officio from 1867 to 1868. In early life he was a farmer and carpenter hence knew from his own experience the educational needs of the work- ers. Later he studied and practiced law. He fought in the civil war being made Major General of volunteers by President Lin- coln. He served three terms as governor of Illinois ; also served as United States senator.
James Henry Pickrell (1834-1901), who served as trustee from 1867 to 1869, was a farmer and stockraiser of ripe experi- ence, and well qualified for the position upon the committee on agricultural department to which he was appointed. Mr. Pick- rell proved himself a useful and faithful trustee, attending all meetings of the board and always ready with helpful suggestions.
Burden Pullen (1833-1913), who served as trustee from 1867 to 1873, was a banker, fruit grower and manufacturer. He helped to plan and plant the old university arboretum ; he was one of the committee in charge of the horticultural exhibit of the world 's fair of 1893 ; and a member of the state board of agri- culture for more than twenty years. He was assigned to the chairmanship of the committee on horticulture.
Thomas Quick (1823-deceased), who served as trustee from 1867 to 1868, was at the time of his election a member of the board of trustees of a college located in his own town, Irvington, and was one of the few members of the board who brought to the discharge of their official duties some degree of , experience
346 History University of Illinois
in the conduct of institutions of learning of the higher grades. By profession he was a lawyer, and possessed a cultured mind. He served with a great degree of usefulness upon the committee on agricultural department, as its chairman, and was looked upon as one of the best qualified men on the board.
Dr. John W. Scroggs (1817-1874), who served as trustee from 1867 to 1869, was the only physician named upon the first board. On his election to the legislature in 1868 he resigned his position as trustee. His services in the legislature were valuable to the university as he helped to obtain its first appropriation from the state treasury. He was an active agent of Champaign county in the work of securing the location of the university. He was a vigorous man of cutting speech who made many friends and many enemies.
Clark Robinson Griggs (1824-1916) was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Dr. Scroggs and served as trustee from 1869 to 1873. He was born in East Hawley, Massachusetts. In his youth he preached as an evangelist of the Second Advent Church, and served a term in the Massachusetts legislature. He was appointed by Col. W. N. Coler sutler for the 25th regiment, resigning to build a bakery at Memphis, Tennessee where he catered for regiments of the post until the close of the war. At the close of the war he returned to Urbana, engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, became mayor of the town, and as representa- tive to the legislature was very active in obtaining the location of the university for his home town. He served upon the execu- tive committee of the board of trustees.
•Charles H. Topping, wjio served as trustee from 1867 to 1868, was a farmer and fruit-raiser, intelligent and educated, with an ardent desire to see the industrial classes provided with opportunities for education along the lines of their several oc- cupations. He! served upon the committee upon mechanical and horticultural departments.
John M. Van Osdel (1811-1891), who served as trustee from 1867 to 1873, was a professional architect of many years' prac- tice, and one possessing the confidence and esteem of a state- wide acquaintance. His appointment was a most fortunate one for the young educational enterprise. He well understood the great
GEORGE ATHERTON Member of First Faculty
O. B. GALUSHA Member of First Board of Trustees
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HARRIS One of the Incorporates of the ' ' Urbana-Champaign Institute ' '
Benjamin F. Harris was born in Winchester, Virginia, in 1811 and re- moved to Champaign county, Illinois, in 1831. He became, the largest cattle feeder in the corn-belt; feeding world's record hundred cattle weighing 2378 Ibs. He founded the First National Bank of Champaign. His portrait has been placed in the Illinois Farmers' Hall of Fame.
The First Board of Trustees 347
need of society for educated mechanics and artisans. He knew most thoroughly the inadequacy of any and all existing insti- tutions to supply this need, and entered into the work of instal- ling and setting in motion the forces which he hoped and believed would fill the long felt want of society. His professional know- ledge and judgment were of the greatest service to the board, fitting up of the building on hand for its best service, as well as architect for the buildings that were erected as fast as the legis- lature furnished the means for their construction.
Though Governor Oglesby considered that he had been be- trayed into appointing too many of the Baptist denomination to this board of trustees, nevertheless he could well have felt proud of them for they rendered splendid service in laying the foundations for a great state university. The leaders on the board were capable, conscientious, and untiring in their efforts to make the new venture a success. ' ' Too high an estimate of the services of these eminent citizens, ' ' said Judge Cunningham who furnished much information for these sketches, "will never be made by any one considering the rise, eminence, and progress of the University of Illinois. ' '
348 History University of Illinois
/•
THE FIRST FACULTY JOHN MILTON GREGORY
John M. Gregory, LL. D. (1822-1898) was a native of Rens- selaer County, New York. He graduated, in 1846 at Union College, under the eloquent Dr. Nott, at the head of a class of ninety-three. He was bred to the law, but circumstances led him to devote himself to the work of public education.
In 1854 he became editor and publisher of the Michigan Journal of Education, which he continued to edit and publish for five years with marked success. During these years his voice was frequently heard in educational gatherings and conventions and on the platform. In 1858, at the earnest demand of the lead- ing educators of the state, he was nominated and elected to the office of superintendent of public instruction. Twice subse- quently he was nominated by acclamation and re-elected by largely increased majorities. His work for the Michigan public school system was recognized and acknowledged by men of all parties. His numerous, eloquent and impressive public addresses aroused public attention, awakened and directed public senti- ment, and gave to the cause of education an impulse which it long continued to feel.
In 1865, after six years of public service, he became presi- dent of Kalamazoo College. In 1867, the legislature of Illinois passed the law creating the Industrial University, and J. M. Gregory was called to undertake the arduous and difficult work of its organization. For more than thirteen years he remained at its head, and on the occasion of his resignation the faculty of the university said in their resolution : ' ' We gladly acknow- ledge and greatly appreciate your eminent services rendered the University. In the original conception of the institution, in the plans for its development, you have worthily won the high honor of being foremost and chief. What the University has been in the past, what it is now, and what it will be in time to come, is very largely due to your wisdom, ability and zeal, and as a great and growing educational power in our land, it must forever
The First Faculty 349
remain a grand monument to your memory." The board of trustees on the same occasion, said in their resolutions: "The Illinois Industrial University is and ever will be a monument to the name, fame and genius of Dr. Gregory. ' '
But his educational labors by no means constitute the whole of his public work. Six times he crossed the Atlantic for ex- tended tours of observation or for important public services. As a United States commissioner, he visited the International Exhibition at Vienna in 1873, and that of Paris in 1878. In 1876 he served as one of the international judges in one of the most important departments of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. He delivered lectures in most of the great cities of this country, and in Paris and London in the Old "World, attracting large audiences. He was also a contributor to the press in essays, pamphlets, reports and other publications. He died in Washington, D. C., October 20, 1898, and was buried on the campus of the university of Illinois in the ground just west of the main university building.
GEORGE WASHINGTON ATHERTON
George W. Atherton (1837-1906) was elected a member of the first faculty in 1867 and was on the ground with Dr. Gregory for some weeks preceding the opening of the university in 1868. He was a native of Massachusetts and held both the Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Yale University. He resigned his position at the Illinois industrial university on January 1, 1869, to accept the professorship of political economy and constitu- tional law at Rutgers, N. J. From there he went in 1882 to be president of the Pennsylvania State College. He died in 1906 at State College, Pa. His career was a notable one but belongs rather to eastern states and institutions than to Illinois where he spent only a few months. His work nevertheless was of vital importance for he was aiding in laying the foundations.
THOMAS JONATHAN BURRILL
Thomas J. Burrill (1839-1916) came to the university of Illinois as instructor in algebra in April of 1868. He had gradu-
350 History University of Illinois
ated from the State normal university at Normal in 1865 and had come to Urbana as superintendent of schools.
It was a fortunate day for the university and for the man himself when Burrill took a place upon its faculty. His signifi- cant intellectual powers were developing ; the great and generous qualities of character which were his commanding gifts were offered a liberal field for exercise. Charles M. Moss, a professor in the classical department, says of these early years : ' l He taught most of the day, was horticulturist to the experiment station, planted with his own hands or saw to the planting of most of the trees on the campus, after he had laid it out for treatment, wrote reports, lectured here and there, served on innumerable committees, collected specimens up and down the state, and, lest some remnant of his time should be unoccupied, was charged by the board with the sale of a pair of mules, whose labors on the south farm showed that they were not so able to stand the strenuous life as he was. His professorship began at sunup and lasted indefinitely, and included everything that needed doing. ' '
Burrill was compelled by the necessity of the university to give several years to administrative work. In 1878 he was made dean of the college of science. In 1879 he became acting regent and vice president while Gregory was in Europe. He also served in this position during the interregnum between the Gregory and Peabody administrations in 1880, and again from 1891 to 1894 between the Peabody and Draper terms. The three years from 1891 to 1894 proved him a man of genuine administrative capac- ity. Almost his first undertaking was to reorganize the trouble- some military department in such thorough fashion that it has given no trouble since. During these years the graduate school, the summer session, the course in municipal and sanitary engin- eering were established. Burrill adopted a new fashion of deal- ing with the legislature. Instead of hesitatingly asking for as little money as the university could maintain itself upon, he courteously and forcibly requested enough for reasonable expan- sion. It was a wise policy as the later development of the uni- versity proved.
Although compelled to devote himself to administrative work during these years Burrill by no means neglected scientific
FIRST FACULTY
The First Faculty 351
investigation. He was botanist and horticulturist for the Illinois agricultural experiment station, and, beginning with 1880, for the United States agricultural experiment station. In 1880 he announced his epoch making discovery of the existence of bac- terial disease of plants. Pear blight he found was a contagious disease of the pear, apple, and quince, a disease caused by bac- teria and never by anything else. His later experiments con- cerned bitter rot in apples, ear rot in corn, blackberry and rasp- berry rust, potato scab, peach " yellows" and other destructive plant maladies.
Burrill retired from active work as a member of the univer- sity faculty in 1912 and for the four years remaining to him de- voted himself wholly to science. He set himself the baffling problem of inducing nitrogen-gathering bacteria to grow on non- leguminous plants. In this he did not succeed. In his own words spoken in another connection : ' ' But even with those plants most obedient to man there is a limit beyond which they never go. Some eternal proclamation had been issued to them long before man had an existence saying, 'thus far shalt thou go and no fur- ther'— wheat will give up its beard and barley won't — the cab- bage changes but dog fennel is dog fennel still." He put the ardor of his life into the green things that grow on the earth and they returned to him that most precious of all gifts — under- standing.
SAMUEL WALKER SHATTUCK
Samuel W. Shattuck (1841-1915) came to the university in September, 1868, as assistant professor of mathematics and in- structor in military tactics. In 1870 he was given the title of professor of civil engineering ; in 1871 that of professor of math- ematics, a position which he held until his death. He gave, for some years, all the instruction offered in mathematics including plane and solid geometry, advanced algebra, trigonometry, and calculus, besides being responsible for other work in civil engin- eering. During the years from 1871 to 1905 he was head of the department of mathematics, but in 1905 his other executive du- ties had become so exacting that he gave up the active manage- ment of the department.
352
History University of Illinois
In 1873 during the abspnce of Gregory, Shattuck was for six months acting regent of the university, and about this time he was appointed business manager of the institution, a position which he held until 1905 when the work remained essentially the same but the title was changed to comptroller. It was in the management of the university's financial affairs that Shat- tuck made his unique contribution to the institution. He had a real genius for financiering; genuine insight into the baffling problems of when to spend and when to withhold. However warmly his sympathies might be aroused, however ardently he might desire certain improvements, he always kept a little corner of himself cool to think with just before letting go of the money. Undoubtedly it was due to this that during the more than forty years of his administration of funds the university was never called upon to make explanation of unhappy financial compli- cations in his accounts. In 1912, after forty-four years of service he retired as professor emeritus, bearing "his honors thick upon him."
STILLMAN WILLIAMS KOBINSON
Stillman Williams Robinson was professor of mechanical engineering and physics, 1870-1878, and became dean of the col- lege in the latter year, but resumed his old place in 1879 and remained until 1882. Professor Eobinson took his C. E. from the University of Michigan in 1863; and received his D. Sc. from Ohio State in 1896. He died in 1910, at which time he was professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Ohio State Uni- versity. He was born in 1838 at South Eeading, Vt., and received his preparatory education in Springfield, Vt., and Ann Arbor, Mich. He held various faculty positions in the university of Michigan before coming to Illinois. Besides the accomplishment of his faculty duties here and later at Ohio State University, he found time to act as consulting engineer for the Santa Fe Rail- road and for the Lick Telescope and Mountings Co. His pat- ented inventions numbered about forty, among which was the first thermometer graduating machine to be introduced. He was the author of many books and pamphlets, and a member of several organizations for engineers and scientists.
The First Faculty 353
EDWARD SNYDER
Edward Snyder, whose loan fund for students helps to keep fresh our remembrance of him, came in the opening year of the University to teach bookkeeping and German. In 1870 he was made professor of German and of military science, and was in charge of the battalion for ten years. In the busy time between 1880 and 1896 he was professor of German, recording secretary of the board of trustees, business agent, and dean of the College of Literature. He was born in 1835 in Austrian Poland, and was educated in Lemburg, Vienna, and in military schools. He came to the United States in 1862, and after serving in the civil war taught in St. Louis and in Carlinville, before coming to Ur- bana. He served the university for almost thirty years, and during that time his value to the institution steadily increased. His resignation in 1894 was not accepted, and he was granted a year's leave of absence on half pay. He served for a time after his return but resigned in 1896 and went to California. He died at Pacific Beach seven years later.
WILLARD FLAGG BLISS
Willard Flagg Bliss was professor of agriculture, instructor in French, recording secretary of the board of trustees, and clerk of the executive board during the year 1868 to 1870. He graduated from Harvard University with the degree of bachelor of arts sixty-three years ago. He was then twenty-six years of age. Born in Essex, Vt., he came west to St. Louis to begin his preparatory education in Edward Wyman's School, but returned to Phillips Exeter to finish. Following his graduation from Har- vard he was assistant professor of Latin in Washington Uni- versity for four years, and was engaged in farming for eight years prior to his coming to the university. He was a member of Zeta Psi, and of the state natural history society. After leaving the university he returned to his farm near Sterling, Va. He died October 8, 1915, at Leesburg, Va.
A. P. S. STUART
Professor Stuart came to the University from Harvard where he had done research work. He was full of a kind of
354 History University of Illinois
enthusiasm which indirectly resulted in the building of the first chemical laboratory at the university, the structure now occu- pied by the college of law. Professor Stuart was put into a base- ment room of the old university building. When university hall was erected, basement quarters were set aside in the new building. Then and there Professor Stuart said he had done all the ser- vices he was going to do in the basement, and resigned. His resignation bore in on the board of trustees the need of a chem- ical laboratory, and the structure was erected as soon thereafter as possible. After leaving the university in 1874 he went to Lincoln, Nebr., where he entered the banking business and be- came quite wealthy. He was, however, caught in the financial panic of 1893, and the sudden reverse proved to be too much for him. His mentality became affected, and he died about 1895. Even in his declining years his interest in science did not abate, and he went east regularly to attend meetings of scientific soci- eties.
WILLIAM MELVILLE BAKER
William Melville Baker held the position of professor of the English language and instructor in natural philosophy from 1868 to 1873. He died on April 16 of the latter year, and his simple gravestone may be seen in Mt. Hope cemetery, Urbana. Professor Baker held no collegiate degree, but was educated at home and in the school of George Field, Prospect, Maine; one year in Waterville ; one year in the Bangor Seminary ; and three years in Bowdoin College. He was born on Independence Day, 1823, at Phippsburg, Maine. He taught in various schools from 1846 to 1857, and in the latter year organized a classical high school at Quincy, 111. Later he became assistant to the superin- tendent of public instruction. He was chaplain of the 97th 111. Volunteers, 1861 to 1864.
HENRY MARSHALL DOUGLAS
Henry Marshall Douglas was "assistant teacher of lan- guages," 1869-1873. He. came here from Oswego, N. Y., where he had been teaching in a normal and training school for a year. He had attended school there and at Rensselaer Academy, Mex-
The First Faculty 355
ico, N. Y. He was born September 15, 1846, at Fernwood, N. Y. After leaving the university in 1873 he continued teaching, but later entered the Baptist ministry. He has had charge of con- gregations in New York and Vermont ; and has done some writing in the field of modern languages. His address is, (or was), Bernardston, Mass., where he served as a Baptist minister.
JOHN A. WARDER
Dr. John A. Warder, of -Cincinnati was non-resident lec- turer on vegetable physiology and forestry from the opening of the university to 1873. He was well known as a scientist, and had named and recorded a new species of catawba. Several of his books are still read, among them being his work on pomology, and also his " Hedges and Evergreens. ' ' He died several years ago at Cincinnati, Ohio.
SANBORN TENNEY
Professor Sanborn Tenney (1827-1877), was non-resident lecturer on zoology from 1870 to 1874. His home was in Massa- chusetts, where he assisted Horace Mann of the state board of education. He was professor of natural history at Vassar and later at Williams College. Besides lecturing and teaching he wrote several textbooks on natural history and on geology.
EGBERT WARDER
Kobert Warder, son of Dr. John A. Warder, was laboratory assistant in chemistiy, 1869 to 1871. He was a graduate of Earl- ham College and of Harvard university. He later became pro- fessor of chemistry in Howard university, Washington, D. C. He died there in 1905.
JAMES BELANGEE
James Belangee was instructor in architectural and mechan- ical drawing during the period under discussion. He came in 1869 and remained four years. He was professor of mathematics at Nebraska state normal then a retired architect at Fairhope, Alabama.
Letter Turner to Blanchard
357
APPENDIX
DOCUMENT NUMBER 1.
Letter to Jonathan Blanchard, president of Knox College. No signa- ture and no date is on the letter though a reply from Blanchard under date of October 19, 1848, makes it certain that it was written by Jonathan B. Turner a few weeks before.
Turner manuscripts, University of Illinois.
ILLINOIS COLLEGE
Rev. President Blanchard Dear Brother I have never as yet taken time to suggest to you my ideas of an agricultural school: It is true they may not be worth either writing or reading but still as the thing is evidently new some one must run the hazzard of exposing his folly by making suggestions — and I know of no one who has a greater capital in that line to spare than myself. Besides we have already said so much about the matter in general terms that it seems proper to endeavor to be more specific. —
I suppose then that in such an establishment three distinct professorships should be needed.
I A professor of Chemistry 2 a professor of Botany and 3 a professor of — what-the green earth? say Agriculture and Horticulture if you please — The two first professorships might be held by one and the same individual — and if the agri- cultural school was near a college like yours they would of course be already filled — so that in that case we should have to consult only for the prof, of Agriculture etc. proper
In reference to this last Prof, there are but three questions
1. What will such a professor need ?
2. What shall he do— ?
3. How shall he be supported ?
These points I propose to consider in order — and
1. First such a professor would need a farm of at least 160 acres. Said farm should comprise every possible variety of soils — be well supplied either with living or with artificial water
358
History University of Illinois
— and should be divided ultimately into about 8 fields with good substantial hedges — say something as follows —
|
^ ^ V) (Jr |
Passage |
1 — — 5? |
n> |
|
|
20 acres |
2°«"« |
|||
|
Forest y ard and Margery c ( |
, c |
3 £f5 ' |
Fruit yard } and fli/rsery |
|
|
>?.l * k|< Ilinj!! |
: 7 |
|||
|
20 acres |
1 |
|||
|
PctSStffe |
Gates
Supposing the highest part of the farm in the centre the above rough sketch will perhaps suggest an outline of the plan —
It should at any rate comprise the following details in some form —
1 Fruit yard & nurseries
2 Forest yard & nurseries
3 Botanical and culenary gardens
4 Ground for pasture & culture
5 Ground for a small but convenient House
6 Ground for stables and Depository — or machines and tool shop — Proper implements of culture would of course be needed — This I suppose a general outline of what such a profes- sor would need — I would have no display in great houses — but only such a snug convenient house as every good farmer could have and would strive to emulate — that is if possible a model house for a good farmer in tolerable circumstances — all other buildings the same except the Depository which would be pe-
Letter Turner to Blancliard
359
culiar to the establishment as such — The uses of all these will ap- pear as we proceed to consider second
What such a professor should do —
1. He should take pains to collect all the best fruit and the best stock in the U. S. and should make needful experiments in cultivating the one and crossing and recrossing the other.
2. To the end he should keep up an active correspondence with all the most noted amateur cultivators in the U. S. and se- cure specimens from them by donations or exchange —
3. He should also correspond with all proprietors & in- ventors of Agricultural and horticultural patents and procure a working model of each of their machines on deposite to be put into the depository for trial — so that .every agricultural and horticultural machine instrument or tool that is of any practical use would at last be found in the depository and be practically tested and worked at the proper time on the farm.
It would soon happen if the thing was well managed that all inventors vendors and proprietors of fine stock — seeds plants shrubs fruits machines etc would send on their several wares and inventions gratuitously for the purpose of bringing them into no- tice— Especially would this be true if one or two general public fairs — (farmers fairs) were held annually for exhibition sale, etc.
In short the above farm should soon be able to show prac- tically every sort of tree, shrub, fruit, root, flower, machine, tool, building, or animal that can be of any sort of use to any farmer in the country — And the professor should be able to work it with his own hands and; tell all about it
4 The professor should try experiments such as either he himself or the professor of chemistry might deem expedient in regard to rotation of crops — recruiting and exhausting lands application of manures, fertilisers etc and feeding animals and different modes of housing same etc
5 He should put into the Botanical garden and cultivate such plants as the professor of Botany or any other person inter- ested might wish to see grow there — and in the forest grounds should conduct similar operations on the fruit trees —
It may easily be seen how the professor of Chemistry
360 History University of Illinois
(Agricultural and animal) and the professor of Botany could cooperate with such a professorship without further details — In short the said farm should be but one grand Museum for the farmer and the gardener to which all around and every passing traveler should feel impelled to call — and bid freely welcome — Hence all parts of the premises should at all times be freely acces- sible from the front gate and from no other point — except that a ride way around the outside of the whole would be desirable —
As to set and formal lectures as many ought to be given as is needed — But if in connexion with a College probably most of the lectures would be given by inviting the students during their hours of recreation to call and see the actual practical operation of all peculiar and interesting modes processes arts machines animals etc — and after a little I presume they would not object to a free walk into the fruit yard — a part of which at least should be devoted exclusively to their benefit and free use —
But not to pursue this further —
How shall such a professor be supported — f I am of the opinion that he would be able to support himself after little- Let him purchase the farm himself and put the buildings fences etc on it according to his own notion — While he was doing this and arranging his affairs he would have to struggle hard with much to do and little to show but his bills of expense —
But when this was done I am inclined to think that the above farm managed as it ought to be would afford an abundant living for a family over and above all expenses, experiments etc.
For first the experiments should all be on a small and cheap scale until they promised an income — then and then only should they be enlarged — and a mans good judgment on this point would be among the first proofs of his practical fitness for his place — And this is the reason also why I would put no public funds into the professors hands (certainly none beyond the original outfit) to squander in day dreaming and absurb speculations. I would have every new experiment bear directly on his own private purse so that it might be made economically as well as carefully — You may say this would defeat all experimenting But I think not
Letter Turner to Blancliard 361
for you must find a man for such a place whose natural love of experimenting and observing would impell him to it wherever he was and at whatever cost — no other man would be likely to accomplish anything anyhow.
1. This being the fact then — he would soon have at his entire command all the most valuable laborsaving machines in the county on deposit — as working models.
2. He would have or might have the finest breed stock in all the County.
3. He would have the finest fruit after a little, and fruit trees for sale — and his connexion with the farming community would be such that if he managed as he ought to do he would widely secure their affection and confidence and this would se- cure him wide sales. Now if a man could not manage to live on such resources he ought to starve especially if his children were where they could receive their instruction gratuitously.
In short so far as living is concerned I should not be at all afraid to hire money at 6 per cent, buy land right around me here and open such an establishment in connection with the institution at once, on my own responsibility — were there not some things about this establishment which I do not like — for such a purpose.
This is one mode of support — Let all be the personal pro- perty of the professor — and when he dies or retires let the next professor buy it or let others buy it for him if he pleases — or if not let him buy and build another for himself — for it matters not if there are ten thousand such model farms made around every college in the land — it would only be all so much the better.
But on the other hand if you undertake to buy and build everything for your professor and be at the expense of all the experiments he may see fit to try it will take a great deal of money for an outfit — and it will add a heavy annual drain for costs support etc — which will impell someone to beg beg beg
The conviction that one must have some such establishment in this state is growing in the public mind — The advantages of having it near a college where the branches and especially chemistry and Botany are annually taught are quite obvious.
362 History University of Illinois
I apprehend too that such an establishment widely known as it must be would instead of acting as a draw back (as a theo- logical school is likely to do) would greatly increase the universal popularity and patronage of any classical school with which it should be connected.
I have thrown out the above suggestions merely to elicit criticisms and suggestions from you — You see it is wholly a prac- tical affair that I am after and I think it quite likely it will be altogether too unscientific and unprofessional to suit your designs and desires.
But while I feel that it is quite uncertain whether I shall ever be able to do anything about such a school personally — (and do not wish any one to know that I have ever had it in any way before my mind at present) I am growing daily more and more desirous that some one should somewhere undertake such an enterprise —
I think it would add much to all that should conduce to make this one of the noblest states in the Union or in the world in every department of human life and interest —
I have just now for the first time received a letter from Father Kingsbury — since he went east, I shall write him and lay the outline of this plan before him — and see what he says to it — and if he will advance funds for such an establishment I wish him to nominate the man to fill it when where how and as he pleases. I wish the old gentleman not to suspect in the least that I have ever been thought of for a candidate — so that he may feel wholly unimbarrassed if he chooses to do anything.
I have never seen him but few times, and I think it more tlun probable he may have personal friends whom he would like to feel free to propose — I believe he would be in favor of locating near your college if near any one in this State — But whether he will do anything is all uncertain —
DOCUMENT NUMBER 2.
(f Industrial Universities for the People " was published in 1853 in circular form. It included a reprint of "A. Plan for an Industrial Uni- versity for the State of Illinois" published in 1851 following the Gran- ville meeting; an address to the people of the state; a memorial of the second convention to the legislature ; accounts of the second, third and fourth conventions; memorial of the fourth convention; resolutions of the legis- lature; and extracts from the press.
Please Bead and Circulate. INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITIES
FOR THE PEOPLE.
PUBLISHED IN COMPLIANCE WITH RESOLUTIONS OF
THE CHICAGO AND SPEINGFIELD CONVENTIONS,
AND UNDER THE
INDUSTRIAL LEAGUE
OF ILLINOIS.
BY J. B. TURNER, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE.
JACKSONVILLE:
PRINTED AT THE MORGAN JOURNAL BOOK AND JOB OFFICE.
1853.
366 History University of Illinois
** PREFACE
The reasons for proffering this pamphlet to the public will be found in the proceedings of the INDUSTRIAL CONVENTIONS, held at Chicago in 1852, and in Springfield, 1853. But while the author has endeavored to comply with the general wish expressed by these conventions, and the Directors of the ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL LEAGUE, it should not be inferred that any friends of those conventions or of the League are responsible for the particular state- ments or sentiments herein expressed. In all these incidental matters, the author alone is responsible, as it was found impracticable before publica- tion to secure even a revision by the committee, which, had it been possible, was greatly to be desired.
It will also, be readily seen that it is no part of the design of this work, to notice the many and great improvements and excellencies in our existing systems of education, but rather to call attention to their remaining defects and urge these as a reason for immediate effort and action in the direction indicated.
For a plan of action the reader will please refer to the close of the pamphlet.
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
The progress which the people of the United States, and especially of our own State, are continually making on the great subject of education, must be gratifying to every patriotic and philanthropic mind.
This progress relates to the ENDS, INSTRUMENTALITIES and MODES of all mental and moral culture, and is most apparent in the condition of our best Common Schools — at once the pride and hope of our country.
The END of all education should be the development of a TRUE MANHOOD, or the natural, proportionate and healthful culture and growth of all the powers and faculties of the human being — physical, mental, moral and social ; and any system which attempts the exclusive, or even inordinate culture of any one class of these faculties, will fail of its end — it will make mushrooms and monks, rather than manhood and men. For similar reasons, any system of education adapted to the exclusive or unequal and inordinate culture of any one class or profession in the State, is defective : It generates clans and castes, and breaks in upon that natural order, equality and harmony which God has ordained. It will create a concentration of intellectual power in the educated head of the body politic — cold, crafty, selfish and treacherous, which will sooner or later corrupt its heart — will exhaust and overlabor and overtask its weak, uncultured and undeveloped,
Industrial Universities for the People 367
subordinate powers and organs, and produce a bedlam rather than a kingdom, on earth — a despotism either of the tyrant, the church or the mob, or of all these combined ; not a government.
And this effect will inevitably follow, as sure as God lives and reigns, even though a nation write its soil and sea over with parchment, declarations and manifestoes, and rend air and sky with clamorous shouts of " Equality, Liberty and Fraternity/* "Be not deceived: God is not mocked. " "That which a man soweth, shall he also reap."
In former times not very remote from our own day, mere learning — book knowledge — scholasticism, was considered the great end of education, and all such systems of culture direct the mind too much towards books, and too little towards facts. The pupil is taught to think of letters and words rather than of things and events — to remember on what part of the book page he saw the form of words, better than he knows on what part of the world 's page, the events took place, if at all. All the way along, from a — b, ab, and long a in hate, and a seven years7 war at spel- ling up through spelling books, grammars and dictionaries, Eng- lish, Latin and Greek, till he at last took his diploma, it was one everlasting agonism at verbiage, as though God, angels and men — the sky above and the earth beneath, were all moonshine ; and spelling, grammar, talk — the prime proprieties of man's utterance facile and precise — were the only realities in the uni- verse. A real grammar-school-boy of such schools, can brave no other idea than that God made the world chit of the nine parts of speech, and in English, at least, spelled it all wrong. And so throughout the whole course, books, books, books, form the great staple and instruments and ends of culture ; and the living voice, speaking of living facts and presenting living realities to the mind of the pupil, but a very small part of it. By such methods the mind is trained to undue deference to the authority of the book, with little capacity to look after the fact — and men's opin- ions and usages, instead of God's laws and ordinances govern the world : and generally, in those communities where this mere book learning is most dominant, the minds of men are most depressed and enslaved to tyrant custom. For example — com- pare Germany and England, and New England and Illinois. It
368 History University of Illinois
engenders an undue deference to mere learned authority, a spirit of effeminate timidity, and pedantic servility, rather than one of true wisdom, true freedom, and true manhood, such as has shown in prophets, apostles and martyrs of eveiy age.
It does not produce mind, but mere learning — not intellect, but scholarship — not thinkers, but plausible and sophistical de- baters; SCHOOLMEN, (as of old,) who can prove either side of any proposition, but not real men who can discharge the hard side of every single duty.
A proper remedy for such a state of things, wherever it may be found, would, of course, consist in drawing our resources of culture, less from books and the laws of verbiage, and more from facts and the laws of God. Less from nature distorted into abstractions, propositions, prisms and triangles, as seen in ordi- nary books, and more from nature, as it comes all radiant and instinct with life, beauty and glory from the Hand Divine. What a monstrosity was that which some years since took little boys and girls, not yet seven years old, out of God's clear sunshine, away from the birds and the breezes, the flowers and the trees, and set them, for six hours in the day, bolt upright on a wooden bench, to look at big letters and triangles made of cotton rags and lampblack ! ! — and all this, only to educate them ! ! !
Well, this absurdity has passed away ; and all others similar to it are fast departing.
But the great instrumentalities of education are — the FAM- ILY, the SCHOOL, the CHURCH and the STATE; and in order to the best results, it is indispensable that order, virtue, wisdom and freedom should direct, pervade, enlighten and con- trol each and all these several departments of human culture with a simultaneous energy and power. The apostasy, or corrup- tion, or perversion of any one of these is sufficient to cripple and distort, if not to utterly annihilate all the good that can be educed from the other three. The vanity, selfishness, pride and vice of the household— the pedantry and folly of the school — the bigotry and superstition of the church, or the tyranny and corruption of the State, are, each one of them, adequate to pervert or destroy, in a single generation, all the real good of the other three, if, indeed, the phenomena of the existence of such vices in either quarter,
Industrial Universities for the People 369
does not show a previous latent corruption in all departments alike. Hence, a watchful care over all these interests alike, is as indispensable to the proper education of our youth, as it is to their after security in life.
But in the narrow and pedantic view of the subject, schools of literature and science are usually considered the great, if not the sole instruments of education ; and sometimes, in accordance with this view, the brain or the mind, the mere intellectual pow- ers of man, are the only powers really sought to be educated. Wherever this fatal delusion prevails, the necessary result must be a monstrosity, not a manhood; a monk, rather than a man; and it will be found, at last, to give the world pedants and petti- foggers for priests and teachers, rowdies and robbers for rulers, and only old vices under new names, for all the abandoned and discarded virtues of their forefathers.
This pedantic and shallow view of the subject of education, also leads to another most fatal error in the minds of both the old and the young. Instead of regarding education as the great lifelong process — the great life-business of every human being here on earth, it limits it to the quarter days of the school-room, and calls even the most corrupt, effeminate, useless and senseless of men, educated, if, forsooth, they have overmastered a certain quantum of a prescribed course of mere book-learning, though turned loose upon the world without either the capacity to take care of themselves, or the disposition to leave the best interests of their fellows untouched.*
*Josiah Holbrook, in the ll National Era," of June 16th, states, that "in one State's prison of our Union are twelve graduates of colleges — a greater proportion to the whole number of convicts in one prison, than the entire number of college graduates in our country to the whole population. Every body knows, ' ' says he, ' ' that the most depraved beings in our country are among those upon whom most is expended for their education ; and that thieves, midnight assassins and incendiaries have come from our schools by hundreds and thousands. ' '
If this is true, and other prisons show similar statistics, the whole num- ber of graduates of colleges in all the prisons, must exceed the relative proportion furnished to the same honors by the industrial classes, many hun- dred per cent.
Does not this denote something wrong in our schemes for the mere culture of the tongue and the brain? But suppose all who have been under the regimen of this drill, but never graduated, were reported, the ratio would be even more frightfully swollen, and we should find that no class of
370 History University of Illinois
A young boy or girl, /under this idea, obtains a smattering of language, literature and science, perhaps, in the schools, and then, forsooth, as it is very pertinently and significantly said, "he has finished his education." It is, but too often, strictly true ; — it is finished ; and all true manhood has, also, been cruci- fied in the process. It is all ended with him, and you have before you your plausible sophist, your accomplished idler, or your educated hireling — another relentless donkey to hold back the great car of social and moral progress, and bray at every new idea that dawns upon the world for the good of man and the glory of God.
But motion — progress — is the law of matter and of mind; and all civilization, all true Christianity, all true education and all true manhood, are nothing else but one everlasting progress in true knowledge, wisdom and virtue.
It is obvious that the instruction of the school room should be constantly based upon this idea. That it should aim to put every pupil in such a position that his whole life afterwards may be but one continuous, natural and easy progress from one stage of mental and moral development and power to another. Na- ture's order and God's law, when observed, is, that the child should become the youth, the youth the man, the man the angel ; and so, onward and upward forever — ever developing — ever pro- persons disgorge so great an annual percent into our prisons and almshouses and the drunkard's ignoble grave, as those who have attempted to seek a liberal education, while under our more rational and practical common school system, in which practical knowledge is sought in connexion with domestic duties and industrial pursuits, the facts are exactly the reverse. Has a tree that bears such fruit, true Christianity, or heathen mythology at its roots? Is practical duty, or pedantic display, its life and its aim? The fearful loss of life which these systems of monkish and distorted culture annually produce, is well known to all. But the annals of the crimes and criminals it has generated, is a chapter in our history not yet fully developed.
Mr. Bramwell, an English writer and traveler, is reported to affirm that the universities of Great Britian have contributed more to the pride, aris- tocracy, vice and debauchery of the empire, and furnished more sots and penitentiary criminals, in proportion to their numbers, than any other class in English society.
Did the schools of the Carpenter and fishermen of Gallilee, or even those of Socrates and Plato exhibit such results?
Will not the patrons and defenders of those systems of education answer ?
Industrial Universities for the People 371
gressing, but never finished. A true process of education, there- fore, can never stop ; it can never be either remitted or finished ; and all systems of scholastic learning constructed on that idea, are monkish, preposterous, delusive and false; and just so far forth, a curse instead of a blessing to mankind, ever begetting a spirit of pedantic littleness, frivolity and the supercilious pride of a conceited monk or an India Brahman, instead of that brave, generous and steadfast heroism that should characterize the true man.
It is self-evident that in order to reach this end, and to avoid these antagonistic evils, our systems of public instruction should all have due reference to the varied employments of men in after life ; so that each class may be placed in a position which shall enable them to develop a LITERATURE OF THEIR OWN, and acquire a mental as well as moral discipline, in connection with their own occupations, interests and pursuits. In other words, the effort should be to make each man an intelligent, thinking man, in his own profession in life, rather than out of it ; to teach him, first, to understand his own business rather than other people 's. Then he will be better able to govern and take care of himself, and need less expenditure from the State and the church in controlling and taking care of him.
This principle has, in theory, become fully recognized, and applied with more or less perfection to some four or five of the varied pursuits of men, and obviously, ought to be applied in the same way and on the same principle to them all.
The divines, the lawyers, the physicians, the teachers, and the military men of our country, each and all, have their specific schools, libraries, apparatus! and universities, for the application of all known forms of knowledge to their several professions in life. Hence the surprising intelligence and power which these classes now exhibit, since the founding of universities and schools for their special uses, compared with that manifested by the same classes in the times of the monks, barons, quacks, schoolmen and crusaders of the middle ages. Hence the eloquence and power of our pulpits, and our courts and senates — the efficiency of our medical and military skill.
It is true that the laws of God are everywhere, . and to all per- sons and classes, the same ; and that all science is based upon these
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uniform laws ; but it is equally true that their application to the pursuits of life, and the consequent natural discipline and de- velopment of mind is infinitely various.
No man, in his senses, imagines if all our divines had been trained at West Point, all our lawyers, physicians and generals at Mount Holyoke or Andover or Princeton, that there would have been either the same energy of effort and success, or the same discipline of mind in these professions that now exist. Skill, and a proper knowledge of the laws of projectiles — the chainshot and the bombshell will hardly make a divine ; and adroitness with the dishcloth or with the folios of the fathers, would scarcely have achieved the conquest of the empire of the Montezumas.
So far forth as discipline of mind is concerned, all know that the greater part of it is procured in all these professions, not at their several schools, however excellent and appropriate in them- selves, but by the continued habits of reading, thought and re- flection, IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR SEVERAL PROFESSIONAL PUR- SUITS IN AFTER LIFE : and if not so acquired, it is never, in fact, acquired at all.
The young graduate from all these schools, alike, is generally pronounced green, raw, undisciplined and sophomorical, and shows himself to be so. But his university or his school has done one thing for him of immense value and importance, and only one: it has neither duly informed nor disciplined his mind, as is sometimes pretended ; but IT HAS SHOWN HIM HOW THAT MIND
CAN BE DISCIPLINED, IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROFESSIONAL PUR- SUITS OF HIS AFTER LIFE, if he will attend to it : but if not, it can- not be. This is the most that universities or schools of any sort can, as a general rule, do for any man; they give him a start in that course, which, in after life, he is to pursue. To this end, the peculiar literature appropriate to each of these professions, is quite as important as the universities and schools which created it : for as a general rule, men will not read and reflect on subjects totally disconnected with their daily duties and interests, so as to derive that needful discipline of mind, from other pursuits, which nature teaches should be derived from their own. — Some few minds, it is true, in al professions, have an appetency for uni- versal knowledge, just as some men seem to have skill in universal
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art, but the great majority of men obtain all the real discipline and development of mind which they ever do obtain, in immediate connexion with their own individual pursuits and duties in life, and not outside of these.
The sun which they see, is only the one which lightens their own world ; and from this, alone, the light of life must come to them, if it come at all : all beyond is, to them, starlight, and must remain so till they quit their present sphere of action and duty.
Now, our industrial classes, although much more numerous than all the others combined, are, to a vast extent, to say the least, alone, of all others, left entirely without the indispensable means of applying this same knowledge or science to their several pursuits, to teach them, also, how to read, observe and think, and act so as to derive this same needful and wholesome mental discipline from their pursuits in life, which the professional and military classes are taught to derive from theirs. Of course, they are so equally destitute of the needful literature for such ends, and must, of necessity, remain so, till universities are endowed for creating it in the same way it has been created for others. They are all, in this country now, so far as appropriate educational and scientific privileges are concerned, where the professional and military classes, themselves, were, in the days of the monks and schoolmen, with no appropriate schools, apparatus, or teachers, or literature suited to the proper application of knowledge to their several pursuits and callings.
Is it said that farmers and mechanics do not and will not read?
Give them a literature and an education then, suited to their actual wants, and see if it does not reform and improve them in this respect, as it has done their brethren in the profesional classes. As a matter of fact, all know they now have no such practical, congenial literature to read ; and still, as a general rule they read more, and know more about the proper pursuits of the professional classes, than those classes do about theirs, in propor- tion to the opportunities they have.
Suppose you should supply the libraries of the divine and the lawyer with practical treatises on the raising of crops, the re- suscitation and improvement of soils, and the management of
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stock, or the navigation of ^he polar seas, instead of books treat- ing of the peculiar nature and duties of his own profession, does any man suppose that these professions would exhibit the same love of reading and study, or attain the same mental discipline which they now do ? The idea is absurd.
Give a divine or a lawyer a book on agriculture, and how soon it is thrown aside ! And is it surprising that the farmer and me- chanic treats other books on the same principle, and in the same way, for the same reason? But how greedily they devour, in all our periodicals and pamphlets the few scraps that directly per- tain to their own interests, and how soon new implements of life and power start up from their practical and creative minds out of every new idea in philosophy that dawns upon the race and claims its place in the crystal palaces, and its reward at the industrial fairs of the world ? And are such minds on this great continent to be longer left, by the million, without a single uni- versity or school of any sort, adapted to the peculiar wants of their craft, while the whole energies of the republic are taxed to the utmost to furnish universities, colleges and schools adapted to the wants of the professional and military classes, who con- stitute not the one hundredth part of the population, and repre- sent not the thousandth part of the vital interests of any civilized and well ordered community ?
Are these pursuits, then, beneath the dignity of rational and accountable man ? God, himself, made the first Adam a gardner or farmer, and kept him so till he fell from his high state. The second Adam, sent to repair the ruin of his fall, he made a poor mechanic called ' ' the son of a carpenter, ' ' who chose all his per- sonal followers from the same humble class. Deity has pronounced his opinion on the dignity and value of these pursuits, by the repeated acts of his wisdom and grace, as well as by the inflexible laws of his providence compelling industrial labor as the only means of preserving health of body, vigor, purity of mind and even life itself.
Where did Socrates, the wisest of the Greeks, and Cincin- natus, the most illustrious of the Komans — Washington, the fa- ther of America, and Franklin, and Sherman, and Kossuth, and Downing, and Hugh Miller, and a whole host of worthies, too
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numerous to mention, get their education ? They derived it from their connexion with the practical pursuits of life, where all other men have got theirs, so far forth as it has proved of any practical use to themselves or the world.
What we want from schools is, to teach men, more dull of apprehension, to derive their mental and moral strength from their own pursuits, whatever they are, in the same way, and on the same principles, and to gather from other sources as much more as they find time to achieve. We wish to teach them to read books, only that they may the better read and understand the great volume of nature, ever open before them.
Can, then, no schools and no literature, suited to the pe- culiar wants of the industrial classes, be created by the applica- tion of science to their pursuits? Has God so made the world, that peculiar schools, peculiar applications of science, and a pe- culiar resultant literature are found indispensable to the highest success in the art of killing men, in all states, while nothing of the kind can be based on the infinitely multifarious arts and pro- cesses of feeding, clothing and housing them? Are there no sufficient materials of knowledge, and of the highest mental and moral discipline in immediate connexion with these pursuits? This is to suppose that God has condemned the vast majority of mankind to live in circumstances in which the best and highest development of their noblest faculties is a sheer impossibility, unless they turn aside from those spheres of duty to which his Providence has evidently consigned them. Such an assumption is as pedantic and shallow as it is wicked and blasphemous. For what, but for this very end of intellectual discipline and devel- opment, has God bound the daily labors of all these sons of toil in the shop and on the farm, in close and incessant contact with all the mighty mysteries of his own creative wisdom, as displayed in heaven above, and on earth beneath, and in the waters and soils that are under the earth? Why are there more recondite and profound principles of pure mathematics immediately con- nected with the sailing of a ship, or the moulding and driving of a plow, or an axe, or a jack-plane, than with all three of the so called, learned professions together, if it be not intended that those engaged in these pursuits should derive mental culture as
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well as bodily sustenance and strength from these instruments of their art and their toil ? ^hy has God linked the light, the dew drop, the clouds, the sunshine and the storm, and concentrated the mighty powers of the earth, the ocean and the sky, directed by that unknown and mysterious force which rolls the spheres, and arms the thunder-cloud — why are all these mystic and potent influences connected with the growing of every plant, and the opening of every flower, the motion of every engine and every im- plement, if he did not intend that each son and daughter of Adam's race should learn through the handicraft of their daily toil, to look through nature up to nature's God, trace his deep designs, and derive their daily mental and moral culture, as well as their daily food, from that toil that is ever encircled and circumscribed on all hands, by the unfathomed energies of his wisdom and his power? "No foundation for the de- velopment and culture of a high order of science and literature, and the noblest capacities of mind, heart and soul, in connexion with the daily employments of the industrial classes ! How came such a heathenish and apostate idea ever to get abroad in the world? Was God mistaken when he first placed Adam in the garden, instead of the academy? or when he sentenced him to toil for his future salvation, instead of giving him over to ab- stract contemplation ? when he made his Son a carpenter instead of a rabbi? Or when he made man a man instead of a monk? No : God 's ways are ever, ways of wisdom and truth ; but Satan has, in all ages, continued to put darkness for light — sophistry and cant; for knowledge and truth — cunning and verbiage, for wisdom and virtue — tyranny and outrage, for government and law — and to fill the world with brute muscles and bones, in one class — luxurious, insolent and useless nerves and brains, in another class, without either bodies or souls, and to call the pro- cess by which the result, in the latter case, is reached, education. And from the possibility of such an education as this, God has, in his mercy, hitherto sheltered his defenseless poor. And if such hot-bed processes are, alone, to be dignified with the name of education, then, it is clearly impossible that the laboring classes should ever be educated : God has interdicted it. Or, even if no other system of education is ever to be devised or attempted, except that alone which is most fit for the professional and the
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military man, it is equally clear that this cannot be made avail- able to any considerable portion of the industrial classes.
But the idea has got abroad in the world, that some practi- cal, liberal system of education for the industrial classes, suited at once to their circumstances and their wants, can be devised, and this idea is not likely soon to be stopped ; it seems to work beneath the surface of human thought with the energy of a vol- canic fire, and we think it will soon burst forth, into an out-birth to purify what is good, and overwhelm and annihilate whatever there may be that is evil in our present educational ideas and processes.
In order to excite a proper interest in this department of ed- ucation, the public are already aware that several conventions have been held in this State.
The first convention was held at Granville, Putnam County, November 18th, 1851.
The report of this convention was, in due time, published by the committee and presented to the public. It has since been reprinted, and commented upon in nearly all the leading agri- cultural and horticultural journals of the several States, and es- pecially those of the North and West. It was also copied into the patent office reports at Washington, and has received the favor- able regard of nearly all the leading minds in the agricultural and mechanical classes, and their associations and institutes throughout the Union. While great numbers of addresses, res- olutions, reports, and newspaper and periodical articles — all aim- ing to elucidate the same general idea, have been presented to the public, in all parts of the Union, showing that this is the great felt want of the mind and heart of the nation.
This report was as follows :
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PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
FARMERS' CONVENTION AT GRANVILLE,
Held November 18, 1851.
In accordance with previous notice, a convention of farmers was held at Granville, Putnam county, on Tuesday, the 18th day of November, 1851. The attendance was quite large, and from various parts of the State.
The convention organized by appointing Hon. Oaks Turner, of Hennepin, Chairman pro tern., and Mr. M. Osman, of Ottawa, Secretary pro tern.
Mr. Ralph Ware moved that a committee of three be ap- pointed by the chair to nominate permanent officers for the con- vention; which was agreed to; whereupon the chair appointed Messrs. Ralph Ware, John Hise and Sidney Pulsifer said com- mittee.
The committee, after a few minutes absence, returned and reported the following persons as permanent officers of the con- vention :
Hon. Oaks Turner, President.
Hon. Win. Reddick, of Ottawa, and Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, Vice Presidents.
Mr. M. Osman, Recording Secretary.
Mr. Ralph Ware, of Granville, Corresponding Secretary.
On motion the report was adopted and the committee dis- charged.
The President then stated that he was not fully advised as to the real objects of the convention, and suggested that some one better qualified should make them known.
Mr. Ware then stated that, according to the call, they had met to take into consideration such measures as might be deemed most expedient to further the interests of the agricultural com- munity, and particularly to take steps toward the establishment of an Agricultural University.
Industrial Universities for the People 379
On motion of Mr. Greble, a committee of three was appointed to report business upon which the convention should act. The committee consisted of Mr. John Greble, Prof. J. B. Turner, and Mr. Lewis Weston.
During the absence of this committee, short addresses were delivered by Messrs. Hise, Greble, Ware and others.
The committee returned and stated that they would not be fully prepared to report before evening ; and suggested that the afternoon be devoted to a general discussion of such subjects, pertaining to agriculture, as might present themselves.
A lively discussion was then commenced on various subjects, in which Powell, of Mt. Palatine, Butler, of Spoon River, Greble, of Putnam co., Weston, of La Salle co., Gilmer, of Granville, Reddick, of Ottawa, and others participated.
After which the convention adjourned until half past six o 'clock in the evening.
EVENING SESSION
The convention was called to order by the chairman.
Prof. Turner, as chairman of the Committee on Business, reported the following resolutions for the future action of the convention :
Resolved, That we greatly rejoice in the degree of perfection to which our various institutions, for the education of our breth- ren engaged in professional, scientific, and literary pursuits, have already attained, and in the mental and moral elevation which those institutions have given them, and their consequent prepara- tion and capacity for the great duties in the spheres of life in which they are engaged ; and that we will aid in all ways consist- ent, for the still greater perfection of such institutions.
Resolved, That as the representatives of the industrial classes, including all cultivators of the soil, artisans, mechanics and merchants, we desire the same privileges and advantages for ourselves, our fellows and our posterity, in each of our several pursuits and callings, as our professional brethren enjoy in theirs ; and we admit that it is our own fault that we do not also enjoy them.
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Resolved, That, in otir opinion, the institutions originally and primarily designed to meet the wants of the professional classes as such, cannot, in the nature of things, meet ours, no more than the institutions we desire to establish for ourselves could meet theirs. Therefore,
Resolved, That we take immediate measures for the establish- ment of a University, in the State of Illinois, expressly to meet those felt wants of each and all the industrial classes of our State ; that we recommend the foundation of high schools, lyceums, in- stitutes, &c., in each of our counties, on similar principles, so soon as they may find it practicable so to do.
Resolved, That in our opinion such institutions can never impede, but must greatly promote, the best interests of all those existing institutions.
After reading the above resolutions, Prof. Turner proceeded, in an able and interesting manner, to unfold his plan for the establishment and maintenance of the Industrial University.
The convention then adjourned till 9 o'clock to-morrow morning.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, Nov. 19.
Met pursuant to adjournment.
On motion, the resolutions were again taken up and read, and, after some deliberation, severally adopted.
Mr. Hise offered the following resolutions :
Resolved, That we approve of the general plan for an Illi- nois State University for the Industrial Classes, presented by Prof. J. B. TURNER, and request him to furnish the outlines of his plan, presented to this Convention, to the Committee of Publica- tion, for publication in the Prairie Farmer, and all other papers in this State which will publish the same ; and that one thousand copies be published in pamphlet form for gratuitous distribution.
Resolved, That W. A. Pennell, M. Osman, L. L. Bullock and Ralph Ware, be a Committee of Publication.
Resolved, That the Committee of Publication forward to each editor in every county in the State a copy of the publica-
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tions of this convention, with a request that they should republish the same ; and, also, send a copy to our Governor, Senators and Representatives and State Officers, and to all others who may be interested in the same.
Resolved, That each member of this convention do all in his power to promote the circulation and reading of the above publi- cations, and through this and other means, to secure, as far as practicable, speakers to lecture on the subject in each of the counties in the State.
Resolved, That Messrs. J. B. Turner and Marcus Morton, of Morgan county; James McConnell, Elijah lies, and David L. Gregg, of Sangamon co. ; John Davis, of Decatur ; John Woods, of Quincy ; John Hise, of La Salle co. ; Aaron Shaw, of Lawrence co. ; John Dougherty, of Union co. ; L. S. Pennington, of White- side co. ; W. J. Phelps, of Elm Wood, Peoria co. ; and Dr. Ames, of Winnebago co., be a Central Committee to call a State Con- vention, to meet at Springfield at an early hour of the next ses- sion of the Legislature, or at such other time and place as they and the friends of the cause may deem most expedient.
Resolved, That this Convention earnestly solicit the Gover- nor of this State to enumerate in the call for an extra session of the Legislature, should one be held before the next regular ses- sion, the objects of this convention in the establishment of an Industrial University, as business to be acted upon by that body at that time.
Resolved, That a memorial and petitions be prepared and furnished by the publishing committee for the purpose of peti- tioning the Legislature upon this subject.
During the discussion of these resolutions the Convention adjourned till 1 o'clock, P. M.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Met pursuant to adjournment.
Mr. Rise's resolutions were again taken up and severally passed.
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Mr. Lofflin introduced the following resolution, which was adopted :
Resolved, That we earnestly solicit the people of this State to meet in their primary assemblies and discuss the objects of this convention as shall be made known by our published proceedings, and join with us in asking the Legislature to grant to the people of this State, the fund which belongs to them, to aid them in es- tablishing an institute for the industrial classes of this State, instead of dividing that fund among the different colleges, now in the State, as contemplated by those institutions.
In compliance with a request made by Mr. Thomas Ware, and others, Prof. Turner gave a short history. of a number of experiments he had made in reference to the blight upon fruit trees.
The Convention then adjourned sine die.
M. OSMAN, Sec'y. OAKS TURNER, Pres't.
PLAN FOR AN INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY, FOR THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
To THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION OF THE GTRANVILLE CONVENTION:
GENTLEMEN: — I have endeavored to prepare an outline of my views of an Industrial University for the State of Illinois, as perfect as the short time allowed me, and my own feeble health would permit. Notwithstanding my total inability to do justice to the subject, I trust you may find it useful in directing the mind of the people of this State to the most impor- tant interest ever proposed for their consideration, and in eliciting from them an early and intelligent expression of their views and wishes in regard to it.
I have the honor to be, gentlemen, most respectfully, yours, JACKSONVILLE, November, 1851. J. B. TUENEB.
All civilized society is, necessarily, divided into two distinct cooperative, not antagonistic, classes : — a small class, whose proper business it is to teach the true principles of religion, law, med- icine, science, art, and literature ; and a much larger class, who are engaged in some form of labor in agriculture, commerce, and the
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arts. For the sake of convenience, we will designate the former the PROFESSIONAL, and the latter the INDUSTRIAL class; not im- plying that each may not be equally industrious : the one in their intellectual, the other in their industrial pursuits. Probably, in no case would society ever need more than five men out of one hundred in the professional class, leaving ninety-five in every hundred in the industrial ; and, so long as so many of our ordi- nary teachers and public men are taken from the industrial class, as there are at present, and probably will be for generations to come, we do not really need over one professional man for every hundred, leaving ninety-nine in the industrial class.
The vast difference, in the practical means, of an APPRO- PRIATE LIBERAL EDUCATION, suited to their wants and their destiny, which these two classes enjoy, and ever have en- joyed the world over, must have arrested the attention of every thinking man. True, the same general abstract science exists in the world for both classes alike; but the means of bringing this abstract truth into effectual contact with the daily business and pursuits of the one class does exist, while in the other case it does not exist, and never can till it is hew created.
The one class have schools, seminaries, colleges, universities, apparatus, professors, and multitudinous appliances for edu- cating and training them for months and years, for the peculiar profession which is to be the business of their life ; and they have already created, each class for its own use, a vast and voluminous literature, that would well nigh sink a whole navy of ships.
But where are the universities, the apparatus, the profes- sors, and the literature, specifically adapted to any one of the in- dustrial classes? Echo answers, where? In other words, society has become, long since, wise enough to know that its TEACHERS need to be educated ; but it has not yet become wise enough to know that its WORKERS need education just as much. In these remarks I have not forgotten that our common schools are equally adapted and applied to all classes ; but reading, writing, &c., are, properly, no more education than gathering seed is agriculture, or cutting ship timber navigation. They are the mere rudiments, as they are called, or means, the mere instrument of an after edu- cation, and if not so used they are, and can be, of little more use
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to the possessor than an axe in the garret or a ship rotting upon the stocks.
Nor am I unmindful of the efforts of the monarchs and aris- tocrats of the old world in founding schools for the "fifteenth cousins" of their order, in hopes of training them into a sort of genteel farmers, or rather overseers of farmers; nor yet, oi the several "back fires" (as the Prairie Farmer significantly designates them) set by some of our older professional institu- tions, to keep the rising and blazing thought of the industrial masses from burning too furiously. They have hauled a canoe alongside of their huge professional steamships and invited all the farmers and mechanics of the State to jump on board and sail with them ; but the difficulty is, they will not embark. But we thank them even for this pains and courtesy. It shows that their hearts are yearning toward us, notwithstanding the ludi- crous awkwardness of their first endeavors to save us.
But an answer to two simple questions will perhaps suffi- ciently indicate our ideas of the whole subject, though that an- swer, on the present occasion, must necessarily be confined to a bare outline. The first question, then, is this :
I. WHAT DO THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES WANT?
II. HOW CAN THAT WANT BE SUPPLIED?
The first question may be answered in few words. They want, and they ought to have, the same facilities for understand- ing the true philosophy — the science and the art of their sev- eral pursuits, (their life-business,) and of efficiently applying existing knowledge thereto and widening its domain, which the professional classes have long enjoyed in their pursuits. — Their first labor is therefore, to supply a vacuum from fountains al- ready full, and bring the living waters of knowledge within their own reach. Their second is, to help fill the fountains with still greater supplies. They desire to depress no institution, no class whatever; they only wish to elevate themselves and their pur- suits to a position in society to which all men acknowledge they are justly entitled, and to which they also desire to see them aspire.
II. HOW THEN CAN THAT WANT BE SUPPLIED?
In answering this question, I shall endeavor to present, with
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all possible frankness and clearness, the outline of impressions and convictions that have been gradually deepening in my own mind, for the past twenty years, and let them pass for whatever the true friends of the cause may think them worth.
And I answer, first, negatively, that this want cannot be supplied by any of the existing institutions for the profes- sional classes, nor by any incidental appendage attached to them as a mere secondary department.
These institutions were designed and adapted to meet the wants of the professional classes, as such — especially the clerical order; and they are no more suited to the real wants of the industrial class than the institution we propose for them, would be suited to the professional class.
Their whole spirit and aim is, or should be, literary and intellectual — not practical and industrial ; to make men of books and ready speech — not men of work, and industrial, silent thought. But the very best classical scholars are often the very worst practical reasoners ; and that they should be made workers is contrary to the nature of things — the fixed laws of God. The whole interest, business, and destiny for life of the two classes, run in opposite lines ; and that the same course of study should be equally well adapted to both, is as utterly impossible as that the same pursuits and habits should equally concern and befit both classes.
The industrial classes know and feel this, and therefore they do not, and will not, patronize these institutions, only so far forth as they desire to make professional men for public use. As a general fact, their own multitudes do, and will forever, stand aloof from them ; and, while they desire to foster and cherish them for their own appropriate uses, they know that they do not, and cannot, fill the sphere of their own urgent industrial wants. They need a similar system of liberal education for their own class, and adapted to their own pursuits ; to create for them an INDUSTRIAL LITERATURE, adapted to their professional wants, to raise up for them teachers and lecturers, for subordinate institutes, and to elevate them, their pursuits, and their posterity to that relative position in human society for which God designed them.
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The whole history of education, both in Protestant and Cath- olic countries, shows that we must begin with the higher insti- tutions, or we can never succeed with the lower; for the plain reason, that neither knowledge nor water will run up hill. No people ever had, or ever can have, any system of common schools and lower seminaries worth anything, until they first founded their higher institutions and fountains of knowledge from which they could draw supplies of teachers, &c., for the lower. We would begin, therefore, where all experience and common sense bhow that we must begin, if we would effect anything worthy of an effort.
In this view of the case, the first thing wanted in this pro- cess, is a NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, to operate as the great central luminary of the national mind, from which all minor in- stitutions should derive light and heat, and toward which they should, also, reflect back their own. This primary want is al- ready, I trust, supplied by the Smithsonian Institute, endowed by James Smithson, and incorporated by the U. S. Congress, at Washington, D. C.
To co-operate with this noble Institute, and enable the Indus- trial classes to realize its benefits in practical life, we need a University for the Industrial Classes in each of the States, with their consequent subordinate institutes, lyceums, and high schools, in each of the counties and towns.
The objects of these institutes should be to apply existing knowledge directly and efficiently to all practical pursuits and professions in life, and to extend the boundaries of our present knowledge in all possible practical directions.
PLAN FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
There should be connected with such an institution, in this State, a sufficient quantity of land of variable soil and aspect, for all its needful annual experiments and processes in the great interests of Agriculture and Horticulture.
Buildings of appropriate size and construction for all its ordinary and special uses; a complete philosophical, chemical,
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anatomical, and industrial apparatus; a general cabinet, em- bracing everything that relates to, illustrates, or facilitates any one of the industrial arts; especially all sorts of animals, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, shrubs, and plants found in this State and adjacent States.
Instruction should be constantly given in the anatomy and physiology, the nature, instincts and habits of all animals, insects, trees and plants; their laws of propogation, primogeniture, growth, and decay, disease and health, life and death; on the nature, composition, adaptation, and regeneration of soils; on the nature, strength, durability, preservation, perfection, compo- sition, cost, use, and manufacture of all materials of art and trade; on political, financial, domestic, and, manual economy, (or the saving of labor of the hand, ) in all industrial processes ; on the true principles of national, constitutional, and civil law ; and the true theory and art of governing and controlling, or directing the labor of men in the State, the family, shop, and farm; on the laws of vicinage, or the laws of courtesy and comity between neighbors, as such, and on the principles of health and disease in the human subject, so far at least as is needful for household safety ; on the laws of trade and commerce, ethical, conventional, and practical; on book-keeping and accounts; and in short, in all those studies and sciences, of whatever sort, which tend to throw* light upon any art or employment, which any student may desire to master, or upon any duty he may be called to perform ; or which may tend to secure his moral, civil, social and industrial perfection, as a man.
No species of knowledge should be excluded, practical or theoretical; unless, indeed, those specimens of "organized igno- rance'7 found in the creeds of party politicians, and sectarian ecclesiastics should be mistaken by some for a species of know- ledge.
Whether a distinct classical department should be added or not, would depend on expediency. It might be deemed best to leave that department to existing colleges as their more appro- priate work, and to form some practical and economical connec- tion with them for that purpose : or it might be best to attach a classical department in due time to the institution itself.
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To facilitate the increase and practical application and dif- fusion of knowledge, the professors should conduct, each in his own department, a continued series of annual experiments.
For example, let twenty or more acres of each variety of grain, (each acre accurately measured,) be annually sown, with some practical variation on each acre, as regards the quality and preparation of the soil, the kind and quantity of seed, the time and mode of sowing or planting, the time and modes and pro- cesses of cultivation and harvesting, and an accurate account kept of all costs, labor, &c., and of the final results. Let analogous experiments be tried on all the varied products of the farm, the fruit yard, the nursery, and the garden ; on all modes of cross- ing, rearing and fattening domestic animals, under various de- grees of warmth and of light, with and without shelter ; on green, dry, raw, ground, and cooked food, cold and warm ; on the nature, causes ; and cure of their various diseases, both of those on the premises and of those brought in from abroad, and advice given, and annual reports made on those and all similar topics. Let the professors of physiology and entomology be ever abroad at the proper seasons, with the needful apparatus for seeing all things visible and invisible, and scrutinizing the latent causes of all those blights, blasts, rots, rusts and mildews which so often destroy the choicest products of industry, and thereby impair the health, wealth, and comfort of millions of our fellow men. Let the professor of chemistry carefully analyze the vari- ous soils and products of the State, retain specimens, give instruc- tion, and report on their various qualities, adaptations, and de- ficiencies.
Let similar experiments be made in all other interests of agri- culture and mechanic or chemical art, mining, merchandize and transportation by water and by land, and daily practical and ex- perimental instruction given to each student in attendance in his own chosen sphere of research or labor in life. Especially let the comparative merits of all labor saving tools, instruments, machines, engines and processes, be thoroughly and practically tested and explained, so that their benefits might be at once enjoyed, or the expense of their cost avoided by the unskillful and unwary.
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It is believed by many intelligent men, that from one-third to one-half the annual products of this State are annually lost from ignorance on the above topics. And it can scarcely be doubted that in a few years the entire cost of the whole Institution would be annually saved to the State in the above interests alone, aside from all its other benefits, intellectual, moral, social, and pecun- iary.
The APPARATUS required for such work is obvious. There should be grounds devoted to a botanical and common garden, to orchards and fruit yards, to appropriate lawns and promenades, in which the beautiful art of landscape gardening could be appro- priately applied and illustrated, to all varieties of pasture, mea- dow, and tillage needful for the successful prosecution of the needful annual experiments. And on these grounds should be collected and exhibited a sample of every variety of domestic animal, and of every tree, plant, and vegetable that can min- ister to the health, wealth, or taste and comfort of the people of the State; their nature, habits, merits, production, improve- ment, culture, diseases, and accidents thoroughly scrutinized, tested, and made known to the students and to the people of the State.
There should, also, be erected a sufficient number of build- ings and out-buildings for all the purposes above indicated, and REPOSITORY, in which all the ordinary tools and implements of the institution should be kept, and models of all other useful implements and machines from time to time collected, and tested as they are proffered to public use. At first it would be for the interest of inventors and vendors to make such deposits. But, should similar institutions be adopted in other States, the gen- eral government ought to create in each State a general patent office, attached to the Universities, similar to the existing deposits at Washington, thus rendering this department of mechanical art and skill more accessible to the great mass of the people of the Union.
I should have said, also, that a suitable industrial library should be at once procured, did not all the world know such a thing to be impossible, and that one of the first and most impor- tant duties of the professors of such institutions will be to begin
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to create, at this late hoiy, a proper practical literature, and se- ries of text books for the industrial classes.
As regards the PROFESSORS, they should, of course, not only be men of the most eminent, practical ability in their several departments, but their connexion with the institution should be rendered so fixed and stable, as to enable them to carry through such designs as they may form, or all the peculiar benefits of the system would be lost.
Instruction, by lectures and otherwise, should be given mostly in the colder months of the year ; leaving the professors to prosecute their investigations, and the students their necessary labor, either at home or on the premises, during the warmer months.
The institution should be open to all classes of students above a fixed age, and for any length of time, whether three months or seven years, and each taught in those particular branches of art which he wishes to pursue, and to any extent, more or less. And all should pay their tuition and board bills, in whole or in part, either in money or necessary work on the premises — regard being had to the ability of each.
Among those who labor, medals and testimonials of merit should be given to those who perform their tasks with most promptitude, energy, care, and skill ; and all who prove indolent or ungovernable, excluded at first from all part in labor, and speedily, if not thoroughly reformed, from the institution itself ; and here again let the law of nature instead of the law of rakes and dandies be regarded, and the true impression ever made on the mind of all around, that WORK ALONE is HONORABLE, and in- dolence certain disgrace if not ruin.
At some convenient season of the year, the Commencement, or ANNUAL FAIR of the University, should be holden through a succession of days. On this occasion the doors of the institu- tion, with all its treasures of art and resources of knowledge, should be thrown open to all classes, and as many other objects of agricultural or mechanical skill, gathered from the whole state, as possible, and presented by the people for inspection and premium on the best of each kind; judgment being rendered, in all cases, by a committee wholly disconnected with the insti-
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tution. On this occasion, all the professors, and as many of the pupils as are sufficiently advanced, should be constantly engaged in lecturing and explaining the divers objects and interests of their departments. In short, this occasion should be made the great annual GALA-DAY of the Institution, and of all the indus- trial classes, and all other classes in the State, for the exhibition of their products and their skill, and for the vigorous and power- ful diffusion of practical knowledge in their ranks, and a more intense enthusiasm in its extension and pursuit.
As matters now are, the world has never adopted any efficient means for the application and diffusion of even the practical knowledge which does exist. True, we have fairly got the primer, the spelling book, and the newspaper abroad in the world, and we think that we have done wonders ; and so, comparatively, we have. But if this is a wonder, there are still not only wonders, but, to most minds, inconceivable miracles, from new and un- known worlds of light, soon to break forth upon the industrial mind of the world.
Here, then, is a general, though very incomplete, outline of what such an institution should endeavor to become. Let the reader contemplate it as it will appear when generations have perfected it, in all its magnificence and glory; in its means of good to man, to all men of all classes : in its power to evolve and diffuse practical knowledge and skill, true taste, love of industry, and sound morality — not only through its apparatus, experi- ments, instructions, and annual lectures and reports, but through its thousands of graduates, in every pursuit in life, teaching and lecturing in all our towns and villages ; and then let him seriously ask himself, is not such an object worthy of at least an effort, and worthy of a state which God himself, in the very act of creation, designed to be the first agricultural and commercial state on the face of the globe?
Who should set the world so glorious an example of educat- ing their sons worthily of their heritage, their duty, and their destiny, if not the people of such a state? In our country we have no aristocracy, with the inalienable wealth of ages and con- stant leisure and means to perform all manner of useful experi- ments for their own amusement ; but we must create our nobility
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for this purpose, as we gleet our rulers, from our own ranks, to aid and serve, not to domineer over and control us. And this done, we will not only beat England, and beat the world in yachts, and locks, and reapers, but in all else that contributes to the well being and true glory of man.
I maintain that, if every farmer 's and mechanic 's son in this state could now visit such an institution but for a single day in the year, it would do him more good in arousing and directing the dormant energies of mind, than all the cost incurred, and far more good than many a six months of professed study of things he will never need and never want to know.
As things now are, our best farmers and mechanics, by their own native force of mind, by the slow process of individual ex- perience, come to know, at forty, what they might have been taught in six months at twenty ; while a still greater number of the less fortunate or less gifted, stumble on through life, almost as ignorant of every true principle of their art as when they begun. A man of real skill is amazed at the slovenly ignorance and waste he everywhere discovers, on all parts of their premises ; and still more to hear them boast of their ignorance of all ' ' book farming," and maintain that "their children can do as well as they have done ; ' ' and it certainly would be a great pity if they could not.
The patrons of our University would be found in the former, not in the latter class. The man whose highest conception of earthly bliss is a log hut, in an uninclosed yard, where pigs of two species are allowed equal rights, unless the four-legged tribe chance to get the upper hand, will be found no patron of Indus- trial Universities. Why should he be ? He knows it all already.
There is another class of untaught farmers who devote all their capital and hired labor to the culture, on a large scale, of some single product, which always pays well when so produced on a fresh soil, even in the most unskillful hands. Now such men often increase rapidly in wealth, but it is not by their skill in agriculture, for they have none; their skill consists in the management of capital and labor, and, deprive them of these, and confine them to the varied culture of a small farm, and they would starve in five years, where a true fanner would amass a
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small fortune. This class are, however, generally, the fast friends of education, though many a looker-on will cite them as instances of the uselessness of acquired skill in farming, whereas they should cite them only as a sample of the resistless power of cap- ital even in comparatively unskillful hands.
Such institutions are the only possible remedy for a caste education, legislation, and literature. If any one class provide for their own liberal education, in the state, as they should do, while another class neglect this, it is as inevitable as the law of gravi- tation, that they should form a ruling caste or class by them- selves, and wield their power more or less for their own exclusive interests and the interests of their friends.
If the industrial were the only educated class in the state, the caste power in their hands would be as much stronger than it now is, as their numbers are greater. But now industrial education has been wholly neglected, and the various industrial classes left still ignorant of matters of the greatest moment per- taining to their vital interests, while the professions have been studied till trifles and fooleries have been magnified into matters of immense importance, and tornadoes of windy words and bar- rels of innocent ink shed over them in vain.
This, too, is the inevitable result of trying to crowd all lib- eral, practical education into one narrow sphere of human life. It crowds their ranks with men totally unfit by nature for pro- fessional service. Many of these, under a more congenial culture, might have become, instead of the starving scavengers of a learned profession, the honored members of an industrial one. Their love of knowledge was indeed amiable and highly com- mendable ; but the necessity which drove them from their natural sphere in life, in order to obtain it, is truly deplorable.
But such a system of general education as we now propose, would (in ways too numerous now to mention) tend to increase the respectability, power, numbers, and resources of the true pro- fessional class.
Nor are the advantages of the mental and moral discipline of the student to be overlooked : indeed, I should have set them down as most important of all, had I not been distinctly aware that such an opinion is a most deadly heresy ; and I tremble at the
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thought of being arraigned before the tribunal of all the monks and ecclesiastics of the old world, and no small number of their progeny in the new.
It is deemed highly important that all in the professional classes should become writers and talkers; hence they are so incessantly drilled in all the forms of language, dead and living, though it has become quite doubtful whether, even in their case such a course is most beneficial, except in the single case, of the professors of literature and theology, with whom these languages form the foundation of their professions and the indispensable instruments of their future art in life.
No inconsiderable share, however, of the mental discipline that is attributed to this peculiar course of study, arises from daily intercourse, for years, with minds of the first order in their teachers and comrades, and would be produced under any other course, if the parties had remained harmoniously together. On the other hand, a classical teacher, who has no original, spon- taneous power of thought, and knows nothing but Latin and Greek, however perfectly, is enough to stultify a whole generation of boys and make them all pedantic fools like himself. The idea of infusing mind, or creating, or even materially increasing it by the daily inculcation of unintelligible words — all this awful Wringing to get blood out of a turnip — will, at any rate, never succeed except in the hands of the eminently wise and prudent, who have had long experience in the process; the plain, blunt sense of the unsophisticated will never realize cost in the oper- ation. There are, moreover, probably, few men who do not al- ready talk more, in proportion to what they really know, than they ought to. This chronic diarrhoea of exhortation, which the social atmosphere of the age tends to engender, tends far less to public health than many suppose. The history of the Quakers shows, that more sound sense, a purer morality, and a more ele- vated practical piety can exist, and does exist, entirely without it, than is commonly found with it.
At all events, we find, as society becomes less conservative and pedantic, and more truly and practically enlightened, a growing tendency, of all other classes, except the literary and clerical, to omit this supposed linguistic discipline, and apply
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themselves directly to the more immediate duties of their calling ; and, aside from some little inconvenience at first from being out- side of caste, that they do not succeed quite as well in advancing their own interests in life and the true interests of society, there is no sufficient proof.
Indeed I think the exclusive and extravagant claims set up for ancient lore, as a means of disciplining the reasoning powers, simply ridiculous, when examined in the light of those ancient worthies who produced that literature, or the modern ones who have been most devoted to its pursuit in this country and in Europe. If it produces infallible practical reasoners, we have a great many thousand infallible antagonistic truths, and ten thousand conflicting paths of right, interest, duty, and salvation. — If any man will just be at the trouble to open his eyes and his ears, he can perceive at a glance how much this evasive disci- pline really does and has done for the reasoning faculty of man, and how much for the power of sophistical cant, and stereotyped nonsense ; so that if obvious facts, instead of verbose declamation, are to have any weight in the case, I am willing to join issue with the opposers of the proposed scheme, even on the bare ground of its superior adaptation to develope the mental power of its pupils.
The most natural and effectual mental discipline possible for any man, arises from setting him to earnest and constant thought about the things he daily does, sees, and handles, and all their connected relations and interests. The final object to be attained, with the industrial class, is to make them THINKING LABORERS; while the professional class we should desire to make LABORIOUS THINKERS: the production of goods to feed and adorn the body being the final end of one class of pursuits, and the production of thought to do the same for the mind, the end of the other. — But neither mind nor body can feed on the offals of preceeding generations. And this constantly recurring nec- essity of reproduction, leaves an equally honorable, though some- what different, career of labor and duty open to both; and, it is readily admitted, should and must vary their modes of educa- tion and preparation accordingly.
It may do for the man of books to plunge at once amid the catacombs of buried nations and languages, to soar away to
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Greece, or Rome, or Nova.-Zembla, Kamtschatka, and the fixed stars, before he knows how to plant his own beans, or harness his own horse, or can tell whether the functions of his own body are performed by a heart, stomach, and lungs, or with a gizzard and gills.
But for the man of work thus to bolt away at once from himself and all his pursuits in after life, contravenes the plainest principles of nature and common sense. No wonder such edu- cators have ever deemed the liberal culture of the industrial classes an impossibility ; for they have never tried nor even con- ceived of any other way of educating them except that by which they are rendered totally unfit for their several callings in after life. — How absurd would it seem to set a clergyman to plowing and studying the depradations of blights, insects, the growing of crops, &c., &c., in order to give him habits of thought and mental discipline for the pulpit; yet, this is not half as ridiculous, in reality, as the reverse absurdity of attempting to educate the man of work in unknown tongues, abstract problems and the- ories, and metaphysical figments and quibbles.
Some, doubtless, will regard the themes of such a course of education as too sensuous and gross to lie at the basis of a pure and elevated mental culture. But the themes themselves cover all possible knowledge and all modes and phases of science, abstract, mixed, and practical. In short, the field embraces all that God has made, and all that human art has done, and if the created Universe of God and the highest art of man are too gross for our refined uses, it is a pity the "morning stars and the sons of God" did not find it out as soon as the blunder was made. But, in my opinion, these topics are as of quite as much consequence to the well-being of man and the healthful development of mind, as the concoction of the final nostrum in medicine or the ultimate figment in theology and law, conjectures about the galaxy or the Greek accent; unless, indeed, the pedantic professional trifles of one man in a thousand are of more consequence than the daily vital interests of all the rest of mankind.
But can such an institution be created and endowed ? Doubt- less it can be done, and done at once, if the industrial classes so decide. The fund given to this state by the general government,
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expressly for this purpose, is amply sufficient, without a dollar from any other source; and it is a mean, if not an illegal per- version of this fund, to use it for any other purpose. It was given to the people, the whole people of this state — not for a class, a party, or sect, or conglomeration of sects ; not for common schools, or family schools, or classical schools; but for "An Univer- sity, " or seminary of a high order, in which should of course be taught all those things which every class of the citizens most desire to learn — their own duty and bus- iness for life. This, and this alone, is an University in the true, original sense of the term. And if an Institution which teaches all that is needful only for the three professions of law, divinity, and medicine, is, therefore, an University, surely one which teaches all that is needful for all the varied professions of human life, is far more deserving of the name and the endow- ments of an University.
But in whose hands shall the guardianship and oversight of this fund be placed, in order to make it of any real use for such a purpose ? I answer, without hesitation and without fear, that this whole interest should, from the first, be placed directly in the hands of the people, and the whole people, without any medi- ators or advisers, legislative or ecclesiastical, save only their own appointed agents, and their own jurors and courts of justice, to which, of course, all alike must submit. It was given to the people, and is the property of the people, not of legislators, par- ties, or sects, and they ought to have the whole control of it, so far as is possible consistently with a due security of the funds and needful stability of plans of action and instruction. This control I believe they will be found abundantly able to exercise ; and more than this no well informed man would desire.
The reasons for placing it at once and forever beyond all leg- islative and ecclesiastical control, are obvious to all. For if under the former, it will continually exist as a mere tool of the dominant party, and the object of jealous fear and hatred of their opponents ; or else it will become the mere foot ball of all parties, to be kicked hither and thither as the party interests and passion of the hour may dictate. We well know how many millions of money have been worse than thrown away by placing professed
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seminaries of learning tinder the influence of party passion, through legislative control. And it is surely a matter of devout gratitude that our legislators have had wisdom enough to see and feel this difficulty, and that they have been led, from various causes, to hold this fund free from all commitment to the present hour, when the people begin to be convinced that they need it, and can safely control it ; and no legislator but an aristocrat or a demagogue would desire to see it in other hands.
The same difficulty occurs as regards sects. — Let the institu- tion be managed ever so well by any one party or sect, it is still certain their opponents will stand aloof from it, if not oppose and malign it for that very! reason. Hence, all will see at once, that the greatest possible care should be taken to free it from, not only the reality, but even from the suspicion of any such influ- ence.— Should the party in power, when the charter may be granted, appoint a majority of the board of trustees from the parties in the minority, it would show a proper spirit, and be in all coming time, an example of true magnanimity, which their opponents could not fail to respect and to imitate, and which the people at large would highly approve. A vic- torious hero can afford to be generous as well as brave — none worthy of a triumph can afford to be otherwise. In all future appointments, also, the candidates should be elected with such an evident regard to merit, and disregard of all political and sectarian relations, as to ever carry the conviction that the equal good of the whole alone is sought. There can be no great difficulty in accomplishing all this, if it is well known in the outset that the people will keep their eye closely upon that man, whoever he may be, who by any bargaining for votes, or any direct or indirect local, sinister, or selfish action or influence, or any evasion or postponement, or by any desire to tamper and amend, merely to show himself off to advantage, shall in any way embarass or endanger this greatest of all inter- ests ever committed to a free state — the interest of properly and worthily educating all the sons of her soil. Let the people set on such a man, if the miscreant wretch lives, for all future time, a mark as much blacker than the mark set on -Cain, as midnight is darker than noon-day. This is a question, above all others,
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that a man who is a man, will desire to meet openly and frankly, like a man. Will our legislators do it? I, for one, believe they will. I shall not believe the contrary till it is proved ; and I will even suggest, in general, a mode by which the great end may be safely gained. Let others, however, suggest a better one, and I will cheerfully accord with it.
Let the Governor of the State nominate a board of trust for the funds of the Institution. Let this board consist of five of the most able and discreet men in the State, and let at least four of them be taken from each of the extreme corners of the State, so remote from all proximity to the possible location of the Insti- tution, both in person and in property, as to be free from all sus- picion of partiality. Let the Senate confirm such nomination. Let this board be sworn to locate the Institution from a regard to the interests and convenience of the people of the whole State. And when they have so done let them be empowered to elect twelve new members of their own body, with perpetual power of filling their own vacancies, each choice requiring a vote of two- thirds of the whole body, and upon any failure to elect at the appointed annual meeting, the Governor of the State to fill the vacancy for one year, if requested by any member of the board so to do. Let any member of the board who shall be absent from any part of its annual meetings, thereby forfeit his seat, unless detained by sickness, certified at the time, and the board on that occasion fill the vacancy, either by his re-election, or by the choice of some other man. Let the funds then, by the same act, pass into the hands of the trustees so organized, as a perpetual trust, they giving proper bonds for the same, to be used for the endowment and erection of an Industrial University for the State of Illinois.
This board, so constituted, would be, and ought to be, re- sponsible to no legislature, sect, or party, but directly to the people themselves — to each and every citizen, in the courts of law and justice, so that, should any trustee of the institution neglect, abuse, or pervert his trust to any selfish, local, political, or sectarian end, or show himself incompetent for its exercise, every other member of the board and every citizen at large should have the right of impeaching him before the proper court, and, if guilty, the court should discharge him and order his place to
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be filled by a more suitable man. Due care should be taken, of course, to guard against malicious prosecutions.
Doubtless objections can be urged against this plan, and all others that can be proposed. Most of them may be at once an- ticipated, but there is not space enough to notice them here. Some, for example, cherish an ardent and praiseworthy desire for the perfection of our common schools, and desire still longer to use that fund for that purpose. But no one imagines that it can long be kept for that use, and if it could, I think it plain that the lower schools of all sorts would be far more benefitted by it here than in any other place it could be put.
Others may feel a little alarm, when, for the first time in the history of the world, they see the millions throwing themselves aloof from all political and ecclesiastical control, and attempting to devise a system of liberal education for themselves: but on mature reflection we trust they will approve the plan : or if they are too old to change, their children will.
I shall enter upon no special pleas in favor of this plan of disposing of our State fund. I am so situated in life that it can- not possibly do me any personal good ; save only in the just pride of seeing the interests of my brethren of the industrial class cared for and promoted, as in such an age and such a state they ought to be. If they want the benefit of such an institution they can have it. If they do not want it, I have not another word to say. In their own will, alone, lies their own destiny, and that of their children.
Respectfully submitted,
J. B. TURNER.
SPRINGFIELD CONVENTION.
The SECOND CONVENTION was held at Springfield, June 8, 1852. A controversy there arose between the members of the In- dustrial Convention, and the advocates and representatives of some few of the old classical and theological colleges, who were admitted by courtesy to participate in the debates of the con- vention, which consumed most of the time of the convention, and but little, if any, impression for good, was made upon the public mind.
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These colleges desired to be made, themselves, the instru- ments through which the funds of the State should be applied to the education of the industrial classes. This, the representa- tives of these classes have at all times, in all their conventions, unanimously and steadfastly opposed.
At that meeting, however, the following memorial was pre- sented to the Legislature :
ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL CONVENTION.
Memorial of the Industrial Convention of the Senate and House
of Eepresentatives of the State of Illinois.
The Convention of the friends of the Industrial University, proposed to the consideration of the people of Illinois, by the Granville convention, whose report is alluded to in the message of the Governor of the State, beg leave to submit to the considera- tion of the Senators and Representatives of the people, the fol- lowing memorial :
But three general modes have been publicly proposed for the use of the College and Seminary funds of the State.
I. The perpetual continuance of their use for common school purposes, is not seriously expected by any one, but only their temporary use as a loan for this noble object.
II. The equal distribution of their proceeds among the ten or twelve colleges in charge of the various religious denomina- tions of the State, either now in existence or soon to arise and claim their share in these funds, and the equally just claim of Medical and other Institutions for their share, it is thought by your memorialists, would produce too great a division to render these funds of much practical value either to these Institutions or to the people of the State. Nor do they consider that it would make any practical difference, in this regard, whether the funds were paid directly by the State over to the Trustees of these In- stitutions, or disbursed indirectly through a new board of over- seers or Regents to be called the University of Illinois. The plan of attempting to elect by State authority, some smaller num- ber of these Institutions to enjoy the benefit of the funds, on the one hand, to the exclusion of others, or attempting to endow them
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all so as to fit them for the great practical uses of the industrial classes of the State, we trust your honorable bodies will see at once to be still more impracticable and absurd, if not radically unequal and unjust in a free State like ours.
III. Your memorialists therefore desire not the dispersion by any mode, either direct or indirect, of these funds ; but their continued preservation and concentration for the equal use of all classes of our citizens, and especially to meet the pressing necessities of the great industrial classes and interests of the State, in accordance with the principles suggested in the message of his Excellency the Governor of the State, to your honorable bodies ; and also in the recent message of Governor Hunt of New York, to the legislature of that State, and sanctioned by the ap- proval of many of the wisest and most patriotic statesmen in this and other States.
The report of the Granville Convention of farmers, herewith submitted and alluded to, as above noticed in the message of our -Chief Magistrate, may be considered as one, and as only one, of the various modes in which this desirable end may be reached, and is alluded to in this connexion as being the only pub- lished document of any convention on this subject, and as a gen- eral illustration of what your petitioners would desire, when the wisdom of the Senators and Eepresentatives of the people shall have duly modified and perfected the general plan proposed, so as to fit it to the present resources and necessities of the State. We desire that some beginning should be made, as soon as our statesmen may deem prudent so to do, to realize the high and noble ends for the people of the State, proposed in each and all of the documents above alluded to. And if possible on a suffi- ciently extensive scale, to honorably justify a successful appeal to congress, in conjunction with eminent citizens and statesmen in other States, who have expressed their readiness to co-operate with us, for an appropriation of public lands for each State in the Union for the appropriate endowment of Universities for the liberal education of the Industrial Classes in their several pursuits in each State in the Union.
And in this rich, and at least prospectively, powerful State, acting in co-operation with the vast energies and resources of
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this mighty confederation of United republics, even very small beginnings properly directed, may at no very remote day result in consequences more wonderful and beneficent than the most dar- ing mind would now venture to predict or even conceive.
In the appropriation of those funds your memorialists would especially desire that a department for normal school teaching, to thoroughly qualify teachers for county and district schools, and an appropriate provision for the practical education of the destitute orphans of the State, should not be forgotten.
We think that the object at which we aim must so readily commend itself to the good sense and patriotism, both of our people, rulers and statesmen, when once fully and clearly under- stood, that we refrain from all argument in its favor.
We ask only that one institution for the numerous Industrial Classes, the teachers and orphans of this State, and of each State, should be endowed on the same general principles, and to the same relative extent as some one of the numerous Institutions now existing in each State for the more especial benefit of the com- paratively very limited classes in the three learned professions. If this is deemed immoderate or even impracticable we will thankfully accept even less.
As to the objection that States cannot properly manage literary institutions, all history shows that the States in this coun- try, and in Europe, which have attempted to manage them by proper methods, constituting a vast majority of the whole, have fully succeeded in their aim. While the few around us which have attempted to endow and organize them on wrong prin- ciples— condemned by all experience, have of course failed. Nor can a State charter and originate Railroads or manage any other interest, except by proper methods and through proper agents. And a people or a State that cannot learn in time, to manage properly and efficiently all these interests, and especially the great interest of self -education, is obviously unfit for self-govern- ment, which w'e are not willing as yet to admit in reference to any State in the Union, and least of all our own.
With these sentiments deeply impressed on our hearts, and on the hearts of many of our more enlightened fellow citizens,
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your memorialists will never cease to pray your honorable bodies for that effective aid which you alone can grant.
Respectfully submitted, By order of the Committee of the Convention,
J. B. TURNER, Chairman.
The THIRD CONVENTION was held at Chicago, Nov. 24, 1852.
At this convention much important business was transacted, and many interesting views suggested, and speeches thereon, made and reported.
Among other things, it was resolved to organize ' ' THE INDUS- TRIAL LEAGUE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS/' which has since been chartered by our Legislature, empowered to raise a fund, by subscriptions from members, of ten cents each, per annum, and by voluntary contributions, to be applied to the forwarding of the objects of the convention, and promoting the interests of the industrial classes.
1st. "By disseminating information both written and printed on this subject. "
2d. "By keeping up a concert of action among the friends of the industrial classes. ' '
3d. "By the employment of lecturers, to address citizens in all parts of the State. " "Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville was appointed principal Director. "
"John Gage, of Lake county, Bronson Murray, of LaSalle co., Dr. L. S. Pennington, of Whiteside co., J. T. Little, of Ful- ton co., and Wm.A. Pennell, of Putnam co., Associate Directors. "
It Was also "resolved, that this Convention memorialize Congress for the purpose of obtaining a grant of public lands to establish and endow Industrial Institutions in each and every State in the Union."
"The plan for an Industrial University, submitted by Prof. Turner to the Granville Convention," (reprinted above,) "was then called for, and a motion passed to discuss its principles by section ; whereupon, after thus reading and discussing of its vari- ous sections, the general principles of the plan were approved."
It was also "voted unanimously, that a department for the
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education of common-school teachers be considered an essential feature of the plan."
' ' Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, Wm. Gooding, of Lock- port, and Dr. John A. Kennicott, of Northfield, were appointed a committee to report a plan to the next convention, and to mem- orialize the Legislature for the application of the college and sem- inary funds to this object, in accordance with the acts and ordi- nances of Congress, &c."
" J. B. Turner, L. S. Bullock and Ira L. Peck, were also ap- pointed a committee to prepare an address to the citizens of this State, on the subject of Industrial Education, and the establish- ment of an Industrial Institution. ' '
The FOURTH CONVENTION was holden at Springfield on the 8th of January, 1853.
At this meeting, also, a great many items of a miscellaneous character were brought before the Convention, and discussed and decided upon ; in almost every case by a unanimous vote.
The greatest harmony and good feeling prevailed among all the members and delegates, and the representatives and executive officers of the people, in the Legislature ; many of whom, from all parts of the State, took the deepest interest in the subject, and made noble and eloquent speeches at their evening session, in the Senate chamber in its behalf. It was
Resolved, That inasmuch as any detailed plan of public in- struction can only be decided and acted upon by the Trustees, Directors or other officers of the desired Institution, when cre- ated, it is not expedient to attempt to fix upon any such details in any preliminary conventions of the people ; and that the commit- tee appointed to report on that subject, be discharged from fur- ther duty.
The duties and terms of office of the League, were, also, prescribed by this convention.
After the adjournment of the convention, the following mem- orial was written, at the request of the committee, by the author and signed by the President of the convention and presented to the legislature in accordance with a resolution passed by the convention :
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, MEMORIAL
OF THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
To ihe Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois :
We would respectfully represent: That we are members of the industrial classes of this state, actively and personally en- gaged in agricultural and mechanical pursuits. We are daily made to feel our own practical ignorance, and the misapplication of toil and labor, and the enormous waste of products, means, materials and resources that result from it. We are aware that all this evil to ourselves and our country, results from a want of knowledge of those principles and laws of nature that underlie our various professions, and of the proper means of a practical application of existing* knowledge to those pursuits. We rejoice to know that our brethren in the several learned professions have to a good degree availed themselves of these advantages, and have for years enjoyed their benefit. They have universities and col- leges, with apparatus, libraries voluminous and vast, able and learned professors and teachers, constantly discovering new facts, and applying all known principles and truths directly to the practical uses of their several professions and pursuits. This is as it should be. But we have neither universities, colleges, books, libraries, apparatus, or teachers, adapted or designed to concen- trate and apply even all existing knowledge to our pursuits, much less have we the means of efficiently exploring and examin- ing the vast practical unknown that daily lies all around us, spreading darkness and ruin upon our best laid plans, blighting our hopes, diminishing our resources, and working inevitable evil and loss to ourselves, to our families and to our country. Some think one half — no intelligent man thinks that less than one- third or one-fourth of the entire labor and products of our state, are made an annual sacrifice to this needless ignorance and waste. Knowledge alone, here, is power, and our relief is as clearly ob- vious as our wants. We need the same thorough and practical application of knowledge to our pursuits, that the learned pro- fessions enjoy in theirs, through their universities and their literature, schools and libraries that have grown out of them.
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For even though knowledge may exist, it is perfectly powerless until properly applied, and we have not the means of applying it. What sort of generals and soldiers would all our national science (and art) make if we had no military academies to take that knowledge and apply it directly and specifically to military life ?
Are our classic universities, our law, medicine, and divinity schools adapted to make good generals and warriors? Just as well as they are to make farmers and mechanics, and no better. — Is the defence, then, of our resources of more actual consequence than their production? Why then should the state care for the one, and neglect the other ?
According to recent publication only 1 in 260 of the popula- tion of our own state are engaged in professional life, and not one in 200 in the Union generally. A great proportion even of these never enjoyed the advantages of our classical and profes- sional schools. But there are in the United States 225 principal universities, colleges and seminaries, schools, &c., devoted to the interest of the professional classes, besides many smaller ones, while there is not a single one, with liberal endowments, designed for the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes. No West Point as yet beams upon the horizon of their hope ; true, as yet, our boundless national resources keep us, like the children of Japhet emigrating from the Ark, from the miserable degrada- tion and want of older empires ; but the resources themselves lie all undeveloped in some directions, wasted and misapplied in others, and rapidly vanishing away as centuries roll onward, under the ignorance or unskillfulness that directs them. We, the members of the industrial classes are still compelled to work em- pirically and blindly, without needful books, schools or means, by the slow process of that individual experience that lives and dies with the man. Our professional brethren, through their uni- versities, schools, teachers, and libraries, combine and concentrate the practical experience of ages in each man 's life. We need the same.
In monarchial Europe, through their polytechnic and agri- cultural schools, some successful effort has been made, in some departments and classes, to meet this great want of the age.
But in our democratic country, though entirely industrial
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and practical in all its ajms and ends, no such effort has been efficiently made. We have in our own State no such institutions, and no practical combination of resources and means, that can ever produce one worthy of the end. We have not even a "Normal School" for the education of our teachers, nor half a supply of efficient teachers even for our own common schools; and never can have without more attention to the indispensable means for their production. Hence, our common schools are, and must continue to be, to a great extent, inefficient and languishing, if not absolute nuisances on our soil, as in some cases they now are. But the common school interest is the great hope of our country ; and we only desire to render it efficient and useful, in the only way it can be done ; by rearing up for it competent and efficient teachers, in the normal department of our industrial universities. Knowing that knowledge, like light and water, runs downward, not upward, through human society, we would begin with the suns and fountains, and not with the candles and pud- dles, and pour the light and water of life down through every avenue of darkness below, and not begin with the darkness and drought, and attempt to evolve and force it upward. No state ever did or ever will succeed by this latter process. The teacher is the first man sought, and the life and light of the whole thing, from the university downward.
To this end, concentration is the first indispensable step. Leaving all our common school funds untouched, as they now are, the proposed distribution of our university fund, amounting to about $150,000, will illustrate this point. The annual interest of this, at 6 per cent., is about $9,000. If this should be divided among our ten or fifteen colleges, it would give them only from $600 to $900 each, per annum. .Divided among our hundred counties, it would give $90 to each county, for a high school or any other purpose. Divided as it now is among the million of our people, it gives 9 mills, or less than one cent to each person. Concentrated upon an industrial university, it would furnish an annual corps of skillful teachers and lecturers, through its normal school, to go through all our towns and counties, create, establish and instruct lyceums, high schools and common schools, of all sorts, and through its agricultural and mechanical departments,
Industrial Universities for the People 409
concentrating and diffusing the benefits of practical knowledge and experience over all our employments and pursuits, our farms and shops. Here as elsewhere, the sun must exist before the dia- monds and dewdrops can shine. The mountain heights must send down their rills and their torrents, gathered from their own flood and the boundless resources of the ocean and the sky, before the desert can blossom as the rose. Money, however much or little, concentrated in logs, clapboards and brick, enclosing a herd of listless, uneasy, and mischievous children, cannot make a common school. The living teacher must be there — living not dead ; for dead teachers only make dead scholars the more dead. Nor can grammar, language, metaphysics, or abstract science, however accurate, voluminous and vast, ever diffuse new life and new energy into our industrial pursuits. There, practical appa- ratus, the thorough and accurate needful experiments, as well the living and practical teachers are needed, in order even to be- gin the great work. This is necessarily expensive, quite beyond even the anticipated resources of our existing institu- tions. Hence again, we need concentration, and not a miserable useless and utterly wasteful diffusion of our resources and means.
Throughout our State, and throughout the whole civilized world, in all ages, where there has been most neglect of universi- ties and high seminaries, and most reliance placed by the people in the miserable pittance doled out to them by the state, like so many paupers, for the support of common schools, precisely there the common school will be found, for the inevitable reason above indicated, most inefficient, weak and worthless, if not positive nuisances to society, and, whenever the reverse is found, the reverse influences of life, light, animation and hope beam forth from the schools at once.
We repeat it, the common school is our great end, our last hope and final joy. But we would reach and reanimate it under the guidance of practical common sense, as all experience shows it must be done, as it only can be done, and we would reach the vital, practical interests of our industrial pursuits, by precisely the same means, and on precisely the same well known and thor- oughly tried plans and principles. We seek no novelties. We desire no new principles. We only wish to apply, to the great in-
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terest of the common school and the industrial classes, precisely the same principles of mental discipline and thorough scientific practical instruction, in all their pursuits and interests, which are now applied to the professional and military classes.
The effect this must have in disciplining, elevating and refin- ing the minds and morals of our people, increasing their wealth and their power at home, and their respect abroad, developing not only the resources of their minds, but their soil and treasures of mineral, and perfecting all their materials, products and arts, cannot but be seen by every intelligent mind.
No other enterprise so richly deserves, and so urgently de- mands the united effort of our national strength.
We would, therefore, respectfully petition the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, that they present a united memorial to the Congress now assembled at Washington to appropriate to each State in the Union an am- ount of public lands not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars, for the liberal endowment of a system of industrial uni- versities ; one in each state in the Union, to co-operate with each other and with the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, for the more liberal and practical education of our industrial classes and their teachers, in their various pursuits, for the produc- tion of knowledge and literature needful in those pursuits, and developing to the fullest and most perfect extent the re- sources of our soil and our arts, the virtue and intelligence of our people, and the true glory of our common country.
We would further petition that the executive and legislature of our sister States, be invited to co-operate with us in this en- terprise, and that a copy of the memorial of this legislature be forwarded by the governor to the governors and Senates of the several States.
We would also petition that the University fund of this State, if not at once applied to these practical uses, be allowed to remain where it now is, and its interest applied to present uses, until such time as the people shall be prepared to direct it to some more efficient use.
By order of the convention.
BRONSON MURRAY, President.
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A similar memorial was submitted to the convention by the committee consisting of his Excellency Gov. French, Hon. David L. Gregg and Dr. L. S. Pennington, appointed by the Chicago Convention and accepted and forwarded to Congress, as ordered by that Convention.
These memorials were presented to the Senate and Represen- tives of Illinois then in session, and the merits of the plan fully discussed by able and eloquent advocates, and the following res- olutions were unanimously passed by both houses and received the approbation of the executive.
RESOLUTIONS
Of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Relative to the Establishment of Industrial Universities, and for the En- couragement of Practical and General Education among the People — Unanimously Adopted.
WHEREAS, The spirit and progress of this age and country demand the culture of the highest order of intellectual attain- ment in theoretic and industrial science : And whereas, it is im- possible that our commerce and prosperity will continue to in- crease without calling into requisition all the elements of internal thrift arising from the labors of the farmer, the mechanic, and the manufacturer, by every fostering effort within the reach of the government : And whereas, a system of Industrial Univer- sities, liberally endowed in each State of the Union, co-operative with each other, and the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, would develop a more liberal and practical education among the people, tend the more to intellectualize the rising genera- tion, and eminently, conduce to the virtue, intelligence and true glory of our common country therefore, be it
Resolved, by the House of Representatives, the Senate con- curring herein, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representatives be requested, to use their best exertions to procure the passage of a law of Congress donating to each State in the Union an amount of public lands not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars, for the liberal endowment of a system of Industrial Universities, one in each State in the Union, to co-operate with each other, and with the Smithsonian Institution
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at Washington, for the more liberal and practical education of our industrial classes and their teachers; a liberal and varied education adapted to the manifold want of a practical and enter- prising people, and a provision for such educational facilities, being in manifest concurrence with the intimations of the popu- lar will, it urgently demands the united efforts of our national strength.
Resolved, That the Governor is hereby authorized to for- ward a copy of the foregoing resolutions to our Senators and Rep- resentatives in Congress, and to the Executive and Legislature of each of our sister States, inviting them to co-operate with us in this meritorious enterprise. JOHN REYNOLDS,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
G. KOERNER, Speaker of the Senate. APPROVED, February 8, 1853. J. A. MATTESON.
A true copy : Attest,
ALEXANDER STARNE, Sec'y of State.
We give the following as a sample of the sentiments of the press, at home and abroad upon the above resolutions :
' ' EDUCATION FOR THE PEOPLE. ' ' — The New York Tribune of Feb. 26th, has the following remarks, subjoined to the joint res- olutions passed by our General Assembly, relative to the estab- lishment of Industrial Universities, and for the encouragement of practical and general education among the people :
1 * Here is the principle contended for by the friends of prac- tical education abundantly confirmed, with a plan for its immedi- ate realization. And it is worthy of note, that one of the most extensive of public land (or new) States proposes a magnificent donation of public lands to each of the States, in furtherance of this idea. Whether that precise form of aid to the project is most judicious and likely to be effective, we will not here consider. Suffice it that the legislature of Illinois has taken a noble step forward, in a most liberal and patriotic spirit, for which its mem- bers will be heartily thanked by thousands throughout the Union. We feel that this step has materially hastened the coming of
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scientific and practical education for all who desire and are wil- ing to work for it. It cannot come too soon. — III. Jour."
The " Central Illinois Times," a newspaper published at Bloomington, gives utterance to the following, affixed to the res- olutions respecting the establishment of Industrial Universities :
' ' The above is undoubtedly of more interest and importance to the people of this State, than any measure which came before the legislature during the late session. It contains a wholesome principle of prosperity and advancement, which will, if fully carried out, tend to elevate and improve the condition of the honest hard working farmer. We have always held that the first object of government is to afford protection to the working classes, for in them lies the strength and glory of the nation. Without protection they will become weak, inactive and careless, with it they are encouraged at every step, and reap reward abun- dantly to satisfy every want.
The resolutions meet our approbation fully, and we hope that other States, and 'Congress, may well consider the matter, and finally mould it into a law."
It may not be improper here to give a few extracts, showing how the enterprise is regarded by the public press, and by able and influential divines and statesmen in other States. The testi- monials on hand are very numerous, but space here can be spared for only a very few extracts, as specimens of the whole.
It will be needless to remark upon the sentiments of the press at home, or in the West, generally, as that is sufficiently well known to all.
Says Governor Hunt, in his message to the New York legisla- ture.
' ' Much interest has been manifested for some years past in favor of creating an institution for the advancement of agricul- tural science and of knowledge in the mechanics arts. The views in favor of this measure expressed in my last annual communica- tion remain unchanged. My impressions are still favorable to the plan of combining in one college two distinct departments for instruction in agricultural and mechanical science ; I would respectfully recommend that a sufficient portion of the proceeds
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of the next sale of lands f<?r taxes be appropriated to the erection of an institution which shall stand as a lasting memorial of our munificence, and contribute to the diffusion of intelligence among the producing classes, during all future time. ' '
Similar sentiments expressed by our own late Chief Magis- trate, Governor French, will be remembered by all.
Says the Hon. Marshal P. Wilder, before the Berkshire Ag- ricultural Society, Mass. :
' * For want of knowledge, millions of dollars are now, annu- ally lost by the commonwealth, by the misapplication of capital and labor in industry. On these points we want a system of ex- periments directed by scientific knowledge. Are they not impor- tant to our farmers ? Neither the agricultural papers, periodicals or societies, or any other agents now in operation, are deemed sufficient for all that is desirable.
We plead that the means and advantages of a professional education should be placed within the reach of our farmers.
This would not only be one of the most important steps ever taken by the commonwealth for its permanent advancement and prosperity, but would add another wreath to her renown for the protection of our industry and the elevation of her Sons.
Said Eev. Mr. Hitchcock, president of Amherst College, — while advocating the endowments of such institutions before the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, 1851 :
"I have been a lecturer on chemistry for twenty years. I have tried a great many experiments, in that time, but I do not know of any experiment so delicate or so difficult as the farmer is trying every week. The experiments of the laboratory are not to be compared to them. You have a half dozen sciences which are concerned in the operation of a farm. There is to be a delicate balancing of all these, as every farmer knows. To suppose that a man is going to be able, without any knowledge of these sciences to make improvements in agriculture by haphazard experiments, is, it seems to me, absurd.
He spoke of the 350 similar schools of which he gave some account on his return from Europe, mostly of recent origin, and says:
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"This subject has made such rapid progress in Europe, within a few years, that I was perfectly amazed to find the facts develop themselves as they did, one after another. I do not believe there is a class of students of any kind, in our country, who would be able to answer one-tenth of the questions which those young men answered very readily," (that is in the Euro- pean agricultural schools,) — "and going out, as they do, to take charge of other schools, they will accomplish much for the bene- fit of their country, as well as by their example in applying their principles for other farmers. The people must do this thing — if the people are not ready to force government to help them, it will do no good . It must be a weighty concern ; and individuals, — one would suppose, would sink under it."
Such are the suggestions of one of our most able and experi- enced scientific teachers, who has, probably, taken more pains to investigate the subject practically, especially during his tour in Europe, than any other man in the country.
At this meeting, after a most thorough discussion of the sub- ject by eminent scientific and practical men present, the Massa- chusetts Board of Agriculture "resolved that a thorough syste- matic course of education, is as necessary to prepare the cultiva- tor of the soil, for pre-eminence in his calling, as to secure excel- lence in any of the schools of science or art : — that for want of such an education, millions of dollars, and a vast amount of time, and energy are annually lost to the commonwealth, and the yeo- manry have a right to claim from the government the same fos- tering care, which is extended to other great interests of the com- munity."
In the memorial to the legislature of Massachusetts the mem- orialists say: "Your memorialists are not aware, that it is any more easy to get a thorough knowledge of husbandry by individ- ual exertion and private study, than it is to acquire, in that way, a competent knowledge of law, medicine or divinity, and your memorialists know of no way by which that knowledge can be attained, but by a regular course of instruction."
This memorial is signed by some of the most eminent schol- ars and civilians of Massachusetts. Among them appear the names of the Honorable MARSHAL P. WILDER, Honorable EDWARD
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EVERETT, Honorable HENRY \V. CUSHMAN, and JOHN W. LIN- COLN, &c.
Do these gentlemen know anything about scholarship, edu- cation, practical life and social want, or are they also mere vis- ionary enthusiasts, seeking to turn the world upside down ?
MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. — We find the following in the proceedings of the Legislature of Massachusetts. The proposi- tion of Mr. Pomeroy was received with marked satisfaction, and was read and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Pomeroy, of Southampton, on leave given, introduced the following:
RESOLVES CONCERNING AGRICULTURE.
Whereas, In view of the increased attention devoted to theoretical and practical agriculture, Massachusetts earnestly desires that there be increased facilities afforded for acquiring a more complete and liberal agricultural education, and
Whereas, This and every other State in the Union is largely interested in efforts to develop our agricultural resources to an extent worthy of a nation of farmers, therefore
Resolved, That Massachusetts deems it expedient and just that Congress appropriate a portion of our public lands to establish and endow a National Normal Agricultural College, which shall be to the rural sciences, what the West Point Academy is to the military, for the purpose of educating teachers and professors for service in all the States of the Eepublic.
Eesolvcd, That copies of these resolutions be sent by his Excellency, the Governor, to our Senators and Eepresentatives at Washington, with the request that the subject be brought before the two houses of Congress.
A convention on the subject of a practical national system of university education, was held at Albany, also, Jan. 26, 1853. This convention was numerously attended by the great and illus- trious luminaries of the State, the church and colleges of the North and East. A committee of twenty-one was appointed to report a plan.
Among these appear the names of the venerable President Wayland, of Brown University, Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, Washington Irving, Gov. Hunt and Senator Dix of New York, President Hitchcock, of Amherst College, Professors Webster, Dewey, Henry, Bache, Mitchell, of Cincinnati, Pierce, of Cam- bridge, &c.
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Kev. Dr. Kennedy spoke of ' * the want that had long been felt for institutions different from those already established."
Professor C. S. Henry said, ' ' the welfare of our country was in a great degree dependent upon what should be done in regard to the proposed university." Rev. Ray Palmer said, "there was lack of opportunity for scientific men to perfect themselves in their various pursuits, ' and desired that this want should be sup- plied to all parts of the country. ' :
Rev. Dr. Wykoff said, "the first desideratum to the estab- lishment of the institution was a conviction of its importance. When the souls of men are fired up, the money will not be want- ing. He believed that the proper spirit was abroad — a feeling that would redound to the honor and benefit of the people, and that the work would be done. The enterprise was one for the masses. It would open the path of knowledge for all the youth in the land, and from the common school to the highest university, he would like to see our educational institutions thrown freely open to all."
Prof. Henry said, ' ' he would bid the enterprise God speed ! He deprecated the idea of attempting to establish a university at a moderate outlay. One fitted for the wants of this country, should throw open its lecture rooms freely, to all who should wish to avail themselves of their advantages. It should be the com- plete development of the principle which lies at the foundation of our common schools. ' '
Rev. President Wayland said, "such an establishment in New York would be an example, which, he believed, would be followed in other States. A university with a thousand students would abundantly sustain itself; and he thought the needed expense would not be so great as some gentlemen anticipated."
Again — do these gentlemen know anything about the prac- tical subject of education in this country?
Said the lamented Downing, in the last number of the Horti- culturist he ever edited, ' ' The leaven for the necessity for educa- tion among the Industrial Classes, begins to work, we are happy to perceive, in many parts of the country. At a Farmers ' Conven- tion in Illinois, our correspondent, Prof. Turner, of that State,
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submitted a plan for such an educational institution, which, has since been published in pamphlet form.
We think the importance of the subject a sufficient apology for allowing the Professor to be heard by a large audience.
It is not often that the weak points of an ordinary collegi- ate education are so clearly exposed, and the necessity of work- ingmen's universities so plainly demonstrated. ' ' He then repub- lishes the plan. See Horticulturist, July 1852, p. 306.
Said the editor of the N. York Tribune, in the editorial pre- facing his republication of the same plan, "the great idea of a higher or thorough education for the sons and daughters of farm- ers, mechanics and laborers, is everywhere forcing itself on the public attention. Our race needs instruction and discipline to qualify them for working, as well as for thinking and talking. They need something more than the hireling picks up at hap- hazard in the course of his daily toils.
For want of this knowledge in every department of rural industry, millions of dollars are annually wasted.
Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, in behalf of a convention at Granville, has put forth a plan of an industrial university, which sets forth the pressing and common need, so forcibly, that we copy the large portion of it." — [N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 4, '52.
An editorial in the North American, (the oldest paper in Philadelphia,) on education and agriculture, said to be written by Judge Conrad, says: "We have been gratified by the perusal of an address delivered by Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, Ills., before a convention of farmers held in that State, in support of the establishment of a university, in which agriculture and the sciences shall be made a special branch of study. His suggestions are urged with zeal and ability, and his arguments are convinc- ing, as to the need and importance of such institutions. There is no subject more worthy of the highest effort of the human intel- lect, nor one which has been, till recently, so culpably disre- garded, if not condemned.
To secure the diffusion and practical application of agricul- tural science, it seems necessary that it should be interwoven with general education, and its acquisition made an object of early pride and animated ambition.
Industrial Universities for the People 419
Were this result attained by such institutions, as are sug- gested by Prof. Turner, the consequences would be not only an early application of science to agriculture, but valuable additions to the stock of knowledge, induced by stimulated enquiry and experiments.
It cannot be doubted that with the advance of agricultural science we should witness an almost incredible increase of produc- tion. The condition of the farmer would be improved to opu- lence, and the increased means would be attended with enlarged ability and leisure, that encourage devotion to the pursuits and tastes that elevate and refine the intellect and character.
The triumph of a republic can only be successfully achieved and permanently enjoyed by a people, the mass of whom, are an enlightened yeomanry, the proprietors of the land they till, TOO
INDEPENDENT TO BE BOUGHT, TOO ENLIGHTENED TO BE CHEATED, AND TOO POWERFUL TO BE CRUSHED.
The proposition of Prof. Turner, seems to be entitled to peculiar and favorable consideration, and it is urged with a force of argument and eloquence that cannot fail to secure it. His address displays a full acquaintance with the subject, and his views are practical as well as profound, and are conveyed with elevation of style and earnestness of purpose. It is impossi- ble to read his remarks without realizing the importance of con- necting agriculture, as a special subject with the course of Amer- ican study. It is desirable as a corrective of the delusion, that induces so general a rush into what are termed — not from any pecuniary promise — the liberal professions. Agriculture culti- vated to its highest capacity, demands a mind as large and well stored as the liberal professions, and is at least equal to any hu- man pursuit in intellectual and moral elevation. Liberally taught, it would become an object of ambition to those youths who now yearly swell the unhappy hosts that over-crowd the professions. By making agriculture a liberal pursuit; by con- necting it with science, (as it is already associated with all that is most beautiful in literature;) by elevating and refining it, it would be rendered a noble amusement to the luxurious — a noble distinction to the earnest and ambitious. This has already been done to some extent : it remains that a system of education should render it general."
420 History University of Illinois
Says Dr. Lee, the able and talented editor of the Southern Cultivator, the leading monthly periodical of the Southern plant- ing interest, published at Augusta, Georgia, in reply to a letter enquiring for some practical agricultural school for the sons of the planters, which letter he says, he publishes as a ' * fair sample of scores of similar letters received every month:" " There is not a good agricultural school in the United States. The truth is, the American people have yet to commence the study of agri- culture as the combination of many sciences. Agriculture is the most profound and extensive profession that the progress of soci- ety and the accumulation of knowledge have developed. This is why the popular mind is so long in grasping it. Whether we con- sider the solid earth under our feet, the invisible atmosphere which we breathe, the wonderful growth and decay of all plants and animals, or the light, the heat, the cold, or the electricity of heaven, we contemplate but the elements of rural science. The careful investigation of the laws that govern all ponderable and imponderable agents, is the first step in the young farmer's edu- cation. To facilitate his studies, he needs, as he pre-eminently deserves, a more comprehensive school than this country now affords. We notice a plan for an industrial university &c., by Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, Ills. This subject is begin- ning to take a strong hold upon the minds of the people, and we are glad to see gentlemen of the talents and influence of Prof. Turner, lending a helping hand to put a ball in motion, which, ultimately, will sweep down all opposition. This plan of Prof. Turner, is full of valuable practical suggestions, and the memo- rial which accompanies it, or a similar one, should be forced upon the attention of the General Government, and of every State in the Union."
But these extracts must suffice to show both the interest taken in the general subject abroad, and also, in that particular aspect it has assumed in this State, as presented in the report of the first convention held at Granville.
Does anyone now doubt that we are encouraged to go for- ward? With what unexpected and almost fearful velocity, the darkness has sped away before the light in one short year ! The interest of mechanics and mechanical institutes and associations
Industrial Universities for the People 421
in this matter, is no less intelligent, marked and decisive, than that of their agricultural brethren, though they have fewer or- gans and advocates. Why should we halt in our career ? What have we to fear? We and our cause, are at this moment stronger than all the legislatures, and congresses, and colleges on the conti- nent, even if they were all pitted against us. But the great major- ity of them are most warmly and efficiently for us. They are our ablest and most valued advocates and friends. There may be "old fogies" among them: so there are among us: these fossil remains of a prior formation always will exist everywhere. It is well they do; for without them we should never be able to demonstrate the floods of darkness and prejudice that have, in past ages, deluged the human mind. In this case there are no more of these old conservatives, now extant, than will be really needed by our new universities as cabinet specimens of a monkish age just gone by. They will serve as a connecting link between the mummies of the catacombs, and the whirling, buzzing, living, lightning world of our own time. Some few of these philosophic owls affect to be greatly distressed lest a war of classes and profes- sions should be provoked in this effort, because, forsooth, we are obliged to speak distinctly and decidedly of the peculiar wants, duties and rights of the different classes of society. Now the history of the whole world shows there never was and never could be such a war of classes incited by any means whatever, in any State or community, unless there was ample and justifiable reason for it ; and whenever such reasons may exist, the sooner such a war comes, the better, if the unjust causes are not at once removed. Do these alarmists, then, pretend that any such causes exist in this country, connected with the scheme of industrial and professional education ? We do not believe it : such an assump- tion is a slander upon the institutions of the country, as well as the men in it. So far from it, no other single subject could be named, to which the whole heart of all the freemen of this Re- public, of all classes and professions, would so spontaneously and unequivocally respond. Let those who always take a step in ad- vance, as though the whole continent were paved with rotten eggs, tread as carefully as they please : but let those who are men, ad- vance like men, with fearless step, as if on the green, solid earth, amid brave and generous freemen like themselves.
422 History University of Illinois
That such a measure 'should in any possible respect injure and retard any other institution or interest of any value to man- kind, is, clearly impossible : but that it should necessarily increase the means and instruments, and exalt the utility and power of good in all such institutions and interests, is equally evident, and is seen and felt by all the best minds in all classes in the nation.
That there are always great and eminent dangers attending their incorporation, all thinking men well know. If consigned to corruption, imbecility and folly in any of the several States, (as some similar institutions, doubtless have been,) the money expended in the endowment will be, of course, perverted, or lost. But is this necessary? Is there not wisdom enough, and patri- otism enough in Congress and in the several States combined, to preclude the probability, if not the possibility of any such per- version or abuse ? Or, if errors should occur, and loss and dam- age in some cases ensue, would not experience, and the example of other States correct the evil, and, ultimately, each free State learn to control, wisely, the means indispensable to its own edu- cation, development and welfare ? If not, then, they are obviously not yet fit for self-government, which, necessarily, implies self education.
In the grant of lands, Congress has the right, and doubtless, ought to prescribe some uniform, wise and patriotic conditions to the grant, which should, as far as possible, place it, in all com- ing time, beyond the reach of all partisan, local and sinister passions, interests and impulses, and leave it only in the hands of the ' ' sober, second thought, ' ' of the people of the several States, through the proper Courts and Commissioners, or regents ap- pointed for the purpose, and well qualified for the trust.
It appears, from the report of President Hitchcock, of Am- herst College, to the Massachusetts Legislature, that there are, in Europe, 352 such institutions ; many of which he visited, and all of which exert a powerful and salutary influence, by the dif- fusion of intelligence, and by the improvement of these time honored arts. In France there are 75 under government patron- age. To one of these she made appropriations in 1849, of half a million dollars. Another has already graduated 600 well edu- cated agriculturists, who immediately found honorable and lu-
Industrial Universities for the People 423
crative situations at the head of their professions. Monarchial Russia has 68 of these schools, some of which are of a high order, and superior to those in other lands ! Cannot each of our con- federated republics afford one such institution?
The Hon. M. P. Wilder, in the same address quoted above, estimates the annual loss of the single State of Massachusetts in the one product of her cereal grains, for want of the knowledge and skill which such institutions alone can impart, at two millions of dollars.
This would give to the Union, at the same rate, on this single product, an annual loss of, at least, sixty million dollars.
A gentleman who has great practical experience, in the line of stock, dairy, &c., in Massachusetts, reports the loss through the same ignorance and unskillfulness in these interests of Massa- chusetts, alone, at 15 millions dollars.
(See Patent Office Reports 1851, page 28.)
This would give to the thirty States, if Massachusetts be taken as an average, an annual loss of 450 millions of dollars, in another single department.
In other departments of agriculture, and in all our build- ings, improvements and use of mechanical skill and labor, it is no better, and in many respects, even worse, as every intelligent man will admit. Surely, then, if these things are so, is it true that "for lack of knowledge the people perish, " as well in their temporal as their eternal interests. Both are governed by the same law and are bound to the same fate, like the bodies and souls of men.
PROPOSED PLAN OF ACTION
Let every Agricultural Society and every Mechanics' Insti- tute, every State and every neighborhood, at once procure Re- solves of their corporations, or the signatures of their friends, and forward to Congress the following petition or one of similar form, and adopt suitable petitions for and from their State Legis- latures, and forward to the Chief Executor of the League a copy of the same.
The Would respectfully petition your honorable
body for a grant of Congress Lands to each State in the Union to
424 History University of Illinois
endow therein an Industrial University for the liberal and prac- tical education of the Industrial classes in their several pursuits and professions in life. Said grant to be not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars to each State, and to be held in trust for the above uses, accompanied by such conditions and restrictions in the terms of the grant, as shall in the wisdom of Congress, be needful in order to secure this trust forever to the uses aforesaid, and to prevent as far as practicable in all coming time the possibility of such trusts being diverted from their pro- per object, or made subservient to any local, partisan, or sectarian end inconsistent with the appropriate use of such trust.
MEMORIAL
To the Honorable the Members of the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives of the State of Illinois:
The undersigned, citizens of this State, regarding with ad- miration the facilities which the civilized world at present affords for the liberal education of the members of the learned and mili- tary professions, and justly appreciating the benefits which they have derived therefrom in their pursuits in life, desire the same blessing for ourselves, and our children, and for each and all the members of the industrial classes of this State. We, there- fore, would humbly pray your honorable bodies so to dispose of the Fund given by the General Government to this State for the advancement of learning, that a State University may be endowed with ample means for the liberal and practical education of all classes in society, each in their own several pursuits in life ; and that these funds may be immediately committed to a Board of Trustees for this purpose in general accordance with a plan of the Convention already approved by large numbers of our most intelligent and patriotic citizens.
Industrial Universities for the People 425
DESIGN OF THE INDUSTRIAL LEAGUE OF ILLINOIS.
OFFICERS
PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR,
J. B. TURNER, Jacksonville.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS,
JOHN GAGE, Lake Co. BRONSON MURRAY, La Salle co.
L. S. PENNINGTON, Whiteside co. J. T. LITTLE, Fulton Co. WM. A. FENNEL, Putnam County
I. There are now in the hands of the State of Illinois, $150,- 000 in money, and about seventy-two sections of land selected at an early period, and probably worth as much more.
II. The land and money, was donated by the General Gov- ernment, to this State, as a trust fund, apart from and indepen- dent of the Common School Fund.
III. With this fund the State is required by Congress to establish a STATE UNIVERSITY or High Seminary of learning.
IV. The members of this industrial league are such, and such only, of the inhabitants of the State of Illinois, as desire that when this State Seminary is established, it shall be upon the fol- lowing rational and impartial principles :
V. It shall be designed to furnish to the great Industrial classes of the State, our Farmers, Merchants and Mechanics, each in their own sphere, the same thorough, liberal and practical education in those various sciences underlying their several pur- suits, and in all processes, principles, and arts connected there- with, as our colleges and professional schools now afford to their students of Theology, Medicine, Law, and the art of War; and shall be provided with all needful apparatus, lands, grounds, gardens, animals, drawings, models, instruments and engines, for the proper elucidation of the same— as other schools are pro- vided with their necessary apparatus.
History University of Illinois
To combine the fripnds of this interest, THE INDUSTRIAL LEAGUE OP ILLINOIS was incorporated by the Legislature, Febru- ary 1853.
1st. With a capital of $20,000, to be raised by members, fees and donations ;
2d. With a Board of one chief Director and five associates ; whose office it shall be
3d. To print and distribute books, pamphlets, and papers, explaining the advantages and necessity of this system of edu- cation.
4th. To employ lecturers to visit all parts of the State for the same purpose, and to appoint agents for making collections, &c.
5th. To circulate, and present, to the Legislature and to Congress, petitions, urging the adoption of this plan for a Uni- versity and the liberal endowment thereof by Congress lands and by State funds in each State in the Union.
6th. To receive from each member ten cents admission, and ten cents annual subscription, with fee for diploma and such voluntary donations as may be contributed.
7th. The funds so collected to be applied to the payment of lecturers, agents, and officers, (other than Associate Directors, who shall receive no compensation for services,) to the payment of printing and such incidental expenses as shall be approved by the Board: and on the establishment of a University as herein contemplated, any surplus funds in the treasury to be paid over to the treasury of such University.
8th. Members of the Industrial League, who desire it, may withdraw from their membership upon giving notice to any agent of the Board, provided their dues are all paid, including those for the year in which they withdraw.
9th. The year of the League commences with the first day of each January.
[The undersigned hereby enter their names as members of the "Indus- trial League of Illinois, ' ' from the date set opposite their names.]
Evan's Plan for a University 427
DOCUMENT NUMBER 3
PROF. JOHN EVAN'S PLAN FOR AN INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY Illinois Journal, (Springfield,) June 24, 1852.
The following plan was submitted by Professor Evans, be- fore the late Industrial Convention held in this city.
Dr. Evans then submitted the following plan, remarking, that for some of its most valuable features he was indebted to the suggestion of Dr. Roe, of Jacksonville, and moved its reference to a committee of three, who should prepare a bill embodying it, and memorialize the legislature upon subject. — He however, afterwards accepted an amendment offered by Dr. Roe, provid- ing that the committee should consist of six, three to be chosen from the friends of this plan, and three from the friends of Pro- fessor Turner's plan, and that the two plans be referred to said committee.
The plan was: That the Legislature should incorporate seven citizens, to be styled "the Regents of the Industrial Uni- versity of Illinois. ' '
That the proceeds of the College and Seminary Funds be placed at their disposal to be applied to the promotion of prac- tical education as hereinafter provided.
That the Regents appoint six Professors who shall devote all of their time to teaching, and to the diffusion and advancement of knowledge upon the subject assigned them and receive each a salary of one thousand dollars per annum for their services.
That they shall give regular courses of instruction on the subjects assigned them, in colleges as hereafter provided; and that the appropriate professors shall visit mechanical, agricul- tural and horticultural fairs, educational and other meetings, as may be consistent with their other duties, and give practical lec- tures and demonstrations for the instruction of such as may attend. And, also, to publish from time to time such matter of interest pertaining to their departments as they may deem valu- able to the public.
428 History University of Illinois
That the remaining portion of the annual proceeds of the funds, shall be expended in providing apparatus and means of illustrating and demonstrating the branches taught by these pro- fessors.
That there shall be, 1st, a Professor of the Chemistry of Agriculture and the Arts, to teach the analysis and composition of the soil, and the adaptation of such as are found in the State to the growth of the various products of agriculture ; their wants, and the means of improving them ; and the composition of vege- tables, and also the chemistry of oils, soap, dye stuffs, articles of food, &c., &c.
2nd. A Professor of Practical Agriculture, Horticulture, and Botany — To teach the best mode of cultivation, adaptation of climate, fitness of the soil for the various products of the farm and garden ; and also the botany and physiology of all the plants cultivated, &c., &c.
3rd. A Professor of Mechanical Philosophy, and the nature and use of tools and machinery ; — To teach the philosophy of all implements and their use, and the principles of machinery, and their application to the practical purposes of life, &c., &c.
4th. A Professor of Natural History, Comparative Anat- omy, and Veterinary Surgery — To teach the origin, habits, na- ture, forms, structure, uses, and the means of improving all of the animals, birds, reptiles, and insects by which we are surrounded ; and the diseases of animals, and the best modes of treating them, &c., &c.
5th. A Professor of Geology, Meterology, and Hygiene — To teach the science of the weather, of the form and composition of the earth, and the origin of soils and minerals, &c., and the laws and means for the preservation of health, &c., &c.
6th. A Professor of Normal Instruction in English Liter- ature— To teach the best modes of conducting the common schools, the most important rules for imparting instruction, and the proper subjects and the order in which they should be taught.
That the regents, with the professors, shall devise a course of study to be pursued in each department, and alter the same as may be found necessary.
Evan's Plan for a University 429
That they shall select as many of the colleges in the State as they may deem expedient, and as may accept under the pro- visions of the law, in which courses of instruction in these several departments shall be given by turns, by the respective professors to such students as may desire to attend, under the regulations of the regents of said university.
That the colleges accepting under the act shall agree to fur- nish room for the lectures and recitations, and for the necessary apparatus for imparting these courses of instruction. Also to establish a scientific course of instruction, and to confer upon such as pass through satisfactorily the degree of bachelor of science. Also to admit students to the courses of the professors of the Industrial University, without requiring any other than an initiation fee and room rent, which shall be fixed between them and the regents, before completing any such arrangement.
430 History University of Illinois
t- DOCUMENT NUMBER 4
Turner manuscripts, Springfield, III.
Springfield, 111., Jan. 13, 1853. Prof. J. B. Turner
Dear Sir: Yours of yesterday I got this evening. And feel highly complimented with your kind insinuation ; but never- theless am not so elated as to lose my balance. My heart is in this work. I am tendered the principal editor's place of the Decatur "Shoaff's family Gazette," I have sent piles of our matter for diffusion there. Also I have sent a lot or two to Ottawa Free Trader. The memorials will come out just as they are being discussed in the Legislature. It's time enough for them. I have purposely omitted the mention of them in the Leader of the "Journal" I sent you. I furnish them a leader every day, be- sides— items ! I am now on the message of Matteson, and will give the memorials due consideration by & bye. I have prepared a Charter for the League which I will hand to Denio or some other friend tomorrow — I am now getting ready another copy of Leg. Memorial for Senator Cook, Denio has one. When I get it through, I will send it down. You can gather up your armor for short stabs and close fighting. Your speech at the general meet- ing is most fully reported for the Ottawa Free Trader. If you keep a look out for it, you may there see yourself in your utmost glory. I shall fix up and on and through this subject till the close of the session and then fight among the people.
Excuse this scrawl, and believe me your friend truly
George L. Lumsden
Memorial to the Legislature 431
DOCUMENT NUMBER 5
So far as known this memorial has not been published since 1853 and then only in one or two newspapers.
Turner manuscripts, Springfield, III.
MEMORIAL
The Industrial -Convention of the State of Illinois assembled at Springfield 111 this fifth day of January 1853
To the Hon Senate and House of Representatives in con- gress assembled would respectfully represent that
We are members of the Industrial class engaged in the vari- our pursuits of Agriculture and the Mechanic arts. We find ourselves and most of our associates in these pursuits throughout the union, destitute of the needful Scientific knowledge, without the Books, apparatus and needful means of illustrating our pur- suits, ignorant of many principles and processes, which if known would greatly relieve our toil, augment our products and our means, elevate ourselves and our children in intelligence and vir- tue, and add greatly to our own comfort and prosperity, and to the resources of the State — What we have learned, we have learned empyrically, by the slow process of individual experience, without either instruction or needful schools or books or means. We are not willing to leave our children to the same unaided toil and the same wasteful empyricism —
In Europe, through polytechnic and Agricultural schools, some successful effort has been made to meet this great want of the age and of the people. In our own country, though emi- nently industrial and practical in all its interests and aims, no adequate effort has ever yet been made to meet that want, though felt, known, and seen by all —
There are in the United States according to published re- ports two hundred and twenty five principal colleges, and Uni- versities, etc. (besides many smaller ones), devoted to the inter- ests of the Professional classes, while there is not a single one with suitable endowments designed for the liberal practical education of the Industrial classes.
432 History University of Illinois
The influence of such institutions on all our mercantile agri- cultural mining and mechanical pursuits, in evolving and de- veloping the resources of our mines and soils, perfecting our material products and arts — relieving elevating and refining our toil, swelling the amount of our national wealth and resources, securing to our people intelligence and virtue at home, respect and confidence abroad, can best be seen and felt by every intel- ligent mind — It is an object in all respects most worthy of, and urgently demanding the united effort of our national strength. We would therefore respectfully petition your honorable body to authorise an appropriation of Public lands to each of the several states of the Union to an amount of not less than 500 thousand dollars for the liberal endorsement of a system of In- dustrial Universities cooperating with each other and with the Smithsonian Institute at Washington in each State in the Union ; for the liberal, practical education of our industrial classes, in their various pursuits for producing the knowledge and litera- ture, needfully adapted to those pursuits, and developing to the fullest and most perfect extent the resources of our soil and our arts, and especially the intelligence refinement and virtue of our people, and the true glory of our common country —
Aug. C. French, Chair. D. L. Gregg L. S. Pennington
(The above signatures are apparently in their own hand writing.)
Letter — Murray to Turner 483
DOCUMENT NUMBER 6 Turner manuscripts, Springfield, III.
Ottawa, Oct 20, 1854 J. B. Turner
Dear Sir :
I have a letter from Dr. Rutherford in which he says you wish to know why my name does not appear as one of the com- mittee from the Sta Agl. Society to cooperate with the " League " I do not know — Dr. R. told me at Spgfld. that I was appointed but that when I was named he forgot that I was a Member & Director of the "League" and I supposed for that reason I was dropped. I think it just as well I shd. be off as on. I could work without being seen, and the effect would be full as great. But we must not drop the name of Wm. Ray of Marion County. He and Webster are solid fellows from the right district.
It is time now to be moving about election indeed I fear it is too late.
A circular should have been sent to each director to have the various candidates fully committed to the cause and their replies all returned to you at Jacksonville. I am glad to see the whigs have renominated McClure from Bloomington — He will be Elected and is with us.
I count as follows in the house as certain — Two from this county Two from Morgan — one from Bloomington Chesnut of Carlinville — Turner of Freeport within my knowledge — .
I propose that the State Agl. Society should now purchase a lot of the League Reports and send several copies to each county Agl. Society with a request that they would co-operate with the State Society in memorializing the Legislature, and send the me- morials to Dr. K. (Kennicott). This will help pecuniarily as well as otherwise. I will see the Dr. shortly.
As to Dr. Rutherford 's pay. Have you kept an account with him or do you know what he has received ? If not there should be some settlement and an effort made to secure means to pay him next winter.
484 History University of Illinois
When Dr. K. comes we must also devise means for calling a general educational convention to be held at Springfield at the same time with the State Agl. Society meeting in June next. Then we must have Prest. Brown authorize Dr. K. to invite Prest. Allen of Farmers College to address the Agl. Society on the subject of Industrial Education. He is a trump — a finished scholar — elegant speaker and sound to the core for us. We must then bring him into the educational convention to face the fogy college men He's just the man and will come. His expenses must be paid and our milch cow the Society must be made to do it. This can all be done easily and my word for it he alone will take care of the educational Convention. At the same time we must have all our friends rally and attend. Then we must have pre- pared a bill to submit to the Legislature. This should be your lot. My idea upon this head is that we should not prescribe any particular course to be pursued in all detail except so far as is now successfully practiced by some existing institution and that then all beyond should be made a general instruction to proceed as fast and as far in the practical as their future experience shall from time to time warrant.
Perhaps I had better devote a sheet to our outline of the idea. I have enclosed a slip from Telegraph.
Dr. K. will be here about the 25th. I know you will not be unwilling to get this from me altho I have written you as the ladies say ' ' last ' J Yours
Murray
Suggestions for an Industrial University 435
DOCUMENT NUMBER 7
Turner manuscripts, Springfield, III.
SUGGESTIONS FOR BASIS OF ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY
Take for general outline say Farmer's College, Ohio, then say
1st. The dead languages shall not be taught at least til the Institution is competent to give a full course in all the practical & useful sciences aided by all the instruments and apparatus needful and useful in demonstrating and elucidating the same.
2nd. A large barn or other building as a depository for ma- chines and models as well as implements to be used upon the farm.
3rd. Any patentee of the United States who shall send to the Institution his model and any manufacturer of machines or other article who shall send a fair working sample of his manu- facture may have the same exhibited under such general rules as the Trustees shall provide in the building aforesaid. Such machines -models to become the property of the Trustees.
4th. Lectures upon Mechanics and the Sciences generally (so far as practicable) to be given with the machinery and ar- ticles they relate to before the student, demonstrating what is taught.
5th. This barn or building at all times to be open to the public.
6th. There shall be attached to the Institution not less than 1000 acres donated by the people among whom the Institution is located.
7th. A portion of this set aside for sale in i/2 acre l°ts to persons who shall contract to erect residences satisfactory to the Trustees Sales to be by auction yearly.
8th. Another portion set apart for an Experimental farm, which being explorative in its character will be expected to sink money.
9th. Another portion set apart for a model or demonstra- tive farm upon which will be shown what knowledge is acquired
436 History University of Illinois
upon the last. The modeF farm not only must not be chargeable to the Institution but is expected to make money. Its outfit shall consist of the land it covers and team and tools sufficient to start two men to the work upon it and no more. Accounts shall be ac- curately kept charging every thing properly falling to its debit even to the taxes ordinarily paid upon such a farm. These ac- counts together with a history of the operations annually made to the Legislature.
10th. Trial of Implements Each year there shall be a trial of all implements, open to the public (under restrictions by Trus- tees) in co-operation with the State Agricultural Society The trial to extend through the entire season for which the implement is designed. The object being to test all its parts.
llth. The location to be central not north of Joliet nor South of Salem (if it can be avoided) on line of some well estab- lished R. R. & to be given to that place subscribing the most pecuniarily in estimation of Trustees.
12th. The Endowment to be the College & Seminary fund of the State with any additional amount hereafter received from U. S. for high Educational purposes together with the funds which may be raised by individuals as hereafter provided.
13th. Whenever any individuals citizens of this state not less than 100 in number shall subscribe and pay into the treasury of this State, to the credit of the college fund a sum of money not less than the amount of the college and seminary funds (at that time) such association of individuals to become incorporated and known as the Corporation of the Illinois State Industrial Uni- versity. The Trustees of which shall be selected as follows.
14th. Upon the selection of the trustees the Entire College and Seminary fund to become vested in and subject to their draft (upon vouchers rendered) except the principal of the pres- ent college Fund which shall remain untouched and the interest shall be annually applied to the payment of the President and faculty and in no other way.
15th. The object of this institution being to disseminate knowledge in the useful arts and sciences for the benefit of the working men mainly and to build up at the same time a good con-
Suggestions for an Industrial University 437
stitution, a practiced hand and a sound mind in each of its grad- uates it shall be the duty of the Trustees to introduce from time to time as their experience shall show practicable liberal hours of relaxation from study and a devotion of so many hours daily to labor as shall be consistent with the good of the institution, the storing of the mind and the development of the man in the student.
This covers B. M. idea of starting.
(B. M. is Bronson Murray)
438 History University of Illinois
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t-
DOCUMENT NUMBER 8 Trumbull manuscripts, Library of Congress
THE GROVE
West Northfield P. 0. Cook Co. Ills, Jan 25th '58 Hon Lyman Trumbull —
Can we not count on you, my dear Sir, to advocate the measure, should there be a hope that Congress may seriously en- tertain the proposal to grant lands to the several States for the establishment of Agricultural Colleges! I suppose you know this is ' ' Illinois thunder", and you have a right to it. The prin- ciple has been endorsed by our Legislature — pressed on by our State society — and adopted by nearly all our associations — east and west — and has many friends in the Slave States even.
I will not waste your time with arguments, but my assurance that nearly every thinking agriculturist of the Union believes in the necessity of specific education, may give you more confidence to work for us — if you see any chance, in the present. I take it for granted that you are aware of the opportunities I have had for knowing the wants and wishes of the rural brotherhood, and can therefore judge of the value of my evidence — and it may be well to add, that those who put a much higher estimate on my influence than is due to it have urged me to address you on the subject. My own opinion is, that there is no subject before Congress, of one half the National importance Slavery, south, is, I take it, dangerous only through the doughfaceism of the North, and the enlightment and and efficiency of free labor is the policy of those who would drive that out of Congress and the adminis- tration. But, pardon me, I did not intend to say more than might be necessary to call your attention to the question of aid to the paramount interest of Agriculture.
Cordially and Respectfully
John A. Kennicott Pres. Cook Co— Ag'l Society.
Petitions to Congress 439
DOCUMENT NUMBER 9
Petitions to congress for a grant of land in support of an industrial university or agricultural college in each of the states came apparently from Illinois alone during the years 1853-1857. As soon as the bill for a grant of land to each state for an agricultural and mechanical college was intro- duced in congress, December 14, 1857, petitions came from many states. The following are examples of the various kinds of petitions on the subject sent to congress; by no means all that were sent.
PETITIONS TO CONGRESS
House Journal, 1st Session, 33d Congress.
Dec. 23, 1853, p. 138. By Mr. John Wentworth : The peti- tion of citizens of the State of Illinois, praying for a grant of land and the appropriation of money for the establishment of a University in each State of the Union for the education of the working classes ; which was referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.
Jan. 16, 1854. p. 207, By Mr. Elihu Washburne : The me- morial of the Agricultural Society of Carroll county, Illinois, for the establishment of an agricultural or normal school in each State in the Union; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
Jan. 18, 1854, p. 240. On motion of Mr. Craige, Ordered, That the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds be dis- charged from the further consideration of the petition of the chairman and board of supervisors of Cooke County, Illinois, for the establishment of a college for the laboring classes in each State of the Union, and that the same be laid on the table.
Mar. 16, 1854, p. 516. By Mr. Norton : The memorial of the Board of Supervisors of Bureau county, Illinois, for the es- tablishment of an industrial university in the several States of the Union ; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
Mar. 20, 1854, p. 527. By Elihu B. Washburne : The peti- tion of the Kane County, Illinois, Agricultural Society, for the establishment of a university for the working classes in each State of the Union; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
440 History University of Illinois
Mar. 20, 1854, p. 530* By Elihu B. Washburne, by unani- mous consent, presented joint resolutions of the legislature of the State of Illinois, relative to the establishment of industrial universities, and for the encouragement of practical and general education among the people ; which were laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.
Mar. 27, 1854, p. 562. By Mr. Elihu B. Washburne : The memorial of the Lake County, Illinois, Agricultural Society, for the establishment of universities for the working classes; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
Mar. 29, 1854, p. 577. By Mr. James C. Allen: The me- morial of the county court of Richland county, Illinois, for a grant of land to endow an industrial college in each State in the Union ; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
April 7, 1854, p. 609. By Mr. James C. Allen: The me- morial of the county court of Logan county, Illinois, for a grant of land to each State sufficient to endow a State industrial uni- versity ; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands. House Journal, 1st and 2d Sess. 34th Cong. 1855-56.
Mar. 10, 1856, p. 654. By Mr. -Norton : The petition of the " State Educational Convention/ ' of the State of Illinois, pray- ing aid for the establishment of industrial universities.
Mar. 19, 1856, p. 692. By Mr. E. B. Washburne : The peti- tion of citizens of the State of Illinois, praying for a grant of land for an industrial university.
PETITIONS TO CONGRESS
Senate Journal, 1st Sess. 33d Congress, 1853-54.
Mar. 20, 1854, p. 268. Mr. Shields presented a petition of the judge and associate justices of the county court of Shelby county, Illinois, relative to the establishment of industrial uni- versities in the several States; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Public Lands.
Mr. Shields presented resolutions of the legislature of Illi- nois in relation to the establishment of industrial universities in the several States; which were referred to the Committee on Public Lands.
Petitions to Congress 441
Senate Journal, 1st and 2d Sess. 34th Congress, 1855-56.
Jan. 28, 1856, p. 72. Mr. Trumbull presented a memorial of a committee appointed by the Illinois State Educational Con- vention, praying a donation of land to each State in the Union for the endowment of an Industrial University in each State; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands. Journal of the Senate, May 22, 1858, p. 504.
On motion by Mr. Stuart, Ordered, That the Committee on Public Lands be discharged from the further consideration of the following :
Resolutions of the legislature of New Jersey, in favor of a donation of public lands to that State, in common with other States, for establishing agricultural colleges; a memorial of the legislature of Minnesota, praying a donation of land for the es- tablishment of an agricultural college in that State ; a resolution of the legislature of California, in favor of a donation of lands to the States and Territories for agricultural colleges therein ; a memorial of the legislature of Iowa, praying a donation of land for the purpose of establishing scientific agricultural schools in that State ; resolutions of the legislature of Michigan, in favor of a donation of land for the endowment of the Michigan agricul- tural college ; a memorial of the Michigan State Agricultural So- ciety, praying that a grant of land may be made for the endow- ment of the agricultural college of that State, and similar insti- tutions in every State in the Union; resolutions passed at the annual meeting of the Oneida County Agricultural Society of New York, in favor of the endowment and maintenance of a col- lege in each State and Territory of the United States to teach such branches of learning as relate to agriculture and the me- chanic arts; a memorial of members of the Board of Education of the State of Michigan, and of the faculty of the agricultural college of that State, praying a donation of land for the agricul- tural college; a petition of the New York State Agricultural College for an appropriation of public lands for an agricultural college in each State of the Union ; a petition of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, praying that a donation of land may be made to each of the States for the establishment of agricultural colleges ; a memorial of the regents of the University of Michigan,
442 History University of Illinois
praying a donation of land; resolutions of the New York State Agricultural Society, recommending a grant of land to each State and Territory and District of Columbia for the endowment and maintenance of agricultural colleges ; a memorial of the directors and faculty of Farmers' College, Hamilton county, Ohio, pray- ing a grant of land to the several States and Territories for the establishment of agricultural colleges therein ; a petition of citi- zens of New London county, Connecticut, praying that a grant of land be made for the benefit of the Michigan Agricultural Col- lege; a petition of inhabitants of Michigan, that a donation of land be made for the use of the "Michigan Agricultural Col- lege ;" a memorial of the board of trustees of "The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, ' ' praying a grant of land for the endowment of that institution; a petition of the State Agricul- tural Society of Michigan, praying that a liberal donation of public land be made for the promotion of agricultural education in that State; a memorial of Sallie Eola Keneau, praying an ap- propriation of a portion of unappropriated public land in the State of Mississippi for the purpose of endowing the State Female College of Mississippi ; a memorial of the board of trustees of the Protestant University of the United States at Cincinnati, Ohio, praying that that institution may be endowed by a grant of pub- lic land ; a memorial of the officers of the Oakland County Agri- cultural Society, praying a donation of land to each of the States for the encouragement and promotion of agricultural education therein ; a petition of the Calhoun County Agricultural Society, Michigan, praying that a liberal donation of public land be made to Michigan and other states for the promotion of agricultural education.
From House Journal
House Journal, p. 144 — Mr. Corning Petition Citizens of N. Y. Jan. 7, '58. for Agrl. Schools.
House Journal, p. 151 — By Mr. Morril, p. 151. Petition of citi- Jan. 11, 1858. zens of Vermont to endow colleges for benefit of Agrl. and Mechanical Arts.
House Journal, p. 170 — By Mr. Leach. Jan. 11, 1858.
Petitions to Congress 443
Citizens of Mich, for grant to the several states to aid in endowing and mainte- nance of Agrl. Colleges.
House Journal, p. 174 — By Mr. English
Jan. 15, 1858. Memorial of citizen of Indiana praying an act granting lands for the support of an Agrl. college in each state.
House Journal, p. 184— Mr. Parker
Jan. 18, 1858. Citizens of N. Y. for lands for Agrl. col- lege and Mech. Arts to several states and territories.
House Journal, p. 219 — Mr. Howard
Jan. 21, 1858. Memorial of citizens of Mich, a grant for Agrl. Colleges.
House Journal, p. 244 — By Morrill.
Jan. 26, 1858. Citizen of Vermont, petition for grant for several states Agrl. Colleges.
House Journal, p. 244 — Mr. Walbridge.
Jan. 26, 1858. Citzen of Mich, petitions a grant in aid of Agrl. Colleges.
House Journal, p. 252 — Oliver A. Morse.
Jan. 29, 1858. Petition of citizens of state of N. Y. pray- ing a law granting land to several states for endowment of Agrl. Colleges.
House Journal, p. 285 — Mr. Durfee
Feb. 3, 1858. Petition of Rhode Island Society for the
Encouragement of Domestic Industry, for Agrl. colleges and Mech. Arts in sev- eral states and territories
House Journal, p. 293 — Mr. Royce
Feb. 4, 1858. Petition, citizen state of Vermont grant
for Agrl. colleges and Mech. Arts.
House Journal, p. 341 — Mr. Waldron
Feb. 8, 1858. Petition of citizen of Mich, grant in aid
of Agrl. colleges
444 History University of Illinois
House Journal, p. 351 — Mr. Cox
Feb. 9, 1858 Memorial of State Board of Agrl. for a
grant of land for an Agrl. College. Re- ferred to Com. on Agrl. House Journal, p. 406 — Mr. Potter
Feb. 19, 1858. Petition of State of Wisconsin grant of land to several states for endowing in- dustrial schools House Journal, p. 413 — Mem. citizens of Pennsyl. for appropria-
Feb. 23, 1858. tion for Agrl. Colleges House Journal, p. 439 — Mr. Clawson
Mar. 22, 1858. Memorial citizens of N. Jersey for grant of public lands to provide colleges of Agrl. and Mechanic Arts in several states and territories House Journal, p. 483 — Mr. Dick
Mar. 12, 1858. Mem. of Citizen of Penn. public lands to endow colleges of Agrl. and Mech. Arts in several states and territories House Journal, p. 544 — Morrill
Mar. 25, 1858. Petition of citizen of New Hampshire grant to each state and territory in aid of Agrl. Science
House Journal, p. 597 — Joint Resolution of Legislature of New Apr. 7, 1858. Jersey asking a grant of public lands
for Agrl. Colleges
PETITIONS FROM CITIZENS OF VERMONT
p. 151 Mr. Morrill, Jan. 1.
p. 261 " " , two petitions, Jan. 19
p. 238 " " , Jan. 25
p. 244 " " , " 26
p. 257 "• » , Feb. 1
p. 293 " Royce, Feb. 4
p. 298 " " , Feb. 5
p. 417 " Morrill, Feb. 24, two petitions
p. 472 " " , Mar. 10
p. 483 " Royce, Franklin Co., Vermont, Mar. 12
Petitions to Congress 445
35TH CONGRESS, ) t MIS. DOC.
1st Session. SENATE. ) No. 202.
MEMORIAL
OF THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IOWA,
PRAYING
A donation of land for the purpose of establishing scientific agricultural schools in that State.
MARCH 17, 1858. — Referred to the Committee on Public Lands, and ordered to be printed.
MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS FOR A GRANT OF LAND FOR THE SUPPORT OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Your memorialists, the general assembly of the State of Iowa, respectfully represent in your honorable body that the farmers of the State of Iowa are exceedingly desirous to establish a scientific agricultural college and schools for the purpose of giving freely to all a profound knowledge of the great truths and fundamental principles of nature, whereby all may become fully acquainted with the properties of the earth, the vegetable king- dom, and the peculiar adaptation of plants to certain soils, and likewise to obtain a complete knowledge of animals, that their stock may be brought to the highest state of perfection.
Your memorialists sincerely believe that, by conferring this great privilege upon the respectable portion of community, you would thereby add greatly to the interests of all branches of in- dustry, by bringing rapidly to perfection, and increasing, the products of the farmer.
Your memorialists would further say, that as it has been a practice of your honorable body to make munificent grants of land for the endowment of schools and universities ; and that in all cases the interest of that class of community which is generally
446 History University of Illinois
termed the backbone of 'trade and commerce has been entirely overlooked :
We, therefore, do respectfully ask a donation of 50,000 acres of land, to be taken from the public lands in this State, for the purpose of establishing scientific agricultural schools.
Resolved, That the secretary of state be instructed to send certified copies of the foregoing memorial to each of our repre- sentatives and senators in Congress.
STEPHEN B. SHELLEDY, Speaker of the House of Representatives. ORAN FAVILLE,
T n/r T, o -10 co President of the Senate.
Approved March 3, 1858.
RALPH P. LOWE.
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy from the original roll on file in my office.
ELIJAH SELLS,
Secretary of State.
|
35TH CONGRESS, ) 1st Session. \ |
SENATE. |
j MIS. DOC. } No. 157. |
RESOLUTIONS
OP THE LEGISLATURE OF MICHIGAN,
i IN
Favor of a donation of land for the endowment of the Michigan Agricultural College.
FEBRUARY 15, 1858.— Referred to the Committee on Public Lands, and ordered to be printed.
JOINT RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO AN APPROPRIATION OF A GRANT OF LAND FOR THE ENDOWMENT OF THE MICHIGAN AGRICUL- TURAL COLLEGE.
Whereas a memorial has been presented to Congress by the board of education and the president and faculty of the Michigan
Petitions to Congress 447
Agricultural College, praying for a grant of land as an endow- ment of said Michigan Agricultural College ; and
Whereas we believe that the practical working of the Michi- gan Agricultural College fully vindicates the feasibility and cor- rectness of the principles upon which it is founded. Therefore — Resolved, That our senators in Congress be instructed and our representatives requested to use all honorable means to secure the passage of a law in accordance with the memorial.
Resolved, That the governor be requested to forward copies of the foregoing preamble and resolution to each of our senators and representatives in Congress.
GEORGE A. COE,
President of the Senate. BYRON G. STOUT, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Approved January 29, 1858.
KINSLEY S. BINGHAM.
STATE OF MICHIGAN, ) Office of Secretary of State, \ SS<
I, John McKinney, Secretary of State, do hereby certify that I have compared the foregoing copy of a joint resolution passed by the legislature of the State of Michigan with the orig- inal, now on file in this office, and that it is a true copy thereof. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the great seal of the said State at Lansing, this 4th day [L. S.] of February, A. D. 1858.
JOHN McKINNEY,
Secretary of State.
448 History University of Illinois
35-TH CONGRESS, ) * j MIS. DOC.
1st Session. \ SENATE. ") No. 46.
MEMORIAL
OF THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN,
PRAYING
A grant of land for the purpose of establishing an Agricultural
College.
FEBRUARY 17, 1859. — Ordered to lie on the table and be printed.
MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS FOR A GRANT OF LAND FOR AN AGRICUL- TURAL COLLEGE.
To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States in Congress assembled: Memorial of the legislature of the State of Wisconsin rep- resents :
That we are eminently an agricultural State, and feeling deeply the want of a fountain head, whose duty it shall be to col- lect and distribute information upon the subject of agriculture, and the mechanic arts connected therewith, thus drawing to a common centre the results of individual skill and observation, and from whose teaching shall be diffused a knowledge of the science and arts thus acquired; and further, that the subject is one well worthy of the most profound consideration :
Therefore, your memorialists respectfully ask that an ade- quate amount of public lands be donated to this State by Con- gress for the purpose of establishing an Agricultural College, under such regulations as may be hereafter prescribed.
The governor of this State is hereby requested to transmit a copy of this memorial to each of our senators and representatives in Congress.
WM. P. LYON,
Speaker of the Assembly. E. D. CAMPBELL,
Lieutenant Governor and President of the Senate. Approved February 11, 1859.
ALEX. W. RANDALL.
Petitions to Congress 449
STATE OF WISCONSIN,
QCJ
Secretary's Office,
The secretary of State, of the State of Wisconsin, does hereby certify that the foregoing memorial has been compared with the original memorial in this office, and that the same is a true and correct copy thereof and of the whole of such original. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and af- fixed the great seal of the State, at the capitol, in Madi- [L. S.] son, this twelfth day of February, A. D. 1859.
J. D. RUGGLES,
Assistant Secretary of State.
|
35TH CONGRESS, ) 1st Session. \ |
SENATE. |
j MIS. DOC. | No. 224. |
RESOLUTIONS
OF THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
IN FAVOR OF
A donation of public lands to that State, in common with the
oilier States of the Union, for the founding and maintaining
of agricultural colleges therein.
APRIL 5, 1858. — Referred to the Committee on Public Lands, and ordered to be printed.
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
JOINT RESOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO OBTAINING FROM THE UNITED
STATES A DONATION OF PUBLIC LANDS FOR THE FOUNDING
AND MAINTAINING OF AN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
1. Be it resolved by the senate and general assembly of the State of New Jersey, That the senators and representatives in
450 History University of Illinois
Congress of this State be", and they are hereby, requested to use their best exertions to obtain from the general government a do- nation of public lands to this State, in common with the other States of the Union, for the founding and maintaining in each of the several States of an agricultural college, for the promotion of the science and practice of agriculture ; and, for that purpose, to favor any proper bill which is now depending, or which shall hereafter be presented, before the two houses of Congress, the ob- ject of which may be to secure such donation.
2. And be it resolved, That the governor of this State be, and he is hereby, requested to transmit a copy of these resolutions to each of our senators and representatives in Congress.
Approved March 18, 1858.
STATE OF NEW JERSEY:
I, Thomas S. Allison, secretary of state of the State of New Jersey, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of joint resolutions passed by the legislature of this State, and approved March 18, 1858, as taken from and compared with the original now on file in my office.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and af- fixed my official seal, at Trenton, in said State, this 2d [L. S.] day of April, A. D. 1858.
THOMAS S. ALLISON,
Secretary of State.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF NEW JERSEY
Trenton, N. J., April 2, 1858.
I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of joint reso- lutions passed by the legislature of this State, agreeably to the requirements of said resolutions.
Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
WILLIAM A. NEWELL,
Governor of New Jersey. Hon. WILLIAM WRIGHT.
Petitions to Congress 451
|
35TH CONGEESS, ) 1st Session. ) |
SENATE. |
( MIS. DOC. ] No. 183. |
|
RESOLUTION OF THE |
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS,
IN FAVOR OF
A donation of public lands to the several States and Territories
to aid and encourage scientific education in agriculture
and the mechanic arts.
MARCH 4, 1858. — Read and ordered to be printed.
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. January Session, A. D. 1858.
RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO THE APPROPRIATING OF PUBLIC LANDS OF
THE UNITED STATES FOR THE BENEFIT OF AGRICULTURE
AND THE MECHANIC ARTS.
Resolved, That the senators from this State be instructed, and the representatives be requested, to use their exertions in Congress for the passage of an act donating public lands to the several States and Territories in the Union, for the aid and en- couragement of scientific education in agriculture and the me- chanic arts.
Resolved, That the secretary of state be instructed to trans- mit a copy of the above resolution to each of the members of Congress from this State, immediately after its passage.
A true copy. Attest :
JOHN R. BARTLETT,
Secretary of State.
452 History University of Illinois
STATE OF RHODE ISEAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
Providence, February 22, 1858.
SIR : Prefixed, I beg leave, in accordance with a resolution of the general assembly of this State, to transmit you resolutions which have just passed that body, in relation to an act now before the Congress of the United States, for the donation of public lands to the several States and Territories in the Union which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the me- chanic arts.
With high respect, I have the honor to remain your most obedient servant,
JOHN R. BARTLETT,
Secretary of State. Hon. Phillip Allen,
United States Senate.
35TH CONGRESS, ) ( MIS. DOC.
1st Session. \ SENATE. | No. 184.
RESOLUTION
OP THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MAINE
IN FAVOR OF
The distribution of a portion of the public lands among the sev- eral States for educational purposes.
MARCH 4, 1858. — Ordered to lie on the table and be printed. STATE OF MAINE.
RESOLVE IN RELATION TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF A PORTION OF THE PUBLIC LANDS BELONGING TO THE UNITED STATES.
Resolved, That our senators and representatives in Congress be requested to use their efforts to procure a fair and equitable
Petitions to Congress 453
distribution of a portion of the public lands belonging to the United States among the several States for educational purposes. Resolved, That the governor be requested to transmit to each of our senators and representatives in Congress a copy of these resolves.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
February 24, 1858.
Read and passed.
JOSIAH H. DRUMMOND,
Speaker.
IN SENATE, February 24, 1858 Read and passed.
SETH SCAMMAN,
President. Approved February 26, 1858.
LOT M. MORRILL.
OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE, Augusta, February 27, 1858.
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the orig- inal deposited in this office.
NOAH SMITH, Jr.
Secretary of State.
454 History University of Illinois
35TH CONGRESS, ) ' \ MIS. DOC.
1st Session. ( SENATE. ) No. 259.
RESOLUTION
OF THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
I IN FAVOR OF
A donation of land to each of the States and Territories of the
Union for the endowment and maintenance of colleges for
instruction in such branches of education as pertain to
agriculture, the mechanic arts, and natural history.
MAY 15, 1858. — Referred to the Committee on Public Lands and ordered to be printed.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO A COLLEGE.
Whereas the Hon. Justin S. Morril, of Vermont, has intro- duced into the House of Representatives of the United States a bill for the endowment and maintenance of a college in each State and Territory, by donating to each State and Territory a portion of the public lands; which college to be dedicated and devoted to instructions in such branches of education as pertain to agriculture, mechanical arts, and natural history ; therefore — Be it resolved by the senate, the assembly concurring, That our senators be instructed, and our representatives in Congress requested, to use all honorable exertion necessary to the passing of the aforementioned bill into a law.
And be it further resolved, That his excellency the governor be requested to forward to our senators and representatives each a copy of these resolutions.
WM. E. WHITESIDES,
Speaker of the Assembly. JAS. WALKUP,
President of the Senate. OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE, Sacramento, California, April 16, 1858.
Petitions to Congress 455
I, Ferris Forman, secretary of state of the State of Califor- nia, do hereby certify that the annexed is a true and correct copy of concurrent resolution relative to a college, now on file in my office.
Witness my hand and the great seal of State at office in Sac- ramento, California, the 16th day of April, A. D. 1858. [L. S.] FERRIS FORMAN,
Secretary of State.
35TH CONGRESS, ) HOUSE OF ( MIS. DOC.
1st Session. \ REPRESENTATIVES j No. 99.
ENDOWMENT OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. RESOLUTIONS
OF THE
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK,
FOB
The distribution of a portion of the public lands to the States and Territories, for the benefit of agricultural colleges therein.
MARCH 16, 1858. — Referred to the Committee on Public Lands.
AGRICULTURAL ROOMS. Albany, February 10, 1858.
ANNUAL MEETING.
The following preamble and resolutions were presented, and unanimously adopted :
On motion of Mr. E. C. DIBBLE, seconded by L. F, ALLEN, Whereas the public lands of the United States are the com- mon property of the whole Union, and in their distribution should be applied for the general good of the whole ; and as it has been the established policy of the government to set apart a portion of
456 History University of Illinois
the public lands for the purposes of education, and believing that no disposition of the lands can be made which will more com- pletely promote the prosperity of our whole country, than by the appropriation of portions of the same for the establishment of a system of agricultural colleges in the several States and Terri- tories and in the District of Columbia, for the education of the industrial classes : Therefore,
Resolved, That the Senate and House of Kepresentatives be requested to grant, during the present session of Congress, to the several States and Territories and to the District of Columbia, a sufficient quantity of the public lands to endow and maintain ag- ricultural colleges in each State and Territory and in the District of Columbia ; and that we approve of the main features of the bill introduced into Congress by the Honorable Mr. Morrill, as well calculated to carry out the objects contemplated.
Resolved, That the secretary be directed to furnish each member of the Senate and House of Representatives with a copy of the above resolution.
In pursuance of the resolution above adopted, I forward you the preceding preamble and resolutions, respectfully asking your attention to the same.
Very respectfully, yours, B. P. JOHNSON,
Corresponding Secretary. HON. JOHN COCHRANE.
Petitions to Congress 457
35TH CONGRESS, ) HOUSE OF ( MIS. DOC.
1st Session. \ REPEESENTATIVES j No. 82.
PUBLIC LANDS FOB SCHOOL PURPOSES. PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTION
OF THE
KENTUCKY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,
IN RELATION TO
The appropriating of a portion of the public domain for school
purposes. i
MARCH 15, 1858. — Referred to the Committee on Public Lands.
PIERCE VALLEY, February 19, 1858. SIR : Your attention is respectfully asked to the following preamble and resolution passed unanimously by the board of di- rectors of the Kentucky State Agricultural Society, at a meeting held in the city of Frankfort, on the 10th to the 13th instant :
* ' Whereas a bill has been introduced into the Congress of the United States appropriating a portion of the natural domain for the endowment of a school, in each State of the Union, for the education of farmers and mechanics: Therefore, as the sense of this board —
"Resolved, That the Kentucky State Agricultural Society, and the farmers and mechanics of Kentucky, do most cordially approve of said measure, so far as it is known to them, without distinction of party as to national politics, and that our senators and representatives in Congress are requested to use all reason- able and honorable efforts to promote its passage/' Respectfully, yours, &c.,
W. D. GALLAGHER, Secretary Kentucky State Agricultural Society.
458 History University of Illinois
DOCUMENT NUMBER 10
SEMINARY CONTRACT. Original manuscript at the University of Illinois.
This agreement made and entered into this 2nd day of July 1860, by and between Jonathan C. Stoughton of Freport Ills. John E. Babcock of Aurora Ills and George Harvey of Fort Edward Washington County New York of the first part And Joseph W. Sim Jr William Park William H. Romine Carter F. Columbia John H. Thomas and James S. Wright of the County of Champaign and State of Illinois of the Second part
Witnesseth that Whereas the parties of the first part are the owners in fee of the lands hereinafter designated situated in Champaign County Illinois towit :
Beginning at the South East Corner of Section Seven (7) Township No. nineteen 19 North, of Range No. Nine (9) East, thence North ten (10) Chains, Thence North Seventy Six (76) degrees West Twenty (20) Chains and Sixty links (60) more or less to a point fifteen (15) chains North, of the South West Cor- ner of the South East quarter of
The South East quarter of said Section Seven (7) Thence South fifteen (15) chains to the South West Corner of the South East quarter of Said Section Seven (7) Thence East on Section line to» the place of beginning. Also all that piece or parcel of land towit: beginning at a point one hundred and Sixty two (162) links South of the South East Corner of the North West qr of the South East qr of Said section Seven (7) Thence North Sixty three (63) degrees West Twenty two chains and forty two (42) links more or less to the Center line North and South of Said, section Seven (7) Thence South on said line to the South West Corner of the South East qr of said section Seven (7) Thence East on section line to the South East Corner of the South West qr of the South East qr of said section Seven (7) thence North to the place of beginning. Containing 83% acres of land more or less Also the South West qr of the NE qr And the South half of lot No. One (1) of the North West qr of Section No. Seven (7) Town Nineteen (19) North Range Nine (9) East
Seminary Contract 459
Also all of Wright and Romine's addition to Urbana according to the recorded Plot as recorded in Book "R" of Deeds on page 314, in the Recorders office of Champaign County Illinois said plot containing Forty Six and forty eight hundredth (46 48/100) acres including Streets and Alleys said streets and alleys having been heretofore released to the public by said Wright and Ro- mine in said Plot, excepting so much of said plot as is contained in Block " A" lying south of Church Street in said Plot.
And at the instance and request of the parties of the Second part and for and in Consideration of the premises and under- taking of the parties of the second part as hereinafter mentioned, have been induced to plot and lay off all of said land into town lots except eight acres thereof, and to build and construct upon said eight acres suitable buildings for a Seminary of Learning, for the use and benefit of the parties of the second part and such others as may be entitled thereto as hereinafter provided — The parties of the first part for themselves and for their heirs hereby covenant and agree to and with the parties of the second part their heirs and assigns that in the compliance by the parties of the second part of the covenants hereinafter mentioned on their part to be done and performed they the parties of the first part will within a reasonable time thereafter lay off and Plot all said land except eight (8) acres of the south west qr of the South East quarter of Section Seven (7) Township Nineteen (19) ninth Range Nine (9) East into Town Lots four rods by Eight rods each in dimension, so far as the grounds will admit with suitable Streets and Alleys, corresponding with and making connections with the Streets and Alleys of Champaign City on the East side of the Ills Cent R.R. That they will between the first day of Au- gust 1860 and the 15th day of November 1862 upon a plot or piece of the said south west qr of the South East qr Section Seven (7) Township Nineteen (19) North Range Nine (9) East em- bracing Eight (8) Acres, construct, build and finish for use a Seminary building with substantial Stone foundation and brick walls of equal size capacity and of the general form and model of the Clark Seminary at Aurora, 111. provided Clark Seminary were built of brick to be constructed built and finished with good and fit materials and in a workmanlike manner —
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That any modification, change or addition to said building shall be made on the order and instruction of the building Com- mittee (Such change shall be made before said building is com- menced) hereinafter provided for. Provided said modification change or addition shall not make the whole cost of said building Addition, etc. more than the value of the said Clark Seminary if built of brick and at the present time. That said Town lots when laid off and plotted and said Seminary when completed with the said plat of Eight (8) acres upon which said Seminary shall be constructed, shall be made a general Seminary stock or fund, each town lot representing stock at the average value of Two Hundred dollars per lot, one share of said stock being one hundred dollars
And the parties of the second part for themselves and their heirs hereby covenant to and with the parties of the first part that they will on or before the first day of August 1860 obtain and deliver to the party of the first part and to and for their use a valid legal subscription list of stock to the satisfaction and acceptance of a majority of three persons one to be selected by the parties of the first part, one by the parties of the second part and an umpire to be selected by the two referees aforesaid, to the amount of forty thousand dollars
And it is further mutually agreed by the parties that the said several subscribers on paying on or before the 1st February 1861 fifteen per cent on the amount of their respective subscrip- tions, and making and delivering to the parties of the first part three (3) promisory notes for the residue, due in equal annual payments with six per cent interest per annum from the first of Feby, 1861. The parties of the first part will permit said sub- scriber a stockholder to select a town lot or lots not at that time disposed of, to the amount of his said subscription at the average price aforesaid and will execute to said stockholder his heirs or Assigns a penal bond conditioned to convey by deed in fee the said lot or lots to said subscriber or his heirs or assigns, on the payment of said promissory notes. That the said Stockholders shall and may select from their number hereafter a building com- mittee who are hereby authorized and empowered to superintend said building in its construction and to make any change modi-
Seminary Contract 461
fication or addition to said building, not making said building cost more than the cost of said Clark Seminary provided said Clark Seminary were built of Brick.
And the parties of the first part further agree to and with the party of the Second part that on receiving from subscription of stock the whole costs of constructing and building said Semi- nary and the said lot of eight acres upon which the same is con- structed, they will convey by deed in fee to said Stockholders or trustees, by them to be selected, the said Seminary and the land upon which it is situated. That they will build and construct a good substantial and suitable wood fence enclosing so much of said plat of eight acres as said building Committee shall decide. It is further agreed that no lots shall represent voting stock until a bonafide sale of said lots on the terms aforesaid shall be made
In testimony whereof the said parties have hereto set their hands and seals
Jonathan C. Stoughton
John E. Babcock
George Harvey
Joseph W. Sims, Jr
James S. Wright
Wm. Park
C. F. Columbia
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/•
DOCUMENT NUMBER 11 EXTRACT FROM CHAMPAIGN COUNTY DEMOCRAT,
Urbana, Jan. 26th, 1861
A MEMORIAL
To your honorable body the General Assembly of the State of 111.
We, your petitioners, of Champaign County, and State afore- said in view of the rising importance of the agricultural interests of our state, as well as nation, and the necessity of investing that interest with intelligence, respectability, and the efficiency that science in its present stage of advancement can now endow it, do offer the following reasons, and urge through them the necessity that some provision be made during the present term of the Legislature, for a Department of Agricultural Education, under the patronage of the State, and that the same may be located in a portion of the State where educational facilities are not already supplied. There are two obvious necessities for such a branch of education : one to give a higher direction to the laboring classes of our State, and an emulation more commendable than mechani- cal imitation such as the laborer acquires by habitual drill ; and, secondly, to make experimental science subserve the purposes of public economy. For the first object we deem it necessary not only to maintain separate chairs of instruction on the Natural Sciences, but to create and encourage, also, in association with those studies, ample demonstration in the same, from collections of the various products of the various soils, both of natural and cultivated growth; also the geological specimens of the earth's strata, the Botany of the earth, her mineralogy, conkology, and chemical transformations; of ornithology, zoology, comparative anatomy and the collation of mechanical improvements, and in- tellectual productions of American genius. In a word, we hold that an Agricultural Bureau, under the State jurisdiction and support, should be thus associated with such a seminary, there- by bringing the young and inquiring mind directly in contact with the objects of his pursuit. We hold that it is the youth of
A Memorial to the Legislature 463
our country who can be most benefited by such a state depart- ment, rather than the more aged and opulent, who by their means alone can gain access to such valuable departments. Thus far they are secluded under the umbrage of the State, and national capital, precluding the youthful and indigent by the necessary formality of official parade.
Everything in science and art, which has been developed by genius and industry, is by the force of irresistible progress dedi- cated to the ambition of youth. For the more especial promotion of the second object mentioned above, to wit, to make science sub- serve the purpose of public economy, we recommend that there be a sufficiency of land of good quality attached to such a seminary, that will facilitate experimental results in such practical depart- ments, as — transplanting, inoculating, grafting, hybridizing, mulching, draining, substitution of foreign for home products, adapting certain crops to certain soils, and anticipating the re- sults of cropping and rotation from a knowledge of the food of plants and grains — what is consumed in abundance by one crop can be noted, and a successive crop so selected that shall not de- pend for perfection on the same staple. This depends on a knowledge of the staples of vegetables consumption — an investi- gation in the loose customs of inbreeding amongst our pro- ducts is of equal importance, endangering thereby the perfection of the fruit or grain, and consequently their fitness for the food of man or beast, jeopardizing also by it, the integrity of the growth of products, often causing their premature decay, also abortion and unnatural growth, and the ultimate extermination of the species. We are led to notice such results in the present growth and maturity of potatoes, wheat, apples, grasses, etc. Also to inquire into the causes of diseases incident to crops of a constitutional decline, such as congestion, gangrene, etc., the cause of parasites, and the propagation of larva, and development of insects which becomes their natural enemy. Another important source of inquiry is the extent to which the natural and deciduous growths of every soil (taking climate into account) can be made to indicate the character of the soil, the nature of its productions —every hoof that compacts the earth, every stone that is turned, and every leaf that falls, gives some new indication of growth.
464 History University of Illinois
It is equally important to' comprehend the physiology generally of the vegetable kingdom, and afterwards the pathological condi- tion, caused by chemical changes, effects of light, heat, electricity, and other natural causes.
We beg leave to impress the truth that our county, in a geo- graphical position, north and south, and east and west, offers the very best facilities for such investigation. Being central between the northern and southern extremity of a State, whose latitude, and climate, and geological features, conduce to the growth of such families of plants that on the one hand are tending to the tropical, and on the other more carbonaceous in their elements, and of the more torrid or southern in nature — we are enabled to comprehend them both in our field of scientific research. We also beg leave to suggest that we are in a region of country com- paratively new comprehending nearly half the eastern half of the state, with soil unsurpassed in fertility, at prices within the reach of those aiming to avail themselves of advantages compatible with our agricultural tastes and enterprise, while the north, the west and the southwest portions are amply supplied. For the want of such inducements to invite in immigrants, our vast grand prairie is yet sparsely settled. Once grant to this eastern part of the State the patronage of the treasury, and the immigration it will entice here, will amply reward in revenue and scientific toil, all that may be expended. Situated, too, as we are, upon the branch of the Illinois Central Eailroad, where a college of that character must become a valuable beneficiary to that road, and thru' it to the State, we suggest that it is not inappropriate to ask that a portion of the 1% fund arising from the road, be set apart for that purpose, thus reflecting back for the future encouragement of that gigantic enterprise a generous part of her own earnings. — We also suggest that we have in process of erection an edifice of 124 by 118 ft, five stories high, estimated at $80,000 located be- tween Urbana and Champaign on some eight or ten acres of land, designed to comprise an agricultural department, which the stockholders propose to donate to the State, for the consideration that they sustain in it an institution characterized as above ; and further say that should your honorable body deem it not politic to receive the building and conduct the school as aforesaid, wholly
A Memorial to ike Legislature
465
by state appropriations, we ask respectfully that you endow an agricultural department therein, in association with the academic course where practical science can be made available in develop- ing men for the age, and mind for the necessities of a progressive people. For which we will ever pray.
C. A. Hunt Wm. Park 0. M. Cutcheon W. N. Coler J. C. Sheldon W. D. Somers S. Bernstein T. S. Hubbard J. W. Jaquith A. M. Ayers Jesse Burt H. C. Stewart Jas. S. Wright C. M. Sherfy Wm. Biddle C. T. Columbia J. Mills
J. C. Kirkpatrick James Myers C. W. Angle Joseph Nelson
W. C. Barrett L. Hodges A. H. Beasley John Mather J. G. Clark Sam'l Waters James T. Roe John Insley J. D. Bennett W. W. Espey C. A. Thompson G. W. Flynn J. 0. Cunningham Joseph Wilson, Jr. L. M. Cutcheon J. R. Ingersoll M. Lindley William Sim J. P. Stryker
A. Campbell
B. F. Harris
W. H. Romine W. W. Beasley John Bryan Edwin Pearce J. S. Beasley J. B. Phinney B. F. Fillmore J. L. Austen G. W. Riley A. 0. Woodworth George Custer L. Powell L. Lancaster Henry Michener J. F. Kelly Ed. A. Green Asa Conklin L. B. Varney Wm. Munhall T. R. Webber
465 History University of Illinois
DOCUMENT NUMBER 12
Published in Private Laws, February 21, 1861, p. 24, also in Central Illinois Gazette, (Champaign) May 1, 1861.
AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE URBANA AND CHAMPAIGN INSTITUTE.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That B. F. Harris, William Park, J. T. Everett, John Insley, J. S. Wright, John Penfield, J. W. Sim, Jr., C. F. Columbia and Henry Nelson, and such other persons as are, or may hereafter be associated with them, and their successors, are hereby constituted a body cor- porate by the name of the Urbana and Champaign Institute, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a Seminary of Learning, comprehending an agricultural, or other departments, as the public may demand, situated between the cities of Urbana and Champaign, in the county of 'Champaign, and State of Illi- nois, for males and females, with power to sue and be sued, to take and to hold real estate and other property, by purchase, gift, grant, devise or otherwise; to lease, convey and dispose of the same for the effecting and furtherance of the purposes aforesaid, with power to confer degrees and give diplomas, such as are com- mon in such institutions, and to use a common seal.
SEC. 2. The estate, property and financial concerns of said corporation shall be managed and transacted by a Board of nine Trustees, to be elected by the stockholders herein after mentioned.
SEC. 3. The persons named in the first section of this act shall constitute the first board of trustees, and shall be divided by lot into three classes. The time of service of the first class shall expire on the last Tuesday in June, A. D. 1862, and that of the second class in one, and that of the third class in two years thereafter.
SEC. 4. There shall be a board of visitors, who shall jointly with the trustees appoint the teachers and officers, arrange the course of instruction and determine the general manner of con- ducting said institution. Said board of visitors shall be consti-
Act Incorporating the Urb ana-Champaign Institute 467
tuted as follows, to-wit: the Governor, Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Illinois; the Presidents of the State Agricultural and Horticultural Soci- eties, and such visitors from each of any organized religious de- nomination within the limits of the congregational district in which the said Institution is located, as may be appointed by their Conference, Synod, Association or Convention, Provided, that no more than three visitors shall be appointed by the same denomination.
SEC. 5. On the last Wednesday of June, 1862, and on the same day of each year thereafter, there shall be an election of three Trustees, who shall hold their office for three years. All va- cancies in the Board of Trustees then existing shall also be filled. Such election shall be by ballot, and by a majority of stockholders present.
SEC. 6. The real estate in the Seminary plat, as now laid out into lots and recorded in the Recorder's office of Champaign county and State of Illinois, shall represent the capital stock of said corporation. Said capital stock may be increased to Two Hundred Thousand Dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each.
SEC. 7. Any person holding a contract or deed, for one or more shares of said capital stock, shall be a member of this corporation, and entitled to one vote for every share of stock by him thus held, upon which all installments have been paid, required by contract. Stockholders shall be also entitled to such dividends on their stock as the Trustees may from time to time declare thereon.
SEC. 8. The Trustees shall choose their own officers, and make their own by-laws, and may fill any vacancies in their body, by appointment of qualified persons until the next election.
SEC. 9. The Trustees at each annual election shall make and submit a report to the stockholders, of the state of the Insti- tution and its finances, with an inventory of its property, and de- clare such dividends from the net proceeds and profits of its receipts, or business as the state of the finances of said Institution may warrant: Provided, that no such dividend shall ever be declared or made when its payment would embarrass the finances
468 History University of Illinois
or efficiency of the Institution.
SEC. 10. The real estate in said Seminary plat, so long as it represents the capital stock of said corporation, and until con- veyed to said stockholders and all the property of the said cor- poration, both real and personal, shall forever be and remain free from taxation.
SEC. 11. This act is hereby declared to be a public act, and shall be in force from and after its passage. Approved February 21, 1861.
RICHARD YATES, Governor. SHELBY M. CULLOM,
Speaker House of Representat Vs. FRANCIS A. HOFFMAN,
Speaker of the Senate.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
( o<a
State of Illinois. J bl
I, 0. M. Hatch, Secretary of State of the State of Illinois, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of an Enrolled Law, now on file in my office. — L. S. in witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of State at the city of Springfield, this 18th day of April, A. D. 1861.
0. M. HATCH, Secretary of State.
Proceedings of the Sixth Convention 469
DOCUMENT NUMBER 13
Prairie Farmer, June 20, 1863.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION
(Sixth)
Pursuant to a call issued by prominent agriculturists in dif- ferent parts of the State, The friends of agriculture assembled in convention at the rooms of the State Agricultural Society, in Springfield, June 9th, for the purpose of considering the best method for the legislature to dispose of the lands and script do- nated by the national government for the establishment of agri- cultural colleges in the state.
The meeting organized at 2 o'clock P. M., of said day, under the following officers;
President — James N. Brown, of Sangamon County
Vice Presidents — Hon. Cyrus Edwards, of Madison County Hon. L. W. Lawrence, of Boon County
Secretaries— W. W. Corbett, of Cook County, Thos. Quick of Washington County.
At the suggestion of the President, John P. Reynolds, Sec- retary of the State Agricultural Society, read the call for the convention and the act of congress donating lands for the estab- lishment of colleges in the different states.
On motion of Prof. J. B. Turner, of Morgan county, the President appointed a committee of three to draft resolutions appropriately expressing the feelings of the convention concern- ing the death of Dr. John A. Kennicott. Prof. J. B. Turner, Rev. J. C. Burroughs, Jno. P. Reynolds, were appointed such committee, who reported the following resolutions :
Resolved, that in the death of Dr. John A. Kennicott, the members of this convention who have been personally associated with him, especially in labors pertaining to the agricultural in- terests of the state, have lost a friend whose worth they will ever respect, and whose memory they will affectionately cherish.
470 History University of Illinois
Resolved, That for his early and long continued labors in behalf of the agriculture of the State, his large and enlightened views respecting the developments of our agricultural resources, expressed on every proper occasion, through the columns of the Prairie Farmer, and in meetings of the friends of agriculture, of which he has been for many years an earnest promoter, and for his generous sacrifices in diffusing agricultural intelligence, and in promoting intercourse cooperation and organization among farmers and friends of agriculture in the State, Dr. Kennicott deserves the lasting gratitude of all who have at heart the inter- ests of our beloved State, especially of its agriculture.
Resolved, That this convention extend to the widow and family of Dr. Kennicott the assurance of our sincere sympathy in their deep bereavement.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be furnished the press for publication, and that the Secretary transmit a copy thereof to the family of Dr. Kennicott.
Prof. J. B. Turner, J
Rev. J. C. Burroughs, v Committee
John P. Reynolds, )
The business for which the meeting was called being now fairly before the convention, G. I. Bergen, Esq., of Knox county, introduced the following resolution:
Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that the inter- ests of agriculture can best be promoted by locating two agricul- tural colleges within the State.
This resolution was afterwards amended, on motion of Dr. English, of Madison county, by the addition of the words "in accordance with the bill now pending before the Senate. "
A strong and earnest discussion of this resolution, and ques- tions connected with it, then followed, which occupied the atten- tion of the convention during the afternoon and evening ; which was participated in by Messrs. Bergen of Knox, Turner of Mor- gan, Roots of Perry, English and Edwards of Madison, Bur- roughs of Cook, Thomas of Jackson, Quick of Washington, Law- rence of Boone, and other members of the convention.
Proceedings of the Sixth Convention 471
Prof. Turner introduced the following preamble and resolu- tions as a substitute for the resolution of Mr. Bergen :
WHEREAS, Amid the excitement of civil war, our rulers and our people have as yet had but little time to reflect and decide upon the best mode of appropriating and applying the grant of lands made by Congress to this State, for the purpose of endowing an institution for the more perfect education of our children and youth in agriculture and the mechanic arts ; and,
WHEREAS, It is a matter of great importance to make the wisest and best possible disposition of this fund, from a due re- gard to the interest of the whole people upon whom it is con- ferred; and,
WHEREAS, It will still take time to discuss the subject before the people of our State, and receive from all parties who are or may be interested, propositions and suggestions, which shall be for the best advantage to the people of the State ; there- fore,
RESOLVED, That it is the sense of this convention that a committee be appointed to memorialize the Legislature to defer all appropriation of said funds for the present session, and merely take all needful steps to render its acceptance by the State permanent and secure, and also a committee of one from each congressional district of this State, to collect and report facts, statistics, suggestions, and propositions, in regard to said proposed institution, to report to the committee on Agriculture, at the next session of the Legislature.
Upon the reading of this resolution, Dr. English motioned that both resolutions be laid upon the table, and the matter left entirely to the wisdom of the Legislature.
The motion was lost.
The question upon the substitute for the original resolution was then put, and the substitute adopted by the convention.
On motion the chair appointed Prof. J. B. Turner, Felix Scott, and John P. Reynolds, a committee to memorialize the Legislature.
On motion of Mr. Reynolds, it was voted that the committee "to collect and report facts, statistics, suggestions, and propo-
472
History University of Illinois
sitions in regard to said institution," should be constituted of one gentleman from each congressional district of the State.
The chair, with the aid of the convention, appointed the fol- lowing gentlemen members of said committee :
1st District — Henry D. Emery Chicago
2nd " — L. W. Lawrence Belvidere
3d » — W. H. Van Epps Dixon
4th " — W. H. Rosevelt Warsaw
5th " —A. C. Mason Galesburg
6th " — Lewis Ellsworth Naperville
7th " — Wm. Kile Paris
8th ' ' —John P. Eeynolds Springfield
9th " — Thompson Chandler Macomb
10th " — J. B. Turner Jacksonville
llth " — N. M. McCurdy Vandalia
12th " — W. C. Flagg Moro
13th " — B. G. Roots Tamaroa
John P. Reynolds was designated chairman of the conven- tion pro tern.
On motion of Prof. Turner, it was voted that the secretaries prepare the minutes of this convention for publication in the city papers of Springfield, and the agricultural papers of the State, and that the press generally throughout the State be requested to publish the same.
The motion to adjourn was then put, and the President declared the convention adjourned sine die.
Jas. N. Brown, President. W. W. Corbett, Secretary.
Memorial to tlw Sixth Convention 473
DOCUMENT NUMBER 14
Prairie Farmer, June 20, 1863.
Sixth Convention
MEMORIAL.
The following is a memorial to the legislature of the state, prepared by the committee of the agricultural convention: To the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois,
The undersigned would respectfully represent that they were appointed a committee, by the state convention of the friends of agricultural and mechanical education of the State of Illinois, to memorialize your honorable body in respect to the prospective use of the lands or funds granted by congress to the State of Illinois.
It is well known to your honorable body that one chief motive urged from time to time upon congress, to induce them to make this grant to the states, was the fact that the industrial interests of this great country have under their special care and control no great educational institutions; that such institutes, thus placed under their special care, and devoted to their special uses, not excluding such other uses or ends as they might see fit inci- dentally and collaterally to attach to them, were needful not only to the highest practical development of the industrial resources of the states, and the highest national efficiency, but that the responsibility of their proper control and use was equally needful to the best and highest mental and social development of the people themselves.
In the opinion of this committee, and a majority of the con- vention whom they represent, therefore, any appropriation of these funds which would relieve the masses of the people of the state of their responsibility and care, or relieve the states them- selves of such care, by attaching them in any secondary position to any other educational institution whatever and however good in itself, would to that extent be, in fact, a real perversion of the trust conferred; as it is plain from the terms of the grant that
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congress intended to create in each state a series of primary, leading and controlling institutions, having in themselves an independent vitality and power of their own constantly reani- mated and reinspired from the people whose interests they are designed to foster ; and not a mere series of appendages or satel- lites to whose interests they are designed to revolve around and minister to other institutions however needful and good in them- selves. How this end can be reached, will require much time, thought, care and patience and the highest wisdom and prudence from year to year of your honorable body and your successors, and for this and other reasons too numerous to mention in this connection, the Convention passed the following resolutions as expressive of their opinion of the course of action which will at present best subserve the public good.
Signed: J.B.Turner,
Felix Scott, John P. Reynolds.
Resolutions Offered at the EigWi Convention 475
DOCUMENT NUMBER 15 Illinois State Agricultural Society Report, 1861-1864, p. 986
EIGHTH CONVENTION
Preamble and Resolutions unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Farmers and Mechanics of Illinois, held on the State Fair Grounds in Decatur, September 15, 1864.
Whereas, The industrial interests are of paramount import- ance all others being dependent upon their prosperity : and
Whereas, Congress has made a munificient grant of four hundred and eighty thousand acres of land, the proceeds of which are to be used for the endowment of an Industrial College for the promotion of agriculture and the mechanic arts : and
Whereas, Certain existing institutions of learning have sought to divide this fund and partition the same among them- selves : therefore,
Resolved, That we distinctly reiterate that the industrial interests of this state are one and indivisible ; that the industrial classes are perfectly competent to draft a plan and arrange the details for the proper disbursement of this fund.
Resolved, That we endorse the sentiments contained in the resolution of the Farmers' Convention held at Springfield in June, 1863, and January, 1864, that there should be but one institution created out of this fund, and that it should be entirely untrammeled by connection with any existing institution.
Resolved, That we, the industrial classes of Illinois, pledge ourselves to combine to use our utmost efforts for the advance- ment of our educational interests, and knowing, as we do, that these are the foundation upon which the permanent prosperity of the nation rests, we will continue to labor to devote this fund sacredly to the purpose for which it was intended, viz: "The establishment of one institution in this state in which the leading object shall be to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts. ' '
Resolved, That as the aforesaid sciences are intimately con- nected with true progress in agriculture, it is of the utmost im-
476 History University of Illinois
portance that this institution receive an endowment commen- surate with the magnitude of the object in view.
Resolved, That seeing, feeling and knowing the want of prac- tical education in our several employments, we are determined to provide a better state of things for our posterity.
Eesolved, That we will support no man for office, whatever his political associations may be, unless we have full assurance that he will labor to carry out our views in this matter as herein expressed.
Resolved, That we consider the present candidates for the office of Governor of this state as pledged in favor of using this fund as contemplated in these resolutions.
Resolved, That we refer "all whom it may concern" to the foregoing preamble and resolutions as embodying our "claim" in the premises.
Resolved, That we hereby appoint, Wm. H. Van Epps, J. B. Turner, John P. Reynolds, A. B. McConnell, and B. G. Roots as a committee whose duty it shall be to frame a bill, and urge its passage by the next General Assembly of this State, for the or- ganization of an institution and the disposition of the fund as contemplated by the act of Congress making the grant, and in accordance with these resolutions.
Resolved, That we request all the newspapers in this State to publish these resolutions.
CHAS. D. MURTFELDT, Chairman. 0. B. GALUSHA, Secretary.
The Chicago Committee at Home 477
DOCUMENT NUMBER 16
Prairie Farmer, December 17, 1864.
THE CHICAGO COMMITTEE AT HOME.— The commit- tee from the mechanics of Chicago, who visited Springfield last week, for the purpose of conferring with the agricultural com- mittees regarding a bill for the disposition of the land grant made their report at the rooms of the Mercantile Association, in this city, on Saturday evening last, through their chairman, A. D. Titsworth Esq. It was as follows: —
"In pursuance of the object, your committee left for Spring- field on Monday evening, and on reaching there proceeded to the rooms of the State Agricultural Society, and found several of the above named committee present, but not being ready for business, owing to the absence of some of their members, it was proposed by Mr. Reynolds, Chairman of the Committee, to orga- nize an informal meeting, which was done by calling Mr. K. H. Fell, of Bloomington, to the chair, and Mr. T. W. Baxter, of Chicago, was appointed secretary. The Chicago delegation was cordially received and invited to a full and free participation in the business before the meeting. It was determined on the part of your committee, prior to the meeting, to advocate a division of the fund — one half for the endowment of an agricultural school, and one half for a school adapted to the promotion of the me- chanic arts. Your committee regard this division as a necessity growing out of the different circumstances of the two classes contemplated in the act. Agriculture being widely spread through the length and breadth of our State, necessarily demands that an institution of learning for that class should be centrally located, equally accessible to all, and where a sufficient quantity of lands may be obtained for practical purposes. On the other hand it was urged that mechanics necessarily locate in cities, towns and villages, where there are sufficient population to en- courage and sustain mechanical pursuits, and that it was even more necessary to connect practice with theory in mechanism than in agriculture ; therefore it was contended that schools for mechanic arts are the most extensively conducted, and where the
478 History University of Illinois
student in theory may &t the same time have an opportunity to reduce theory to practice. And your committee further con- tended that a college located in an agricultural district, remote from mechanical centres, would necessarily be of little practical benefit to the mechanic, and would virtually subvert the appro- priation and partially defeat its object. These and many other matters were presented by the several members of your commit- tee, tending to show the necessity for a division of the fund and the location of the mechanical branch in the city of Chicago.
"A division of the fund was strenuously opposed by several members of their committee — First, because the appropriation was not sufficient to sustain two institutions ; that both would be weak and inefficient, and therefore defeat the object of the appro- priation. And again it was argued that while the act contem- plated one or more schools, it nevertheless declares that the same branch of study shall be taught in each. Others contended that it was not legal under the act to divide the appropriation at all, and that the Supreme Court would issue an injunction should the fund be divided. Others went so far as to say that they would apply for an injunction should the legislature order a division. These, and many other objections, were made and kindly discussed by the several committees.
"Your committee are of the opinion that the committee authorized to draft a bill to be presented to the legislature will not encourage the idea of a division, but will use all their influ- ence against it. Their committee claim that they have nothing to do with the location, but will leave that entirely with the legis- lature, but would suggest that the institution be located where the largest amount of material aid would be furnished, be that as far north as Chicago, or as far south as Cairo. ' '
Mr. Ira Y. Munn moved the adoption of the report. He al- luded to the great assistance the mechanic had afforded the farmer in the construction of the present farm machinery, and urged the necessity of fostering the mechanic arts. He favored the idea of a division of the fund, and the establishment of a separate school in this city.
The Chicago Committee at Home 479
Mr. T. W. Baxter, read an elaborate paper sustaining the same ideas, and taking the ground, on legal advice, that the word- ing of the act of Congress is not adverse to a division.
The report was then adopted.
Several other gentlemen supported the positions advanced.
Mr. Emery, of the PRAIRIE FARMER, opposed a division, and claimed that the spirit and letter of the act were both against separate schools as proposed by the committee and gentlemen.
Mr. Charles Walker moved that the meeting do now proceed to form a permanent organization. Carried : and
On motion, the chair appointed Messrs. Walker, Carter, and Baxter, a committee on permanent organization.
The committee reported the following as permanent officers : President — Charles Walker ; Vice President — P. W. Gates ; Sec- retary— A. B. Cook.
Executive Committee — Ira Y. Munn, W. W. Boyington, R. T. Crane, A. D. Titsworth, J. K. Hazlitt, T. W. Baxter and W. H. Carter.
The report was adopted.
Mr. Charles Walker moved that a committee be appointed to collect statistics of the manufactures of the city of Chicago, and county of Cook, and the State generally. Carried : and
Messrs. Charles Walker, A. B. Cook, G. W. Schneider and H. D. Emery appointed.
Mr. Baxter moved that a committee of three be appointed to draw a bill to present to the legislature, embodying the views of the meeting. Carried : and
Messrs. T. W. Baxter, Ira Y. Munn, and M. C. Parsons, were appointed such a committee.
Mr. Schneider moved that the officers be empowered to col- lect subscriptions to defray the necessary expenses of the organi- zation. Carried.
The meeting then adjourned.
There is no use in those who favor a single institution, where the leading object shall be to teach agriculture and the mechanic
480 History University of Illinois
arts, shutting their eyes to this movement, for it is really a for- midable affair, and it is in the hands of men who will use every argument to carry their point with the legislature. They are backed up by the citizens of a rich and growing city, who will offer no mean inducements for the establishment of the proposed school within her limits. — Eds.
Report to the Board of Supervisors 481
DOCUMENT NUMBER 17 Record Book Board of Supervisors, No. Ill, March 2, 1866.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE SENT TO THE BLOOMINGTON AGRICUL- TURAL CONVENTION BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
To the Honorable Board of Supervisors of Champaign County:
By a resolution passed by your Honorable body at its last meeting, Clark R. Griggs, A. H. Bailey and Daniel Gardner were appointed a Committee to attend a Convention to be held at Bloomington on the 14th day of December 1865, for the purpose of discussing the subject of future legislative action appertaining to the location of the Agricultural College. The two last named gentlemen, not being able to attend the Convention, appointed as their substitutes, W. H. Pierce, and J. C. Sheldon.
Your Committee thus organized beg leave to report, that they in accordance with the instructions of the aforesaid resolu- tion attended the Convention. Your Committee will not attempt to give a full detail of the doings of the Convention, supposing that most, if not all of the members of the Board have read them as published in the papers ; but will only refer to the proceedings in a general way. We would most especially ask the attention of the Board to the resolutions passed and the Committee who re- ported them. The resolutions are as follows.
WHEREAS, The true principles of education, like the true principles of civil government, everywhere require the greatest practicable union, co-operation, and concentration in all its higher departments, combined with the utmost practical diffusion in its lower departments ; therefore,
RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois should at present attempt to build only one University of the highest order, and that the energies and resources of our people should now be directed to that one end, and the undivided funds of our Con- gressional grant be appropriated thereto.
RESOLVED, That we approve of the principle of location adopted by a former State Convention, and presented, to the State
482 History University of Illinois
Legislature at its last session by a committee of State Agricul- tural Society.
RESOLVED, That we approve of the general principle adopted and approved by all parties at the last session of the Legislature, that, in preparing the charter for the University, all mere details of organization and government should be left to the future necessities of the people and the existing Board of Trust ; and that the charter of the University should limit their freedom only on those points indispensable to a fundamental law.
EESOLVED, That a committee be appointed to urge these views upon the next Legislature.
RESOLVED, That we urge upon the people the necessity of keeping the principles embodied in these resolutions before aspirants to office, and that they emphatically reprobate any man as a candidate for the Legislature who is unfavorable to these views.
RESOLVED, That we request the Chicago and Springfield papers, and all other papers in the State, to publish the proceed- ings of this Convention.
( Signed by each member of the Committee) .
From the known views of the Committee who drafted these resolutions, and especially the Chairman, Prof . Turner, you will not be surprised that such views as are embodied in the second and fourth resolutions were presented to the Convention. The whole batch were at first attempted to be forced through the Convention, but by resolutions offered by one of your Committee, they were taken up for consideration seriatem. Your Committee did not see much to condemn in the other resolutions but strenu- ously opposed, by speeches and their votes, the passage of the second and fourth resolutions, as did a number of others from different portions of the State. Your Committee would here say that only twenty four counties out of the One hundred and two were represented in the Convention, that the whole affair seemed to be gotten up to further the interests of parties who urged and supported at the last session of the Legislature, the Bill known as the State Agricultural Society Bill, which provided to locate the College by a Committee appointed by the Governor, as the
Report to the Board of Supervisors 483
language of a resolution offered by Mr. Galusha, one of the Com- mittee on Resolutions plainly shows, which resolution we here- with submit :
RESOLVED, That the Committee which has presented the report now before this meeting shall constitute the committee contemplated in the resolutions, and that we instruct them to secure the revision of the bill presented to the Legislature of the State at its last session by a committee appointed by the State Agricultural Society, and cause 1,000 copies of the bill to be printed also that they be instructed to secure the appointment of sub-committees in each of the representative and senatorial dis- trict in this State, whose duty it shall be to present a copy of said bill to each and every person whose name shall be before the people as a candidate for nomination that they will use all lauda- ble endeavors, if nominated and elected to secure the passage of said bill, and that in case any candidate shall refuse or neglect to give such pledge such sub-committee shall publish the fact of such refusal throughout the district in which such candidate resides through the newspapers published therein.
From the language of this resolution and that of those of- fered by the Committee on Resolutions, it was plain that the views of Prof. Turner and those acting with him were to be the programme for the action of the next legislature. We strenu- ously opposed this last resolution, but as it seemed to be a cut and dried affair, it passed. From these resolutions and the action of the Convention, your Honorable Board and the citizens of Eastern Illinois and particularly the citizens of Champaign County can plainly see that if they would forestall and defeat the projects of those who would place the matter of location in the hands of a Committee, the foremost of whom will be Prof. Turner of Jacksonville, they must bestir themselves and act boldly and promptly.
Your Committee beg leave to add a few suggestions to the Board, and through you to the people of the County, suggestions drawn from conversation which we had with gentlemen from different portions of the State, in attendance at the Convention. The efforts made at the last meeting of the Legislature by the people of this county will not be lost. In every part of the State
484 History University of Illinois
the "Champaign Elephant" is now known and recognized as a power and one whose claims cannot be set aside by any trifling effort. In all parts of the State, they now know what we have to offer and that it is in the most tangible shape and sooner brought into actual use and occupation than any proposition yet made from any portion of the State. Many who were in attendance have no expectation of the location of the institution in their own locality and readily concede the propriety and justice of locat- ing it in Eastern Illinois and will give their aid to that end. Others who hope to secure the location did not hesitate to say that if they failed that this county would be their next choice. From these facts and numerous others we might name, we cannot but urge the Board and the people of the County to vigilant and determined action. If it need be that money be expended to attain this end, let it be appropriated, not grudgingly and in a stinted manner, but freely and promptly. Nor is this all, every citizen of the County should consider himself a committee of one to urge at home and abroad, this matter. Many other points throughout the State will strongly compete for the location by offers of money, land and buildings, nor will they scruple as to the way in which they may attain this end. Champaign County is rapidly taking a position as one of the foremost agricultural Counties in the State; her soil and geographical position emi- nently points her out as the proper location of the great Agricul- tural School, from whose portals shall go forth the sons of toil, learned, elevated and better prepared to subdue and cutivate the broad and fertile prairies of our great State.
And having reported, your committee pray to be discharged.
W. H. PEARCE,
C. R. GRIGGS,
J. C. SHELDON,
Committee.
From the Central Illinois Gazette, Urbana, 111., Friday, March 2, 1866.
Arguments of Three Counties 485
DOCUMENT NO. 18
Statements by Champaign County committee and reply by McLean County committee, reasons for locating university in Logan County.
Printed Circular, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
THE CHAMPAIGN OFFER
COMPARED WITH BLOOMINGTON, AS SET FORTH IN THE REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE.
Assessed value of the Bloomington lands, as stated by the committee, $18 per acre ; 43!/2 acres, valued by the committee at $15,000, equal in round numbers to $347 per acre.
Assessed value of 160 acres of land at Champaign as stated by the committee, $20 per acre. This a tenth in favor of Cham- paign equal to $381.70 per acre, making $61,000.
The committee report for Bloomington 100 acres belonging to the State, not taxable, at $20,000 or $200 per acre.
In the report of this committee, 810 acres of the Champaign land are put down as assessed at $15 per acre. One-sixth less, omitting fractions, would make the Champaign land worth $290 per acre, making $234,900. The ten acres which the building stands on is reported by the committee at $2,500 — worth, in the estimation of some members of the committee, $500 per acre.
The building is reported at a cost of $120,000
County bonds 100,000
Railroad freight 35,000
Fruit and shade trees 2,000
Which makes the aggregate bid of Champaign as follows:
160 acres 61,000
810 acres 234,900
Ground on which building stands, 10 acres 2,500
County bonds 100,000
Freight 35,000
Trees 2,000
Reported cost of building 120,000
486 History University of Illinois
Champaign bid on basis of calculation adopted by
committee 555,400
Bloomington bid, as reported by committee 470,000
Excess of Champaign bid over Bloomington $ 85,400
This land offer from Champaign county is very valuable; more valuable, in the event the University is located there, than all the bonds offered by McLean county.
The scarcity of water, in and about Bloomington, renders it wholly impracticable as the site of the Industrial University. Wherever this institution is located, there ultimately should be the place of holding the State fair, which will require a large supply of water. There is no living water in the vicinity of Bloomington. Both this city and Normal are frequently in a very destitute condition; the only means of supply being from cisterns, while Champaign is abundantly supplied with streams and fountains of never failing water.
The day that the committe made their visit to 'Champaign, was one of the coldest and most disagreeable of the season, which prevented a full and satisfactory examination of the lands offered to the State, and the committee was unable to procure all the facts necessary to a proper estimate of the value of the said land.
W. D. SOMERS, T. A. COSGROVE, C. R. MOREHOUSE,
Committee of Board of Supervisors of Champaign county.
INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY
To the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, now in session: Our notice having been called to a paper purporting to be put forth by W. D. Somers, T. A. Cosgrove and C. R. Morehouse, acting as a committee in behalf of Champaign Co., we desire re- spectfully to ask your attention to the fact that the statements therein made in regard to the comparative value of property offered by McLean and Champaign Counties respectively, is pre- dicated not upon actual sales or values, but on town or county assessments. The joint committee of the two houses very pro- perly based their estimates of value on actual cash sales, and so
Arguments of Three Counties 487
far as McLean county lands are concerned, this estimate will stand the closest scrutiny. This effort to destroy the force of the committee's report by a process of reasoning so notoriously unreliable, demands at our hands no further notice.
What we most desire to call your attention to is an important fact thus briefly alluded to in the Report of the joint committee. It is therein stated "McLean county offers in lieu of said lands other lands at the option of the State equally valuable." These "other lands are offered not merely in lieu" but in addition to the tracts therein specified, if desired; and consists of four separate tracts or parcels of real estate, lying in the vicinity of the proposed site of the University, containing in all about 1800 acres, and embracing some of the best improved farms in McLean county. These tracts are offered at low rates, ranging from $30 to $65 per acre, and written agreements are entered into and now held by the chairman of the committee, Mr. Enoch, by which the owners of these tracts agree to convey the same within a rea- sonable time to the Board of Trustees, if so desired at the prices now agreed upon. They further agree to take in payment for said lands any of the bonds offered to the State by the people of said county. Hence it will be seen, that if it is the desire of the Trustees to exchange some of the bonds offered for lands, and thus make a real estate speculation, as is proposed at Champaign, ample opportunity is here presented for so doing, even on a larger scale, and on more advantageous terms than at the last mentioned place. Whether the Board of Trustees, however, will be so inclined is quite another question.
The statement about the "scarcity of water," and that at Bloomington and Normal ' ' the only means of supply is from cis- terns," is so absolutely and transparently false, as scarcely to need notice, were it not that by silence some might thereby be misled. How any set of men having any regard for truth, or self respect, could deliberately put forth a statement so notori- ously false, so utterly destitute of facts, passes our comprehen- sion. So far from this being true it is a matter of history, es- tablished by a court of justice in a case appealed to the Supreme Court, that the only unfailing supply of water on the Illinois Central Railroad for twenty miles north and south of Normal
488 History University of Illinois
(the proposed location) is at that identical point. So far from cisterns being ' ' the only means of supply ' ' we hereby, and thus publicly assert, that a large majority of our wells furnish an unfailing supply of water ; that not one in a hundred of the fam- ilies in Bloomington and Normal, use cistern water at all, except for the ordinary purposes of washing.
On one of the tracts offered for a site there is an unfailing supply of running water — Sugar Creek, which many years exper- ience has proven fully adequate to supply water, not only for quite extensive manufacturing purposes, but for numerously attended county fairs.
In conclusion we would reiterate very briefly our bid, and also that of Champaign, as estimated by the joint committee :
Estimated cash value of the bonds $400,000
Estimated cash value of freight on St. L. A. & €. R. R. 35,000 Estimated cash value of 100 acres for model farm 20,000
(This is the exact price paid for this valuable tract
to the Board of Education) Estimated cash value 43% acres for site 15,000
Total 470,000
Total estimated value of Champaign County bid 285,000
Difference in favor of McLean County $185,000
J. W. FELL
A. GRIDLEY
H. NOBLE
N. DIXON
WM. J. RUTLEDGE
W. H. CHENEY
P. WHITMER
L. A. HOVEY
A. J. MERRIMAN
F. PRICE
Arguments of Three Counties 489
A FEW REASONS FOR THE LOCATION OF THE INDUS- TRIAL UNIVERSITY AT LINCOLN
The citizens of Logan county, under the provisions of the general act passed at the present session of the Legislature, have voted a subscription of $300,000 to secure the location of the Industrial University in their midst. The County Court of said County, in furtherance of this movement have caused to be entered of Record an order for the issuance of the Bonds of the County in the said sum of $300,000— payable to the State of Illinois for the use of the University in ten years, with annual coupons bearing 10 per cent interest, provided the University shall be located in said county.
The citizens of Lincoln, at an independent election held un- der the provisions of the same act, have voted an additional sum of $50,000 to secure the location of said University at or near Lincoln, and in pursuance of said election the City Council of Lincoln have caused to be entered of Record an order for the issuance of the bonds of the City of Lincoln in the sum of $50,000 payable to the State of Illinois for the use of said Uni- versity, one-half in five years, and one-half in ten years, with ten per cent annual interest, upon the condition that said Uni- versity shall be located at or near the City of Lincoln. These elections were held, (as is believed) in strict conformity with the law, and the evidences of the respective action of said City and County authorities in the premises in the nature of authenticated copies of their Public Records have been placed in the hands of your Special Committee who were charged with the investigation of our offer.
In addition to the foregoing, the President and Directors of the Chicago and St. Louis Rail Road, with great liberality have proposed in uniting to donate in freights to the State, an amount equal to $50,000, should said University be located at Lincoln, which proposal is also in the hands of the same Committee.
CASH VALUE OP THE BID
As an evidence that these bonds will be equivalent to cash, we rely upon the following facts: Logan County is entirely
490 History University of Illinois
out of debt. It has an area of 395,000 acres of land. The as- sessed valuation of its real estate is about $4,000,000 — its real value being about three times that sum. The assessed value of its personal property for 1865 was about $1,800,000, making a total of about $6,000,000. The tax levied for county purposes for 1865 was only 33 cents per $100; and the whole State and general school tax was only 72 cents per $100, making a total taxation only of about one per cent, for all State and County purposes. In order to pay the annual interest on the bonds pro- posed to be issued by the county, it will require only an addi- tional tax of five mills on the dollar upon the property valuation of 1865. There are few counties in the State which embrace so little land unfit for cultivation, or a body of land as a whole susceptible of more efficient and productive cultivation ; few that have increased so rapidly in population and material wealth, or in which the rate of taxation is so small.
The City of Lincoln, the County Seat of Logan county, is situated on the line of the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad, about equal distance between Springfield and Bloomington. Laid out in 1853 and 1854, it has attained a population of 4,000 and has risen to prominence as one of the largest contributors to the shipping on the line of the Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. The City is entirely out of debt, and the tax levied for ordinary, city purposes for 1866, (aside from its revenues derived from other sources) was only six mills on the dollar, and less than y% per cent on the property valuation of 1866 will be sufficient to defray the annual interest to accrue on the bonds proposed to be issued. The city is located in the centre of the county; is sur- rounded by lands of the finest quality, and adjacent to three fine streams of water and overlying beds of coal which it is believed can be successfully and profitably worked. As the best evidence of the value of the city bonds, the citizens of Lincoln have offered to the State the choice of three fine farms, one of 350 acres on the north, one of 440 acres on the south of the city, one of 640 acres on the east of the city, all of which lie within one mile of the court house, and for which the owners have agreed to take in payment said bonds of the city, at a price in neither case greater than the sum subscribed by the city, and have filed their agree- ments to this effect in writing, with your committee. These farms
Arguments of Three Counties 491
lie immediately adjoining the city and portions of two of them embraced in the city limits. They possess every requisite for mo- del farms, are supplied with never-failing water, and possess beautiful and commanding sites for the erection of buildings. The citizens of Logan county point with pride to their offer for the University, as being larger in proportion to the size and population of the county than any that has yet been made.
LOCATION
Lincoln is nearer the geographical centre of the State than, any of the other locations that have been mentioned in connection with the University. It is situated on the direct line of road from Chicago to St. Louis, and is easily accessible to all parts of the State. A charter has been obtained at the present session of this Legislature for the construction of a Eailroad from Decatur on the Illinois Central Railroad, through Lincoln to Pekin, a dis- tance of only 70 miles. It is believed that this road will be con- structed by the time the University shall be built and in actual operation.
OUR OFFER.
In brief we propose to give the State for the use of the University, a most eligible and desirable farm on which to locate the Institution. We propose further to give the State enough money to erect a building, better and more costly than the present Capital of the State, or the Normal University ; and when all this is done, there will be the magnificent surplus of $100,000 left in the hands of the State, to be expended in the supply of apparatus, machinery, and appliances of every sort necessary for the successful operation of the University. The State cannot ask more. Believing that no other location has submitted a more generous or liberal proposition or one more advantageous to the State, the citizens of Logan -County ask for their proposition the candid and just consideration of the Legislature.
492 History University of Illinois
DOCUMENT NUMBER 19
Jacksonville Journal, March. 16 and 18, 1867
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LOCATION OF INDUS- TRIAL UNIVERSITY
The undersigned, as chairman of the committee appointed by the farmers and mechanics at the state fair in Decatur and reappointed at the State 'Convention, called at Bloomington in December, 1865, to secure the passage of a charter for the State Industrial University according to the instruction of said con- vention, would report upon their action and the causes of their failure to secure the passage of the charter proposed.
The friends of education, as well as the people of Illinois generally, had a right to expect and to demand that the founda- tion of an institution, originating from their munificent grant of public lands, and designed to become the heritage and blessing of posterity to remotest generations, should be laid in simple and solemn honesty and integrity of purpose, uninfluenced by either local or political combinations and corruptions.
To secure this result, before the opening of the session of 1865, the members of the committee assembled at the agricultural society rooms at Springfield, together with such officers of that society as were then present, unanimously agreed upon the out- lines of a charter for the organization and endowment of the institution, embracing among other provisions, the following car- dinal principles :
I. That the funds should be kept entire, and only one in- stitution founded in the best locality the state could proffer, wherever that might prove to be.
II. That free competition should be offered to all the coun- ties in the state, and the best proposals honestly accepted by a commission appointed by the legislature or otherwise for the purpose.
These propositions were so self -evidently just and fair, that they have everywhere received the unanimous approval and en- dorsement of all the industrial and educational societies and
Report of a Committee on Location of the University 493
conventions which have been called to deliberate on the subject. Nine tenths of the people of Illinois are today a unit on the above propositions. The charter proposed was read by Gen. Fuller at the opening of the present session of the legislature to the board of the State Agricultural Society and received their unani- mous public endorsement and approval. But these just and most needful ends were at last defeated. We deem it indispensa- ble that the societies and conventions appointing this committee, and that the people and taxpayers of the state should know truly how this was done, and why it was done. At the Agricultural rooms above mentioned, Dr. Scroggs of Champaign, for the first time appeared in our meetings, and spoke of a magnificent build- ing which their people proposed to offer to the society. We were glad to hear it and freely admitted him to our counsels and plans. He was understood by all to assent heartily to the cardinal prin- ciples laid down as above stated ; certainly he did not object to them.
Judge then our surprise when a short time after our meeting the ' ' Champaign ring, " as it was called, appeared at the capital in force of some twenty or more confederates and lobby members, backed as it was said, with five thousand dollars in cash, led by Dr. Scroggs and a wandering preacher by the name of Stoughton, and demanding the immediate location of the University at Cham- paign, in consideration of the unfinished buildings and grounds offered to the state, which they said were worth $120,000. They insisted that it should be done, before any enabling act should be passed, or any other counties invested with any legal rights or power of competition.
They still professed to wish to keep the funds undivided according to the previous agreement, and oftentimes renewed their pledges to that effect.
But before the session closed they virtually violated this pledge also, by admitting into their bill an agreement to locate one branch of the University at Chicago, and another in Egypt, so as to secure the votes of these sections. Still, true to their native instinct, however, they took care so to word the bill that they could cheat their Chicago and Egyptian allies out of the consideration, after they had secured their votes; -as the bill
494 History University of Illinois
itself clearly shows. Tkis was the first interest that any one of this ring ever manifested in this great cause of industrial edu- cation. Thus was the scheme inaugurated in perfidy, which was destined, at last, to end in a degree of corruption, hypocrisy, drunkenness and debauchery unparalleled in the history of Illi- nois legislation.
It subsequently appeared that this speculating ring, in or- der to sell the prairie lands lying between the two towns of Champaign and Urbana, had laid them off in town lots and begun to erect their so called seminary building, to aid in the sale of lots. But from sheer incapacity the whole thing fell through and left them with building, lots, and all, still on hand, and mort- gaged or under lien at that, for debts they could not pay.
And as often happens to men who utterly fail in capacity to manage their own business, they at once most eagerly sought to take charge of the public weal.
Hence their distressing interest in behalf of University Edu- cation; at the last session they constantly alleged that their famous building was in such brisk demand that they could not possibly hold it any longer than till mid-summer of that year, and if not accepted at once, the legislature would forever lose the splendid offer. They took care, however, to prevent the pas- sage of all enabling acts in behalf of other counties so as to pre- clude all competition from localities which did not happen to have an ' ' elephant ' ' all ready to offer on hand. It is needless to remark that both their mortgaged buildings and grounds have most remarkably withstood the siege of purchasers until the year of grace 1867. Their lots are still there, except those that have passed into the hands or pockets of their allies at the capital and elsewhere.
They still take wonderful care to reserve the town lots im- mediately around the buildings and grounds, wholly in their own hands, an to endow the University with naked prairie lands, some two miles out in the country.
After the last session of 1865 it became apparent that this Champaign ring, by their natural location, and other means ap- plied, could control nearly one-third of the vote of the state in their interest. An effort was made to secure the direct endorse-
Report of a Committee on Location of the University 495
ment of the State Horticultural Society of their plans during its session in Champaign in December. The effort failed ; that society could not be made to stultify itself by retracting its committal to a free and fair competition among all the counties, Champaign included, for the location of the institution. The chairman of your committee became for the first time aware of the outline of the plot that has since been consummated. He was told at the time, by a member of the ring, that the whole plot was planned and irrevocably fixed, that it would be utterly in vain for him or for any of the members of the state committee to attempt to resist it. Their ''arrangements were all made," as they said, "and the thing would certainly be put through." He was ex- plicitly told that if he would turn in and co-operate with them, he might have the charter written just as he pleased, and they would elect him Regent of the University, which he said, they all desired, and we would all take hold and work in harmony and build up a splendid University.
On his replying that he had been a teacher for thirty years of his life, and had, years ago, left the employment with the de- termination never to return to it again ; and that at any rate, he thought that such an act of perfidy to his own convictions, and to the various societies and conventions, in whose behalf and under whose explicit instructions he was professing to act, would ill fit him for such a responsible position. Their speaker then be- gan to use threats, and distinctly declared that if such obstinacy was persisted in by the committee they should be compelled in the last resort, to do as they did at the last session, and go in with Chicago and Egypt for a similar division of the fund, and then they would be sure of success ; and the responsibility of injuring the institution would rest on those of the state committee who should thus insist on the full rights of other counties. At the opening of the session of the legislature, their senator told the chairman, as a friend, substantially the same things and advised him not to resist them — for the same reasons, as it would only result in injury, or at least trouble, to himself, with no possible good to the state ; as their ring was too strong to be broken.
This new ring in the legislature now referred to was under- stood— before the legislature commenced — to embrace the fol-
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lowing items, in particular, and whatever else could be brought into it. Companies of capitalists and speculators were formed at the capital, and over the state, to play into each others hands, a part were to manage ostensibly the state capital interests of some three to five millions ; a part the southern penitentiary and a part to lease the state prison for ten years, so that the prisoners might be compelled to hew the stone for these edifices, and also for a branch of the Insane asylum to be located in the vicinity of Peoria, at the expense of the state, while the sharpers pocketed the funds from the taxes paid by the people on the contracts. The canal and river scheme from Chicago across the state toward the west, investing some ten or twelve millions more before it is com- pleted, was embraced in the plot. It was understood that if Cham- paign would throw her vote for all these schemes, whether other counties offered more or less for the location of the University, the institution was at all hazards to be located at Champaign.
Thus this " Champaign ring" stood ready pledged to saddle the taxpayers of the state with some fifteen or twenty millions of dollars of prospective debts and obligations, provided the rep- resentatives of the people would at all hazards locate the Uni- versity at Champaign, and relieve them of their embarrassments on their mortgaged buildings and lands. Although your com- mittee were fully aware of this scheme before the session com- menced, and made all the resistance to it in their power, it was in the end carried out ; only enough members in the ring voting er- ratically or occasionally voting against the measure, only to re- new it again, to disguise their acts, from the scrutiny of the peo- ple. At the opening of the session the " Champaign ring, " as us- ual, were on hand with open rooms and wine and liquors free to friends, and another five thousand dollars of ' ' pin money, ' ' be- eides the one hundred thousand in reserve, voted by their county, which; was at first wholly withheld from their offer to the state. The correspondents of the public press and in some instances the editors themselves, were notoriously and shamelessly bought up, and suborned to the uses of this ring and their columns closed against an effectual warning or remonstrance in behalf of the people.
Before the legislature convened threats were openly made by the ring, against the state institutions both at Bloomington
Report of a Committee on Location of the University 497
and Jacksonville to deter the people of Morgan and McLean from entering into any competition or effort against them, and the warfare was kept up against these institutions, more or less, brisk until the fate of the University was decided.
Thus if this ring could not be allowed to steal with impunity from the resources of the state, the deaf and dumb and blind and insane and all the public teachers and pupils of the state at Bloomington, and Jacksonville were to be turned into the street.
To such a pass were things carried that the honest people of Champaign county itself, felt at last compelled to remonstrate against the conduct of this ring of unprincipled knaves and sharpers. Remonstrances to the legislature were gotten up in seven of the different townships of Champaign county, signed in some instances by every tax payer in the township, praying the legislature not to legalize the taxes about to be imposed upon them by this ring, on the ground of the illegality of the pretended election. The pressure of their existing taxes, and above all from their conviction that the $5,000 of public funds which had been put into the hands of a committee of which Dr. Scroggs, M. L. Dunlap and Priest Stoughton and Mr. Rep. Griggs of Champaign were active members, had been used during the session for corrupt purposes; as the committee of 1865 had refused to account for their use of the money, or to refund any part of it as required to do by order of the court committing it into their hands and also because they believed that the five thousand dollars furnished for the session of 1867 had been "squandered corruptly" for the same ends. They furnished extracts from their county re- cords, taken under oath, to show that the charges were true, also extracts from the records of Champaign and Urbana town- ships, showing that five hundred dollars respectively had been voted by them, in addition to a like sum from private subscrip- tions for a similar purpose, making in all twelve thousand dollars which as it seems from their supervisors' report was expended to "incalculable advantage" upon somebody at Springfield, over and above the $100,000 voted by the county which was indeed after much prompting offered on paper to the state, but which has not yet been paid over and probably never will be until the people of Champaign submit to a new bleeding by way of taxation or
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voluntary contribution. '"Who got this $12,000 or more money, used at Springfield to such an " incalculable advantage"? Some of those who voted for 'Champaign seemed nervously anxious to affirm that they had never seen a dollar of it ; while others could not be made to believe that any such fund or any such ring had ever existed, as we have described, it was undoubtedly all ex- pended on the opposition to keep them from voting for this " Champaign elephant" as it was appropriately called, en masse.
These petitioners alleged that they were prevented from get- ting their remonstrances before the legislature only by the fraud and deception of the ring at Springfield.
Meantime in despite the opposition of the ring an enabling act was at last forced through the legislature, and the legal com- petition of other counties admitted. The action of the counties of McLean, Logan and Morgan under these enabling acts were se- cured at great trouble and expense by the citizens ; and not with- standing the time fixed for their action by the ring was so short that it was thought impossible for the counties to comply with its terms, (and therefore many of the ring voted for the act and fully and openly committed both themselves and their suborned presses, to the principle that the county which made the best offer should have the location), still even their own joint committee being judge, it turned out at last quite unexpectedly to the ring and their allies that each one of these counties, made far better offers, than Champaign in cash value, over and above their superiority in location and in all other respects. Here was a new and unex- pected dilemma. Something must now be done. Their advocate and champion in the house, S. A. Hurlburt, a South Carolinian by birth, and social sympathy and philosophy (to say nothing worse of him) declared to his friends that the bid of Champaign would be written above all others, let the joint committee appraise them as they would. He declared in the presence of Mr. Baldwin and others that this whole scheme of educating the farmer was a d d humbug, and that he wanted to get it off down to Cham- paign where it would die as quickly as possible, and in accordance with this spirit he proposed the insane amendments attached to the bill on its third reading in the house. On another occasion he declared our whole system of public, of common schools, su-
Report of a Committee on Location of the University 499
perintendents and all a "G d d d Humbug". Such was
the spirit which animated the leading champions of Champaign in the house; and thus they fortified themselves and their allies against the report of their own committee, already expected to be adverse to their schemes ; in due time the report was made.
They reported that the total value of property offered by Champaign County in cash was $285,000 ; that offered by Logan County was $385,000, that offered by McLean county, at $470,000 that offered by Morgan county at $491,000.
Thus the cash value of the bid of Champaign was one hun- dred thousand dollars less than the lowest of the other bids, and more than $200,000 less than the highest bid, according to the showing of a joint committee of the house and senate, appointed solely to make and report a just estimate of the value of the property offered by each locality.
But the Champaign ring were not found lacking in impu- dence, if they were in cash, they immediately went behind the report of the committee and published a new report of their own, placing their own value upon their own property, and disparag- ing that of Bloomington, and still affecting that theirs was the more valuable of the two. In their offer two years since they themselves appraised their building, all to be completed as it now is, with its ten acres of grounds, and one hundred acres of the adjacent lands, at only $130,000, and everyone knew it could not be sold for one-half that money. They afterwards added two blocks, and forty acres more, and appraised the value at $160,000, or at the rate of about $700 per acre or $30,000 for about forty acres additional land.
At their first heat, for the session of 1867, they added seven hundred and twenty acres more of prairie land, and raised their valuation to $300,000, or $170,000 for seven hundred and twenty acres of land mostly two miles away in the prairie, known to be assessed at only from $12.00 to $15 per acre, and so declared in the report of the joint committee. Not a word was said in this offer about the $100,000 published as having been voted by the honest people of the county for the location of the University. This bid already publicly proffered to the state at a value of three hundred thousand in their own published charter, before the
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house and senate without 'additional dime of value they immedi- ately reappraised at the value of $500,000 in the editorials of the Springfield Journal, wholly under their control, as soon as the Bloomington bid was made amounting to that value. After the joint committee had reported their bid as valued at $285,000, they published and circulated a counter report running the value up to $555,400 (and estimated their land two miles out on the prairie, taxed at only $15 per acre at almost $300 per acre) their advocate, Hurlburt in the house, true to his word, to " write Champaign up above all possible competition" offered an amend- ment to their charter valuing the property the committee had appraised at ($285,000) at the modest sum of $450,000, or ac- cording to the Champaign ring. Thus without some explana- tion the people of the state would never know but that the Cham- paign bid was actually valued at the sum which appears in the charter of the University.
When at Champaign the committee were informed that the abstracts of their titles were all correct but that they were up at Springfield, and believing their statement the committee so state in their report; but at Springfield the clear titles were never shown, and indeed as is well known, never can be, until the liens and mortgages are lifted from the property.
It is in vain to say, that the legislature were not bound by their committee. That is exactly what we complain of. They were neither bound by their committee nor by any other law or rule, of either honesty, or even decency.
Now if a judge should appoint a commission to examine and appraise the property of rival claimants, which he never saw, and then assume the right to affix to the property of the favorite party, whatever value he chose, totally regardless of the report rendered, all men would unite in pronouncing him a scoundrel ; or if an auctioneer of public property, should appoint a time and condition of sale — and then strike off the property or privilege to the lowest instead of the highest bidder — the conclusion in all minds would be inevitable, that the man was either a knave or a fool; and yet, with shame on all faces be it said, that this is exactly in principle what was done by our last legislature of Illinois in behalf of this corrupt Champaign ring.
Report of a Committee on Location of the University 501
Those who voted for this infamous measure may affirm as often as they please that they knew nothing about the corruption money distributed by this ring. The people can never be made to believe one word of it. The people of these several rival counties can never forget that they have been put to all this expense and trouble merely to be cheated by the knaves and fools that were in and around the last legislature.
Let it not be imagined that our complaint is because the insti- tution did not come to Jacksonville. The undersigned never even asked any living man, either in or out of the legislature, to either vote or use his influence in behalf of Jacksonville, except the citizens of the county themselves ; he has ever steadfastly refused to accept any official position whatever, either on the proposed board or under it. A just regard to each and all counties alike, was all that any member of the state committee ever insisted on at the capital ; nothing more and nothing less ; while it was agreed among them all that each should encourage and aid his own people to make the very best bid they could for the interest of the insti- tution and of the state.
The democratic members of the South and East, could truly allege, that their decision was a load accommodation to their friends, and the responsibility of the infamy would rest on their political opponents who alone were in power. But the Republi- cans of the North and West had not even this poor excuse for the evident injustice of this act.
It is well known that the Governor of the State was sorely distressed and perplexed by the result of such legislation. But as he had no effective veto power he did not attempt to arrest its progress.
General Fuller and others in the Senate, Mr. Baldwin of LaSalle, the speaker, Mr. Corwin and others of the house did all in their power to arrest this infamy and to defend the rights of the people and taxpayers of the state.
By these results your state is most deeply disgraced in the eyes of our sister states — who were looking to us for a worthy example in this high regard. The institution has lost at least two hundred thousand dollars of cash funds, freely and nobly proffered to its acceptance by counties who had higher ends in
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view than merely to speculate in town lots, and lift mortgages off from their old buildings and lands — but this loss of available funds and resources — heavy as it is, is not a small item in the category of our disasters. With the great central counties of the state thus outraged, and insulted and old friends of the cause all over the state utterly disgusted, while the North and West are thrown into a state of utter indifference, to say the least, no possible amount of funds can ever make the institution a success ; and Champaign county will at last find herself cheated out of the taxes she has paid out for it and even the town lots of these sharpers will still rest unsold on their hands. So long as the institution remains under either the social or political control and management of these sharpers, these "Hon. Dogberrys" and "Dr. Duncaids" and "Patroleum Nasbys" of Champaign crossroads, no men of talent and genius will ever gather around it, as either teachers or professors; nothing above the level of the miserable scamps and scalawags, whose votes and services were bought up at the capital by promises of office or lots of cash — (some of them it was said for twenty-five dollars a head) most of whom could be named in advance of their formal ap- pointment to the board. Already we begin to see these vultures scenting their prey from afar, and seeking some eligible position of trust and plunder either in or around the board.
For two long years, the Champaigners have incessantly re- sisted, the appointment of a commission of location by the legis- lature, because they pretended to fear that a commission might be influenced or biased or bribed ; while at the same time they were practicing their arts as above described on the legislators them- selves; if this is not the most arrant and persistent hypocrisy we need a new definition of that word : forever prating about the morality and temperance of their town, they have themselves besieged the legislature, and all the committees have fallen into their hands, with free liquors, even to drunkenness. Professing deference to the judgment of the legislature committees, they go bind their own committee, and impudently affix their own absurd prices, to their property; and clamouring for fairness, they everywhere practice the art of knaves and deceivers.
As all know full well these selfish and detestable intrigues and plots and schemes, have been the sole cause of all this delay
Report of a Committee on Location of the University 503
in locating the institution for the past two years with all its loss of funds, and of adding millstones of additional taxation upon the people of the state, involved in the intrigues during the session, thus they would lay the very foundations of this state university, in the identical political and social crimes and in- famies, it was primarily designed to utterly exterminate from their national history and mind and heart. To this hour no solitary man, woman or child in the state, even pretends that the charter unanimously approved by the board of the State Agricultural Society is not strictly just and fair, or that it would not have become a law two years ago, had it not been for this ring.
We might as well attempt to build another St. Peter 's Church in the vaults of a stercorary as to attempt to realize the idea of a University worthy of the great state of Illinois, amid surroundings and among influences such as these ; all the money in Christendom could not achieve it. No parent from abroad would trust his son there, unless he wished him to take lessons in the arts of perfidy, impudence, hypocrisy and drunkenness.
All parties that have had anything to do with it, will find themselves cheated in the end. It will dwindle down to a mere boys ' school for these Champaign villagers, and will be of no real use to them, not even to use enough to enable them to make sale of their town lots, which is all the ring ever care for it ; much less will it ever reimburse the county for the hard earned money this ring has fished out of it. The other funds will probably be squandered in like manner. But this would be of little conse- quence perhaps, were it not that by disgracing and caricaturing the whole scheme, it will throw the great cause of industrial Uni- versity Education back in the state for a whole generation — and all this is no fault of the place — Champaign, as a place is well enough; until these disclosures no man was opposed to Champaign as a place, but after what has happened, the place can hardly be divested of its associates and surroundings.
The only apparent remedy now is for the people of the state to rally once more and elect legislators who are neither knaves nor fools, and at the next session remove the institution to Bloom- ington, or some other place where it can be rescued from the
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odium and contempt that will forever rest upon it, so long as it remains in the hands of this ring of Champaign speculators.
This, they have, under the circumstances a perfect legal and moral right to do. Indeed it would be shamefully wrong not to do it. The people of the state can perhaps afford to be taxed by the machinations of the Champaign ring to the tune of some ten or twenty millions, to build palatial state houses at Sprinetfield, to pay a corps of men five dollars per day, and twelve thousand dol- lars per annum to look on and see it done ; they can perhaps afford to build penitentiaries at Cairo, at the most sickly point in the state, where there are no stone, and where the whole ground has to be elevated some fifteen or twenty feet before the work is begun, to keep the yards and grounds above water, and where no fresh vegetables can be supplied to the prisoners from around the inundated grounds in all time to come. They can afford per- haps to dig canals from the lakes to the river, or from the At- lantic to the Pacific, if need be. But they cannot afford to allow such corrupt rings to be formed at the Capital, to vote any amount of money they please out of their pockets from year to year in known defiance of the entire spirit, if not of the express letter of the constitution of the state, without some just and signal rebuke to the plotters and abetters of all such schemes. Nor can they afford to see the noble endowments of the republic, designed at once to be the heritage and glory of unborn generations, made the mere football of the knaves and sharpers, who please to conspire at the capital, to impose such burdens and such outrages upon a betrayed and insulted people.
But we do not, after all, in the least despair of the great and good cause of popular Industrial Education. These western states must, and will learn to organize and control institutions so indispensable to their prolonged republican existence and life and power. It may take a long and sad apprenticeship and ex- perience. It may take till we are all in our graves. But it will come at last, borne onward by the triumphant rejoicings of our children's children, amid the hallelujahs of a continent enfran- chised with the full blessings of light and liberty forevermore.
Respectfully submitted to the people of Illinois. March 4, '67. J. B. TURNER,
Chairman of the Committee
Report of a Committee on Location of the University 505
This is written and published at the request of those mem- bers of the committee who were at Springfield and cognizant of the facts of the case. The members not present are of course not responsible for the position it assumes, or for the facts it discloses.
J. B. T.
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DOCUMENT NUMBER 20 HISTORY OF THE CHAMPAIGN "ELEPHANT,"
BY ONE OF THE "RING,"
From the Chicago Times, March 21, 1867.
In another part of this issue will be found a letter from a member of the Champaign "Agricultural college ring," who, disappointed by his failure to obtain the "chair of moral phil- osophy" in that institution — or what would be considered its equivalent, an opportunity to handle a large amount of some other man's money — turns "state's evidence" and exposes the internal operations of the ring without mercy.
The exposure is rich, racy and instructive. It fully corrob- orates all the statements of corruption, rascality and ' ' scuggery ' ' made by Professor Turner in his recently published report, and will convince the public that the corruption of the recent legis- lature of Illinois has not one-half been told. Among other ways in which the Champaign ring made use of a $30,000 corruption fund, was the subsidizing of the country press generally, ex- cepting in the counties of Morgan and McLean, and the writer, states moreover, that ' ' we subsidize the two lesser radical lumin- aries in Chicago with $500 each." Whether the amount of the subsidy for one of these cheap luminaries went into the coffers of its Springfield owner, Mr. Jacob Bunn, or the pockets of Mr. Jacob Bunn's Chicago enfants, is not stated. The amount men- tioned seems to indicate the price of the latter, although it is probably intended to purchase the former.
This expose of the Champaign swindle will possibly serve to open the eyes of the people to the fact that there were perpe- trated, with the aid of the recent legislature, yet greater swindles than this. The statehouse ring have managed better than the Champaign "male and female seminary" ring to provide all its members with the ' ' fat berths ' ' that were allotted to them in the original scheme. No one was left out to "peach" on the rogues within. The plunder having been distributed according to agreement, the thieves act harmoniously in covering up the modus operandi of the theft.
History of the Champaign ''Elephant" 507
Springfield Correspondence of the Times.
Springfield, 111., March 20.
Aren't you pretty hard on the Champaign college "ring," particularly since we have been entirely spooned out of the university skillet ? Why not hear reason, and allow me, a mem- ber of the "ring" to give you a straight out account of the whole business ? By so doing you will give Brother Gregory, the regent, the finance and faculty committees and the trustees, a "pou sto" — which is Dutch for "where to stand" — when these gentlemen undertake the work of organizing and setting the university ma- chinery in motion.
THE URBANA AND CHAMPAIGN MALE AND FEMALE INSTITUTE
So, to begin at the beginning: — Some six or seven — it may be eight — years ago, two men, hailing from Aurora, 111., Messrs. Babcock and Stoughton, appeared at the county seat of Cham- paign, and awoke the town from its slumbers by proposing a grand educational scheme, which was to buy up a tract of prairie between the towns of Urbana and West Urbana, for $50 to $100 per acre, as the case might be, lay it off into lots ; sell them at the rate of from $500 to $1,000 per acre ; and on the difference be- tween what they gave for the land and what they sold the lots for, build, endow and run the Urbana and Champaign male and fe- male institute. They instanced the success of such a speculation at Aurora, Kane county, 111., and claimed as much for it as "the ring" now claim for the Illinois Industrial University. It would raise the price of lands and lots, bring in population and capital, and put Champaign up before the world ' ' like a city on a hill which cannot be hid."
PROGRESS OF THE ENTERPRISE.
Well, (I was residing in Champaign county at that time, and have been there, off and on, ever since) I went into the thing — in fact we all went into it, bald-headed; and between coaxing, arguing, humbugging and bullying, we soon got up steam, and soon after we were blowing it off a-howling. We let
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the contract, started ther building, and got it well along toward completion. When the war came on the excitement died out, and, all of a sudden, we discovered that we had an elephant on our hands. We found this fact out during the summer of 1864, and then made preparations to get the assistance of the legislature which was to come together in January, 1865, to transfer the ani- mal to the broader shoulders of the county and the state. For this purpose the county loaned its aid to the extent of some $8,000, and we went to Springfield to effect the job, and failed. For the why and wherefore of our failure, let the reader consult the columns of the Chicago Tribune for January and February, 1865 — that sheet, to all appearances, then not being under the control of the eminent agricultural writer, with Harry White and Joe Medill for assistants.
"DEAD-FALL" FOR RADICAL NEWSPAPERS AND LEGISLATURES
Previous experience having taught us how to deal with rad- ical newspapers and legislatures, last summer we set a "dead- fall" for both, pretty near in the following manner. (Not being on the ground I may not be exact in every particular ; but you may rely on it, Mr. Editor, that the general facts are correctly stated.)
First — We made an arrangement with the county board to take the institute building and grounds (ten acres) from us, the county giving us therefore $30,000 in county bonds, drawing ten per cent, interest.
Second — We prevailed on the board of supervisors to order an election for an appropriation of $100,000 in aid of the enter- prise. This we carried by the usual appliances of coaxing, bul- lying and humbugging.
Third — We obtained an appropriation of $5,000 from the board of supervisors to pay LEGISLATIVE EXPENSES ; and further, got them to appoint a committee of three of their own number to go to Springfield and see the thing out.
Fourth — Meantime one man Griggs had been elected repre- sentative to the general assembly from this district, and the cities of Urbana and Champaign appropriated the first $200 and
History of the Champaign "Elephant" 509
the last named $300, to be paid over to him, to be used to the best advantage in furthering the design of ' ' the ring. ' '
GRIGGS' OPERATIONS.
He immediately took the cars and traveled up and down the state; and according to the Chicago Tribune correspondent's puff of him, written for the purpose of putting him into the office of treasurer, he was mainly instrumental in getting up the state house swindle, the Cairo penitentiary swindle, and, if you will have it so, the Champaign county swindle, and putting them through the legislature
A BID.
Meantime, we, ''the ring", had prepared a bid, under the authority of the board of supervisors of Champaign county, about as follows : The Urbana and Champaign male and female institute building and ten acres of ground, at a cost to the county of $30,000 ; 160 acres of land in section 18, $14,000 ; and 640 acres of prairie parts of section 21 and 28, situated three and one half miles from the college at $50 per acre $34,000 ; in all say $78,000. —The county had already voted $100,000, of which $5,000 had been appropriated. So we had $17,000 left for working expenses. To be sure we put this bid in at more than twice these figures but that was to be the cost to the county.
OPERATIONS AT SPRINGFIELD.
We went to Springfield early and engaged a suite of rooms at the Leland House, at the trifling cost of $30 per day, to be used as headquarters. A whiskey chebang was opened next door, where everything was free to our friends. We decreed a subvention to the country press outside of McLean and Morgan counties ; sub- sidized two of the lesser radical luminaries of Chicago with the payment of $500 each, more or less ; paid the tavern bills of our friends and members of "the ring"; and, by the use of money, whiskey, stuffing, padding and f orcepumping, kept the newspaper correspondents up to their work; and as a consequence, nearly the whole press of the state was filled with puffs of the greatness and glory of the Champaign county "ring".
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THE EVANGELICAL HEADQUARTERS.
For the evangelical and temperance portion of "the ring" and their friends, we had a quiet room set apart provided only with a bible, a pitcher of cold water, and a bottle of bay rum (for the hair) ; and here your correspondent spent most of his time. How much money was paid to senators or representatives for their votes ; how much champagne was drunk ; how much bad whiskey swallowed, and how much deviltry generally and stealing particularly, was accomplished, your correspondent, from his pious associations has no means of knowing. He goes no deeper into the affair than common report in Springfield gives him au- thority for doing.
OPPONENTS.
But, though we had the inside track by previous arrange- ment, we found a formidable crowd from Jacksonville, headed by old man Turner, (who gave us a great deal of trouble) ; an- other body; equally formidable, from Bloomington; to say nothing about the Lincoln boys. Of course, $5,000 soon disap- peared, and we had to "go back" on the people of Champaign county for more money and a bigger bid ; again for a bigger bid and more money ; and so on, several times repeated.
ANOTHER BID.
Finally, we brought the thing to a head by a bid valued at $400,000 but at a cost to the county not including legislative ex- penses, of $200,200, as follows:
Champaign Male and Female Institute buildings and
ten acres of land near centre section 7 T. 19, 9 E. $ 30,000 Ni/2 S. E. and S. i/2 N. E. section 18, T. 19 9 E.
160 acres 14,000
The Griggs tract of 400 acres, section 21, T. 19, 9 E.
at $55 22,000
The Busey tract, 410 acres, section 19, T. 19, 9 E.
at $70 28,700
Bonds of Champaign county 100,000
The Dunlap subsidy of fruit and shade trees "at
lowest catalogue rates" 2,000
History of the Champaign "Elephant" 511
The Griggs subvention 500
Commission, profit and loss, say 3,000
Total cost $200,200
LEGISLATIVE FUNDS.
Now, we will get at the amount of legislative expenses, or corruption fund if you will, by ascertaining the difference of the cost of the bid and the sums voted or to be voted :
There was voted at the October election $100,000
They are called on to vote in March and April .... 130,000
Total voted and to be voted $230,000
Cost of bid as above 200,200
Total corruption fund $ 29,800
There old man Turner, put that in your pipe and smoke it ; and you, fellows at Bloomington und Lincoln, learn from this how you are to deal with radical legislatures in future. — Some say the corruption fund comes nearer to $50,000 than $30,000; and that "the ring" intends to wring this out of the voters of Champaign county one of these days. Such a statement is a slander.
ARGUMENTS TO BE USED IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
But some outsiders, perhaps, will ask, Will the people of Champaign county vote this $130,000 ? Of course they will, for we have "a dead-fall" on them, which they can't avoid; and I will tell you how — Tom B. Macauley says, somewhere, "That never was a work of human policy so well deserving of examina- tion as the Roman Catholic church. ' ' I think if Tom knew of the Champaign county "ring" organization, he would "go back" on that statement.
In order to carry the scheme through, we have got ready the following arguments, and they are to be used there, in town and country, according as they will touch the tender spots of voters :
512 History University of Illinois
The "sell out" argument; The ' ' advance-in-real-estate' ' argument ; The ' ' great-demand-f or-labor ' ' argument ; The ' ' abundance-of -labor ' ' argument ;
The ' ' no-sale-of -liquor-within-a-mile-of -the-college ' ' argu- ment;
The argument that the college act is no force as against the city charter, — called for short, the "poppycock" argument;
The ' ' evangelical ' ' argument ;
The "dead-open-and-shut" argument.
The above are to be used within the limits of the town of Urbana and West Urbana, and explain themselves with the ex- ception, perhaps, of the "dead-open-and-shut" argument. This is used with the silly few who persist in denouncing the whole thing as infamous; and consists in bullying, denunciations and threats. I am happy to report to you that no minister of the gospel, or member of the church, requires the use of the ' ' dead- open-and-shut" argument. As a member of that prayerful sect, the Hard Shell Baptists, I am rejoiced at the circumstance.
For the country, "the ring" have got up the following argu- ments :
The "poultry" argument, — subdivided in the "cock-and- hen," the " duck-and-gosling, " the "hen-turkey," and the "50- cents-a-dozen-f or-eggs, ' ' arguments ;
The "stock" argument, — subdivided into the "bull-calf," the ' ' breeding-sow, ' ' and the ' ' high-price-of -mutton ' ' arguments ;
The "dairy" arguments, — subdivided into the "butter-and- cheese" argument, the "sweet-cream" argument, the "sour- milk" argument, and for the Dutch, the "smere-case" argument;
The "vegetable" argument, — subdivided into the "apple- pie Eoot" argument, the "early-potato" argument, and, for the Germans, (and a strong card it is,) the "sour-krout" argu- ment.
They use a great many others ; but these are the arguments on which "the ring" rely, and which will carry them through.
History of the Champaign "Elephant" 513
HOW THE RING GOT SCOOPED.
But I must tell you how we were scooped here at Springfield when we got together to organize. We had — and when I say we, I mean "the ring" — allotted the offices out pretty much as fol- lows : A radical senator, whom the boys rather irreverently called "Old Pinkeye", was our man for regent. The persistency and steadiness with which the round of ' ' rings, ' ' together with ' ' other good and reliable considerations, ' ' pointed him out as the man for the head of the institution. Griggs was to have the treasureship, "with a low bond"; Dunlap the corresponding secretaryship; and Dunlap, Cunningham, and whomsoever the governor should appoint (and we and Scroggs in view) were to be the finance and executive committees. (I may as well confess here that I had my eye on the professorship of moral philosophy and had already got some notes together for a course of lectures on the theory and practice of early piety.)
But our plans were knocked endways by the election of Bro. Gregory as regent, the fixing of the bond at $300,000 instead of $30,000, and the choice of Bunnover Griggs. And, worst of
all, not a d d solitary man of the Champaign trustees got on
the finance or faculty committees, except Judge Joe -Cunning- ham; and he will never set Boneyard brook afire, you may be sure. That's the way they snubbed us and be d d to them!
Do you wonder one of "the ring" turns state's evidence?
THE DISPUTED TRUSTEESHIP.
Before I end I must tell you about the disputed trusteeship, alluded to by an Urbana correspondent of yours, some days ago. Col. Coles made his threat good that Busey should not be ap- pointed. The governor, (and a better man does not live, nor ex- emplary, if he has like myself a few Hard-Shell characteristics,) on receiving letters, from Harmon and Somers, both democrats, appointed Scroggs. As soon as this was known in Urbana, a com- mittee of half the town came down here a-howling. — After a great deal of labor Dr. Scroggs consented to send in his resigna- tion ; and the governor half promised in case he could, under a just construction of the organic act, that he would, after the first
514 History University of Illinois
of April, (a good day for. such a job,) accept Scroggs' resignation and appoint Busey in his place. Any one with half an eye can see that this half -promise of Richard's is only "a, blind", and that Scroggs, who is always in luck, and a roaring radical, is sure to> hold on to the trusteeship — unless he gets a better thing. But the ever-ready "ring" folks get out of this business two strong arguments, — one for use on the anti- Scroggs men, and the other to rake in the anti-Busey men. To one party they say, ' ' See how the governor has scooped Busey" ; to the other, "Don't you see what a dead-fall we have got on Scroggs ? ' ' Gov. Richard played the thing sharp, bless his innocent heart and rosy face !
A LUCKY MAN.
By the way, this Dr. Scroggs is one of the luckiest men alive. He is the first man who nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presi- dency; he was postmaster at Urbana for a long time, and has the same office within his grasp at this moment ; he beat the dem- ocrats and radicals both for the treasureship ; he out-manoeu- vered the committee who came to Springfield to compel him to resign ; he is now setting his pins to succeed Bromwell, and with good chances of success.
Will C. W. take the hint, and this time get in ahead by nominating Dr. Scroggs for the Presidency?
There, there's the whole story, and isn't the whole business as straight as a string, say ?
(Signed)
Rev.
H. S. P. B.
Griggs and the Location of the University 515
DOCUMENT NUMBER 21
An interview of Allan Kevins with Clark Eobinson Griggs reported in 1915 to the President of the University. It is essentialy the same as a communication written by Mr. Griggs, himself, to President Edmund J. James under date of June 8, 1904. The interview is a little fuller in details in regard to some events.
Clark Robinson Griggs and the Location of the University
—I—
The Merrill Land Grant Act was signed by Lincoln July 2, 1862 ; and though Illinois delayed her acceptance of its benefits, all attempts to secure a dissipation of the funds made available fell through, and after the adjournment of the Legislature of
1865 it was apparent that the next session would witness the location of a single land-grant institution. Mr. Griggs remem- bers several mass-meetings held at different points in 1865 and
1866 by communities ambitious to secure the new college, and himself attended one at Bloomington. The State agricultural and horticultural societies, and various educational workers, were deeply interested in seeing laid the foundations of a sturdy cen- ter for the teaching of the practical arts. By midsummer of 1866 it was evident that Champaign, Morgan, McLean, Logan, and Cook Counties would be prominent in the contest. Inter- ested persons in all these communities were trying to impress upon their fellow-citizens the importance of the matter.
Nowhere did feeling become more lively than in Champaign County. The eastern portion of the State, it was felt, had been neglected in the allotment of the State institutions; it had a keener and more exclusive interest in agriculture than most others ; and Messrs, Stoughton and Babcock, with the aid of other citizens of the County, had vindicated the region's zeal in edu- cation by the founding of the Urbana and Champaign University. Many people, moreover, had been stimulated by the movement for a railway from Danville through Urbana and Bloomington to Pekin to take thought for the future of the Twin Cities. During the summer a committee of citizens in Urbana was formed by the efforts of Judge Cunningham, Col. Sheldon and Henry Miller,
516 History University of Illinois
and another in Champaign by Dr. Scroggs and Mr. M. L. Dunlap ; the chief members being -Col. Busey, Dr. Parks, Judge Simms, and Messrs. Cosgrove, Gardner, Shirpy, and Halberstadt. The en- thusiasm of these men was inspired by their far-sightedness. They believed that the Federal guarantees and the State's ar- rangement for perpetual financial support from the Illinois Cen- tral Railway, if nothing else, would give the college a great fu- ture. Many of them were prosperous, and willing to make real present sacrifices to secure a future gain. Possibly greater sac- rifices were required than some at first anticipated, but Halber- stadt, owner of the local flouring mills, was the only one ever to complain.
Realizing that an executive agent was indispensable, the committee turned to Mr. Griggs. He was well known as a farmer, a business man, and one of those interested in the D. U. B. and P. Railway, while he had been mayor of Urbana. Before his perma- nent removal to the County Seat in 1860 he had been a member for two terms of the General Court of Massachusetts, and had taken a close interest in political tactics at a time when the Hoosac Tunnel made legislative manoeuvering an art. At the opening of the Civil War he had entered the army as a sutler, had served in campaigns in Missouri and Arkansas, and at Fort Pickering at Memphis, and had been one of the first to receive a permit to bring cotton up the Mississippi after its opening. He was well known in circles of veterans. About forty years of age, he was a man of very winning personality and of unusual shrewd- ness. In the autumn the District Republican Convention was held in Urbana, and through the efforts of the committee he was put in nomination, though he had never before entered State politics. Called into the chamber to receive the news, he made a brief speech in which he touched upon his wish to bring the college to Urbana-Champaign. His election followed in Novem- ber.
—II—
Immediately after the election the citizens met to determine what offer they should make the State as an inducement for its location of the college with them; and it was decided that the campaign which Mr. Griggs was to head must be begun at once.
Griggs and the Location of the University 517
The supervisors of Urbana and Champaign townships appropri- ated $40,000 for the expenses of this campaign ; what proportion came from each township Mr. Griggs does not remember. He shortly set out on a quiet tour of the State in an effort to pledge votes to Champaign County, interviewing only members of the lower House. He avoided Jacksonville, Lincoln, and Blooming- ton, not wishing to put these cities on their guard. Elsewhere he made a very thorough canvass, presenting his arguments and wherever possible finding some way to commend himself to each legislator he met. In the space of five weeks he thus interviewed nearly forty members out of the total of eighty-five, and secured pledges, slightly if at all qualified, from perhaps fifteen. At the capital he made himself acquainted with Governor Oglesby and Lieutenant-Governor Bross, both of whom listened to him with interest. He also saw the Republican State Chairman, Mr. Bab- cock, and the Democratic State Chairman, whose name Mr. Griggs has forgotten, and induced them to become paid servants of the Champaign County Committee. In his tour he learned that a greater number of special interests would be before the legisla- ture than ever before in Illinois history. Chicago was anxious to secure legislation in connection with Jackson and other parks and the boulevard system, and for the deepening of the Chicago River. Southern Illinois wanted a projected new penitentiary. Peoria and Springfield were rivals for the new State House, though it was commonly felt that Peoria had little chance. He noted these ambitions as useful in future bargaining. At Pekin and Danville he urged that the location of the college at Urbana would assist the prosperity of the railway then planned. Else- where he pointed out that Jacksonville already had a number of institutions of a charitable sort, that Bloomington had the normal college, and that Chicago would grow fast enough without such a gift, while none of the three cities could offer such agricultural advantages as Urbana-Champaign. None of the other cities un- dertook such a preliminary canvass.
The legislature opened the first Monday in January, 1867. The 'Champaign County Committee, at Mr. Griggs 's prompting, had prepared for the fight of the next three months by engaging the principal reception room of the Leland Hotel, with several suites of parlors and bedrooms on the second floor. The reception
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room, holding two hundred people, was used for general enter- tainment. A buffet service was installed, and arrangements made for serving elaborate meals. Near Mr. Griggs 's quarters were placed those of the Democratic and Republican State Chairmen. At once lobbying was begun on a lavish scale, Members, whether Democrats or Republicans, hostile or friendly, were invited to the Leland for drinks, for light refreshments, or for huge oyster suppers or quail dinners. They were pressed to bring with them any of their constituents who happened to be in town, and to order for such guests as freely as for themselves. They were supplied with cigars, and groups of them were taken to the the- atre. During the Week three or four of the Champaign County Committee were always on the ground, and at week ends, when entertainment was at its height, eight or ten would come over. All bills were sent in to be covered by the $40,000 fund. No other community had fitted up headquarters in this way, or made any preparations for the entertainment of members. The House was greatly impressed by the earnestness of Champaign County, and many a Representative voted for the Champaign bill because Mr. Griggs and his followers "had worked so hard".
— Ill—
Meanwhile Mr. Griggs carefully organized his campaign on the floor of the House. It was understood that the Senate would accede to whatever the House did, and though Mr. Tinch- ner, of Danville, was deputed there to take care of the Twin City interests, he had little to do. At the opening of the session Mr. Griggs was named for speaker by one faction of the Republicans, and Mr. Corwin, of Bloomington, by another. This was upon the initiative of Mr. Griggs 's friends, and though he did not court the position as aiding him in passing the bill, he later saw in the nomination the possibility of a helpful bargain. The con- test was regarded as indicating that the struggle for the college would lie between Bloomington and Urbana-Champaign, and that Chicago, Jacksonville, and Lincoln were already falling behind. For two days Mr. Griggs commanded thirty-five votes, and pre- vented the organization of the House. On the night after the second day he was visited in his parlor at the Leland by Senator
Griggs and the Location of the University 519
Washburne, who asked what he would require in return for giving up the contest to Mr. Corwin. Mr. Griggs replied that he wanted thei chairmanship of the Committee on Agriculture and the Me- chanic Arts and the privilege of naming a majority of its mem- bers— it being the body before which all bills for the location of the college would come. Mr. Corwin was called into his room, and the bargain struck. The next day Mr. Griggs, upon the floor of the House, withdrew his candidacy and asked his supporters to vote for Mr. Corwin. The bargin was carried out to the letter.
Within a few days after this Mr. Eppler, for Jacksonville, introduced a bill locating the institution there; Mr. Smith, for Bloomington, introduced one locating it in that city ; a member for Lincoln, and one for Chicago — either Mr. Bond or Mr. Tay- lor— introduced bills naming those two cities respectively. These bills were all worded alike except in the clauses referring to lo- cation. Brought in in rapid succession, they were one by one, without debate, referred to Mr. Griggs 's committee. Finally he introduced his own bill for Champaign -County, but instead of holding it in committee had it laid upon the table, so that it could be taken up and put upon its passage whenever he deemed that he had sufficient strength. On January, 25, 1867, the Legislature passed a resolution authorizing any town, city, or corporation to bid for the new institution. This, however, was merely per- functory, and no more bills were brought in. A contest of lobby- ists for the college now began with the greatest vigor. Prof. Turner, of Jacksonville, though not a member, assisted Mr. Ep- pler, and by his great influence in all sections proved a tower of strength. Mr. Smith of Bloomington was helped by a fellow- member, General Huiiburt, and needed the assistance, for he was inexperienced in parliamentary manoeuvering. Mr. Bond and Mr. Taylor represented Chicago. Lincoln was felt to stand no chance, and Mr. Griggs does not remember its representative.
At this juncture Governor Oglesby and Lieutenant-Governor Bross, came out in favor of Mr. Griggs, though of course rather in a passive than an active way. They were pleased by Mr. Griggs 's personality and perhaps moved by his arguments; and they liked the thoroughness of his fight. In his frequent calls at their offices Mr. Griggs met the Attorney-General, Colonel Robert Ingersoll, later the famous lecturer, and these two became inti-
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mate friends. Ingersoll^s affable personality made him an im- portant accession. There was much argument in the halls of the Capitol, but none on the floor. The most important point made by the opponents of Champaign County, the inaccessibility of Urbana except on a north and south line, was destroyed when a charter was secured for the D. U. B. and P. R. R. The material inducements held out by the rival cities were, of course, offered informally, and were increased as the session wore on, Urbana- Champaign in especial putting forth an effort to keep ahead of the others. Every meeting in Jacksonville to subscribe more land or money was countered by a meeting in the Twin Cities. Mr. Griggs states that he believes his committees would have doubled its final total, and have been gladly supported in doing so by the community. While his supporters worked as hard as possible, Mr. Griggs kept in the background and managed affairs as si- lently as he could. He was especially anxious to avoid making enemies and for that reason took little part in debate on other matters in the House.
The inducements offered by Champaign included the new col- lege building there. This was called the " Elephant" by enemies of the County, but was a very real asset, as it was a pledge that instruction could begin promptly. The building had cost about $120,000 ; it had a frontage of 125 feet and a depth of 40 feet, with a wing in the rear 70 by 44 feet. The main structure was five stories high, the wing four, and there was a total of 181 rooms. Ten acres of land around this building were offered, with 1601/2 acres — Mr. Griggs believes owned by Colonel Busey — within a half mile, 410 acres adjoining, and 400 more — of which 240 was Mr. Griggs 's own — within two miles — a total of 980 acres. With this were offered $2,000 worth of shade and fruit trees from the Dunlap nursery, $100,000 worth of Champaign County ten per cent twenty year bonds, and $50,000 worth of freight on the Illinois Central Railway. The total was valued by the Legis- lative committee under A. I. Enoch, which visited all the bidding communities and reported February 16, at $285,000 — less than the total valuations of the offerings of the other counties. Mr. Griggs remembers that Morgan County offered, so far as it had any power to do so, to merge Illinois College and Berean College with the new institution, and that Bloomington hoped to do so
Griggs and the Location of the University 521
with the normal college. Neither of these two offered so much land.
—IV—
As the session proceeded, the members for other cities and especially for Jacksonville, began to complain because their bills were not reported out of committee. Repeatedly Mr. Eppler would rise and inquire the reason for the delay in the case of the Jacksonville bill ; and as often Mr. Griggs would inform him that he had attempted to call his committee together and had failed to secure a quorum. He would publicly and ostentatiously sum- mon the members of this committee and later whisper them not to appear. In this manner the bills were prevented from coming up until Mr. Griggs had marshalled his strength.
At the beginning of the session Mr. Griggs had begun a se- ries of compromises or exchanges with the members of other cities seeking ends of their own. As Peoria would support Blooming- ton anyway, he offered Springfield the vote of eastern Illinois in support of her bill to build the new State House in the old cap- ital. A similar bargain was struck with many representatives from southern Illinois, desirous of the new penitentiary, and — most important of all — with Chicago, hopeful of improvement in her park and boulevard system. The members for Chicago and Springfield were persuaded also to convert their newspapers to the cause of Urbana-Champaign, and succeeded in every impor- tant case except that of the Chicago Tribune, which to the end maintained Chicago's pretensions to the institution. In no case did Mr. Griggs approach these newspapers himself.
The marked success of Mr. Griggs 's efforts, coupled with the generous hospitality of the committee, finally came to excite sus- picion. The hospitality, indeed, was not confined to that shown at the Leland House. Following the rather neutral report of the committee appointed to visit all the localities that were can- didates for the college, Mr. Griggs, acting for Champaign County, hired a special train and took the entire Legislature over to the Twin Cities to see the proposed site. The gathering was enter- tained at dinner before returning. But it was the money used for entertainment in Springfield that bred a general whisper that bribery was not unknown to the Champaign County commit- tee. Mr. Griggs believes that it was the urging of a number of
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scandal-mongers rather than Mr. Turner 's own observation which led him to take the step he did. At any rate, he finally came to Mr. Griggs and threatened to have him called before the bar of the House and put upon his oath that he was not using impro- per means. Mr. Griggs stoutly denied that there had been any illegal practices, and expressed his entire willingness to make a statement to the House on the subject and take his oath on it. The matter was never given public attention, Messrs. Turner and Eppler seeing how impolitic any unsupported accusations would be. The personal relations between Mr. Griggs and Turner, it may be added, remained amicable, though the bitterness of the latter increased as he saw that defeat was certain.
Not until the very closing days of the session, when his and his companions ' efforts had made victory certain, did Mr. Griggs release the bills from his committee. He was then absolutely cer- tain of the result. He assured some incredulous committeemen whom he saw on his last visit to Urbana-Champaign that he could count on fifty-seven votes. A special evening session was ar- ranged, some three or four days in advance of adjournment, for the consideration of the bills relating to the college. When the hour came the galleries were packed and the halls full. Gover- nor Oglesby and Attorney-General Ingersoll entered the House and had seats placed near that of Mr. Griggs, in token of their support of him. Mr. Eppler first called up the bill for Jackson- ville, and spoke for more than half an hour upon it; it was de- feated by the combined votes of Bloomington, Urbana, and Chi- cago. Members from -Chicago and Lincoln offered their bills, with a few remarks, and the vote showed only a nominal support for them. That for Bloomington, upon which General Huiiburt spoke in a half-hearted way — he told Mr. Griggs afterward that he was convinced in advance of its defeat — was also lost, though it received twice as many votes as had Jacksonville's. Mr. Griggs then moved that the bill locating the college at Urbana be taken from the table, read for the third time by title, and put upon its passage. He spoke briefly in its favor, and it was passed by a vote so heavy that it was moved that it be made unanimous. Governor Oglesby and Lieutenant-Governor Bross — the latter had just come in — hastened to offer their congratulations, and even the members from Jacksonville accepted the result with out- ward good grace.
Statement of Justin S. Morrill 523
DOCUMENT NUMBER 22
Statement by Justin S. Morrill; copy furnished to the University of Illinois by his son.
The idea of obtaining a land grant for the foundation of colleges, I think, I had formed as early as 1856. I remember to have broached the subject to Hon. Wm. Hubard, the former member of Congress from the 2d district, Vermont, and he ob- served that such a measure would all be very well, but that I could not expect it to pass.
Where I obtained the first hint of such a measure I am wholly unable to say. Such institutions had already been es- tablished in other countries and were supported by their gov- ernments, but they were confined exclusively to agriculture, and this for our people with all their industrial aptitudes and ingen- ious inventions appeared to me unnecessarily limited. If the purpose was not suggested by the well known facts of the exist- ence of Agricultural schools in Europe, it was supported by this fact and especially by constant reflections upon the following points, viz:
First, that the public lands of most value were being rapidly dissipated by donations to merely local and private objects, where one State alone might be benefitted at the expense of the property of the Union.
Second, that the very cheapness of our public lands, and the facility of purchase and transfer, tended to a system of bad- farming, strip and waste of soil, by encouraging short occupancy and a speedy search for new homes, entailing upon the first and older settlements a rapid deterioration of the soil, which would not be likely to be arrested except by more thorough and scientific knowledge of Agriculture, and by a higher education of those who were devoted to its pursuit.
Third, being myself the son of a hard-handed black-smith, the most truly honest man I ever knew, who felt his own depriva- tion of schools, I could not overlook mechanics in any measure intended to aid the industrial classes in the procurement of an education that might exalt their usefulness.
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Fourth, that most of the existing collegiate institutions and their feeders, were based upon the classic plan of teaching those only destined to pursue the so-called learned professions, leaving farmers and mechanics and all those who must win their bread by labor, to the hap-hazard of being self-taught or not scientifically taught at all, and restricting the number of those who might be supposed to be qualified to fill places of high consideration in pri- vate or public employments to the limited number of the gradu- ates of literary institutions. The thoroughly educated, being most sure to educate their sons, appeared to be perpetuating a monopoly of education inconsistent with the welfare and com- plete prosperity of American institutions.
Fifth, that it was apparent, while some localities were pos- sessed of abundant instrumentalities for education, both common and higher, many of the States were deficient and likely so to remain unless aided by the common fund of the proceeds of the public lands, which were held for this purpose more than any other.
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 525
DOCUMENT NUMBER 23
Copies of bills introduced or acts passed by the state legislature in the attempts to establish a state university or agricultural college in Illinois.
Bill of 1833 to establish the Illinois University
Found in Illinois School Report 1887-1888, p. CXVII.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by fhe General Assembly of the State of Illinois, That there shall be and hereby is created and established a university for the education of the youth in the English, learned and foreign languages, the useful sciences, and literature, to be known by the name and style of the Illinois University, and to be governed and regulated as hereinafter directed.
2. There shall be a Board of Trustees appointed, consisting of ten persons, residents of this State, who shall be, and hereby are constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name of "The Trustees of the 'Illinois University' ", and in their said corporate name and capacity may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in any court of record, and by that name shall have perpetual succession.
3. The said trustees shall fill all vacancies which may hap- pen in their own body, elect a president of the board, secretary, treasurer, and such other officers as may be necessary for the good order and government of said corporation, and shall be com- petent in law and equity to take to themselves and their succes- sors in their said corporate name, any estate, real, personal or mixed, by the gift, grant, bargain, sale, conveyance, will, devise or bequest of any person or persons whomsoever, and the same estate, whether real or personal, to grant, bargain, sell, convey, demise, let, place out on interest, or otherwise dispose of for the use of said University in such manner as to them shall seem most beneficial to the institution, and, generally, in their said corporate name shall have full power to do and transact all bus- iness necessary to the interests of said institution, as fully and effectually, as any natural person, body politic or corporate may or can do in the management of their own concerns.
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4. The said trustees shall have a seal with such devices and inscriptions thereon as they shall think proper under and by which all deeds, diplomas, certificates and acts of said cor- poration shall pass and be authenticated. The said board shall require their treasurer from time to time, as may be necessary, to give bond and security, which bond shall be made payable to the Governor for the use of the people of the State of Illinois, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office of treasurer to said corporation, which bond shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State.
5. The said Board of Trustees, when organized as afore- said, shall from time to time, as occasion may require, make and ordain rules, ordinances and by-laws for the good government of the said institution and the regulation of their own body, not repugnant to the laws of the State; provided that a majority of the said trustees shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
6. The said trustees shall have full power to remove any one of their own body for misconduct, breach of the by-laws, or gross immorality, and from time to time, as the interests of the institution may require, to elect a president of said University and such professors, tutors, instructors, and other officers of the same, as they may judge necessary, and shall determine the duties, salaries, emoluments, responsibilities, and tenures of their several offices, and designate the course of instruction in said institution.
7. No president, professor, tutor or other officer of the in- stitution shall whilst acting in that capacity, be a trustee; nor shall any president, professor, tutor, instructor or student ever be required to profess any particular religious opinions, and no student shall be refused any of the privileges or honors of said institution on account of any religious opinion he may entertain, nor shall any sectarian tenets or principles be taught or inculcated at said University by any president, professor, tutor or other person.
8. The said trustees shall have power to contract for the erection of a suitable building or buildings for said institution, and for any quantity of land for the use of said institution,
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 527
not exceeding one hundred acres. They shall cause a true and faithful account to be kept of all the financial concerns of the institution.
9. When the said trustees of said institution shall have contracted for the buildings and land hereinbefore mentioned, they shall transmit a copy of their said contracts to the office of the Auditor of Public Accounts, and when the contracts therein specified shall have been executed according to the terms thereof, it shall be the duty of the said trustees to certify the fact under their corporate seal to the Auditor of Public Accounts, who shall issue his warrant upon the treasury in favor of the persons who may be entitled thereto for the sum of money which may seem to be due from such certificate to such person ; "provided that no more than the sums following shall be drawn from the treasury for the purpose aforesaid, viz. : The sum of five thou- sand dollars on the first day of September, A. D. 1833, five thousand on the first day of February, A. D. 1834, and ten thousand on the first day of April, A. D. 1835, which sums shall be appropriated in purchasing the lands aforesaid, erecting the buildings herein mentioned and in furnishing the same, a detailed account of which shall be laid before the next legislature.
10. The interest arising from the proceeds of the sales of the seminary land and from the seminary (college) fund shall be appropriated for the use of said seminary to be paid annually upon the order of the board of trustees, after the first day of January, A. D. 1834.
11. Dr. John Todd, W. L. May, Edmund Roberts, Thomas Moffat, Charles R. Matheny and Dr. Thomas Houghan, of San- gamon County, and A. W. Cavarly, of Greene county, Heart Fellows, of Schuyler county, Patent P. McKee, of Madison coun- ty, and C. Berry, of Fayette county, are hereby appointed the trustees of the said University, agreeably to the provisions of this act, and they shall hold their first meeting in the town of Spring- field, in Sangamon county, on the first Monday of May next, and they shall proceed to establish said institution at or adjacent to said town. This act shall be so constructed as to allow of any modification the legislature from time to time may deem neces- sary. This act to be in force from and after its passage.
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Acts of 1851 to incorporate the Fanners' College in Macou- pin County, Illinois.
Laws of Illinois 1851, p. 181
AN ACT to incorporate the Farmers' College in Macoupin county, Illinois.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted ~by tlie people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Alvin M. Dixon, John A. Chesnut, Samuel Welton, Grundy H. Black- burn and David A. McCord, and their successors, be and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, by the name of the ' ' Trustees of the Farmers ' College, ' ' and by that style and name to remain and have prepetual succession. The college shall remain permanently located in Macoupin county ; the number of trustees shall not exceed fifteen, exclusive of the president, prin- cipal or presiding officer of the college, who shall be ex-officio a; member of the board of trustees.
2. For the present the aforesaid individuals shall consti- tute the board of trustees, who shall fill the remaining vacancies at their discretion. The object of said corporation shall be the promotion of the general interests of education, and to qualify young men to engage in the several employments of society, and to discharge honorably and usefully the various duties of life.
3. The corporate powers hereby bestowed shall be such only as are essential or useful in the attainment of said object, and such as are usually conferred on similar bodies corporate, viz: to have perpetual succession, to make contracts, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, to grant and receive, by its corporate name, and to do all other acts as natural persons may ; to accept, acquire, purchase or sell property, real, personal and mixed, in all lawful ways ; to use, employ, manage and dis- pose of all such property, and all money belonging to said cor- poration, in such manner as shall seem to the trustees best adapted to promote the objects aforementioned; and to have a common seal, and to alter or change the same ; to make such by- laws for its regulation as are not inconsistent with the constitu- tion and laws of the United States or of this state, and to con- fer on such persons as may be considered worthy such academical
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 529
or honorary degrees as the nature and title of the institution indicate.
4. The trustees of the corporation shall have authority, from time to time, to prescribe and regulate the course of studies to be pursued in said college, and in the preparatory depart- ments attached thereto, to fix the rate of tuition, room rent, and other college expenses ; to appoint instructors, and such other offi- cers and agents as may be needed in managing the concerns of the institution ; to define their powers, duties and employments ; to fix their compensation; to displace and remove either of the instructors, officers or agents, as said trustees shall deem the interest of the said college ; to require to fill all vacancies among said instructors, officers and agents ; to erect necessary buildings ; to purchase books and chemical and philosophical apparatus, and other suitable means of instruction ; to put in operation a system of manual labor, for the purpose of lessening the expense of education and promoting the health of the students; to make rules for the general management of the affairs of the college, and for the regulation of the conduct of the students, and to add, as the ability of the said corporation shall increase, and the interest of the community shall require, additional departments for the study of agriculture and the mechanical arts, on scientific principles.
5. If any trustee shall be chosen president of the college, his former place as trustee shall be considered as vacant, and his place filled by the remaining trustees. The trustees for the time being shall have power to remove any trustee from his office of trustee for any dishonorable or criminal conduct : Provided, that no such removal shall take place without giving to such trustee notice of the charges exhibited against him, and an oppor- tunity to defend himself before the board, nor unless that two- thirds of the whole number of trustees for the time being shall concur in such removal. The trustees for the time being, in order to have perpetual succession, shall have power, as often as a trustee is removed from office, die, resign or remove out of the state, to appoint a resident of the state, to fill the vacancy in the board of trustees occasioned by such removal from office, death, resignation or removal from the state. A majority of the trustees for the time being shall be a quorum to do business.
530 History University of Illinois
6. The trustees sjiall faithfully apply all funds by them collected, or hereafter collected, according to their best judg- ment, in erecting suitable buildings, in supporting the necessary instructors, officers and agents ; in procuring books, maps, charts, globes, philosophical, chemical, and other apparatus necessary to aid in the promotion of sound learning in the institution: Provided, that in case any donation, devise or bequest shall be made for particular purposes, accordant with the objects of the institution, and the trustees shall accept the same, every such donation, devise or bequest shall be applied in conformity with the express condition of the donor or devisor: Provided, also, that lands donated or devised as aforesaid shall be sold or dis- posed of as required by the ninth section of this act.
7. The treasurers of said college always, and all other agents when required by the trustees, before entering upon the duties of their appointment, shall give bonds for the security of the corporation, in such penal sum and with such securities as the board of trustees shall approve ; and all process against the said corporation shall be by summons, and service of the same shall be by leaving an attested copy with the treasurer of the col- lege, at least thirty days before the returned day thereof.
8. The said college and its preparatory departments shall be open to all denominations of Christians, and the profession of any particular religious faith shall not be required of those who become students. All persons, however, may be suspended or expelled from said institution whose habits are idle or vicious, or whose moral character is bad.
9. The lands, tenements and hereditaments to be held in perpetuity in virtue of this act by this corporation, shall not ex- ceed six hundred and forty acres: Provided, however, that if donations, grants or devises in land shall, from time to time, be made to this corporation, over and above the six hundred and forty acres, which may be held in perpetuity, as aforesaid, the same may be received and held by such corporation for the period of three years from the date of every such donation, grant or devise ; at the end of which time, if the said lands, over and above the six hundred acres, shall not have been sold by the said cor- poration, then and in that case the said lands so donated, granted
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 531
or devised shall revert to the donor, grantor or the heirs of the devisor of the same, if the donor, grantor, or the heirs of the same, shall so demand.
APPROVED FEB. 15, 1851.
Bill of 1851. Illinois School Report, 1887-1888 p. LXXXIV.
A Bill For An Act Organizing a State University for the Benefit
of Popular Education and for Distributing the Income
of the College and Seminary Funds.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly : That the Gover- nor, the Secretary of State, and the Presidents of the several colleges of this State, complying with the provisions of this act, shall together constitute a board of education to be styled the "Regents of the University of the State of Illinois."
2. No seminary of learning shall be entitled to the benefits conferred in this act which is not organized under a college char- ter with a regular course of study requiring four years for its accomplishment and a college faculty consisting of at least a president, principal (or usher), and at least two other competent professors, an adequate library and apparatus, or shall not be able to exhibit satisfactory evidence of the possession of property in buildings, library and instruments of instruction, and per- manent productive funds to the amount of at least thirty thou- sand dollars.
3. The annual income of the college and seminary fund shall be annually distributed among such colleges of the State as shall comply with the conditions prescribed by this act, giving to each college an equal share. The amount to which each college shall be entitled shall be drawn on the warrant of the President of the Board of Regents countersigned by the secretary.
4. Each college receiving its share of the income of the said funds shall be! obligated to instruct gratuitously one pupil from each county in this State ; and if no person shall make applica- tion from any county in this State at the opening of any session,
532 History University of Illinois
then a number equal toAthe entire number of counties shall be received from such other applicants as may present evidences of having complied with the conditions of this act. Provided, That an equal number shall be selected from each of the counties from which there are applicants ; and, provided, also, that in case there are not vacancies to admit all the applicants, the preference shall be given to those from the most populous counties. Pro- vided, also, that no college shall be required to receive for gratu- itous instruction a larger number of applicants than will exhaust its distributive share of the college and seminary funds at the rate of twenty-five dollars per annum for each student so in- structed.
5. No applicant shall be admitted to gratuitous instruction under this act except those who exhibit the certificate of the judge of the county court of the county in which he resides, that he possesses a good moral character and promising talent.
6. Every candidate for gratuitous instruction shall, on be- ing admitted to either of the colleges, give security that, in case he does not spend in the course of five years after leaving college as long a time in teaching within this State as it may require to complete the entire course prescribed for the qualification, he shall refund to the college the amount of the regular rates of tu- ition during the time he was gratuitously instructed, with six per cent interest thereon from the time it became due by the rules of the college ; and such security shall be by bond satisfactory to the treasurer of the college ; and, if required by him, the bond shall from time to time be renewed, said bond to be void only on condition that the teacher give satisfactory proof of having in good faith taught school for the time and in the manner required by this act, which proof shall be by quarterly reports in such form as shall be prescribed, verified by the certificate of the trus- tees of the schools taught or such other evidence as may be satisfactory to said treasurer.
7. Each college receiving a share of the benefits conferred in this! act shall sustain, upon the same footing as its other pro- fessors, a professor of English literature and Normal instruction whose duty it shall be to secure all pupils wishing to qualify themselves for teaching, such a course of instruction as shall be
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 533
adapted to that purpose and shall deliver annually a course of not less than twenty lectures on the theory and practice of school teaching, said lectures to be open to all practical teachers free of any charge.
8. It shall be the duty of the Regents of the State Uni- versity to admit into connection with that board and to partici- pation in all the benefits conferred by this act any college which may hereafter exhibit evidence of having complied with the pro- visions of this act and apply for admission; and if the applica- tion of any college shall be rejected, the said college shall have a right to appeal to the circuit court of the county of Sangamon who shall hear such an appeal in a summary way, and whose de- cision shall be final.
9. It shall be the duty of the heads of all the existing col- leges of this State to meet at Springfield on the call of the Gov- ernor within three months after the passage of this act to exhibit to the Governor and Secretary of State evidence of their right to the benefit of this act. And so many of them as may have been found by the Governor and Secretary to have complied with the provisions of this act shall proceed to organize themselves into a board to constitute the ' ' Regents of the University of the State of Illinois, ' ' of which the Governor shall be ex-officio Pres- ident, and the Secretary of State the Secretary of the board.
10. The Eegents of the University shall have the power of conferring the academic degrees usually conferred by the col- leges of this country, except that of Bachelor and Master of Arts in course, and degrees in Theology or Divinity. They may also award premiums and bestow marks of honorary distinction upon successful teachers, pupils, writers, and friends of popular edu- cation out of any means placed at their disposal for such pur- poses. It shall be the duty of the Regents of the University, at their first meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and from time to time, to alter and amend the same as experience shall suggest, a course of studies for the department of popular in- struction, and to determine the requisite qualifications for admis- sion to this department, and every student completing with honor this course of studies in any college coming within the provisions of this act shall be entitled to receive from the faculty of such
534 History University of Illinois
college a certificate or diploma of his having diligently and suc- cessfully pursued the prescribed course of studies. The said Regents shall also have power to prescribe such other rules and regulations for the successful carrying out of the provisions of this act as to them shall seem necessary, not inconsistent with the laws and constitution of this State.
11. All services rendered by the Regents of the University under this act shall be to the State strictly gratuitous, except those of the Secretary of State, and he shall only receive such additional clerk hire as the legislature may deem just to grant him.
12. Each college president connected with the University shall make a report to the Secretary of State annually, at least one month previous to the time fixed by law for the Secretary to report on common schools to the Governor, stating the manner in which the college and seminary funds have been appropriated, the number of pupils instructed gratuitously in accordance with this law, and communicating such other information relative to the interests of popular education as may be called for. In case any college shall neglect to make such report or shall in other re- spects fail to perform the duties required by this act, such col- lege shall not thereafter be entitled to receive any portion of the college and seminary funds hereby appropriated by this act, such failure to be adjudged by the Regents in such manner as shall be prescribed by such by-laws as shall be enacted by them.
13. Each college President shall deliver at least five popu- lar lectures in each year, at such points as the Regents shall designate, on the theory and practice, or the subject matter of popular education, and co-operate with the Secretary of State in his efforts to give popularity and efficiency to system of common school education established in this State.
14. The annual meetings of the Board of Regents shall be on the second Monday in each year.
15. Each college shall appropriate at least two hundred dollars per annum, provided it receives so much under this act, over and above the salary of the professor of popular education, in promoting a knowledge of agriculture, Chemistry, Botany, Geology and Mineralogy.
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 535
16. Any student who is admitted to gratuitous instruction in any of the colleges under this act may be dismissed from the same for incapacity, inattention to study, violation of any regu- lations of the institution made in accordance with their charter, or for any gross immorality, but not for any denominational peculiarities of religious belief or form of worship.
17. The income of the college and seminary funds appropri- ated in this act shall be computed from the day of the opening of the present session of the General Assembly.
This act to take effect from and after its passage.
Bill of 1853 proposed by the representatives of the colleges. Copy made by G. L. Lumsden and sent to J. B. Turner, Turner manuscripts, Springfield.
"BILL"
For an Act for the encouragement of practical and general education.
Whereby a liberal and varied education of such practical character as to be adapted to the wants of a practical and enter- prising people, is a matter of great public interest; and whereas a provision for such educational facilities is in manifest concur- rence with the intimations of the popular will, therefore,
1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois, rep- resented in the General Assembly that an amount equal to the annual interest of the College and Seminary fund shall be appro- priated equally to such colleges in this State and upon such con- ditions as are hereafter described in this Act.
2. No College shall be entitled to receive a distributive share of the interest accruing on the said college and seminary fund unless the President and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of such college shall certify to the Secretary of the State that such College is permanently established and possessed of actual property to the value of not less than $30,000 over and above all liabilities for scholarships or otherwise ; and that such college has given, for at least three years, the full course of classical and
536
History University of Illinois
scientific instruction usually required for the first degree of Arts in the colleges of the tlnited States, and with such arrangements of classes as is usual in such Colleges.
3. No college shall be entitled to receive any money under this act, except upon the special condition that the President of such College shall certify to the Secretary of State that instruc- tion is given in the following courses of study during the year, to-wit :
A course of Instruction in Mechanics with the theory of forces applied to machinery, etc.
A course of Instruction in Practical Surveying and Civil Engineering.
A course of Instruction in Agricultural Chemistry with An- alysis of Soils.
A course of Instruction in Geology, Mineralogy and Botany.
A course of Instruction in the theory and Practice of Teach- ing.
Together with such other studies as are usual in a Classical and Scientific Course.
4. Colleges receiving moneys under this act shall be open to the reception of all students of good moral character, either for the prescribed courses, or to pursue such elective studies as are provided for in this act in connection with classes arranged for this purpose, by paying such rates of tuition and incidental charges as shall be established by such colleges severally, and by conforming to College laws and discipline.
5. The Presidents of such Colleges as come within the pro- visions of this act, shall report semi-annually, previous to the first day of January and July of each year, to the Secretary of State, certifying the number of students in attendance in their several colleges, the courses of instruction given, and other neces- sary information, in blanks furnished for this purpose by the Secretary of State ; and on evidence therefrom that such colleges severally have complied with the conditions of this act, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to draw on the first day of January and July, semi-annually, an order on the Treasurer of
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 537
the State for the distributive share of the interest of the College and Seminary fund, to which such colleges respectively are en- titled under the provisions of this act.
6. Any college failing to receive its distributive share of the interest of the College and Seminary fund in consequence of neglecting to comply with the conditions of this act, such share shall be distributed equally among the colleges entitled to receive under the provisions of this act.
7. To prevent embarrassment to colleges conforming to the provisions of this act, a repeal of this act shall not take effect until one year after notice of such repeal has been given. (* * *) Provided, however, that any amendment of this act may be made which shall not interfere with the disbursements of money ac- cording to the provisions contained in this act.
8. This Act shall take effect on the 1st day of July next.
Act of 1853 (amending act of 1852) to establish the " Illinois State University".
Private Laws of Illinois, 1853, p. 425
In AN ACT to amend an act, approved June 21st,
Force 1852, and entitled "An act to amend an act to
Feb. incorporate a Literary and Theological Institute
3, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Far
1853 West, to be located in Hillsboro, Montgomery
County, Illinois, approved January 22d, 1847."
Trustees SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the people of
the state of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John T. Stuart, James C. Conk- ling, Richard V. Dodge, Elijah lies, Simeon W. Harkey, John M. Burkhardt, E. E. Wiley, Thomas Lewis, Jacob Divelbiss, David Miller, John B. Weber, James Smith, Albert Hale, Fran- cis Springer, Edmund Miller, C. B. Thumel, L. P. Esbjorn, J. G. Donmeyer, N. J. Stroh, Eph- raim Miller, A. A. Trimper, Conrad Kuhl, Elias
538
History University of Illinois
S. Schwartz, James M. Harkey, William Kearns, David Oregory, Absolom Cress, Jacob Cress, jr., J. P. Silly, Dr. J. C. A. Seeger and Paul Ander- son, being the trustees of the Illinois State Uni- versity, and their successors in office, be and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, for the purpose of founding or main- taining, in or near the city of Springfield, Illi- nois, an institution of learning, to be under the auspices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and to be known by the name of ' ' Illinois State University. ' '
Name 2. Said corporation shall be known by the
and Style name and style of ' ' The Board of Trustees of
Illinois State University, ' ' and by that style and name remain and have perpetual succession, with power to sue and be sued, plead and be im- pleaded; to acquire, hold and convey property, real, personal and mixed ; and in all lawful ways to have, use and alter at pleasure, a common seal ; to make, alter and establish, from time to time, such constitution, rules, by-laws and regulations as they may deem necessary for the good govern- ment of said corporation and the proper man- agement of the institution under their control: Provided, such constitution, rules, by-laws and regulations be not inconsistent with the provi- sions of this act, and the constitution and laws of this state or of the United States.
No. of 3. The number of persons constituting said
Trustees board of trustees shall never exceed thirty-one,
two-thirds of whom shall always be members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Said two- thirds shall always be elected by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Illinois, and by such Evan- gelical Lutheran Synods as may hereafter be admitted to a participation in the control of said
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 539
Departments
institution, by a vote of the synod named, and the remaining one-third shall be elected by the board from among the citizens of Springfield and vicinity; said trustees not to serve longer than five years without being re-elected. Nine mem- bers shall constitute a quorum for the transac- tion of business, at any regular or special meeting duly notified and assembled.
4. Said corporation may establish separate departments of the learned porfessions of the sciences and arts, including, besides the usual departments of theology, medicine and law, a department of mechanical philosophy, and also of agriculture, and shall assign to each depart- ment a competent faculty of instruction: Pro- vided, that the instructor or instructors, profes- sor or professors constituting the faculty of the- ology, shall always be appointed by the Evan- gelical Lutheran Synod aforesaid.
Certificate
5. Said corporation may issue certificates of Scholarship of scholarships, limited or perpetual, upon such terms as the corporation and the persons con- tracting for the scholarships may agree, and the benefit of said scholarship shall insure to the holders thereof, his or her heirs or assigns, so long as the covenants therein agreed to by per- sons contracting for or lawfully owning such scholarship shall continue to be faithfully per- formed, and no longer, except at the option of the corporation.
Faculty 6. The professors, or a majority of them,
duly appointed in said university, as provided for in section four of this act, shall constitute a faculty, or may, at the option of the board of trustees, be divided into several faculties, cor- responding with the several departments which may be established in the institution, with power
540
Gifts, etc.
Acts repealed.
History University of Illinois
to enforce the laws, rules and regulations enacted by the Aboard of trustees for the government and discipline of the students; to suspend or expel such of them as may, in their judgment, deserve it, and to grant and confirm, by the consent of the board of trustees, such degrees in the liberal arts and sciences, or such branches thereof, to students and others whom, by their proficiency in learning and other meritorious distinctions, they shall regard as entitled to them, as it has been usual to grant, in the universities and col- leges, and to grant to such graduates diplomas or certificates, under their common seal, to au- thenticate and perpetuate such graduation.
7. No misnomer of said corporation shall defeat or annul any gift, grant, bequest or devise to or for the use and benefit of Illinois State University, or any department thereof: Pro- vided, the intent of the party or parties making such grant, gift, devise or bequest be sufficiently manifest.
8. So much of the act to which this an amendment as is inconsistent herewith, is hereby repealed, but all rights acquired and responsi- bilities incurred under said acts are hereby pre- served. This act to be in force from and after its passage.
Approved February 3, 1853.
Act of 1853 to incorporate Northern Illinois Agricultural College.
Private Laws of Illinois, February 12, 1853, p. 407
AN ACT to incorporate the Northern Illinois
Agricultural College.
In SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the people
force of the state of Illinois, represented in the Gen-
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 541
Feb. 12, eral Assembly, That John Colvin, Smiley Shep- 1853 ard, John Grable, L. L. Bullock, Lewis Beck and
William A. Pennell, and their successors, be and they are hereby created a body politic and cor- porate, by the name and style of ' ' The Northern Illinois Agricultural College/' and by that name and style to remain and have perpetual succes- sion. The institution shall remain and be per-
Style manently located within the limits of Putnam
County, at such place as shall be determined here-
Location after by the stockholders: Provided, that it
shall require a majority of all the stockholders to determine such place or location.
Trustees 2. For the present, the aforesaid individu-
als shall constitute the board of trustees for said institution.
Objects 3. The object of said corporation shall be
the promotion of the general interests of agri- cultural and mechanical education, and to qual- ify students to engage in the several pursuits and employments of society, and to discharge honorably and usefully the various duties of life.
Corporate 4. The corporate powers hereby created
powers shall be such only as are essential or useful in
the attainments of said object, and such as are usually conferred on similar bodies corporate, viz: to have perpetual succession, to make con- tracts, to sue and be sued, to plead and be im- pleaded, to grant and receive by its corporate name, and to do all other acts the same as natural persons ; to accept, acquire, purchase or sell pro- perty, real, personal, or mixed, in all lawful ways, to use, employ, manage and dispose of all such property and money belonging to said cor- poration, in such manner as shall seem to the trustees best adapted to promote the objects aforementioned, and to have a common seal, and
542
History University of Illinois
to alter the same at pleasure ; to make such by- laws for its regulation as shall not conflict with the constitution and laws of the United States or of this state, and to confer on such persons as may be considered worthy such academical and honorary degrees as the nature and title of the institution indicate.
Course 5. The trustees of the corporation shall
of Studies. have authority from time to time to prescribe and regulate the course of studies to be pursued in said institution, and in the preparatory depart- ments attached thereto ; to fix the rate of tuition, Appoint room rent and college expenses; to appoint in-
Officers structors and such other officers and agents as
may be necessary in managing the concerns of the institution, to define their powers, duties and employments, to fix their compensation, to dis- place and remove either of the instructors, offi- cers or agents as said trustees shall deem to the interest of said institution to require ; to fill all vacancies among said instructors, officers and Erect agents; to purchase lands, erect suitable build-
Buildings ings, to purchase books and chemical and philo-
sophical apparatus, and other suitable means of instruction ; to put in operation a system of man- ual labor for the purpose of lessening the ex- penses of education and promoting the health of the students, and to add, as the ability of said in- stitution shall increase and the interest of the community shall require, additional depart- ments for the study of the agricultural and me- chanical arts on scientific principles.
Remove 6. The trustees shall have power to remove
Trustee any trustee from his office of trustee for any dis-
honorable or criminal conduct: Provided, that no such removal shall take place without giving to such trustee notice of the charges exhibited against him, and an opportunity to defend him-
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 543
self before the board, nor unless two-thirds of the whole number of trustees shall concur in such re- moval. The trustees shall also have power, in case of a removal from office, death, resignation, Fill or a removal out of the state, of any of their num-
Vacancy ber, to fill such vacancy occasioned by such re-
moval, death, resignation, or removal out of the state, to serve until the next annual election to be held as hereinafter provided. A majority of trustees shall be sufficient to constitute a quorum to do business.
Capital 7. This corporation shall have power and
Stock authority to raise a capital stock, in shares of
fifty dollars each, to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of such sums as may be given by donation, bequest, or otherwise, to be used as a college fund, and devoted exclus- ively to the purposes of education, and that so soon as two hundred shares or ten thousand dol- lars of said stock shall be subscribed, the stock- holders will be hereby authorized to organize and locate said institution.
Application 8. The trustees shall faithfully apply all
of funds. funds by them collected, or to be collected here-
after, according to their best judgment, in pur- chasing lands, erecting suitable buildings, in supporting the necessary instructors, officers, and agents, in procuring books, maps, charts, globes, philosophical and chemical apparatus nec- essary to aid in the promotion of sound learning Proviso in the institution : Provided, that in case of any
donation, devise or bequest shall be made for particular purposes, accordant with the objects of the institution, and the trustees shall accept the same, every such donation, devise or bequest shall be applied in conformity with the express condition of the donor or devisor : Provided, also, that lands donated or devised as aforesaid shall
544
History University of Illinois
be sol$ or disposed of as required by the four- teenth section of this act.
Process 9. The treasurer of said institution, always,
and all other agents when required by the trus- tees, before entering upon the duties of their ap- pointment, shall give bonds for the security of the corporation in such penal sum and with such securities as the board of trustees shall approve, and all process against the said corporation shall be by summons, and service of the same shall be by leaving an attested copy with the treasurer of said institution at least thirty days before the return day thereof.
No. of 10. The trustees of said institution shall not
Trustees exceed six, exclusive of the president, principal,
or presiding officer of said institution, who shall
be ex-officio a member of the board of trustees.
Said trustees shall be elected annually on the
third Thursday in October, at such place within
the county of Putnam, and under the direction
Time of of such persons as a majority of the trustees for
Election the time being shall appoint, by a resolution to
be entered on their minutes.
11. All elections shall be by ballot, and may be given in person or by proxy, allowing one vote to each share of the capital stock, and such persons at said election having the greatest num- ber of votes, shall be trustees of said institution ; and if at any election any two or more out of the six who have the greatest number of votes shall have an equal number of votes, so as to leave their election undecided, then the trustees who have been duly elected shall proceed by ballot, and by a plurality determine which of said per- sons so having an equal number of votes shall be trustee or trustees, so as to complete the whole number.
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 545
President and 12. The trustees shall elect a president and
Secretary secretary of the board of trustees from among
their own body, and also appoint some suitable person the treasurer of said institution to serve for the term of one year, and until his successor shall be appointed.
Open to all 13. The said institution and its prepara-
denominations tory departments shall be open to all denomin- of Christians, ations of Christians, and the profession of any particular religious faith shall not be required of those who become students. All persons, how- ever, who are idle or vicious, or whose characters are immoral, may be suspended or expelled.
Property 14. The lands, tenements and heredita-
ments to be held in perpetuity in virtue of this act by this corporation shall not exceed one
Proviso thousand acres : Provided, however, that if do-
nations, grants, or devises in lands shall from time to time be made to this corporation, over and above one thousand acres, which may be held in perpetuity, as aforesaid, the same may be re- ceived and held by such corporation for the pe- riod of ten years from the date of every such donation, grant, or devise; at the end of which time, if the said lands, over and above the one thousand acres, shall not have been sold by the said corporation, then and in that case, the said lands so donated, granted or devised shall re- vert to the donor, grantor, or the heirs of the devisor of the same, if the donor, grantor, or the heirs of the same shall so demand.
Exempt from 15. All the real and personal estate belong-
Taxation. ing to or belong to said corporation shall be
exempted from taxation for any and all pur- poses whatever.
Approved February 12, 1853.
546 History University of Illinois
Bill proposed by agriculturists 1855 and report of a special committee of the Senate to whom the bill was referred.
Illinois School Reports, 1855-56
A BILL FOE AN ACT TO INCORPORATE "THE TRUS- TEES OF THE ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY."
Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illi- nois represented in the General Assembly, That J. B. Turner, Bronson Murray, John A. Kennicott, Urial Mills, H. C. Johns, and William A. Pennell, with their associates (to be elected as hereinafter provided), and their successors, be, and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, to be styled "The Trustees of the Illinois University, ' ' and by that name and style shall have perpetual succession, and have power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, to acquire, hold and convey property, both real and personal, to have and use a common seal, and to alter the same at pleasure ; to make and establish such by-laws, and repeal or alter the same at pleasure, as they shall deem necessary for the government of the institution hereby authorized to be established or any of its departments, officers, students or servants, not in conflict with the constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States ; and to have, use and exercise all other powers usual and incident to trustees of such institutions.
OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS.
2. The six trustees above named shall have power to fill vacancies in their own number in perpetual succession.
3. In addition to the six trustees above named there shall be six other trustees elected by the people, two of wThom shall be elected by the electors of each judicial grand division of the state, and shall be elected at the time of the election of the judges of the circuit court, sextennially ; and the board of trustees thus constituted shall have power to fill all vacancies of those thus elected by the people occurring by death, resignation, removal from the state, or otherwise; and the person or persons thus appointed shall hold his or their office until the next regular
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 547
election and until his or their successor shall be elected and qualified. At said judicial elections polls shall be opened in the several places of voting throughout the state, for the election of said trustees ; and the electors in each grand judicial division may vote for two trustees ; and the poll book shall be kept, certi- fied and returned, in the same manner as the vote and poll books for the election of judges; and the several county clerks shall make return of the elections of their several counties in the same manner as they are required to do in the case of circuit judges ; and the same shall be certified by the proper officers, and two persons having the highest number of votes of each grand di- vision shall be declared elected.
4. The board of trustees shall elect a president of the in- stitution, who shall also, ex-officio, be president of the board of trustees; and in his absence, or in case of vacancy in his office, the next highest officer of the faculty of the institution shall be ex-officio president of the board of trustees; and the acting president shall have the casting vote.
5. The board of trustees shall appoint a treasurer of the corporation, who shall be the keeper of the funds and moneys of the corporation, and shall give a bond to the board in such sum as shall be fixed by the board or by law, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties ; and such treasurer shall be removable by the board ; and the board or the general assembly may require the said treasurer to give a new bond, or furnish additional security, whenever it shall be deemed necessary ; and if any new or additional duty shall be required of the treasurer during his continuance in office it shall not release the securities from their liability on the bond, but any one or more of the sureties may at any time be released from any further future liability by giving notice to the board that he or they will not longer be and stand surety upon the said bond ; and the board shall thereupon require additional and further satisfactory surety; and in case of the neglect of the treasurer to comply with such requirement the board shall proceed as soon as may be to appoint some other person treasurer in his stead. The treasurer shall be elected annually at such times as shall be fixed by the by-laws, and unless removed, shall hold his office for one year, and until his successor shall b( elected and, qualified.
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History University of Illinois
6. No trustee shall receive any compensation for attending the meetings of the board, except his necessary traveling ex- penses ; and for incompetency, neglect or the abuse of the privi- leges or duties of his office, every trustee may be questioned by any citizen of this state. The proceedings in such case to be by writ of quo warranto or other proper proceedings before any court of competent jurisdiction ; the penalty to be the vacation of the office.
7. No member of the board of trustees shall be a professor or officer of the faculty of the institution, nor contractor for the erection of any of the buildings of the institution.
8. At all stated and regularly called meetings of the board of trustees, seven members shall constitute a quorum.
9. The board shall annually appoint a secretary, who shall hold the office for one year and till his successor shall be ap- pointed and qualified ; and it shall be his duty to keep a full and fair record of the proceedings of the board, which shall always be open to inspection by the board or any member thereof ; and said record shall be evidence of the facts therein stated and con- tained in all events whatsoever.
LOCATION OF INSTITUTION.
10. The institution shall be located by the board of trustees in some central portion of the state, having reference to facilities of access as well as to geographical position. In making the loca- tion the trustees shall take into account the best interests of the state and of the institution ; and no member of the board shall give a vote in favor of the county where he shall then reside.
OBJECTS OF THE INSTITUTION.
11. The object of the institution shall be to impart instruc- tion in all departments of useful knowledge, science, and art, commencing with those departments now most needed by the citizens of the state, to- wit:
1st. A teachers' seminary, or a normal school department, for the improvement and education of common school teachers.
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 549
2d. An agricultural department, for the benefit and instruction of farmers and the sons of farmers, and of all others interested in the science or arts of agriculture and horticulture.
3d. A mechanical department, for the benefit and instruc- tion of mechanics and the sons of mechanics, and of all others interested in and desirous of acquiring knowledge of architectural and mechanical science and the mechanic arts, and the use and application of mechanical power.
To these departments others may be added from time to time, as the wants of the people may require, and the funds and means of the institution will justify, so that finally the university may become a place of resort for acquiring an accomplished and fin- ished education in all useful, practical, literary, and scientific knowledge.
FUNDS.
12. For the endowment of the university, three separate funds shall be created and applied to carry out and promote the objects of the institution, to-wit :
1st. A donation fund, to consist of moneys to be raised from private resources, through the aid and instrumentality of the six trustees first above named ; and the acceptance of this charter shall make it the duty of those six trustees to raise or obtain at least twenty thousand dollars for this fund ; and the corpora- tion shall not be entitled to have or receive any money or funds from the state until the said sum of twenty thousand dollars shall be obtained and secured, either in money or negotiable paper or other property, for the benefit of the institution.
2d. A seminary or normal school fund, to consist of the present seminary fund of the state, to be devoted exclusively to the seminary or normal school department, of which twenty-five thousand dollars may be used, appropriated, and expended in the erection of buildings, and obtaining a suitable apparatus, library, and so forth; and the residue of said seminary fund shall be reserved, and the interest or income thereof shall be applied to the support of professors and teachers, and to defray the expenses of seminary or normal school department.
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3d. An university fund, to consist of the college or uni- versity fund of this state, to be used for the benefit and interest of the university, on the following conditions, to- wit :
1st. So soon as the six trustees above named, by themselves or others, shall have secured the twenty-thousand dollars above named, in donations or otherwise, for the benefit and use of the institution, the treasurer of the state shall pay to the treasurer of the board, twenty thousand dollars from the college or univer- sity fund of this state, for the use of the agricultural and me- chanical department.
2d. When the six trustees first above named shall have so secured and obtained one or more additional sums, to the amount of at least ten thousand dollars each, such a like sum shall be paid over by the state treasurer, out of the college or seminary fund, to the treasurer of the board of trustees, and so on in sums of ten thousand dollars or more, until the trustees shall have so obtained or secured a sum total or amount equal to the whole college or seminary fund of this state.
13. The expenses of all agricultural and horticultural ex-. periments made and prosecuted by the institution, shall be paid out of the donation fund herein provided for; and in no case shall the funds supplied by the state be paid out for any experi- mental process, but only for ordinary instruction usual in educa- tional universities, and in such courses of study and instructions as shall be fixed and adopted by the trustees and government of the institution.
14. Any future appropriations of money or lands that shall be made by congress to this state, in accordance with the memo- rials and petitions of the Illinois league, as published in the re- port of said league, for the promotion of industrial education and art, shall be, and hereby are appropriated and set apart to the use and trust of the corporation herein created, to be used in promoting the general object and purposes of the university.
15. The board of trustees are hereby vested with full power to appoint and assign the duties of all officers of instruction in the university, and to provide by by-laws for the appoint- ment of all such other officers, servants, and employers, as shall be deemed by the said board of trustees requisite for the faithful
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 551
execution of the trust reposed in them by this act, and shall more effectually accomplish and carry out the objects and purposes of the institution.
16. This act and all grants and appropriations herein pro- vided for, shall cease and be void, unless this act with its several provisions, shall be accepted by the above named corporators, within sixty days from the time of the adjournment of this general assembly ; and this act is hereby declared to be a public law, and to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
REPORT
OF THE
SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF TJIE SENATE TO WHOM WAS REFERRED THE BILL TO INCORPO- RATE THE ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
The special committee of the senate of the state of Illinois, to whom was referred the bill to incorporate the Illinois Univer- sity, would respectfully report :
In education, as in all other subjects, there are certain truths that are self-evident; or at least so nearly so that they are ad- mitted as axioms by all men at all acquainted with the subject.
One of these self-evident propositions is, that the teacher must exist before the scholar can be taught, and that therefore the teacher is not only the foundation, but the only motive power, the life and light of the whole system.
Whoever, therefore, would begin at the foundation of any system of public instruction, must begin by providing the means for furnishing the requisite supply of competent teachers, and without these, it is equally self-evident that any system of com- mon school instruction, however, wise in its laws and details, however ample in its expenditures prolonged in its sessions, or free and accessible to both rich and poor, will prove only an onerous and useless tax on the one, and a waste of time, if not a positive nuisance, to the other.
This great fact has been admitted and acted upon, not only by all practical educators and conventions of teachers, but by
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the legislation of every free state, and in every act of congress providing for the means of education in the several states.
The universities and higher schools of Europe, and of the older states of this continent, were founded long before any attempt was made at a thorough system of common schools, and through them, teachers were prepared to descend into and create and instruct all departments below; and if any state ever can secure a good system of common schools for all the people, by any other process, it is quite certain no one ever yet has done it, nor is it easy to see or even imagine how it can be done.
In accordance with this view, and in distinct recognition of this great fundamental truth or fact, congress granted to each of the new states of the west, three separate and distinct funds.
1st. A university fund.
2nd. A seminary fund.
3rd. A common school fund.
The first to supply the teachers of the second, the second of the last. Well knowing that the experience of the civilized world has as fully demonstrated the mutual necessity of these three departments of education as it has of the three departments of civil government in a free state.
It is believed that no state but our own has ever attempted to reverse this decision of law and this necessity of experience and it would seem from the report of our superintendents of public instruction, as well as from all other sources of informa- tion, that our success so far in this enterprise is, to say the least, not very flattering. For while the state is utterly destitute of a competent supply of even tolerable common school teachers, it would seem to be utterly impracticable for the people to agree either upon any plan of supplying the defect or of enacting any system of laws which are likely to make the want more endur- able or the system more efficient than it is.
To supply this radical defect in our whole system, and this great want of our whole people, we understand to be the first aim of the Illinois University and of the committee appointed by the educational convention, whose names appear by their ap- pointment in the bill for a charter now before your committee.
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 553
We understand, also, that every convention of practical teachers, held in the state for several years past, however divided on other questions, have given it as their unanimous opinions that the first indispensable step towards the regeneration of our com- mon school system was the institution of a normal school or sem- inary in some way for the supply of a greater number of more competent teachers, and that without this nothing effectual could be done for our common school system.
The second object proposed is to supply a want equally obvious, though perhaps not equally pressing and urgent, the diffusion of practical knowledge among our industrial classes, by the endowment of departments for the use of their profes- sions, and on the same principles as departments are endowed for other professions in our own state.
It is believed by many intelligent men, that by the proper diffusion, through such means of knowledge already existing, we might add a saving of from one-fourth to one-half, to the profits of the labor now employed in these pursuits while we might save an equal amount in the materials wasted or misused in all our mechanic arts, and especially in the architecture of houses, bridges, and other structures, where this present waste of mate- rial is rapidly exhausting one of our most scarce and valuable natural resources, the timber of our forests. They believe that the minds of at least a large portion of the youth of our state may be developed and disciplined as well and as fully, while turned towards these important and practical subjects pertain- ing to agriculture, mechanics, civil engineering, architecture, etc., as when directed to other pursuits, and without interfering with any other interest or institution whatever, except to give addi- tional patronage, success, and power to all alike ; and experience proves that no other system of education proposed to our citi- zens has ever been equally efficient in arousing the attention of those great classes, and concentrating their minds and efforts, with interest and with power around the entire educational inter- ests of the state, which is another great necessity to any efficient system of free schools in a free state.
The general plan of this institution, so far as its theory of instruction is concerned, is based upon the same principles as were commended and adopted by President Wayland of Brown
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University; President Hitchcock of Amherst College; Prof. Henry of the Smithsonian Institute, and many other distin- guished scholars ; and have since been incorporated into several colleges in New York and other states, and laid at the foundation of the Farmers' College in Ohio, one of the largest institutions west of the mountains, and more recently adopted by the univer- sities of Missouri and Michigan.
Says President Tappan, who presides over the latter uni- versity, in a recent letter to one of the members of the proposed board :
* ' The question is a good deal discussed in our state, whether a distinct agricultural school shall be established, or whether it shall be connected with the university. My hope is that you will proceed to establish a university; whether you proceed to the one or the other, I conceive that a model farm is of the great- est importance. I am very anxious to have one established in connection with the university of Michigan. The great point is to make the people see this simple fact that the university is as truly a popular institution as the common school. We ought to begin with the highest institution; neither knowledge or water run up hill. ' '
Dr. Cutter, author of the books bearing his name, which are recommended by our state superintendent, in a similar letter, says in reference to this institution, January 8th, last :
"I endorse the principles fully, yes more, I will add my mite to the efforts for the practical endowment of the same, east, west, north and south. I feel that success in this matter is only a question of time. Let there be a new institution created, so that there be no conservative impediments to its free and full operation. I beg make a model new institution in central Illinois ; ask no less than this, accept no less than this. ' '
The bill proposing these advantages, is guarded in its pro- visions, and moderate in its demands.
1st. It guards the institution from that political or partisan control, which has proved the destruction of so many state in- stitutions.
2nd. In rejecting this principle of almost universal failure, it adopts the principle which has in all states proved as almost
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uniformly, successful and efficient, viz: The alliance of state patronage, encouragement and control with private enterprise, interest and skill.
3rd. The control given to the state is in the broadest sense republican and democratic, that is, it rests wholly with the people, who have equal power to check or direct its action.
1st. Through the trustees they elect.
2nd. By refusing to subscribe to its funds, and thus stop- ping at once, all further drafts upon the public funds.
3rd. By civil process in the courts of law, open to any citizen.
The demand of the bill so far as the state is concerned, is simply that the college and seminary fund of the state shall be restored to the original and lawful use, to which the wisdom of congress, the donors, assigned it, and to which the teachers and more advanced pupils of the state, as the cestui que trust have an equitable right to demand its application, leaving the common school and all other funds to remain as they are. As an induce- ment to such a restoration they propose to raise by private sub- scription, equal amounts of ten thousand dollars each, before each installment of ten thousand dollars is paid over by the state, thus preventing the probability if not the possibility of any needless waste or extravagance in the use of the funds of the state.
From the brief consideration which your committee have been able to give this subject, they feel that it is well worthy of the most grave and serious attention of the legislature and of the people, both in its relations to the future well being of our com- mon and other schools, and all the educational, industrial, and vi- tal interests of our state. Were it at an earlier stage of the session, your committee would unhesitatingly recommend the adoption of this bill in all its essential features, but the absolute want of the time which would be necessary to discuss and perfect so important a measure, constrains us to recommend that this bill and report be printed for the use of the senate and distribution among the people, and that the consideration of the bill itself should be postponed to another session.
GEORGE GAGE JOHN D. ARNOLD JOSEPH MORTON.
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Act of 1857 creating the Illinois State Normal University.
Laws of Illinois 1857 ; approved February 18.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That C. B. Denio, of Jo Daviess county, Simeon Wright, of Lee county, Daniel Wilkins, of McLean county, C. E. Hovey, of Peoria county, George P. Hex, of Pike county, Samuel W. Moulton, of Shelby county, John Gillespie, of Jasper county, George Bunsen, of St. Clair county, Wesley Sloan, of Pope county, Ninian W. Edwards, of Sangamon county, John Eden, of Moultrie county, Flavel Mosley, of Cook county, William H. Wells, of Cook county, Albert R. Shannon, of White county, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, ex-officio, with their associates, who shall be elected as herein provided, and their successors, are hereby created a body corporate and politic, to be styled "The Board of Education of the State of Illinois," and by that name and style shall have perpetual succession, and have power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to plead and be im- pleaded, to acquire, hold and convey real and personal property ; to have and use a common seal, and to alter the same at pleasure ; to make and establish by-laws, and alter or repeal the same as they shall deem necessary for the government of the normal uni- versity hereby authorized to be established, not in conflict with the constitution and laws of this State, or of the United States ; and to have and exercise all powers, and be subjected to all duties usual and incident to trustees of corporations.
2. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, by virtue of his office, shall be a member and secretary of said board, and shall report to the legislature at its regular sessions the condition and expenditures of said normal university, and communicate such further information as the said board of education or the legislature may direct.
3. No member of the board of education shall receive any compensation for attendance on the meetings of the board except his necessary traveling expenses; which shall be paid in the same manner as the instructors employed in the said normal
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 557
university shall be paid. At all the stated and other meetings of the board called by the president or secretary, or any five members of the board, five members shall constitute a quorum, provided all shall have been duly notified.
4. The objects of the said normal university shall be to qualify teachers for the common schools of the state by imparting instruction in the art of teaching and all branches of study which pertain to a common school education, in the elements of the natural sciences, including agricultural chemistry, animal and vegetable physiology, in the fundamental laws of the United States and of the state of Illinois, in regard to the rights and duties of citizens, and such other studies as the board of educa- tion may from time to time prescribe.
5. The board of education shall hold its first meeting at the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on the first Tuesday of May next, at which meeting they shall appoint an agent, fixing his compensation, who shall visit the cities, vil- lages, and other places in the state, which may be deemed eligible for the purpose, to receive donations and proposals for the es- tablishment and maintenance of the normal university. The board shall have power and it shall be their duty to fix the per- manent location of said normal university at the place where the most favorable inducements are offered for that purpose : Pro- vided, that such location shall not be difficult of access, or detri- mental to the welfare and prosperity of the said normal uni- versity.
6. The Board of Education shall appoint a principal, lec- turer, on scientific subjects, instructors and instructresses, togeth- er with such officers as shall be required in the said Normal Uni- versity, fix their respective salaries and prescribe their several duties. They shall also have power to remove any of them for proper cause, after having given ten days' notice of any charge which may be duly presented and reasonable opportunity for defense. They shall also prescribe textbooks, apparatus and fur- niture to be used in the university, and provide the same ; and shall make all regulations necessary for its management, and the Board shall have the power to recognize auxiliary institu- tions when deemed practical; Provided, that such auxiliary in-
558 History University of Illinois
stitutions shall receive any appropriation from the treasury or the seminary or university fund.
7. Each county within the state shall be entitled to gra- tuitous instruction for one pupil in said Normal University, and each respective district shall be entitled to gratuitous instruction for a number of pupils equal to the number of representatives in said district, to be chosen in the following manner: The school commissioner (county superintendent) in each county shall receive and register all names of applicants for admission in said Normal University, and shall present the same to the county court, or in counties acting under township organization, to the Board of Supervisors, which county court, or Board of Supervisors, as the case may be, shall, together with the county commissioner, examine all applicants so presented, in such man- ner as the Board of Education may direct, and the number of such as shall be found to possess the requisite qualifications, such pupils shall be so selected by lot ; and in representative districts composed of more than one county, the school commissioner and the county judge or school commissioner and chairman of the Board of Supervisors in counties acting under township organ- ization, as the case may be, of the several counties composing such representative districts, shall meet at the clerk's office of the county court of the oldest county, and from the applicants so pre- sented to the county court or Board of Supervisors, of the sev- eral counties represented, and found to possess the requisite qualifications, shall select by lot the number of pupils to which the said district is entitled. The Board of Education shall have the discretionary power, if any candidate does not sign and file with the Secretary of the Board a declaration that he or she will teach in the public schools within the State, in case that engage- ments can be secured by reasonable efforts, to require such can- didate to provide for the payment of such fees for tuition as the Board may prescribe.
8. The interest of the university and seminary fund, or such thereof as may be found necessary, shall be, and is hereby appropriated for the maintenance of said Normal University, and shall be paid on the order of the Board of Education from the treasury of the State; but in no case shall any part of the
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 559
interest of said fund be applied to the purchase of sites, or build- ings for said university.
9. The Board shall have power to appropriate the $1,000 received from the Messrs. Merriam, of Springfield, Massachusetts, by the late superintendent to the purchase of apparatus for the use of the Normal University, when established, and hereafter all gifts, grants and demises which may be made to the said Normal University shall be applied in accordance with the wishes of the donor of the same.
10. The Board of corporators herein named, and their suc- cessors, shall each of them hold their office for the term of six years : Provided, that at the first meeting of said Board, the said corporators shall determine by lot, so that one-third shall hold their office for two years, one-third for four years, and one-third for six years. The Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall fill all vacancies which shall at any time occur in said Board, by appointment of suitable persons to fill the same.
11. At the first meeting of the Board, and at each biennial meeting hereafter, it shall be the duty of said board to elect one of their number president, who shall serve until next bi- ennial meeting of the board, and until his successor is elected.
12. At each biennial meeting it shall be the duty of the Board to appoint a treasurer who shall not be a member of the board, and who shall give bond, with such security as the Board may direct, conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties.
13. This act shall take effect on and after its passage and be published and distributed as an Appendix to the school law.
Act of 1861 establishing Illinois Agricultural College
Private Laws 1867, February 12, pp. 1-3.
In force The act creating the institution reads as
Feb. 21 1861 given below:
An Act to provide for the disposition of Seminary lands, and to incorporate the Illinois Agricultural College.
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SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the *State of Illinois, represented in the Gen- eral Assembly, That J. W. Singleton, Thomas Quick, William A. Hacker, Walter Buchanan, B. C. Eenois, Harmon Alexander, Curtis Blake- man, James G. Stipp and Zadoc Casey, and all 111. Agric. such other persons as may become associated
College with them, are hereby constituted a body corpo-
incorporated rate, by the name and style of the Illinois Agri- cultural College, for the purpose of instruction and science in practical and scientific agricul- ture, and in the mechanic arts.
Capital 2. The capital stock of said company shall
Stock. be fifty thousand dollars, with liberty to increase
it to the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars, which shall be considered personal property, and assignable in such manner as said corporation may, by its by-laws, from time to time provide. The capital stock of said corporation shall be exclusively devoted to the purposes named in the first section of this act ; and to that end said cor- poration may acquire, by purchase or otherwise, hold and convey real estate to the amount of its capital.
3. Within ninety days from the passage of this act, the said corporators shall open a subscription book for said stock, at such times and places as they shall appoint, giving at least fourteen days' previous notice of the same in two or more newspapers in this State. Ten per cent of the whole amount of the stock taken shall be paid at the time of subscription, and the bal- ance shall be paid at such time, place and man- ner as shall be required by the directors of said company.
Officers to 4. Whenever twenty-five thousand dollars
be elected shall have been subscribed, it shall be the duty of
Bills and Acts to Establish an Educational Institution 561
said corporators to call a meeting of the stock- holders, whose duty it shall be to elect, by ballot, one president and five directors, including the president and one secretary, who shall be ex- officio treasurer. Said board of directors shall proceed to organize said corporation, by the adoption of suitable by-laws, by purchasing a farm, on which shall be erected suitable buildings for carrying into effect the objects of said cor- poration.
5. The stock, property and concerns of said corporation shall be managed by said direc- tors, who shall hold their offices for one year from their election, and until their successor shall have been elected.
6. In employing professors and teachers to impart instruction in practical agriculture and the mechanical arts to the pupils attending said institution, it shall be the duty of said directors to give said pupils an opportunity and to require of them to labor in the field, in the workshop or in the laboratory one-half of the time, from the first of March td the first of December, to the end that all the pupils may learn the practice of productive industry as well as mental improve- ment, sol useful to every citizen.
7. Said directors, in locating said college and experimental farm shall be confined to that part of the State south of a line drawn east and west through the center of the state.
8. That the college and seminary lands of this state be and they are hereby donated to said corporation, with power to lease, sell, dispose of and convey the same, and to receive and collect the money arising therefrom, for the purposes of establishing, improving and carrying on said college and farm.
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9. The said institution shall receive annu- ally one student from each county of the state, free of charge, for tuition, to be instructed in the science and practice of scientific agriculture and the mechanical arts: Provided, however, that said pupils may be expelled for disorderly conduct and insubordination.
10. Said corporation shall make a full bi- ennial report to the legislature, when in session, of their financial condition, their progress, the number of pupils received and discharged, stat- ing the residence of each, etc.
11. Said corporation may adopt a common seal; may sue and be sued in any court in this state.
12. Provided, That no part of the proceeds derived from the sale of the lands herein granted shall be expended in purchasing lands or in the erection of buildings, or for liquidating the debts of any institution to which said funds may be donated, or for expenses of commissioners in locating the institution.
13. This act shall take effect and in force from and after its passage.
Approved February 21, 1861.
DOCUMENT NUMBER 24
The following circular which was printed and distributed shows the arguments employed in Morgan county in the effort to secure the location of the university. This address is perhaps typical of the arguments used not only in Illinois but in other states ; in any case they are interesting in light of events of a half century.
ADDRESS
OF THE
CENTEAL COMMITTEE
TO THE
CITIZENS
OF
MORGAN COUNTY
RELATIVE TO THE LOCATION
OF THE
JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS.
PRINTED AT JACKSONVILLE JOURNAL OFFICE: 1866
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History University of Illinois
PRELIMINARY MEETING
At a meeting of citizens held at Jacksonville, February 5th, 1866, and by nomination of the Standing Committee of Morgan County, the following gentlemen were appointed to prepare and publish an address to the citizens of the county on the subject of securing the location of the Industrial University of this State in Morgan County.
DR. A. McFAELAND, I. L. MORRISON, ESQ., PROF. W. D. SANDERS, DR. J. H. BROWN, J. T. HOLMES, PETER ROBERTS, JAMES McMASTERS, WM. S. PURCELL, O. P. REAUGH, JOHN GORDON, OLIVER COULTER, WM. COULTER, SAMUEL FRENCH, O. J. THOMPSON, EDWARD LUSK, O. D. CRITZER, DR. WACKLY,
PROF. J. B. TURNER, CYRUS EPLER, ESQ., JOHN C. SALTER, J. W. MEACHAM, SAMUEL WOODS, DANIEL DEDRICK, DR. J. DETRITCH, DAVID G. HENDERSON, ISAAC STOCKTON, JOHN T. ALEXANDER, STEPHEN DUNLAP, DR. SAM'L L. WEAGLY, DR. WINN, ISAAC R. BENNETT, JAMES H. SELF, JESSE HENRY.
TO THE CITIZENS OF MORGAN COUNTY.
At a meeting attended by a large number of the most influ- ential citizens of this county, the undersigned were appointed as a committee to present a subject of more importance to the ma- terial interests of the county than any ever before introduced to your notice. As the subject has an issue which must be reached within a short time, we ask for it your thoughtful and candid con- sideration.
For many years, attention has been directed in search of a system of education, in the higher grades, better adapted to fit young men for the practical duties of life than that pursued in the now existing colleges. It is believed that the progress and wants of the country, and the new aspects and aims of labor, point to a system in which the practical arts shall be the pre- dominating feature. It is not intended that the proposed system shall supercede or stand in opposition to that now pursued in our colleges ; but that it shall be framed to meet the requirements
Address to the Citizens of Morgan County 567
of a class who intend to devote their lives to the pursuits of agri- culture, practical science, and the mechanic arts. It claims that this largest class of our young men shall have the same chances for a special education in their destined pursuits as the lawyer or the physician have in theirs. It is a recognition of the great fact of the day, that the farmer, the engineer, and the artisan, claim, and must have, the aids of a scientific education, pursued under advantages and on a scale hitherto unknown in our edu- cational systems. The great advance evidently before us in the importance of the agricultural interest ; the extensive application of machinery to agricultural operations ; the rising value of lands in our State — all demanding that every aid that science can give shall be systematically imparted — call for some new educational institution, controlled by State authority, and devoted to this great paramount interest of our people. The proposed system is one designed to give to labor its natural rights, to impart to the laboring man a conviction that his calling is second to no other, and to banish the servile maxim that ' ' he who thinks is lord of him that toils. ' '
These considerations have at length so far established them- selves as to receive the endorsement of the National Legislature, and its action upon the subject is worthy the representatives of a free and progressive people. Congress has, by a late act, the ma- terial provisions of which we give below, not only recognized, the wants alluded to, but placed such an institution within reach of every State in the Union :
"There shall be granted to the several States, for the pur- poses hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land to be apportioned to each State a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress to which the States are respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of 1860. #*****##*»*
All moneys derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid, by the States to which the lands are apportioned, and from the sale of land scrip hereinbefore provided for, shall be invested in stocks of the United States, of the States, or some other safe stocks yielding not less than five percentum upon the par value of said stocks, and the moneys so invested shall constitute a perpe-
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tual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished (except so far as may'be provided in section fifth of this act) , and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated by each State which may take and claim the benefit of this act, to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other sci- entific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pur- suits and professions in life.
The grant of land and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which as well as to the provisions hereinbefore contained, the previous assent of the several States shall be signified by legislative acts.
If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the fore- going sections, or any portion of the interest thereon shall by any action or contingency be diminished or lost, it shall be re- placed by the State to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished, and the annual in- terest shall be regularly applied without diminution to the purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this act, except, that a sum not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount re- ceived by any State under the provisions of this act, may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites or experimental farms, wherever authorized by the respective legislatures of said States. No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon shall be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretence whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation or repair of any building or buildings.
Any State which may take and claim the? benefit of the pro- visions of this act, shall provide, within five years, at least not less than one college, as described in the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such State shall cease, and said State shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold, and the title to purchasers under the State, shall bo valid.
Address to tine Citizens of Morgan County 569
An annual report shall be made regarding the progress of each college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their cost and results, and such other matters, including State industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful ; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free, by each to all the other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the Secretary of the Interior. ' '
The provisions of the above act of Congress are very easily understood. It gives to the State of Illinois 480,000 acres of the public lands, as a perpetual endowment, not possible to be dim- inished, forfeited, or perverted by any contingency possible in the future. Unlike most endowments, it cannot be alienated or abused by those holding it in special trust, because the State, in accepting the grant, becomes a general trustee, under bonds to the Government of the United States of the most unquestionable stringency. Indeed, the institution, when once it is established, is as permanent as the State Government itself. No change of State policy — no mutation of public sentiment — no partisan effort can ever, in the slightest degree, divert this noble fund from its particular purpose. It can never become the instrument of any party, clique, or sect, from its direct connection with, and depen- dence upon, the executive and legislative branches of the State Government. Being, as it will be, directly answerable to the legislature, its management must always be conformable to the sentiments of the people. No extreme, ultra, or speculative views on the part of those to whom it may be for the time committed, can, for any length of time, put the institution beyond the control of public opinion.
When once established it imposes no future burdens upon its friends and patrons. It becomes a perpetual source of benefit to the State at large, and especially to interests in its vicinity, while it asks no further aid, through all coming time, than the public consideration and interest. Born, as it is to be, out of the God-created wealth of the public domain, it only needs the foster- ing wisdom of the State to move on in a career of unbroken use- fulness— conferring inestimable benefits upon the youth of the State in future generations.
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VALUE OF THE LOCATION OF THE INSTITUTION IN A PECUNIARY VIEW.
Good judges estimate the cash value of the endowment made by Congress at $400,000, yielding, at 6 per cent, interest, an an- nual revenue of $24,000. This can only be applied to the purposes of instruction. It is contemplated that a farm of 500 or 600 acres be established in connection with the institution, both for its experimental purposes and as an economical aid in its suppport. By the aid of such a farm, brought to the highest state of pro- ductiveness, the board of the pupils would be so reduced as to make the institution, in point of economical support, by far the most advantageous of any others in the country. Aside from the peculiar nature of the course of instruction, the economical na- ture of the institution would become an attraction such as would bring numbers of pupils now shut out of unendowed colleges. Suppose the charge to pupils to be $3.50 per week — a sum con- siderably below the tuition and board charges of other institu- tions— and rating the number of pupils at 1000, we have an annual expenditure of money in the locality of the institution of $157,000 for terms of thirty-eight weeks duration — the reve- nue of the endowment being added. In this is not included the incidental expenses of the pupils for clothing and other extras, mostly obtained in the vicinity of the institution, the whole mak- ing an amount of money annually expended in the county of at least $200,000. "We are convinced that these figures are strictly within the truth. The number of pupils may have absolutely no limit, save in capacity of the institution to receive them. The institution will have large advantages over others, hardly to be enumerated here, but which cannot fail to insure its permanency and success beyond a question. Its permanent Congressional funds — secured absolutely upon a pledge of the whole treasury of the State of Illinois, its exemption from all taxation, its free- dom from any possibility of sectarian or political bias, its inev- itable hold upon the patronage from the people of the whole State, will give it all the elements essential to a full success from the very start. Its attractions for students must be without a par- allel. No professors are to be paid from the rates paid by them, no interest on first cost of buildings, no apparatus to be paid for — all is provided save the bare expenses of living while pur-
Address to the Citizens of Morgan County 571
suing their educational course. Here we have a permanent school of instruction so inexpensive as to attract the child of poverty to the very best advantages in the land, in all those branches which will fit him for honorable stations in life, and yet pouring into the channels of trade, in the community pos- sessing it, year by year, in an unceasing flow, the large amount before stated.
In making these statements we must not be understood that the desirableness of the institution to the County of Morgan is at all confined to its direct pecuniary disbursements. Neither would we libel the public sentiment by pretending that these are the sole reasons why the county should wish to wear on her bosom this most rich and honorable jewel. There are further advantages to be taken into account.
The State of Illinois is yet without its agricultural center. Although ranking as nearly the first in agricultural importance, and doubtless soon to be the very first, it has no museum in which the progress of improvement in agricultural implements and ma- chinery may be studied, and where specimens of every vegetable product of the State may be collected and preserved. Neither has it any library of agricultural works. Agricultural science can never advance, however important it may be in the industrial interests of a State, unless those who devote themselves to it have direct access to the works of other minds in this and foreign lands. Thus Illinois, where the groundwork of the highest agricultural perfection is under our feet, has yet contributed to the world little in this, her all-pervading department of industry. Such a museum and such a library will be established in connec- tion with the contemplated University. These will, while in- creasing the value of the appliances of education, serve as attrac- tions to the general public.
Again, it would be altogether probable that the establish- ment of the proposed university would fix the same locality as the permanent seat of the State Agricultural Fairs. That the pres- ent practice of changing the place of meeting of those most pro- fitable gatherings of the farmers of the State with each year will long continue no one can believe. A fixed location, to which one can always look as the certain place of meeting, is most essential
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to the usefulness and even long existence of the Society. Conse- quently, a permanent 16cation must soon be decided upon. Pro- vided the Agricultural University has a location at all central, with its experimental farm, its agricultural museum, its library, and all its other appendages, so interesting to the farmer, is it at all probable that the fairs of the State Society will not have a location in its vicinity? We believe we speak the sentiments of every farmer of the State in saying that it should be so. The institution proposed would form a center around which every- thing interesting to the farmer would gather. Young men from all quarters of the State would assemble here for instruction. They enlist the interest of relatives and neighbors. Where one now visits the county scores would be attracted by this most im- portant object of interest and curiosity. By thus creating an im- portant center every material interest of the county would be promoted to a degree almost beyond calculation.
Few persons are fully aware of the effect of public institu- tions, established on permanent basis, in enhancing the value of real property in their vicinity. What would Morgan County be with no State institution, no college, no seminary — nothing to distinguish it from other counties of the State? Blot out all these, and does any reflective mind doubt that real estate would depreciate at least twenty-five per cent? Yet the proposed insti- tution will, in its natural annual disbursements, equal them all combined, to say nothing of the stimulus given to trade in the erection of buildings, the influx of visitors, and the other large revenues, either directly or indirectly arising from its establish- ment. It will largely increase the population of the county and thus relieve the burdens of taxation. Even foreign immigration will be stimulated by the chain of institutions established by the terms of the act of Congress. Their results being annually pub- lished by the Bureau of Agriculture at Washington, the present system of international exchange will bring them before the pub- lic mind of Europe, and the advantage of our State as the home of the emigrant will become known to thousands who would otherwise remain in ignorance. Those who pass the State Nor- mal University at Bloomington, observe that a new, thriving, and populous town is growing up almost under its shadow. The institution itself has mainly created it. Yet this instance affords
Address to the Citizens of Morgan County 573
no comparison to what would be the consequence in the case of the proposed University, with its ample endowments, its wide scope of instruction, and its large and varied interests, a part of which we have considered.
Who can deny that, under these views, the contemplated institution assumes a proportion, and a prospective power for good, to which it is not easy to set a limit ? It will establish the supremacy of labor — labor made a hundred-fold more potent by being educated and skilled by an ever-advancing science. These and similar considerations will of course have their dis- cussion and settlement at another stage in the progress of this design. They are only introduced here to show the magnitude and importance of the work thus begun by government, and the high advantages accruing from its location.
In most, if not all the States which have maintained their loyalty since the act of Congress was passed establishing these institutions, the gift has been accepted, and in several of them the institutions are now in full operation. The strife for their location has been most animated, and in many of the States, the counties obtaining the location have pledged amounts of money in aid of the institution, as a bonus given in consideration of the local advantage derived from it when established. A single individual in the State of New York has given, in money and lands, nearly three-fourths of a million of dollars to secure the location of the institution of that State in his neighborhood, so convinced was he of its immense advantages to the vicinity of its location.
SHALL THIS INSTITUTION BE LOCATED IN MORGAN COUNTY?
In no State in the Union is the competition likely to be so active as in Illinois. Already several of the counties are muster- ing their strength, in money and influence, and will urge their claims with the utmost force at their command. The location will not fail them through any default of action. Liberal offers will be made by them, and plausible reasons given in their favor. But the question is, Shall the County of Morgan, already so con- spicuous, not only for the advantages of centrality and facility of access, but also as being the location of other State institu-
574 History University of Illinois
tions, put in no claim for this, the most important of them all? We hope that in reply to this question there will be but a single answer: "Morgan County is, under every aspect of the case, the very best location that could be selected, and the citizens of the county will stand first in their offers to secure it!" This reply, we respectfully claim, is the only one which the county can consistently make.
Within the past twenty years over two millions of dollars have been brought from the State treasury and expended mainly within the county. The County in its corporate capacity has never been called on for a dollar beyond its share of a burden in common with other counties of the State. It has enjoyed all the advantages of being, for twenty years, the location of the most desirable of all the State interests. Here the State has expended more of its public money than at any other point. Is not this a time when the citizens of the county should hold to the State language like this : ' l We acknowledge the other institutions to have been of the nature of a gift from the State to the county ; this, on the contrary, we expect to obtain by honorable pur- chase— we are thankful for the benefactions of the State, con- ferred at a time when the county would have been illy able to make a return ; now we wish, under a change of circumstances, to show that Morgan County is worthy the favors for many years received by her, rivalling any of her sister counties in the amount of her tender for the proposed institution. ' '
The friends of this measure, after ascertaining so far as prac- ticable what exertion other counties are making to secure the loca- tion of the proposed institution, and after conference with those who are best informed as to the spirit of the Legislature, believe that the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) will be necessary to have the county present herself as a claimant for its location, with any fair prospect of success. Should public sentiment continue to encourage them they also intend to in- crease this sum to one-third or one-half as much more from those whose zeal for the enterprise will induce them to exceed their proportion in the common burden. The first named sum they believe should be raised by county tax, in such annual install- ments as further examination of the sense of the county may de-
Address to the Citizens of Morgan County 575
termine. This amount is not large when compared with the great and rapidly increasing amount of taxable wealth in the county.
There are 368,000 acres of land in the county. Allowing 68,000 acres as waste land (which is greatly in excess of the fact) and we have a tax of only one dollar per acre on the lands of the county, to create an interest which will at once raise their value many times that amount. It must not be forgotten that much of the county tax is upon other property than lands, which still further reduces the per centum on this species of property. All the tax paid by merchants, bankers, and indeed all taxes upon town property, reduce the burden resting upon the lands. And so much of the lands are held at high prices — prices in some degree made high by interests like the one we are advocating — that, upon much of the lands of the county, valued as low as thirty dollars per acre for instance, the tax would really amount to but few cents per acre.
We have taken some pains to ascertain, from the best judges, the most correct estimate of the actual wealth of the county ; and an average of the most reliable opinion we can obtain would fix it at about twenty-five millions of dollars ($25,000,000). Thus the entire tax contemplated is only about one cent and two mills on the dollar in the whole, and this spread over, say three years of assessment ! Can there be any person who would regard this as a burden too great for the county, considering the rapid increase in property values? And is there any one who doubts that before the last installment was levied the property assessed would have increased five-fold the amount of the tax? Cannot the county bear so small a tax on its vast resources for the sake of such a boon as is now offered us? Dropping from sight all the great moral, social and intellectual advantages of the institu- tion to any county, and only looking to its immediate effect as a monied speculation on our real estate, is there a man of good financial ability in Morgan County who does not believe that the bare fact of the location of such an institution in our county, before even its corner stone is laid, would not raise the price of land quite as much as we have stated.
But among those who would discourage action in regard to the location of this institution in the County of Morgan, it may
576 History University of Illinois
be said, "The State has already established here so many of its public institutions that to expect more is out of the question." But this reason, the Committee claim, is of no force whatever. This institution is not to be established for mere local ends, neither does any intelligent man so regard it. Its probable suc- cess is the only question, and that of location is, to nineteen- twentieths of the people, wholly subordinate. Morgan County would be the choice of the vast majority, and the exceptions would be chiefly among those who have local wishes of their own. Ask any fair-minded person for his opinion, and his reply will be — ' t My own county first and Morgan next. ' '
As a general statement, the county is as much interested in having the institution well located as any county can be. Its intelligent citizens perceive that there are certain requisites to success, the failure of any one of which may ultimately prove fatal. Hence, aside from local interests involved, every true well- wisher to the institution desires to see it established in Morgan County. Here it would have as nearly an assurance of success as any location can possibly give to it, and, as the Committee themselves believe, better.
Should this question be submitted to the voters of the county, there is every desire that an unanimity of the vote shall be secured. The favor of the Legislature in locating the institution in; the county would be doubly increased by unanimity of solic- itation on the part of citizens. And why should it not be? The poor man surely wants it, for it will cost him nothing while it will greatly increase the demand for his labor, and all the little incidental products of his garden and his home. The rich want it because it will increase the value of their lands, the sale of all their products, whether of the farm, the shop, the store, or the market. Our professional and literary men want it be- cause it is needful to finish our great circle of literary and benev- olent institutions, and make them more complete than those of any other county in the whole civilized world. All classes alike, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, want it, because it will give such facilities for the complete and proper education both of themselves and their children as are no where else enjoyed. Why, then, should not every man in the county vote for it?
Address to the Citizens of Morgan County 577
It is important that he should. It is designed to benefit the poor man even more than the rich one, and we need the sympathy and the co-operation and aid of every man, however poor, in the county ; and if the institution comes here we can never do our full duty to it as a people without this entire unanimity of all men of all classes.
Besides we owe it to our State as a just and fitting expression of our obligation to her for the many noble Institutions already located here, to proffer to her service anew, all that we as a people can afford either to proffer or to do in this new behalf, and to pledge to her, if she sees fit to accept our service, our most earnest, hearty, and unanimous good will. Such a compliment is really due to her, whether she may find it best to accept our offers or not. Let us tender it with our hearty thanks for the past, whatever she may deem to be her duty in the future. By such an unanimous vote, if we fail of securing the location of the Institution here, we shall only have shown ourselves fully worthy of this great trust. So that in either case, such a vote is the only one that it best befits our already highly favored county to prof- fer to the State — and no man is so poor or so obscure that his vote and his voice is not most earnestly solicited in this great interest — it is in fact more particularly his interest and that of his children, than that of the rich.
The Committee, having presented this brief summary of the advantages which the location of the State Agricultural College will confer upon the community securing it, in compliance with both their duty and convictions, urge the matter upon the atten- tion of every citizen of the county. Language of ours would very inadequately describe the great and lasting honor and benefit which would be gained if the already high reputation of the county could be crowned with this exalted token of State favor. Candid reflection, on the part of every citizen, will have more force than the best considered argument. Yet the Committee cannot leave the subject without a single suggestion, to which they feel there will be a general agreement. The possible future of our county is a glorious one. Everything hitherto has com- bined to make it so. Its fertile soil, its genial climate, its high standard of morals and education, the number of distinguished
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men it has introduced jnto the walks of public life — all, in short, which constitutes local character — have spread the reputation of the county far beyond State limits. Every citizen having a property stake in the county feels this to be so. It inspires uni- versal confidence in the future; and what but this confidence maintains property in the county at high figures and keeps it beyond fluctuation ? Shall the high fame of the county be wholly a thing of the past, or shall its vast future possibilities be seized upon, with this rare opportunity, and become the realizations of fact? Every citizen of the county who has an acre of land to be sold or bequeathed, or who has a child to be educated, is vitally interested in this subject. It will add to the value of every pro- perty inheritance, and open up higher chances in life to the youth of the county through all coming generations. It is for the citizens of the county to decide whether the exalted position of the county shall be wholly in its traditions, as it will be if this most glorious opportunity is seized by some other county now striving for it. Shall the glory of Old Morgan be a thing of the past ? God forbid !
Citizens of the County, we leave the subject with you. Con- sider it carefully, and its importance will the more deeply im- press you. Urge it upon your less-informed neighbor, that the voice and vote of the county may fix here this everlasting monu- ment of the greatness of our State, and the far-seeing enterprise of our county.
DB. A. McFAELAND, I. L. MOBBISON, ESQ., PBOF. W. D. SANDERS, DR. J. H. BROWN,
J. T. HOLMES PETER ROBERTS, JAMES McMASTERS, WM. S. PUBCELL, O. P. REAUGH, JOHN GORDON, OLIVER COULTER, WM. COULTER, SAMUEL FRENCH, O. J. THOMPSON, EDWARD LUSK, O. D. CBITZEB, DB. WACKLY,
PBOF. J. B. TUBNEB, CYBUS EPLEB, ESQ., JOHN C. SALTEB, J. W. MEACHAM, SAMUEL WOODS, DANIEL DEDBICK, DB. J. DETBITCH, DAVID G. HENDEBSON, ISAAC STOCKTON, JOHN T. ALEXANDEB, STEPHEN DUNLAP, DB. SAM'L L. WEAGLY, DB. WINN, ISAAC B. BENNETT, JAMES H. SELF, JESSE HENBY,
Resolutions of First Board of Trustees 579
DOCUMENT NUMBER 25
Besolutions passed by the first board of trustees at the March meeting 1868 but ordered later to be taken from the record.
Brayman manuscripts. University of Illinois.
Whereas, it is represented and understood throughout this State, that M. L. Dunlap, Esq., of Champaign County, a member of this Board has, in publications, in newspapers, in letters, in public speeches, and in conversations, at various times and places, called in question, denounced and misrepresented the integrity, and official acts of this Board, its officers1 and committees, to the manifest injury of this Institution: — and whereas, the Illinois Industrial University cannot claim that public confidence and support which are indispensable to* success, while members of its Board of Trustees are laboring to impair that confidence and to overthrow measures already adopted to insure success : — And Whereas, further, it is the duty of this Board to protect its offi- cers in the faithful performance of their duties, and to preserve fidelity, harmony and fraternal co-operation among its members : It is, therefore,
Resolved, that this Board now proceed to inquire, by com- mittee or otherwise, into the matters here stated, and thereupon to make upon the minutes of the proceedings, such record as the case may require.
Offered by Mr. Brayman and adopted.
March 11, 1868.
The committee to which was referred the preamble and Reso- lutions concerning M. L. Dunlap a member of this Board, re- spectfully report.
Your committee finds the general facts stated in the pre- amble to be true. The public mind has been disturbed concern- ing the management! of the Illinois Industrial University. The evident effort has been made to create the impression that the affairs of the Institution have been committed to incompetent and unworthy hands. The committee is satisfied that for a time a strong prejudice was awakened in the public mind ; and equally
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History University of Illinois
well satisfied that the attendance is now less, and the university is in some respects still suffering injury from the active hostility and evident misrepresentations referred to.
Your committee are of opinion that M. L. Dunlap, Esq., a member of this Board is mainly responsible for the evil com- plained of. For reasons which the committee does not deem necessary matter of enquiry, he appears to have become at an early day, hostile to the Regent, to the action of this Board and its committees, apparently because the Board with a unanimity comprising nearly all its members adopted measures and courses of study, and modes of doing busines not in accordance with his individual wishes.
The committee deem it unfortunate that Mr. Dunlap, while sitting as a member of this Board and sharing its deliberations, should have felt at liberty, not only to act as a newspaper corre- spondent, but should, in violation of propriety and fairness, indulge in palpable misrepresentations, too often accompanied by ungenerous imputations and abusive epithets, when, speaking of the Regent, the Board, its committees, and of measures adopted for the management of our affairs.
The committee do not propose to question the free expression of individual opinions, nor the rights of the Press. This is em- phatically an institution of the people, and the committee would encourage the widest range of criterion; and if misunderstood or unjustly assailed, we are content to let the history of the insti- tution furnish our answer. If we are right, the right will finally appear: if wrong, no defense will avail. But the committee declare that in a Board composed of honorable gentlemen, in the performance of a high duty, it is discourteous, ungenerous and a breach of propriety which cannot be defended, for one of the members, when almost alone in his vote , when his measures are emphatically repudiated, to go outside, fight the battle over again in the newspapers, and by intemperance of speech and violence of reproach, endeavor to disgrace his fellow members, and bring the Institution itself under the ban of an undesired public pre- judice. The published articles written by Mr. Dunlap, now be- fore the committee justify the foregoing remarks.
Resolutions of First Board of Trustees 581
Letters in the hands of the committee, show that he has, to say the least, encouraged attacks in newspapers of the same character as his own articles. One letter is of such a character that the person addressed, would have been discouraged by it from bringing his son here, had it not been fortunately corrected by another letter from a friend of the Institution counteracting the impression conveyed by him.
The committee find that in his effort to injure the Regent, who in some way has become obnoxious to him, he has, through the mail and otherwise, given gratuitous circulation to a defam- atory pamphlet published in Michigan, a production not worth the attention of the Board, further than to excite regret that one of its members should become its endorser and give it circulation.
Your committee is satisfied from statements made, in cor- roboration of which proof is offered, that Mr. Dunlap has been and yet remains hostile to the Regent, and seeks his removal from his present position, and made untiring efforts to embarass him, and to bring the action and measures of the Board to dis- credit and failure, in order to secure a change of men and mea- sures suitable to his personal views. Whether so intended by him or not, the conduct of Mr. Dunlap has been such as might under other circumstances have brought serious embarrassments upon the Institution — thus sought to be wounded in the house of its friends.
Your committee however, do not acknowledge that the Insti- tution has received serious harm from this source, being too deeply planted in the confidence and sympathy of a people who cannot long be deceived, and under the care of a Regent and Board of Trustees who do not yet appear to have failed in duty or been found Unworthy their trust.
As the Regent has been the most persistently assailed, the committee deem it but just to say that they find nothing in the history of his official relation to us that impairs in any particu- lar, that high degree of confidence which induced the Board to call him to his present duty. Having ourselves laid out his work and instructed him how to do it, it is our duty as just and honor- able men to sustain him, and remove from his path as far as we can every annoyance.
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Your committee, especially with the work of this inaugura- tion day so well done, feel doubly assured that no efforts of un- friendly persons, even when members of its Board of Trustees can work no substantial harm. The delinquency complained of in this case can be safely treated with generous forbearance, not only in deferent to the peculiarities of temper and obliquity of judgment, which in some form affects even good men, but to that other assurance, that a little time, a wise caution, and sufficient patience will heal all wounds thus inflicted.
The Committee beg leave to add here, that the good people of Champaign ought to be relieved from the importation already finding lodgment in many minds throughout the State, that they in any manner share or approve the attacks complained of. Their munificence on former occasions and their magnificent welcome today, demand this grateful service at our hands.
Your Committee in conclusion propose the following resolu- tions : —
Resolved, that this Board of Trustees have undiminished confidence in the integrity, ability and fitness of the Regent, and pledge him a firm support in the performance of his duties.
Resolved, that the course of study, and measures of admin- istration adopted shall receive a fair and honest trial, subject to such modification and change as experience and due deliber- ation may require.
Resolved, that public criticism and full investigation of the acts of this Board is invited, and that this Board will at all times give respectful consideration to measures proposed in a proper manner by its members in any matter seeming to require its action.
Resolved, that this Board regard with disapprobation the conduct of M. L. Dunlap, Esq., a member as stated in the paper submitted to this Committee, and in the foregoing report, and consider the practices complained of a departure from the cour- tesy of official intercourse, a; dereliction of duty, offensive to the Board, injurious to the community, and not proper in one hold- ing a seat as a member of the Board.
Resolutions of First Board of Trustees 583
Resolved, that his Excellency, the Governor of this State, be furnished with a copy of the record made in this case.
M. BRAYMAN J. S. JOHNSON A. BLACKBURR J. 0. CUNNINGHAM EMORY COBB
584 History University of Illinois
DOCUMENT NUMBER 26
Federal and State Laws Concerning the University of Illinois
THE LAND GRANT ACT OF 1862.
AN ACT donating public land to the several states and terri- tories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agricul- ture and the mechanic arts.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That there be granted to the several states, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be apportioned to each state, in quantity equal to 30,000 acres for each senator and representative in congress to which the states are respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of 1860 : Pro- vided, That no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased under the provisions of this act.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the land aforesaid, after being surveyed, shall be apportioned to the several states in sections or sub-divisions of sections not less than one-quarter of a section ; and whenever there are public lands in a state, sub- ject to sale at private entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the quantity to which said state shall be entitled shall be selected from such lands, within the limits of such state ; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to issue to each of the states, in which there is not the quantity of lands subject to sale at private entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, to which said state shall be entitled under the provisions of this act, land scrip to the amount in acres for the deficiency of its distributive share ; said scrip to be sold by said states, and the proceeds thereof applied to the uses and purposes pre- scribed in this act, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever : Provided, That in no case shall any state to which land scrip may thus be issued, be allowed to locate the same within the limits of any other state, or of any territories of the United States ; but their assignees may thus locate said land scrip upon any of the unappropriated lands of the United States subject to sale at
Laws Concerning the University of Illinois 585
private entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents or less per acre. And provided further, That not more than one million acres shall be located by such assignees in any one of the states. And provided further, That no such locations shall be made be- fore one year from the passage of this act.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the expenses of management, superintendence, and taxes from date of selec- tion of said lands, previous to their sales, and all expenses in- curred in the management and disbursement of the moneys which may be received therefrom, shall be paid to the states to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said states, so that the entire proceeds of the sale of the said lands shall be applied, without any diminution whatever, to the purposes hereinafter mentioned.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all moneys derived from the sale of lands aforesaid, by the states to which the lands are apportioned, and from the sales of land scrip hereinbefore provided for, shall be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the states, or some other safe stocks, yielding not less than 5 per cent upon the par value of said stocks ; and that the money so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished (except so far as may be provided in section five of this act), and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated by each state, which may take and claim the benefit of this act, to the endowment, support, and maintenance of, at least, one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learn- ing as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively pre- scribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the grant of land and scrip hereby authorized, shall be made on the following con- ditions, to which, as well as to the provisions hereinbefore con- tained, the previous assent of the several states shall be signified by legislative acts :
586
History University of Illinois
First — If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the foregoing section, or any portion of the interest thereon, shall, by any action, or contingency, be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the state to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished ; and the annual interest shall be regularly applied without diminution to the purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this act, except that a sum, not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount re- ceived by any state under the provisions of this act, may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective legislatures of said states.
Second — No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, shall be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretense what- ever, to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings.
Third — Any state which may take and claim the benefit of the provisions of this act, shall provide, within five years, at least not less than one college, as prescribed in the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such state shall cease; and said state shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the State shall be valid.
Fourth — An annual report shall be made regarding the pro- gress of each college, recording any improvements and experi- ments made, with their cost and results ; and such other matters, including state industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful ; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free, by each, to all the other colleges which may be endowed un- der the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the secretary of the interior.
Fifth — When lands shall be selected from those which have been raised to double the minimum price in consequence of rail- roads grants, they shall be computed to the states at the maxi- mum price, and the number of acres proportionally diminished.
Sixth — No state, while in a condition of rebellion or insur- rection against the government of the United States, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act.
Laws Concerning the University of Illinois 587
Seventh — No state shall be entitled to the benefits of this act unless it shall express its acceptance thereof by its legislature within two years from the date of the approval by the President.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That land scrip issued under the provisions of this act, shall not be subject to location until after the first day of January, 1863.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That land officers shall receive the same fee for locating land scrip issued under the provisions of this act, as is now allowed for the location of mili- tary bounty land warrants under existing laws: Provided, Their maximum compensation shall not be thereby increased.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the governors of the several states to which scrip shall be issued under this act, shall be required to report annually to congress all sales made of such scrip until the whole shall be disposed of, the amount re- ceived for the same, and what appropriation has been made of the proceeds.
Approved, July 2, 1862.
EXTENSION OF TIME
AN ACT to amend the fifth section of an act entitled, "An act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts," approved July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, so as to extend the time within which the provisions of said act shall be accepted and such colleges established.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the time in which the several states may comply with the pro- visions of the act of July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled, ' ' An act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agri- culture and the mechanic arts," is hereby extended so that the acceptance of the benefits of said act may be expressed within three years from the passage of this act, and the colleges required by the said act may be provided within five years from the date
588
History University of Illinois
of the filing of such acceptance with the commissioner of the gen- eral land office : Provided, That when any territory shall become a state and be admitted into the Union, such new state shall be entitled to the benefits of the said act of July two, eighteen hun- dred and sixty-two, by expressing the acceptance therein re- quired within three years from the date of its admission into the Union, and providing the college or colleges within five years after such acceptance, as prescribed in this act: Provided fur- ther, That any state which has heretofore expressed its accep- tance of the act herein referred to, shall have the period of five years within which to provide at least one college as described in the fourth section of said act, after the time for providing said college, according to the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, shall have expired. APPROVED, July 23, 1866.
LAWS OP ILLINOIS
AN ACT accepting the donation of Public Lands from Congress, approved July 2d, 1862.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the act passed by the Congress of the United States, donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, ap- proved July 2, 1862, be and the provisions therein contained, accepted by this state.
2. Be it further enacted, That the Secretary of this state inform the Secretary of the Interior, at Washington, that the State of Illinois, through their Legislature, has accepted the dona- tion in said act.
APPROVED, February 14, 1863. (Sess. L., 111., 1863, p. 64.)
LOCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY
AN ACT in relation to the location of the Industrial University.
WHEREAS, Each portion of the state is alike interested in the proper location of said University, and it is desirable to
Laws Concerning the University of Illinois 589
enable the public spirit of each community or section to fully compete for such location ; therefore
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the ^General Assembly, That any county, city, township, or incorporated town of said state, may, by tax- ation, as well as by voluntary subscription of its citizens, raise a fund to secure the location of said University at any point whatever ; and any other corporation in this state may make bids and subscriptions for the purpose of securing said location at any point whatever.
2. That any county, through its county courts or board of supervisors, and any township or town, through its supervisor, assessor, and collector, and any city or incorporated town, through its council or board of aldermen, or other constituted au- thorities, as the case may be, may subscribe such sum or sums as they may deem necessary, to secure such location, and to raise the amount or amounts so subscribed by taxation, or by issuing bonds, payable at any seasonable or convenient time, and bearing any rate of interest not exceeding ten per cent per annum : Provided however, that no tax shall be levied for such purpose until the proposition so to raise a fund, together with the amount to be raised shall, after at least ten days ' notice, be submitted to a vote of the people so to be taxed, and be approved by a majority of the persons voting at such election : Provided, that the county clerk of such county shall order an election in accordance with the pro- visions of this act : And provided, also, that it shall not be ob- ligatory on any county, city, or town authorities, or county clerk, as aforesaid, to submit any such proposition to a vote of the people, unless at least one hundred of the legal voters of said county, city, or town shall petition for the same ; in which event said election or elections shall be ordered: And provided fur- ther, that any election heretofore held in any county, city, or town, for the purpose aforesaid, is hereby legalized and made valid.
3. The county, city, or town authorities, as aforesaid, are hereby invested with full power to make any and all needful orders and regulations to carry into effect the foregoing pro- visions, and in case of an election being applied for, as aforesaid,
590 History University of Illinois
it shall be the duty of ^aid authorities to give the usual and sea- sonable notices, required by law, according to this act, and the end in view, and to conduct and report the same in the usual way. Such election to be conducted and return made according to the law governing elections: Provided, that the registry of votes used at the last general election shall be the registry for any elec- tion to be held under this act.
4. This act shall be a public act, to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
APPROVED, January 25, 1867. (Sess. L. 111., 1867, p. 122.)
ORGANIZATION
AN ACT to provide for the organization and maintenance of
the Illinois Industrial University.
SECTION I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That it shall be the duty of the governor of this state within ten days from the passage of this act, to appoint (amended 1873) five trustees, resident in each of the judicial grand divisions of this state, who, together with one additional trustee, resident in each of the congressional districts of this state, to be appointed in like manner, with their associates and successors, shall be a body cor- porate and politic, to be styled (amended 1885) "The Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University;" and by that name and style shall have perpetual succession, have power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, to acquire, hold, and convey real and personal property ; to have and use a common seal, and to alter the same at pleasure ; to make and establish by-laws, and to alter or repeal the same as they shall deem necessary, for the management or government, in all its various departments and relations, of the Illinois Industrial University, for the organization and endow- ment of which provision is made by this act. Said appointments to be subject to approval or rejection by the senate at its next regular session thereafter, and the appointees to be, and they are hereby authorized to act as trustees as aforesaid, until their successors shall be appointed by the governor and such appoint- ment shall be approved by the senate.
Laws Concerning fhe University of Illinois 591
2. The members of the board of trustees, and their suc- cessors, shall hold their office for the term of six years each: Provided, that at the first regular meeting of said board, the said members shall determine, by lot, so that, as nearly as may be, one-third shall hold their office for two years, one-third for four years, and one-third for six years from the first day of said meeting. The governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall fill all vacancies which may at any time occur by expiration of term of office, or otherwise, in said board, by appointment of suitable persons resident in the respective grand divisions and congressional districts in which such vacancies may occur. Said board of trustees may appoint an executive commit- tee of their own number, who, when said board is not in session, shall have the management and control of the same, and for that purpose have and exercise all the powers hereby conferred on said board which are necessary and proper for such object.
3. In case the board of trustees shall at any time determine to establish a branch or department of said university at any points elected by them, such branch or department shall be under the control of the members of said board residing in the grand division and congressional district where said branch shall be located, unless otherwise ordered by said board of trustees: Provided, that no portion of the funds resulting from the con- gressional grant of land for the endowment of said University, or from any donation now or hereafter to be made by the county, city, or town at or near which the University is located ; and no portion of the interest or proceeds of either of said funds shall ever be applied to the support of any branch or department located outside the county wherein said University is located by this act.
4. The first regular meeting of the board of trustees shall be held at such place as the governor may designate, on the sec- ond Tuesday in March, A. D. 1867, at which meeting they shall elect a regent of the University, who, together with the governor, superintendent of public instruction, and president of the state agricultural society, shall be, ex-officw, members of said board of trustees. Said regent, if present, shall preside at all meetings of the board of trustees and of the faculty, and shall be charged
592 History University of Illinois
with the general supervision of the educational facilities and interests of the University. His term of office shall be two years, and his compensation shall be fixed by the board of trustees.
5. At the first, and at each biennial meeting thereafter, it shall be the duty of the board to appoint a treasurer, who shall not be a member of the board, and who shall give bonds, with such security as the board of trustees shall deem amply sufficient to guard the University from danger of loss or diminution of the funds intrusted to his care. The trustees may appoint, also, the corresponding secretary, whose duty it shall be, under the direction or with the approval of the trustees, to issue circulars, directions for procuring needful materials for conducting ex- periments, and eliciting instructive information from persons in various counties, selected for that purpose, and skilled in any branch of agricultural, mechanical, and industrial art ; and to do all other acts needful to enable him to prepare an annual report regarding the progress of the University, in each department thereof — recording any improvements and experiments made, with their costs and results, and such other matters, including state, industrial, and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful ; not less than five thousand copies of which reports shall be published annually, and one copy be transmitted by said cor- responding secretary, by mail, free to each of the other colleges endowed under the provisions of an act of congress, approved July 2, 1862, entitled "An act donating lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts;" one copy to the United States secretary of the interior; and one thousand copies to the secretary of state of this state, for the state library, and for dis- tribution among the members of the General Assembly. Also, a recording secretary, whose duty it shall be to keep faithful record of the transactions of the board of trustees, and prepare the same for publication in said annual report. The said trea- surer, corresponding and recording secretaries to receive such compensation as the trustees may fix, and to be paid in the same manner as the teachers and other employees of the University are paid.
6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the Uni- versity except by order of the board of trustees, on warrant of
Laws Concerning the University of Illinois 593
the regent, drawn upon the treasurer, and countersigned by the recording secretary.
7. The trustees shall have power to provide the requisite buildings, apparatus, and conveniences; to fix the rates for tu- ition; to appoint such professors and instructors, and establish and provide for the management of such model farms, model art, and other departments and professorships, as may be required to teach, in the most thorough manner, such branches of learn- ing as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, and military tactics, without excluding other scientific and classical studies. They may accept the endowments of voluntary pro- fessorships or departments in the University, from any person or persons or corporations who may proffer the same, and, at any regular meeting of the board, may prescribe rules and regu- lations in relation to such endowments and declare on what gen- eral principles they may be admitted: Provided, that such special voluntary endowments or professorships shall not be in- compatible with the true design and scope of the act of congress, or of this act ; and they shall, as far as practicable, arrange all the regular and more important courses of study and lectures in the University, so that the students may pass through and at- tend upon them during the six autumn and winter months, and be left free to return to their several practical arts and industries at home during the six spring and summer months of the year, or to remain in the University and pursue such optional studies or industrial avocations as they may elect: Provided, that no student shall at any time be allowed to remain in or about the University in idleness, or without full mental or industrial occu- pation : And provided further, that the trustees, in the exercise of any of the powers conferred by this act, shall not create any liability or indebtedness, in access of the funds in the hands of the treasurer of the University at the time of creating such lia- bility or indebtedness, and which may be specially and properly applied to the payment of the same.
8. No student shall be admitted to instruction in any of the departments of the University who shall not have attained to the age of fifteen (15) years, and who shall not previously un- dergo a satisfactory examination in each of the branches ordi- narily taught in the common schools of the state. .
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History University of Illinois
9. Each county in^ this state shall be entitled to one hon- orary scholarship in the University, for the benefit of the des- cendants of the soldiers and seamen who served in the armies and navies of the United States during the late rebellion — pre- ference being given to the children of such soldiers and seamen as are deceased or disabled ; and the board of trustees may, from time to time, add to the number of honorary scholarships, when in their judgment, such additions will not embarrass the finances of the University; nor need these additions be confined to the descendants of soldiers and seamen ; such scholarships to be filled by transfer from some of the common schools of said county, of such pupils as shall, upon public examination, to be conducted as the board of trustees of the University may determine, be de- cided to have attained the greatest proficiency in the branches of learning usually taught in the common schools, who shall be of good moral character, and not less than fifteen (15) years of age. Such pupils, so selected and transferred, shall be entitled to receive, without charge for tuition, instruction in any or all departments of the University for a term of at least three (3) consecutive years: Provided, said pupil shall conform, in all respects, to the rules and regulations of the University, estab- lished for the government of the pupils in attendance.
10. The faculty of the University shall consist of the chief instructors in each of the departments. No degrees shall be conferred nor diplomas awarded by authority of the board of trustees, or of the faculty, except that the trustees, on recom- mendation of the majority of the faculty may authorize the regent of the University to issue to applicants certificates of . schol- arship, under the seal of the University, which certificates shall, as far as practicable, set forth the precise attainments, as ascer- tained by special examination, of the parties applying for the same, respectively in the various branches of learning they may have respectively studied during the attendance in the Univer- sity; and every pupil who shall have attended upon instruction in the University for not less than one year, maintaining, mean- while, a good character for faithfulness in study and correctness of deportment, and who may desire to cease such attendance, shall be entitled to receive such certificate of scholarships as is
Laws Concerning the University of Illinois 595
authorized by this section to be issued. All certificates of schol- arships shall be in the English language, unless the pupil should otherwise prefer; and all names and terms on labels, samples, specimens, books, charts and reports shall be expressed, as nearly as may be, in the English language.
11. No member of the board of trustees shall receive any compensation for attending on the meetings of the board. At all the stated and other meetings of the board of trustees, called by the regent or corresponding secretary, or any five members of the board, a majority of the members shall constitute a quorum : Provided, all the members have been duly notified.
12. It shall be the duty of the board of trustees to perma- nently locate said University at Urbana in Champaign county, Illinois, whenever the county of Champaign shall, according to the proper forms of law, convey or cause to be conveyed to said trustees, in fee simple, and free from all incumbrances, the Ur- bana and Champaign Institute buildings, grounds, and lands, together with the appurtenances thereto belonging, as set forth in the following offer in behalf of said county, to-wit :
"The undersigned, a committee appointed by the board of supervisors of Champaign county, are instructed to make the fol- lowing offer} to the State of Illinois, in consideration of the per- manent location of the Illinois Industrial University at Urbana, Champaign county, viz: We offer the Urbana and Champaign Institute buildings and grounds, containing about ten acres ; also one hundred and sixty acres of land adjacent thereto ; also, four hundred acres of land, it being part of section No. twenty-one, in township No. nineteen, north, range No. nine east, distant not exceeding one mile from the corporate limits of the city of Ur- bana.
"Also, four hundred and ten (410) acres of land, it being part of section No. nineteen, township No. nineteen, range No. nine east, within one mile of the buildings herein offered.
' ' Also, the donation offered by the Illinois Central Eailroad Company of fifty thousand dollars' worth of freight over said road for the benefit of said University.
"Also, one hundred thousand dollars in Champaign county bonds, due and payable in ten years, and bearing interest at
596
History University of Illinois
the rate of ten percen£ per annum, and two thousand dollars in fruit, shade, and ornamental trees and shrubbery, to be se- lected from the nursery of M. L. Dunlap, and furnished at the lowest catalogue rates, making an estimated valuation of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($450,000). Titles to be perfect, and conveyance to the state to be made or caused to be made by the county of Champaign, upon the permanent loca- tion of the Illinois Industrial University upon the said grounds, so to be conveyed as aforesaid, and we hereby in our official capacity guarantee the payment of the said bonds and the faith- ful execution of the deeds of conveyance, free from all incum- brances, as herein set forth.
W. D. SOMERS, T. A. COSGROVE, C. R. MOORHOUSE,
Committee."
13. The board of trustees shall, by and with the advice and consent of the governor and adjutant-general, procure all such arms, accoutrements, books, and instruments, and appoint such instructors as may, in their discretion, be required to impart a thorough knowledge of military tactics and military engineering, and they may prescribe a uniform dress to be worn by the pupils of the University.
14. That upon the organization of the board of trustees and the appointment of said treasurer, and the filing with and the approval by said board of the bond of said treasurer, and all of said foregoing acts being duly certified to the governor, under the hand of said regent, countersigned by the said record- ing secretary, it shall then become the legal duty of said governor to deliver over to said treasurer the land scrip issued by the United States to this state, for the endowment of said University, and that thereupon it shall become the duty of said treasurer to sell and dispose of said scrip at such time, place, in such man- ner and quantities, and upon such terms as such board shall, from time to time, prescribe, or to locate the same as said board may direct. Said treasurer being in all respects pertaining to the sale of said scrip, and the reinvestment of the proceeds received therefor, and the securities when reinvested, subject to such order
Laws Concerning the University of Illinois 597
and control of said board as is not inconsistent with this act and the act of congress providing for the endowment of said Uni- versity.
15. That all the right, title, and interest of the state of Illi- nois in and to said land scrip, is hereby invested in the Illinois Industrial University, for the use and purposes herein contained ; and said scrip shall be assigned to said University by the gover- nor of the State of Illinois on each certificate, and attested by the secretary of state under the seal of the state; and that the transfer of said scrip to purchasers by assignment on the back thereof, by the said officers of said University, under the seal thereof, in manner following, shall be deemed sufficient in law, to- wit :
STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Illinois Industrial University, \
For value received, the State of Illinois hereby sells and
assigns to the within scrip, and authorizes
to locate the same and obtain a patent on such location.
Given under our hands and the seal of said University this
day of A. D. 186
Countersigned by
E. F., Recording Secretary, A. B., Regent, C. D., Treasurer.
16. That upon said treasurer making sale of any of said scrip, he shall at once invest the fund so received, report the same to the said board, stating amount sold, price obtained, and how the same was by him invested ; which report shall be filed with the recording secretary, who shall transmit a copy of the same to the governor of said state, and he to the congress of the United States, in accordance with said act of congress.
17. That the said board shall order upon its minutes which of the several kinds of securities mentioned in the fourth section of said act of congress said treasurer shall invest proceeds of sales in.
18. The bond required to be given by said treasurer shall be conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties as trea-
598 History University of Illinois
surer of the "Illinois Industrial University," and for any breach thereof suit may be instituted, in the name of the "Illinois Industrial University ; ' ' and it shall be deemed a criminal offense for any person or persons holding in trust any part of the funds of said University knowingly or negligently to misapply or mis- appropriate the same, indictable in any court having jurisdiction, in the same manner as other crimes are punishable, by fine or imprisonment, at the discretion of the court, according to the nature of the offense.
19. This act shall be a public act and take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Approved, February 28, 1867. (Session. L., 111., 1867, p. 123)
AN ACT supplemental to an act entitled ' ' An act to provide for the organization, endowment, and maintenance of the Illi- nois Industrial University. ' '
Section I. Be it enacted ~by the People of the State of Illi- nois, represented in the General Assembly, That if the legal authorities of the county of Champaign shall not, by or before the first day of June, 1867, convey or cause to be conveyed, to the board of trustees of the Illinois Industrial University, by a good and unincumbered title, in fee simple, all the real estate mentioned and contained in the propositions of said county, and which real estate is described and set out in the act to which this act is supplemental, amounting to nine hundred and eighty acres of land, and if said county shall not also pay over and deliver to said trustees, by said day, all the bonds and other property offered by said county, mentioned in said act, then said board of trustees, or a majority of them, shall proceed without delay to permanently locate and establish said industrial University in McLean, Logan or Morgan county ; such county so selected shall in like manner be required in all things to fulfill and comply with the conditions and provisions of the offer heretofore made by such county, as an inducement for the location of said University in such county.
2. This act shall be deemed a public act, and be in force from and after its approval.
Approved, March 8, 1867. (Sess. L., 111., 1867, p. 130.)
Petition to the Legislature 599
DOCUMENT NUMBER 27
The following petition to the legislature, prepared by a committee rep- resenting the mechanics of Chicago, was printed as a separate document.
Turner manuscripts, university of Illinois
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OP ILLINOIS.
The undersigned respectfully represent unto your Honorable Body, as follows :
That at a meeting of Manufacturers and Mechanics, recently held in Chicago, for the purpose of taking into consideration the Act of Congress, of July 2d, 1862, making appropriation of Public Lands for the purpose of establishing Colleges of instruc- tion in Agricultural and Mechanic Arts — the undersigned were appointed a committee to lay before your Honorable Body, in some specific form, the views and opinions there expressed.
At this meeting it was the unanimous opinion, not only that the fund provided by Congress was susceptible of division so far as to permit of the establishment of distinct schools of Agricul- ture and the Mechanic Arts, in the State of Illinois, but that the interests of Agriculture and Mechanics alike demand that such a division should be made.
Many and weighty reasons were given for this opinion. It was believed that the Agricultural interests of the State would be best satisfied by the location of an Agricultural School with some reference to the geographical centre of the State; on the other hand, the Mechanic Arts were mainly practiced in and near Chicago. There centered the whole Rail Road system of the State of Illinois. There her principal manufacturing establish- ments were founded. There by far the largest number of her operatives had their homes. There the capital of the manufac- turer was invested. In short, there the head and heart of the manufacturing and mechanical interests of the State were lo- cated, and there for many years, if not for all time, they might be reasonably expected to remain.
It was suggested, among other things, that the undersigned should prepare the draft of a Bill, to be laid before your Hon- orable Body, carrying out the design of Congress with reference
600 History University of Illinois
to the mechanic arts, pn the principle of establishing distinct institutions for those branches and for agricultural science.
The undersigned felt deeply their incompetence for the task imposed upon them. The subject was novel, it was interesting ; great interests depended upon the execution of the work con- signed to their hands, and as their work should be well or ill done, might generations to come have cause to thank, or condemn them. Under these circumstances, it was both natural and rea- sonable that the undersigned should seek elsewhere that infor- mation which they did not themselves possess. Acting, therefore, upon what they deemed their duty under the circumstances, they caused a letter of inquiry and suggestion to be prepared, some thirty or more copies of which were sent to persons chiefly dis- tinguished for the interest they had taken in the cause of educa- tion in general, and especially in that relating to agricultural and mechanical science. Among these were included the names of some of our first statesmen, scientists, theoretical and practical mechanics. The length of this letter alone precludes its insertion in this place, but so much of it as is directly interrogatory, will here be given. After propounding the general question, whether, under the act of Congress, the branches of agriculture and me- chanics might both be taught in one and the same institution, and under a single corps of instructors, or whether they were so far dissimilar in character as to be best tutions, organized and conducted with express ing instruction in the one or the other branch of study, as the case might be, the letter proceeded as follows, viz. :
" FIRST — How extensive ought to be the course of instruc- tion in an institution, the design- of which is to turn out scientific, practical mechanics? In other words, what studies, whether principal or subsidiary, should, be embraced in such a course of instruction ?
"SECOND — How much time should be allotted to the pupil to complete a full course of mechanical study ?
* * THIRD — Under what limitation, as regards age and educa- tional qualifications, should pupils be received into the institu- tion?
Petition to the Legislature 601
''FOURTH — Would it be advisable, and if so, under what restrictions, to admit apprentices, while serving as such to the benefits of the institution?
FIFTH — How can a thorough, practical knowledge be best imparted to the student, step by step, as he shall become master of the theory of mechanics ?
" SIXTH — Would a country village or rural district be a iftore or less eligible location for a school of instruction in the me'chanic arts, than a populous town or city, where manufac- turing and mechanical pursuits are largely carried on?"
This letter was dated so late as December 14, 1864.
In due time the undersigned received replies from the Hon. Henry Wilson, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, in the U. S. Senate, the Hon. Win. H. Seward, the Hon. Wm. Whiting, Solicitor of the War Department, Gov. Smith, of Rhode Island, Hon. Erastus Corning, Albany, N. Y., President Hill, Harvard University, Hon. Erastus Hopkins, Northampton, Mass., Alfred S. Kennedy, President of the Penn. Polytechnic School, James T. Ames, Chicopee, Mass., Mechanic, Gridley T. F. Bryant, Boston, Mass., Architect, the Hon. E. B. Bigelow, Boston, Mass., Horatio Allen, New York, Manufacturer, -Charles W. Cop eland, New York, Mechanic, Ethan Rogers, Boston, Professor in the School of Technology, E. W. Stoughton, New York, Patent Law-
Bedford, Mass., Mechanic.
bst of these letters came to hand during the absence from Chicajjaof two of the undersigned, which absence continued until some time after the meeting of the present session of the Legis- lature. And it is not until this late day that the undersigned have had any opportunity of throwing their views into precise form. During the absence of the undersigned, as above men- tioned, they had opportunities for conversation with Commission- er Holloway, of the U. S. Patent Office, with Gov. Andrews of Massachusetts, with various parties in Philadelphia, and with a number of intelligent persons at different points between Chicago and the city of Washington. From all these sources, the opinion originally entertained by the undersigned, in favor of establish- ing distinct schools of instruction for agriculture and the me- chanic arts, was emphatically confirmed. Great difference of
602 History University of Illinois
opinion was, indeed, expressed; scarcely any two persons could be found, who agreed upon the details of such an institution ; and there were opposing views even on the general question as to the union of the two branches of agriculture and mechanics in one institution, or their separation into distinct schools.
The undersigned understand it to have been made a question by the friends of agriculture in the State of Illinois, whether the fund appropriated by Congress could be in any way lawfully divided, or segregated by State action. For themselves they never entertained a doubt of the absolute competence of the Legislature to dispose of the fund at its discretion, being re- sponsible therefor to Congress.
The undersigned do not propose to submit any argument in favor of their opinion, inasmuch as more weighty precedent is at hand. The State of Massachusetts has made such a division, giving a portion of the fund allotted to her for the establishment of an agricultural school, and the remainder has been given for the endowment of an institute of Technology previously estab- lished in the city of Boston.
The State of Khode Island has transferred the whole fund accruing to that State, under the Act of Congress, to Brown Uni- versity, her principal college. Other States it is understood have made different dispositions of the fund allotted to them, all of which goes to show that the whole matter of carrying out the design of Congress has been everywhere treated as resting in the discretion of the State Legislatures.
Assuming, then, that your Honorable Body has full author- ity to establish distinct institutions for agriculture and for the mechanic arts, and that under proper circumstances it would be advisable to exercise such a discretion, let us for a moment en- quire whether these circumstances in fact exist. The fund granted by Congress is not money, nor is it readily convertable into money. Years may and probably will elapse before the whole of it shall have been converted and permanently invested. In! the meantime, whatever is done towards the establishment of one or more institutions under the act must be done by the State, unless individual beneficence will lift the burden from her, and under any circumstance the establishment of a single institution,
Petition to the Legislature 603
in which the studies of agriculture and mechanics can be jointly prosecuted, will be the result of years. Buildings would have to be erected, repaired, new modeled or fashioned, to meet the wants of such an institution.
Model farms would have to be bought, and all the appliances for conducting them, nor will it probably be deemed judicious by your Honorable Body to proceed with too great haste in this matter, lest the State should become heavily involved, and at a time when she can least afford it, in an enterprise which is yet mainly experimental in its character, and the results of which, therefore, can neither be foreseen nor foretold. Now, it will not be denied, that it would be advisable to establish an institution in which agriculture and the mechanic arts, or either, may be taught. The sooner such an institution can be provided, and the work of instruction be commenced, the better. If it be either certain or probable, that much time is likely to elapse be- fore a single institution, in which both agriculture and the me- chanic arts shall be taught, can be established, and it can be shown that by separating these branches, an institution can be at once easily and economically organized, for affording instruc- tion in the mechanic arts, it would, as it seems to the undersigned, be an argument of no little weight with your Honorable Body in favor of such a separation. Does such a condition of things exist ? The undersigned answer confidently in the affirmative. In Chi- cago are buildings already erected, which may be easily and cheaply converted into suitable temporary accommodations for affording instruction in mechanical science. Here, also, are an abundance of pupils, needing and wishing to be taught. Here are competent instructors, and here, also, are shops for practical instruction. Not three months need elapse after the expiration of the present session of the legislature, before a school of in- struction in the mechanic arts could be established in Chicago, and put fairly in the way of a successful career. Nor must it be forgotten that at this time the State is staggering under the burden of heavy taxation ; that in all probability the burden is not to grow lighter, but is to increase in magnitude in time to come. It therefore becomes those who have her interest in charge to avoid, by all reasonable means, the increase of additional ex-
604
History University of Illinois
pense, for whatever cau^e, and much more in a case where such expense would be superfluous. The establishment of a school for mechanical instruction elsewhere than in Chicago, either alone, or as; part of a broader institution, to include the study of agri- culture, would necessarily occasion a large expenditure. Here everything is in readiness to proceed. It has been already sug- gested, that the State must advance the means to put whatever institution is established in operation, and it should n'ot be for- gotten by the friends of agriculture, that by so much less as it will cost to establish a mechanical institution in Chicago, by so much more will it be in the ability of the State to advance the means of promoting that branch of study which relates pecu- liarly to them.
The undersigned, at the outset of this paper, had it in mind to state, first : some of their reasons for the establishment of two distinct institutions for the several branches of agriculture and mechanics, and then to give some further reasons why a school for the latter branch should be located in Chicago. This would have been the natural division of the subject, but the under* signed, especially under the necessitated haste in which this paper is prepared, find it impossible to maintain this distinction.
It will be found that the reasons themselves intermingle and over-lap each other; almost every reason that can be suggested in favor of the establishment of distinct institutions for the separate branches of agriculture and mechanics, will also be found to be a reason for locating the mechanical school at Chi- cago.
Without attempting, therefore, further, to preserve a dis- tinction which they find impossible to keep constantly in view, the undersigned will proceed to give such other reasons as occur to them, in favor of the establishment of a distinct school of mechanics at Chicago.
It is a matter of no small consequence to the interests of the State, that the institution, wherever, or under whatever auspices established, should become self-supporting, or at least at the earliest practicable moment approximate that point ; now is there any place in the State of Illinois at all comparable to Chicago in this respect ? Here are the greatest number of pupils,
Petition to the Legislature 605
and they belong, chiefly, to that class who are engaged in some capacity in mechanical pursuits, while in a majority of instances, through the aid of parents, friends, or employers, they can obtain the means of paying a reasonable tuition for attendance upon a school located at their own homes, and where expenses of livelihood are merely nominal ; they could by no means afford to leave their employment, go to a distance, and defray all the expenses incident to a residence away from home, while attending a course of instruction. Nor must it be supposed that the under- signed are here drawing an invidious line in favor of the Chicago mechanics. Nowhere else in the state can a school be located at the doors of a large number of mechanics. No other town is so largely engaged in enterprises which call for mechani- cal labor. As a natural consequence, the mechanics outside of Chicago will have to go abroad to obtain instruction, and consid- ered in reference to the whole State, it may be safely asserted that there is no place so easily and readily accessible to the country mechanic as Chicago ; while here he will enjoy superior opportunities of acquiring practical experience, and of obtaining employment pending his studies, or at their conclusion.
There is still another important consideration, as it seems to the undersigned, why the mechanical department should be lo- cated at Chicago. It is this : it is the design of the act of Con- gress to impart instruction to the practical mechanic. It was for his benefit that the grant was made. Practical instruction was the great object aimed at in both branches. Merely theoreti- cal knowledge is at all times and everywhere within reach of the rich. Now, men generally commence a vocation from some na- tural taste or inclination for it. Here in Chicago it is proposed to take the apprentice and the young mechanic and put him to school. He does not leave his business even while pursuing his studies, and when they shall have been completed, the State will have some guarantee that he will remain a mechanic still. It must be obvious to every one, that the further an institution is removed from this class of persons, and the more difficulty in their way of access to it, the greater will be the proportion of those students, who, with abundant means, .are looking to a thorough scientific education, rather with the view to becoming
606 History University of Illinois
instructors, or to their own accomplishment in the arts, than with any design of engaging in practical pursuits. From their education the State would derive little service, while from the instruction of the practical mechanic, her wealth and resources would be everywhere multiplied and enlarged.
There are still other considerations in favor of separating agriculture from mechanics, in a course of instruction. It will generally be found that those persons who have a natural bent towards mechanical callings, or who have made any considerable proficiency in mechanical pursuits, will be totally averse to the labors of the farm. They can neither comprehend nor interest themselves in matters pertaining to the culture of the soil, to the raising of fruit, the breeding of stock, or the like. Their minds constantly run upon machinery, and the different kinds of handi- craft. They would derive very little benefit from the opportunity of pursuing an agricultural course of instruction, and if forced to go through one, it might safely be predicted that they would acquire habits of idleness, insubordination to the college author- ity, and other not less pernicious habits, which would extend even to the hindrance of their progress of the study in mechan- ical science. Besides, a school devoted exclusively to the me- chanic arts, would, as a general rule, be superintended by abler instructors ; a more thorough course of instruction would be pur- sued, and the pupil would consequently attain a greater degree of proficiency than if his mind were distracted by enforced attention to diverse and uncongenial studies.
Concentration does not mean aggregation, nor even union, but implies the direction of one's attention to a single point, and so long as the world continues as it now is, divided into manifold pursuits, anything approaching a universal education is a sheer ' impossibility, and it is confidently believed that, with the farther progress of society, the divisions and subdivisions of the arts and sciences will continue to increase, and courses of instruction be thereby multiplied. The undersigned are well aware that the friends of the agricultural interests may object to the separa- tion of these two branches of study, on the ground that the agri- cultural student ought not to be deprived of an opportunity to instruct himself in the mechanic arts ; but let it be asked for what
Petition to the Legislature 607
purpose is this instruction sought? If he desires it as merely incidental to his agricultural education, then it may be answered, that all he needs can be readily given him by any competent instructor in the agricultural department. If he wants more than this, then he wishes to become a mechanic, and his proper place is not in an agricultural, but a mechanical school. In the State of Illinois, the farmer buys from the manufacturer or the merchant, as they come from the hands of the mechanic, every considerable tool and implement of the farm. As a practical farmer, his knowledge will be complete when he knows how to use these tools and implements, and keep them in proper order. On the more important of them, such as threshing machines, reaping and raking machines, plows, harrows and the like, he will find it necessary to call in the aid of the mechanic, even for the purpose of ordinary repairs. No one will contend that it is within the competence of farmers in general to keep and main- tain a blacksmith's, carpenter's, or painter's shop upon their premises, or would find it useful to do so, if within their power. Besides, it is confidently submitted that enough is already known, which pertains exclusively to agricultural science, as discovered and methodised in the last fifty years, to occupy as much time in the acquirement of it, as a majority of young men, expecting to become practical farmers, can afford to bestow on studies of a preliminary character.
But there is one main argument in favor of the division of these two branches of study into distinct institutions, which has not yet been distinctly developed. If a single institution only be established, and it be located with special reference to the sup- posed wishes of the friends of agriculture, or away from any point where mechanical pursuits are largely carried on, the me- chanical department, so far as practical instruction is concerned, must prove an absolute failure. No one will pretend that the State, now or for years to come, will have means to lavish in the erection of machine shops and the purchase of machinery and other appliances for working the same, even for the purpose of satisfactory illustration or experiment. The outlay therefor would be immense, and what might be considered the annual loss, such as interest on the investment, injury to and wear and
608 History University of Illinois
tear of machinery, would swell this sum to extravagant pro- portions. For all this expenditure the State, or its representa- tive, the institution, would receive as its sole compensation the fees or tuition advanced by the students in attendance. No sa- gacious man can for a moment suppose that such a shop could be converted into a manufactory of costly implements or machinery.
What Railroad company would seek such an establishment at which to buy a locomotive? What manufacturer would go there to purchase an engine of any kind? The work might be well done, but it would have the stigma of experimental practice resting on it.
Under such circumstances, therefore, and without those aids to practical instruction, the mechanical student in such single institution could acquire nothing but theory, and he would at last be obliged to resort to some shop where, beginning with the first rudimental principles, he could go through his whole course of studies before the world would acknowledge him or he could justly claim to be a competent mechanic.
A model shop, at all adequate to the purposes of affording practical instruction, could by no reasonable possibility be self- supporting. Of all kinds of business, manufacturing, when largely carried on, is perhaps the most hazardous, and nothing short of the strong incentive of personal gain can render it suc- cessful.
All these objections are at once obviated by locating the mechanical department at Chicago. Here the actual supersedes the model machine shop. And by as much as responsible labor under the eye and direction of a competent master, is superior to experimental practice under the advice of an instructor, by so much would the shops of Chicago be superior to the model establishments of a preliminary school of instruction.
Hitherto the undersigned have spoken for themselves. But they are not without authorities, some of which they propose to submit.
In his letter to the undersigned, J. H. Hoadley, one of the first practical mechanics and machinists in Massachusetts, says :
"If conveniently located (the Mechanical School), much
Petition to the Legislature 609
s^ood may be done by admitting apprentices to an evening school. ' '
Could this, let it be asked, be practicable, if the mechanical department were located elsewhere than Chicago? Continuing, Mr. Hoadley says :
"Practical knowledge can best be conveyed by actual practice and example. Eastman's Commercial College at Pough- keepsie, New York, is an example of this. Every branch of com- mercial occupation being seriously and practically carried on in the ordinary working of the College. What the moot court is to the lawyer, what clinical lectures in the Hospital are to the physician, that is the laboratory and workshop to the young mechanic, and the model farm to the young agriculturist. ' '
And upon the two points of the separation of the several branches of Agriculture and Mechanics into separate institutions, and the location of the mechanical department, Mr. Hoadley says :
"For separate special schools, which seem most desirable, the best location for the school of agriculture would be on a farm of suitable size, near a large city. * * * * And the best location for the school of mechanics would be in, or at least quite close to, a large and business city, where workshops would fur- nish constant objects of study, and opportunities for applying acquired knowledge, and where rising blocks, and monuments would illustrate whole volumes of technology. ' '
And in confirmation of the idea already advanced by the undersigned, in regard to the greater excellence of the instruc- tion in the several departments of agriculture and mechanics, and after speaking of different studies, common to both these branches, Mr. Hoadley says :
"Yet the more perfect the special instruction in each school, the more marked would be the divergence, not only of the objects of study, but of the modes of treatment and illustration proper to each, in tlwse very sciences which ivere a common topic of instruction to both."
In the same letter Mr. Hoadley gives, in tabular form, the studies in such a course of mechanical and agricultural instruc- tion, as he would recommend. From which it appears that con-
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History University of Illinois
siderably less than one-third of those studies are common to both branches.
In his letter to the undersigned, Charles W. Copeland, of New York, also an accomplished mechanic and machinist, on the point of admitting apprentices to the mechanical school, says :
"By all means afford apprentices the opportunities of pur- suing any portion of the course of studies they may desire. One reason is, that as a rule, we may assume that apprentices have commenced mechanical pursuits from a love of them, and that taste, with the ambition that he would probably have to excel, would lead him to appreciate and improve the advantages pre- sented to the fullest extent, and it is not improbable that many of your most accomplished and successful graduates will be from this class. "
On the point of combining theory with practice, Mr. Cope- land further says : ' ' Thorough knowledge can best be imparted by combining the theoretical study with practical application, either by having a workshop connected with the institution, or so locating the school that the pupil can have ready access to shops where actual work is being executed on a large scale. ' '
In his letter to the undersigned, Prof. Rogers, on the point of admitting apprentices to the benefits of a mechanical school, says:
' ' The apprentice system, in connection with the educational, is doubtless indispensable to the success of the institution, as without it it can be of little or no practical benefit to the me- chanical world, and would simply be a nice place for that class of young men who have only the money qualification, without the energy or the intellect, to succeed in the more popular professions of the day, and I would as soon think of employing a theoretical tailor, without practice, to make a coat, as a theoretical engineer under the same circumstances to build an engine."
In his letter to the undersigned, Mr. Jas. T. Ames, of Chick- opee, Mass., on the point of affording instruction to the practical mechanic, says:
"I think an arrangement to admit pupils for short periods to assist in special departments where information is needed, will greatly aid the practical mechanic who may be deficient (in theo-
Petition to ike Legislature 611
retical knowledge), but who has the ability and will use the op- portunity to great profit if within his reach. ' '
But if all other authorities were wanting upon this point of combining theory with practice, that of Governor Smith, of Ehode Island, who speaks from a high stand point, and from long and intimate business experience, would suffice. In his letter to the undersigned, he says :
1 ' I do not know how I can better answer your questions than by stating generally the result of my observation and experience, which is this : that no course of instruction can be devised which shall make scientific practical mechanics. You may make scien- tific practical mechanics of simple practical mechanics, by afford- ing them proper educational facilities. The habits of labor and the mechanical genius you must find to educate, and you can only find them in the workshop; stimulate them, encourage them, and, by enlarging their sphere of thought, elevate the profession, and you accomplish the result you justly deem of the highest im- portance. ' '
The undersigned do not propose to waste words in reviewing the authorities already given. Let it suffice to say, that they abundantly confirm the opinion the undersigned have expressed, in favor of the establishment of a separate institution for im- parting instruction in the mechanic arts.
But the undersigned, in prosecuting their inquiries, received two letters, both from men of great eminence in the literary and scientific world, which advocate an opposite view, and prefer the union of the agricultural and mechanical departments in one institution. The first is from President Hill, of Harvard Univer- sity. Something of his ideas of the institution he would recom- mend to be established, may be gained by the following extract from his letter to them. He says :
1 ' Do not be anxious to have a school with many pupils, and whose practical benefits shall be at once apparent, but rather found a school which shall combine the best and highest features of the Massachusetts Institution of Technology, the Pennsylvania Agricultural College, and of all European institutions in one, and from which shall presently flow the highest results of science, such as we now expect only from the universities of Europe. "
612 History University of Illinois
Are your Honorable Body prepared, especially with, a view to the present and prospective financial resources of the State, to undertake an enterprise so vast in its character, and the results of which are so remote and problematical ? Are you at this time prepared to establish among our busy, thriving, but greatly taxed population, the foundations of a University as broad as that of Oxford or Cambridge, in England? For, let it be borne in mind that President Hill, in this same letter, recommends that the entire Congressional appropriation falling to Illinois, should be transferred, by way of endowment, to some college already in existence. In short, is your Honorable Body, and are the peo- ple of Illinois willing to establish and endow a University wherein all science shall be taught, and from that which relates to the simplest rule in mechanical art to the highest principle in the science of government? Such an institution would be a grand normal school for the education of instructors and for affording an asylum, and the means of pursuing their studies, to scientific men. This would be a good thing, but is it practicable ? Does it fall within the design of Congress in making the appropriation ? Does it accord with the views of our people, or the spirit of the age in which we live? The undersigned confidently believe that all these questions must be answered in the negative.
The next and last letter from which any extract will be given is that of the Hon. Erastus Hopkins,of Northampton, Mass. Something of his views may be seen from the following extracts. He says:
"It is therefore vain to suppose that an institution can be established for instruction in the mechanical arts or in agricul- ture, to which large numbers may go, and in any reasonable time be turned out accomplished farmers or skillful artisans. The advantages of such an institution will be found to consist in set- ting apart a corps of able and proficient men in the various departments of science connected with and subservient to the great agricultural, manufacturing and mechanical interests of a people furnishing them (the instructors) with all the means and appliances requisite for prosecuting scientific researches and experiments in their respective departments of knowledge. The masses have but little time or opportunity and less tact at such
Petition to the Legislature 613
investigations, and almost no means at their disposal, for such costly experiments and investigations. Farmers will ever con- tinue as in times past, to be educated on farms, and mechanics must ever continue to serve their apprenticeships in work shops. Science may hand over to them such beneficial results as may have been submitted to practical tests and reduced to practical use."
Here, at last, we have the idea unequivocally expressed that such an institution of learning as Mr. Hopkins contemplates, is designed rather for the benefit of the instructor than of the. instructed. He would make of it a great seat of learning, where scientific men might pursue their investigations, and from thence send forth the results they achieve, to enlighten and bless man- kind. He is hopeless of any attempt at the direct elevation of the industrial classes. They are to benefit by science, only at second hand, and at vast distances as does the world at large by the dis- coveries of Watts, and the invention of the magnetic telegraph. Here, again, we ask, is all this in accordance with the spirit of the age? Substantially the same plan recommended by President Hill, and endorsed by Mr. Hopkins, was approved by Gov. An- drews, of Massachusetts, and submitted by him in his message to the Legislature of that State, when the question of disposing of the Congressional appropriation came before it. The Legisla- ture differed with the Governor in opinion, and gave, as already stated, a portion of the grant to the endowment of an agricultural school, and transferred the balance to the Boston Institute of Technology.
It were, perhaps, to be wished that in any great community like that of the State of Illinois some institution might exist like that contemplated by President Hill and Mr. Hopkins. But it is in accordance not only with the spirit of our institutions but to the sense of justice of our people, to look first and foremost to the direct wants of the individual. We cannot bear to see immense sums lavished in the erection of magnificent edifices and the pur- chase of costly libraries in order that a few men may pursue their scientific investigations while all around them thousands are suf- fering for their daily bread. Our people would not tolerate Louis XIV., the magnificent king, the patron of learning, with his
614
History University of Illinois
million subjects subsisting on black bread and a morsel of cheese. On the contrary, we think the many may be directly reached, individually taught, and placed on a higher and nobler plane in the scale of humanity and of enlightened society.
All about us, manufacturers and employers of mechanical labor, in general, are complaining of the gross want of skill in their professions, of a great number of those whom they employ. Can nothing be done to remedy the defect ? We think there can be, and it is this class that the undersigned propose to reach by the institution which they ask your Honorable Body to establish.
So of the farmer. His sons can read and write, in fact pos- sess a good common school education. Can nothing be done still farther to qualify them for the most useful pursuits of agricul- ture ? We think there can; be. Congress evidently thought that both the agriculturalist and mechanic might be individually reached, educated and elevated, and themselves and the State thereby benefited, and it is with this view that the undersigned now ask your Honorable Body to establish, in Chicago, a distinct institution in which whatever pertains to the mechanic arts may be taught. They desire it not as citizens of Chicago, nor because it will especially benefit that place, but because they firmly believe it will be most for the interests of the class of mechanics through- out the State.
They entertain no jealousy towards any other locality, and they have none but feelings of the utmost respect and kindness towards the friends of agriculture. But let it be recollected that whatever benefits the mechanic, benefits the farmer. With more mechanical skill, the farmer gets a better machine or implement, and at a lower price. With the advance of knowledge, compe- tition increases, more and better labor is performed, in the same time, and there is also a greater consumption, because more use for the products of the soil. So, on the other hand, the prosper- ity of the farmer conduces to the wealth of the manufacturer and mechanic. With success in agriculture, more and better imple- ments are in demand, and as the farmer 's means increase, so will his wants be multiplied; let there be, then, no rivalry between him and the mechanic. Their true interests are inseparable — neither can suffer without also occasioning injury to the other.
Petition to the Legislature
615
Entertaining these views, the undersigned respectfully ask your Honorable Body to give effect to the opinion herein expressed, if, in your discretion, it shall seem meet, and to that end to pass a law establishing an institution for instruction in the mechanic arts at Chicago, to carry out, in part, the provision of the Act of Congress of July 2d, 1862.
And the undersigned, your petitioners will ever pray, etc. MYRON C. PARSONS,] IRA Y. MUNN, L Committee.
THOS. W. BAXTER, J CHICAGO, Jan. 28th, 1865.
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618
History of fhe University of Illinois
DOCUMENT NUMBER 29
The Land Grant Colleges By courtesy of Benjamin F. Andrews
|
Name of Institutiou |
Agr. Col- lege sepa- rate from State Univ. One State [nstitution |
Date of organization of the institution |
Date of opening of the institution to students |
Date of receipt of 1862 land grant fund. |
|
Alabama Polytechnic Institute |
x Un. Un |
Feb. 13, 1872 1885 |
Mch. 1872 Oct 1891 |
Feb. 1872 Jun 1910 |
|
University of Arkansas University of California .... |
Un. Un |
Mch. 27, 1871 Mch 23 1868 |
Jan. 22, 1872 Sept 23 1869 |
Mch. 27, 1871 Mch 23 1868 |
|
Colorado Agricultural College Connecticut Agricultural Col- |
X Col |
Feb. 11, 1870 Apr 6 1881 |
Sept. 1, 1879 Sept 28 1881 |
Jan. 27, 1879 Apr 21 1893 |
|
Col |
Feb 5 1833 |
May 1834 |
Mch 14 1867 |
|
|
University of Florida University of Georgia (1) .... University of Idaho |
Un. Un. Un. |
1870 Dec. 12, 1866 Jan 1889 |
Oc*. 1<, 1884 May 1, 1872 Oct 3 1892 |
1870 Dec. 12, 1866 1892 |
|
Un |
Feb 28 1867 |
Mch 2 1868 |
Feb 28 1867 |
|
|
Purdue University, Indiana. . Iowa State College of A. & M. Arts |
X x |
May 6, 1869 1858 |
Sept. 16, 1874 (2) 1859 |
May 6, 1869 Sept. 11, 1862 |
|
Kansas State Agricultural Col- lege ( 3 ) |
x |
Feb 16 1863 |
Feb 16, 1863 |
Feb 16, 1863 |
|
State University of Kentucky Kentucky Normal and Ind. Inst (Colored) |
Un. |
1878 May 18 1886 |
1879 Oct 11 1887 |
1865 May 21, 1897 |
|
Louisiana State Un. & Ag. & Mech College |
Un |
Apr 7 1874 |
Nov 16 1874 |
Apr 7, 1874 |
|
University of Maine |
Un |
Feb 25 1865 |
Sept 14 1868 |
Feb. 25, 1865 |
|
Maryland Agricultural College Massachusetts Inst. of Tech- |
Col. (4) |
1856 Apr 10 1861 |
Fall of 1859 Oct 21 1865 |
1864 Apr. 27, 1863 |
|
Massachusetts Agricultural College |
(4) |
Apr 24 1863 |
Oct 2, 1867 |
Apr. 27, 1863 |
|
Michigan Agricultural School University of Minnesota |
x Un. |
Feb. 12, 1855 Feb 19, 1851 |
May 13, 1857 Nov. 26, 1851 |
Feb. 25, 1863 Feb. 18, 1868 |
|
Mississippi Agricultural and Mech. College Alcorn A. & M. College (Col- |
x |
Feb. 28, 1878 May 13 1871 |
1880 1871 |
Feb. 28, 1878 May 13, 1871 |
|
University of Missouri Montana State College of A. & M Arts |
Un. x |
Feb. 11, 1839 Feb Ib, 1893 |
Apr. 14, 1841 Sept 15, 1893 |
Feb. 24, 1870 Feb. 16, 1893 |
|
University of Nebraska |
Un. |
Feb. 15, 1869 |
Sept. 7, 1871 |
1873 |
|
Un |
Mch 7 1873 |
Oct 12, 1874 |
Mch. 7, 1873 |
|
|
New Hampshire College of A. & M Arts |
Col. |
Jun. 7, 1866 |
Sept. 4, 1868 |
Jun. 7, 1866 |
|
Rutgers College, New Jersey (5) |
Col. |
Nov 10, 1766 |
Mch. 21, 1863 |
|
|
New Mexico College of A. & M Arts |
x |
Feb. 28, 1889 |
Mch. 10, 1890 |
Feb. 28, 1889 |
|
Cornell University, New York (6) |
Un. |
Apr. 27, 1865 |
Oct. 7, 1868 |
Apr. 27, 1865 |
|
North Carolina College of A & M Arts |
x |
1887 |
Oct. 1889 |
1887 |
|
North Dakota Agricultural College |
x |
Mch. 9, 1890 |
Sept. 8, 1891 |
Mch. 9, 1890 |
|
Ohio State University (7) .... |
Un. |
Mch. 22, 1870 |
Sept. 7, 1873 |
Mch. 22, 1870 |
(1) — Georgia State College of Agriculture.
(2)— School opened in 1859, college on March 17, 1869.
(3) — Bluemont Central College opened in May, 1860.
(4) — Massachusetts maintains one state Agricultural college and aids the Mass. Institute of Technology, a private foundation, Harvard University, also a private corporation, takes the place of a State University.
(5) — Butgers College is a private corporation but is aided by the state and is the official State College of Agriculture.
(6) — While Cornell University is a private corporation the state aids in its support and management and it is therefore considered as New York State's land grant university.
Tlie Land Grant Colleges
619
The Land Grant Colleges (Continued)
|
Name of Institution |
Agr. Col. lege sepa- rate from State Univ. One State Institution |
Date of organization of the institution |
Date of opening of the institution to students |
Date of receipt of 1862 land grant fund. |
|
Oklahoma Agricultural and |
||||
|
Oregon Agricultural College (8) |
Feb 11 1865 |
1865 |
1870 |
|
|
Pennsylvania State College . . . Rhode Island State College. . . Clemson College, South Caro- lina |
Col. Col. |
Feb. 22, 1855 Mch. 23, 1888 Nov 1889 |
Feb. 20, 1859 Sept. 23, 1890 Tulv 18Q3 |
Feb. 19, 1867 May 19, 1892 Nov 1889 |
|
Colored Nor. Ag. and Ind. College, S. C |
1896 |
1896 |
||
|
S. Dakota State College of A. & M. Arts |
x |
1881 |
Sept 24 1884 |
Oct 1 1889 |
|
University of Tennessee Agricultural and Mechanical Col. of Texas |
Un. x |
Sept. 10, 1794 Apr 17. 1871 |
Oct 4, 1876 |
Feb. 1, 1868 Apr 17, 1871 |
|
Agricultural College of Utah . . University of Vermont |
X Un |
Mch. 8, 1888 Nov 2 1791 |
Sept. 1890 1801 |
Mch. 8, 1888 Nov 9 1865 |
|
Virginia A. & M. College of Polytech. Inst |
x |
Mch 19 1872 |
Fall of 1872 |
Mch 19, 1872 |
|
Hampton Normal and Agri- cultural Inst (Col) |
Jun 4 1870 |
April 1868 |
Mch 19, 1872 |
|
|
State College of Washington. . West Virginia University University of Wisconsin University of Wyoming |
X Un. Un. Un. |
Mch. 28, 1890 Feb. 7, 1867 July 26, 1848 Mch. 4, 1886 |
Jan. 13, 1892 1868 Feb. 1850 Fall of 1887 |
Mch. 28, 1890 Feb. 7, 1867 Apr. 12, 1866 1889 |
(7) — Ohio State University is the officially recognized State University and includes the college of agriculture. Ohio also has created two other State Institutions, Miami University and Ohio University, and aids them with state funds.
(8) — Corvallis College, opened in 1865, became Oregon Agricultural College in 1885.
Index
62i
INDEX
Abbott, E., 78.
Adams, August, 34.
Addams, J. H., 208.
Adelphic literary society organized, 318-19; picture of (1870) fac- ing p. 314.
Agricultural conventions, see Con- ventions.
Agricultural education, see Edu- cation, Agricultural.
Agricultural societies, see Socie- ties, agricultural.
Agriculture, instruction in, 5; be- ginnings of, 3; need of, 21; Maryland, 118-19; Massachu- setts, 7-8; Michigan, 9; Yale, 6.
Alethanai society, picture of (1870), facing p. 327.
Alexander, Harmon, 173.
Allen, Lemuel, 338-39 ; portrait of, facing p. 345.
Alton, 67.
ALTON TELEGRAPH, 67.
Ames, Dr., 381.
Amherst College, 8.
Angle, C. W., 465.
Arney, W. F. M., 75, 81, 111, 169. >.Ai£, 314-15.
Atherton, George Washington, 288, 307, 349; portrait of, facing p. 346.
Aurora, 73.
Austen, J. L., 465.
Ayres, Mrs., offer of, 243.
Ay res, A. M., 465.
Babcock, John E., 197, 198, 199,
202, 203, 204, 213, 268, 458. Bailey, A. H., 203, 206, 481. Baker, Ira Osborn, portrait and
biographical note, facing p.
335. Baker, William Melville, 288, 322,
332, 354. Baldwin, Elmer, 323.
Ballance, Mr., 50. Barber, E., 254. Barland, A. M., 323. Barrett, W. C., 465. Bateman, Newton, 84, 85, 173, 192, 282, 338; address at inaugura- tion of university, 299-303; biographical sketch, 339; por- trait of, facing p. 338. Beasley, A. H., 465. Beasley, J. S., 465. Beasley, W. W., 465. Belangee, James, 325, 332, 355. Bell, Victor, 78. Belvidere, 73, 74. Bennett, J. D., 465. Berdan, Judge, 192. Berger, G. I., 181, 470. Bernstein, S., 465. Biddle, William, 465. Bidwell, E. C., 89. Blackburn, Alexander, 338, 339-40 ;
portrait of, facing p. 338. Blakeman, Curtis, 173. Blanchard, J., 12, 223, 226-8. Bliss, Willard Flagg, 320, 321, 322,
332, 353.
Bloomfield, I. J., 254. Bloomington, 246, 259; Convention at (1853), 75; Convention at (1860), 117-122; Convention at (1865), 219-222; reprint of report of Cham- paign Co. to, 481-84; Convention at (1870), 332-6. see also Morgan County. Bond, Mr., 263. Bonfield, Thomas, 278. Botany class, first, picture of, fac- ing p. 324.
Bradner, George, 254. Brayman, Mason, 282, 289, 338,
340; portrait facing p. 345. Brayman manuscripts, reprints of,
579-83.
Brawley, F. W. S., 74. Brewer, William H. and the origin
of the land grant act, 96. Briggs, George N., 8. Bromby, Prof., 288, 293.
Index
Bross, Lieutenant-Governor^ 217, 247.
Brown, Judge, 237.
Brown, Alexander Montgomery, 278, 338, 341.
Brown, E, L., 338.
Brown, James N., 66, 117, 181, 469.
Brown, William, 236.
Bryan, John, 50, 465.
Bryant, Arthur, 333.
Bryant, John H., 219.
Bryant, O. W., 208.
Buchanan, President and the veto of the land grant bill, 111-16.
Buchanan, Walter, 173.
Buel Institute, 15, 80-1, 149, 150, 152, 239, 240; list of organi- zers of, facing p. 16.
BUFFALO PATRIOT, 38.
Bullock, Leonard Loring, 16, 29, 50, 55, 172, 380, 405; bio- graphical sketch, 149-50; por- trait, facing p. 149.
Bunn, John W., 276.
Burchard, Horatio C., 338, 340.
Burrill, Thomas Jonathan, 305, 322, 324, 332; biographical sketch, 349-51; portraits, fac- ing pp. 324, 350.
Burroughs, John Curtiss, 181, 223, 296, 338, 469; biographical sketch, 340-1.
B'urt, Jesse, 465.
Busey, J. C., 206, 216.
Bushnell, W., 208, 247.
Calvert, 0. B., 116-7.
Campbell, A., 465.
Campbell, L. D., 39.
Campus, picture of, facing p. 281.
Capen, L. W., 254.
Carbondale, normal school at, 164.
Carlinville, 67.
Carriel, Mrs. Mary, 95.
Casey, Zadoc, 165, 173.
Cartwright, Peter, 165.
Gary, F. G., 77, 88, 99, 110, 115, 136.
CENTRAL ILLINOIS TIMES, 54.
Champaign, 191. see also Urbana.
Champaign county, 216-7, 241, 256-7, 259, 481-4; votes to buy institute, 214 ; contest over lo- cation of university, 205-8, 212-13, 242, 247, 260-3, 485-6;
secures location of university, 264, cost of buildings, 268-70.
' ' Champaign elephant, " 266-7, 484, 506-14, see also Urbana- Champaign Institute.
"Champaign King," 265, 266-7, 493-504, 515-22.
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY DEMOCRAT. 462-5.
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY UNION AND GAZETTE, 215, 265.
CHAMPAIGN GAZETTE, 212.
Chandler, Mr., 5.
Chandler, Thompson, 472.
Chandlersville, 132.
Chase, C. T., 117.
Chemistry, importance of, 2-3.
Cheney, W. H., 246, 488.
Chicago, 67, 68-72; report to Me- chanics of, 477-80 ; petition of Mechanics, 599-615; state fair, 83; university of, 120-1.
CHICAGO JOURNAL, 68, 215.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 228.
CHICAGO WEEKLY TIMES, 117-8.
Chicago and Alton offer, 255, 257.
Childs, S. D., 69.
Clark, J. G., 465.
Clark, John A., 76.
Clay, Cassius M., 109-10, 132.
Cloud, Newton, 166.
Cobb, Kepresentative, opposed to Morrill Bill, 107-8.
Cobb, Emery, 338, 341; portrait, facing p. 338.
Co-education at Illinois industrial university, 43, 319-20, 327.
Cohnan, Col., 323.
Cohns, Mr., 247.
Cohrs, Jno. B., 208.
Coler, W. N., 206, 465.
College presidents, meeting of, 222-5.
College and seminary funds, 40, 50, 61, 69-71, 86, 171; history of, 162-4.
Colleges, state aid for, 222-39.
Columbia, Carter F., 199, 202, 458, 465, 466.
Concordia Theological Seminary, 169.
Condit, A. B., 206.
Conkey, W. A., 206.
Conklin, Asa, 465.
Conklin, J. C., 219.
Connecticut, indifference to agri- cultural education, 6.
Conrad, Judge, 39.
Index
623
Conventions, 50-1.
Bloomington (1860), meeting of the fifth industrial conven- tion, 50, 117-22; (1865), 481-4.
Chicago (1852), meeting of third industrial convention, 39, 43, 58, 404-5; leaders, 44; small colleges excluded, 40. Granville (1851), meeting of first industrial convention, 15, 211; addressed by J. B. Turner, 18-20 ; importance of, 25; proceedings pub- lished, 37-8; reprint of pro- ceedings, 378-82; resolu- tions, 15-6.
Springfield (1852), meeting of second industrial conven- tion, 30-7; committee on memorial to legislature, 34; memorial to legislature, 400- 404; importance of, 37; of- ficers, 32; plan of Prof. Evans, 427-9 (reprint). Springfield (1853) meeting of fourth industrial conven- tion, 47-50, 405; memorial to Congress, 49, 52, 431-2; memorial to legislature, 51- 2, 406-10.
Springfield (1855), meeting, 81. Springfield (1863), meeting of the sixth industrial conven- tion, 181-2 ; memorial to leg- islature, 473-4; proceedings, 469-72.
Springfield (1864), meeting of eighth industrial convention, resolutions of, 475-6.
Cook, Mr., 51, 193, 210.
Corbett, W. W., 181, 469.
Cornell, Ezra, 218, 237, 280, 335.
Cornell University, 218.
Corwin, Mr., 243-4.
Cosgrove, T. A., 213, 216, 486.
COURIER, (Alton), 67.
Cress, Absolom, 168.
Cullom, Shelby M., 299, 468.
CULTIVATOR, (Albany, N. Y.), 37.
Cunningham, J. O., 216, 338, 342, 465 ; portrait, facing p. 345.
Custer, George, 465.
Cutcheon, L. M., 465.
Cutcheon, O. M., 465.
Cutler, Manasseh, 157, 158.
DAILY DEMOCRAT, (Chicago), 68.
DAILY PRESS, (Peoria), 72.
DAILY TRIBUNE, (Chicago), 68.
Danville, 80.
DANVILLE COMMERCIAL, 215.
David, John, 44.
Davis, Judge, 249.
Davis, James, 169.
Davis, John, 44, 63, 381.
Davis, S. J., 333.
Deer, J., 69.
DEMOCRATIC PRESS, (Chicago), 68; opposed to industrial educa- tion, 69.
Denio, C. B., 50, 53, 83, 120.
Detmers, H. J., 326.
Detroit, land district of, 159.
Devore, Isaac, 261.
Dickey, Judge, 74.
Dickinson, Lieutenant-Governor, 4.
Dikeman, George H., 208.
Dix, Dorothy, 134.
Dixon, N., 488.
Dougherty, John, 381.
Douglas, Henry Marshall, 325, 332, 354-5.
Douglas, Eobert, 342-3.
Douglas, Stephen A., 39, 62, 90, 93, 122; death of, 123.
Downing, A. J., 38, 145.
Downing, Charles, 145.
Dudley, Williamson, 239.
Dummer, Judge, 192.
Duncan, Governor, 165.
Duncan, W. B., 254.
Dunlap, Matthias Lane, 206, 216, 274, 291-97, 323, 338, 342; portrait, facing p. 345.
Dunn, E. C., 208.
Dychus, Mr., 49.
E
East Bend, 261.
Eastman, Francis E., 187, 245.
Eberhart, John, 329.
Eddy, Mr., 246.
Education, agricultural, see Edu- cation, industrial.
Education, industrial, 1, 3, 77, 87, 102 ; interest in, 38, 52-3 ; need of, 2, 18, 19, 23, 133; impor- tance of experiments in, 22; reasons for failure in, 20, 121 ; industrial vs. classical, 3, 22, 44-5, 94, 134, 294-5, 317-8;
624
Index
land grants for, 1, 2, 23, 156-8, 439-57; Illinois, 81, 164^169- 77; favored by Mechanics In- stitute, 69; Illinois plan be- fore Congress, 92-114; Illinois bills to establish university, 525-62; Iowa, 116, 120; Mary- land, 118-9; Massachusetts, 119; Michigan, 119-20, 134; New York, 7, 119, 134; Penn- sylvania, 119; plans for " IN- DUSTRIAL UNIVERSITIES FOR THE PEOPLE." (J. B. Turner), 365-77; "PLAN FOR AN INDUS- TRIAL UNIVERSITY FOR THE
STATE OF ILLINOIS." (J. B. Turner), 382-400; John L vans' plan, 427-9.
Edwards, Cyrus, 181, 187, 469.
Edwards, Ninian W., 76, 83, 148.
Edwards, Samuel, 323, 338, 343.
Edwardsville, 67, 68.
Egan, Dr., 237.
Eggleston, Edward, 320.
Elgin, 67, 72, 73.
Ellsworth, Lewis, 333, 472.
Emery, Henry D., 472.
Emmons, Ebenezer, opinion of, 11.
English, Dr., 181, 470.
Enock, A. I., 259.
Enos family, 168.
Epler, 262, 263.
Espey, W. W., 465.
Evangelical Lutheran synod, theo- logical seminary of, see Con- cordia Theological Seminary; Lutheran church.
Evans, John, plan of, opposed to Turner, 33; "Plan for an in- dustrial universtiy, " 427-9.
Evarts, W. W., 139.
Everett, J. T., 202, 466.
Everetts, W. W., 187.
F
Farms, experimental, 5, 7.
Farmer's College, (Macoupin Co.), bill to incorporate, 166-7.
Farmer's college (Ohio), 30. see also Gary, F. G.
Farmer's conventions, see Conven- tions.
Fayette County, 159, 160.
Fell, Kersey H., 187, 191.
Fell, Jesse W., 73, 75, 151, 191, 248, 249, 254, 259, 329-30, 488;
biographical sketch, 152-3;
portrait, facing p. 149. Fillmo're, B. F., 465. Fish, Hamilton, 7. Flagg, Willard Cutting, 276, 282,
323, 338, 343, 472; portrait,
facing p. 345. Flynn, G. W., 465. Fort, Mr., 264. Foster, Suel, 116, 228-9. Francis, Simeon, 79, 86, 1(59. Franks, Thomas, 321, 332. Freeman, H. C., 322. Freeport, 73, 76. FREE WEST (Chicago), 68, 71. French, Governor, 411. French, Augustus C., 49, 52, 169. French, D. P., 174. Fuller, Mr., 192, 245, 246.
Gage, John, 44, 169, 404, 425.
Gaillard, Mr., 263.
Galena JEFFERSONIAN, 26-7.
Galusha, Orson Bingham, 219, 221, 276, 323, 338, 343, 476; por- trait, facing p. 346.
Gardner, Daniel, 216, 481.
Gate, John, 81.
Gates, P. W., 191.
Geneseo, 73.
Geology, importance of, 2.
Giddings, Mr., 62.
Gilmer, Mr., 379.
Goltra, Moore C., 338, 343; por- trait, facing p. 338.
Gooding, William, 405.
Graff, P., 69.
Granville Convention (1851), 211; address by J. B. Turner, 18- 20; importance of, 25; pro- ceedings published, 37-38; re- print of proceedings, 378-82; resolutions, 15-16. see also Conventions.
Granville church, facing p. 16.
"Granville plan," 37, 43, 44, 46-7.
Gray, C. M., 68.
Gray, John W., 48, 49.
Greble, John, 379.
Greeley, Horace, 54-5.
Green, D. K., 208, 263.
Green, Ed. A., 465.
Gregg, David L., 49, 169, 381, 411.
Gregory, John Milton, 272, 282,
^288, 291-97, 303-4, 309, 310,
314, 318, 322, 323-4, 327, 332;
Index
625
biographical sketch of, 348-9; collection of casts, 315; elected regent 274-76; portrait, fac- ing p. 350.
Gridley, A., 254, 488.
Gridley, H., 248.
Grieg, John, 4.
Griggs, C. R., 188, 206, 213, 216, 242, 243, 244, 246, 261, 262, 264, 270, 272, 481; biograph- ical sketch of, 346; portrait, facing p. 345; influence in lo- cation of the university, 515- 22.
Griggsville, 17.
Hay, A. D., 175.
Hacker, William A., 173.
Hammond, David S., 338, 344.
Hansen, George P., 69. .
Harding, George, 338, 344.
Harlan, Mr., 124, 125.
Harnit, Mr., 262.
Harris, Judge, 187.
Harris, Benjamin F., 202, 465,
466; biographical note, and
portrait, facing p. 346. Haskell, George, 44. Harvard, 9, 14.
Harvey, George, 197, 199, 268, 458. Hayes, Samuel Snowden, 282, 338,
344.
Helberstadt, Mr., 216. Henry, 111., 73. Henry, A. G., 77. Hillsboro, 167.
Hise, John, 34, 378, 379, 38,0, 381. Hitchcock, Edward, 9. Hodgerson, Mr., 197, 198-9. Hodges, L., 465. Holman, Mr., 123, 126. Holmes, J. C., 9. Homer, 111., 261. Hopkins, W. T., 208. Horticultural Society, see State
Horticultural Society. Horticulture, 21, 119, 310, 322. HORTICULTURIST, 38. Hovey, L. A., 254, 488. Hubbard, T. S., 465. Hull, E. S., 323. Himgate, J. P., 338, 344. Husman, George, 323.
Hunt, Charles A., 198, 201, 203, 465; biographical note ana portrait, facing p. 201.
Hunter, A. J., 208.
lies, Elijah, 381. Illinois,
Colleges, Illinois college, 165; Illinois agricultural college, 191, history of, 161, 164, 173-77; Illinois industrial college, 193; Northern Illi- nois agricultural college, 57, 171-72; see also Knox, Mc- Kendree, Normal, Shurtleff. Education, industrial, 62; inter- est in, 11; opposed, 27-8; plan before U. S. Congress, 92-114. Land grant and seminary funds,
34-7, 159-64, 178-210.
Legislature, memorials to, 34-7,
411-12; resolutions, 53-4;
press opinions, 54-5; bills to
establish university, 525-62.
Illinois Industrial Conventions, see
Conventions.
Illinois Industrial League, 43, 49, 56-8, 78, 81, 425-6; certificate of membership, 63, 67, 93, de- sign on, facing p. 16; official organ of, 79 ; work of, 98-100 ; controversy over management of Jacksonville hospital for insane, 65; publishes " Indus- trial universities for the peo- ple," 64; Turner, a traveling lecturer, 66-73. Illinois Industrial university, 16,
69-71, 82, 84, 166; Location, contest over, 164-77, 179-264; reports of commit- tees, 255-59, 492-505; Cham- paign county, 206-8, 462-65, 485-86, 515-22 ; Chicago, 599-615; Logan county, 489- 91; McLean county, 486-88; Morgan county, 564-78 ; Springfield, 165. Organization of, 272-307; opens, 298; tuition, 327; degrees, 287-8; motto, 298; laws re-
farding, 588-98 ; charter, 60 ; rst appropriation bill, 311- 12 (reprint) ; seminary con- tract (reprint) 458-61.
Index
Trustees, board of, 288, 2^8 ; act to incorporate, 81; meet- ings 272-74, 276-77, 324; resolutions of, 278-9, 579- 83; biographical sketches 338-47; portraits, facing pp. 338, 345.
Faculty, 305-6, 320, 325, 332; biographical sketches, 348- 55, portraits, facing pp. 346, 350.
Instruction, course of, 282-7; lec- tures, 322, 323; library, 288, 293; military science, 289- 91, 307, 319, 327; veterin- ary science, 326.
Campus and buildings, 281; pic- tures, facing pp. 208, 308. Student life, 308-337; co-educa- tion, 319-20.
Illinois state agricultural society, 15, 48, 49, 81, 117, 211; organ- ized, 50; incorporated, 55; first fair, 55. Illinois state horticultural society,
117, 211, 310, 331-2. Illinois state teachers' association,
75, 83-7. Illinois state normal university, 86,
87.
Illinois state university, 57, 167-9. ILLINOIS DAILY JOURNAL, 54, 66. ILLINOIS FARMER, 116, 120. ILLINOIS JOURNAL, 27-8, 38, 41-3,
48, 71, 79.
ILLINOIS STATE EEGISTER, 38, 82. ILLINOIS STATESMAN, 132. ILLINOIS TEACHER, 75. ILLINOIS WEEKLY JOURNAL, 27-8. Indiana Territory, 159. Industrial conventions, see Conven- tions.
Industrial education, see Educa- tion, industrial.
*' Industrial university of the state of Illinois," bill to incorpo- rate, 169-70. "Industrial universities for the
people," reprint of, 365-77. Ingersoll, J. E., 465. Insley, John, 202, 465, 466. Iowa, agricultural colleges in, 24. Ives, A. B., 248. Irvington 173, 191.
Jacksonville, 192; as a location of the industrial university, 40-1 42, 237, 243, 246, 263; cholera at, 131; hospital for insane, controversy over management of, 65, 134; institute for the deaf and dumb, 164. see also Morgan County.
JACKSONVILLE CONSTITUTIONIST, 81, 82.
JACKSONVILLE JOURNAL, 226; re- print of report of committee on location of industrial uni- versity, 492-505.
James, Edmund Janes, and the origin of the land grant act, 94; portrait, frontispiece.
Jaquith, J. W., 465.
Jerseyville, Turner at, 67.
Johns, H. C., 81, 169.
Johnson, John Stephen, 338, 344.
Joliet SIGNAL, 26.
Judd, Mr., 62.
Kaskaskia, land district of, 159.
Kelly, J. F., 465.
Kenis, Mr., 315.
Kennicott, John A., 29, 31, 32, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 55, 60, 76, 78, 79, 81, 88, 90, 94, 98, 99, 100, 135, 146, 169, 180, 181, 405, 438, 469-70; biographical sketch, 144-46; portrait, fac- ing p. 144.
Kile, William, 184, 472.
King, John A., 4, 7.
Kirkpatrick, J. C., 465.
Knox College, 180, 184.
Lacon, 111., 73.
Lancaster, L., 465.
Land, grant of, for education, his- tory of, 1, 156-8, 161-3; for colleges, 51, 87, 89, 90, 91, 115- 127; petitions to Congress for, 439-57; statistics of, 616-19: J. S. Morrill and, 523-4; J. B. Turner and, 25; Horace Gree- ley on, 55; Lyman Trumbull on, 93: bill (1857), history of, 92-114; vetoed, 111; bill
Index
627
(1862), 2, 123-7, 137, 584-88;
passed, 2, 126; Illinois laws
for, 588-98. Lane, Senator, 124. LaSalle, 73. LaSalle STANDARD, 26. Lawrence, C. B., 187, 299. Lawrence, Luther W., 181, 338,
344-5, 469, 470, 472; portrait,
facing p. 338. Leach, Mr., 85. Lee, Daniel, 6, 14, 39. Lincoln, Abraham, 2, 122, 136-7,
142, 168; signs land grant
act, 2, 126.
Lincoln, 111., offer of, 255, 263. Lindley, M., 465.
Little, J. T., 32, 34, 169, 404, 425. Lockport, 73. Lofflin, Mr., 382. Logan, John A., 299. Logan County, 241, 254-5, 257-8,
263, 489-91.
Luckey, Rev. Samuel, plan of, 5. Lutheran church, sale of property
of ' ' Illinois State university, ' '
168-9. Lumsden, George L., 33, 49, 50,
60, 61-3, 83, 169-70, 171, 430.
M
Mack, Mr., 247, 264.
McArthur, E., 69.
McBurney, James, 50.
McChesney, Mr., 120.
MeClun, John E., 254.
MeConnell, A. B'., 188, 192, 193, 246, 247, 261, 264, 338, 476, portrait, facing p. 345.
MeConnell, James, 381.
McCurdy, N. M., 191, 472.
McFarland, Dr., 237.
McKendree college, 165.
McLain, Judge, 88.
McLean county, 241, 246, 247-54, 257, 259, 263, 264, 280; as a location for the university, 486-88 ; offer of, 249-54, see also Bloomington.
McLean county industrial league, 73.
McMasters, A. R., 219.
MeMurray, L. B., 338, 345.
Macoupin county, 166-7.
MACOUPIN STATESMAN, 82.
Magoun, George F., 77.
Mahan, Isaac Sanders, 277, 338, 345, portrait, facing p. 338.
Marshall, S. S., 299.
Martin, Nobel, 69.
Martin, W., 221.
Maryland agricultural college, 118-9.
Mason, A. C., 178, 179, 472.
Massachusetts, 7, 8, 9.
Mather, John, 465.
Matteson, Joel A., 54, 76, 169.
Mechanics institute of Chicago, fa- vors industrial education, 69.
Meeker, N. C., 221.
Merriman, A. J., 488.
Michener, Henry, 465.
Michigan, 9, 10.
Military science, instruction, in, 289-91, 3.06, 307, 319, 327.
"The millennium of labor," 65, 135.
Miller, Edmund, 168.
Miller, Henry, 216.
Mills, J., 465.
Mills, Joshua S. W., 239.
Mills, Urial, 81.
Minier, George W., 183, 185, 218, 219.
Minnesota, agricultural college in, 24.
Morgan County, 236-38, 243, 246, 247, 258-9, 263, 264, 564-78. see also Jacksonville.
MORGAN JOURNAL, 27.
Moline, 73.
Morehouse, C. R., 486.
MORNING NEWS (Peoria), 73.
Morrill, Justin Smith, 120, 125, 126, 523-4; and the land grant bill (1857), 94-114; biograph- ical sketch, 153-55; portrait, facing p. 149. see also J. B. Turner.
Morrill tariff act, 154.
Morrill-Turner controversy, 120.
Morse, L. D., 323.
Morton, Marcus, 381.
Morton, Joseph, 32, 236.
MOUNT MORRIS GAZETTE, 40-1; an- swered by ILLINOIS JOURNAL 41-3.
Mulke, J. H., 187.
Munhall, William, 465.
Murray, Bronson, 43, 44, 46, 48, 49, 50, 54, 55, 58, 60, 66, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 98-99, 133, 169,
628
Index
404, 425, 433-4; wife of, }41, 143; biographical sketch of, 138-44; portrait, facing p. 138.
Murtfeldt, Charles D., 476.
Myers, James, 465.
N
Nebiker, Washington, 206.
Nelson, Henry, 202, 466.
Nelson, Joseph, 465.
Newberry, Samuel, 76.
New York, 3, 4, 5, 7.
NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE, 38, 54.
Niccolls, John, 254.
Noble, H., 488.
Norton, J. B., plan of, 6.
Northern Illinois agricultural col- lege, 57, 171-2.
Northern industrial college, 62.
Normal University, 164, 248-54, 263.
Northwest industrial convention, 78, 88.
Ockerson, J. A., 313; portrait, fac- ing p. 314.
Oglesby, Richard J., 189, 217, 244, 246, 273, 274, 282, 299, 345; portrait, facing p. 338.
Ohio, secures land grant, 158-9.
Ohio land company, 156-9.
Okaw bottoms, sale of land in, 159.
Oregon, agricultural college in, 24.
O'Reilly, Henry, 4.
Osage orange, 83, 128-9.
Osman, M., 15, 378, 380.
Ottawa, 73, 74.
OTTAWA FREE TRADER, 47, 64.
Paine, Seth, 44-5, 50.
Park, William, 199, 202, 458, 465,
466.
Parke, George W., 248, 254. Parks, Dr., 216. Parsons, Samuel Holden, 157. Peabody, Selim H., 286. Pearce, Edwin, 465. Peck, Ira L., 405. Pekin, 73. Penfield, John, 202, 466.
Pennell, W. A., 81, 86, 169, 172, 254, 380, 404, 425; biograph- ical sketch, 150-1; portrait, facing p. 149.
Pennington, L. S., 49, 169, 381, 404, 411, 425.
Peoria, 67, 72-3.
PEORIA PRESS, 26, 73.
PEORIA REPUBLICAN, 26, 73.
Pera, 261.
Periam, Jonathan, 288, 320-1, 323.
Peru, 73.
Phelps, W. J., 381.
PHILADELPHIA NORTH AMERICAN, 39.
Philomathean literary society, or- ganized, 318-19; picture, fac- ing p. 319.
Phinney, J. B'., 465.
Phoenix, F. K., 254.
Pickrell, James Henry, 338, 345.
Pierce, W. H.,. 9ipagit|f X,^ ^
Pike county te^cheW^|)8iitute, address by J. B. Turner, 17.
' ' Plan, for an industrial university for the state of Illinois," re- print of address by J. B. Tur- . ner, 382-400.
Pope, Nathaniel, 162.
Porter, Ira, 44.
Post, J. S., 87.
Potter, Mr., 123, 126.
Powell, Elmer, 379.
Powell, John W., 288, 298, 305, 320.
Powell, L., 465.
Powell, W. H., 32, 83, 84, 85.
PRAIRIE FARMER, 11, 14, 28, 29, 37, 54, 78, 83, 99, 145.
Price, F., 488.
Prince, David, 29, 169.
Prince, E. M., 254. .v
Princeton, 111., 73.
Public lands, see Land, grant of.
Pullen, Burden, 338, 345; portrait, facing p. 345.
Pulsifer, Sidney, 378.
Putnam, Rufus, 156, 157.
Putnam County, 172.
Quick, Thomas, 166, 173, 174, 181, 274, 338, 345-6, 469.
R
Rantoul, 261.
Raum, Green B., 299.
Index
629
Rea, James, 274.
Read, Pres., of Shurtleff, 183, 184.
Reasoner, Rev. J. R., 95.
Reddick, William, 15, 378, 379.
Renois, B. C., 173.
Reynolds, John P., 181, 184, 1815, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 218, 240, 316-17, 469, 471, 472, 476; biographical sketch 151- 2; portrait, facing p. 149.
Ricker, Nathan Clifford, biograph- ical note and portrait, facing p. 335.
Riley, G. W., 465.
Robinson, Stillman Williams, 325, 332, 352.
Rockford Fair (1863), resolutions of meeting at, 183.
Rock Island, 73.
Roe, Edward Reynolds, 73, 75, 248, 427.
ographical note and portrait,
facing p. 335.
Romine, William H., 199, 458, 465. Roots, B. G., 181, 188, 191, 193,
470, 472, 476. Rosevelt, W. H., 472. Routt, John L., 254. Russell, John, 169. Rutherford, Reuben C., 58-9, 66,
72-4, 76, 80; biographical
sketch 147-8. Rutledge, William J., 75, 488.
S Sangamon county agricultural so-
ii
Sawyer, McCracken & Co., 175.
Scammon, J. Y., 72.
Scotland, agricultural education in, 5.
Scott, Felix, 471.
Scroggs, John W., 191, 204, 205, 206, 216, 308, 338, 346.
Seminary and College Funds, his- tory of, in Illinois, 156-64.
Seward, Governor, 4, 62.
Seymour, Governor, 62.
Shattuck, Samuel Walker, 307, 320, 332, 351-2; portrait, facing p. 350.
Shaw, Aaron, 381.
Sheldon, J. C., 216, 465, 481.
Shepherd, Charles U., 8. Shepherd, Smiley, 221, 239, 333. Sherfy, C. M., 216, 465. Sherwood, Col., 4. Shields, James, 55, 62. Shurtleff College, 165, 179, 180,
183, 184. Sim, Joseph W., Jr., 199, 202, 458,
466.
Sim, William, 216, 465. Simson, Matthew, 202. Singleton, J. W., 173. " Slush Fund," 265-7. Smith, G. P., 237. Smith, Leander, 208. Smithsonian institute, 20. Snyder, Edward, 307, 320, 323, 332,
353.
Societies, agricultural, Illinois, 10, 11; Michigan, 9; New York, 3, 4, 6, 7.
Somers, W. D., 206, 465, 486. SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR, 39. Springer, J. T., 208. Springfield, 165 ; first state fair at,
55.
Convention (1852), 30-37; me- morial, importance of, 37; officers, 32; reprint of Evans' plan, 427-9; reprint of memorial to legislature, 400-4.
Convention (1853), 48, 405; memorial to Congress, 49, 52, 431-2; memorial to leg- islature, 51-2, 406-10; reso- lutions of, 49-50. Convention (1855), 81. Convention (1863), 181-2; pro- ceedings of, 469-72. Springfield WEEKLY JOURNAL 26,
196.
Starve, Alexander, 169. State fair, Chicago, 83; Spring- field, 55. State horticultural society, 183,
190.
STATE REGISTER, 83, 84, 85. Stephenson county, 73-4. Stevens, B. N., 60, 299. Stewart, H. C., 465. Stipp, James G., 173. Stoughton, Jonathan C., 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 213, 268, 458; biographical note and portrait, facing p. 201.
630
Index
Strain, Mr., 264. A
Strawn, William, 142.
Stryker, J; P., 465.
Stuart, A. P. S., 320, 322, 332,
353-4.
Stuart, John T., 168. Sturtevant, J. M., 84, 187, 225, 238, 239.
T
Taft, Lorado, 314-16.
Tappan, Henry P., 77; favors land
grant colleges, 88, 89. Tenney, Sanborn, 325, 355. Thomas, David, 145. Thomas, John H., 199, 458. Thompson, Alexander, 325. Thompson, C. A., 465. Tice, John H., 323. Tincher, Mr., 193, 243, 245, 246,
247.
Titsworth, A. D., 191, 477-8. Tolono, 261.
Topping, Charles H., 338, 346. Trumbull, Lyman, 92-3, 97-8, 125,
438.
Trustees of the Illinois industrial university, first board of, 338- 47; portraits, facing p. 338, 345.
Tubbs, Henry, 219. Tupper, Benjamin, 156. Turner, Jonathan Baldwin, 15, 32, 34, 49, 76-81, 84-6, 88, 120, 180-1, 184-5, 191-3, 219, 221, 236, 238, 265, 272, 310, 321, 329-30, 333, 335-6, 378-81, 404-5, 425, 469, 471-2, 476. Biographical sketch, 128-38 ; portraits, facing pp. 14, 149; introduces osage or- ange, 83 ; home of, facing p. 128.
Lecturer of Illinois industrial league, 66-73; refuses ap- pointment by Governor Yates, 188; call industrial convention of 1852, 30; re- ceived suggestions for basis of Illinois industrial univer- sity, 435-7.
Plan for an industrial univer- sity, 2, 12-14, 21-4; printed, 37-9; reception of, 17; op- posed, 27-8, 40-1; press opinion of, 26-9, 38-9, 40-2.
Land grant colleges, bill for, 92, 94-114. see also Land, grant of; Morrill, J. S.
Addresses by, 16-20, 55-7, 63-4, 121: " INDUSTRIAL UNIVER- SITIES FOR THE PEOPLE," 16; reprint of, 365-78; ' ' THE MILLENNIUM OF LA- BOR," 65; "PHILOSOPHY OF MONEY" 132; "PLAN FOR AN INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY FOR THE STATE OF ILLI- NOIS," 16; reprint of, 382- 400.
Letters (reprints), 46, 54, 146, 171, 218, 229-36, 430, 433-4.
Memorials by, 50-2. Turner manuscripts, (reprints) 357-62, 430-7, 485-91, 599-615. Turner, Oakes, 15, 34, 378.
Union agricultural society, 10.
UNION AGRICULTURIST AND WEST- ERN PRAIRIE FARMER, 11.
United State agricultural society, 116.
Upper Alton, 67.
Upstone, Mr., 321.
Urbana, 80, 166, 261. see also Champaign.
Urbana-Champaign Institute, 193, 197, 242, 267, 278; incorpo- rated 202; history of, 199-210; proposed sale of, 213-14; re- print of act to incorporate, 466-8.
Urbana, ' ' OUR CONSTITUTION, ' ' 197-8.
Vandalia, 165.
Van Epp, William H., 183, 188,
193, 472, 476.
Van Osdell, John M., 338, 346. Varney, L. B., 465. Veterinary science, 326. Vickroy, Mr., 321, 332. Vincennes, land district of, 159.
W
WABASH VALLEY TIMES, 215. Wade, Mr., 123, 125-6. Wadsworth, James S., 4.
Index
631
Warder, John A., 320, 322, 325,
332, 355.
Warder, Robert, 355. Ware, Ralph, 15, 152, 378, 379,
380 ; portrait, facing p. 149. Washburn, Elihu B., 54, 244. Washington County, 173. Waters, Samuel, 465. Watt, Ahio, 89. Waverly, 132. Webber, T. R., 2.06, 465. Weber, John B., 169. Wentworth, John, 83, 100. Weston, Lewis W., 49, 50, 169, 379. Whitmer, P., 488. Whittlesey J. H., 289, 290. Wight, J. Ambrose, 145. Wike, Scott, 208. Wilder, Marshall P., 8.
Wilkins, Daniel, 254. Wilkinson, Senator, 124. Williams, Joseph R., 9, -98. Williams, R. E., 248. Wilson, Joseph, Jr., 465. Wines, Dr. Fred, 273. Woods, John, 381. Woodworth, A. O., 465. Wright, James S., 199, 202, 458,
465, 466. Wright, John, 78.
Yale, industrial education at, 6, 14. Yates, Richard, 39, 62, 80, 92, 100,
178, 187, 188, 189, 192, 299,
468.
LD Powell, Burt Eardley 2378 The movement for industrial
A3 education and the establishment
1918 of the University 1840-1870
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