STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 195 



establish the college within five 3^ears from the passage of the Act, or 

 we shall forfeit the donation. The next Legislature must take the 

 requisite steps for this purpose, or we lose whatever advantages may be 

 derived from the grant. 



The benefits of the Act of Congress being so questionable and remote, 

 is it the best policy to let the grant relapse by inaction ? or only take 

 such action as shall secure the gift, and wait for further legislation of 

 Congress to make it available? or proceed in earnest to found a college 

 that shall till the conception of Congress and prove a blessing to the 

 State ? 



It seems to me the Legislature will not desire the unpleasant responsi- 

 bility of allowing this grant to be "lost b3Mts failure to take the necessary 

 steps to secure it. The time will come when there will be lands within 

 the State available under this grant; and if not, the grantees of the 

 State may use the scrip in other States, or in the Territories. The 

 peculiar complications of our landed interests dejjending on congres- 

 sional gi'ants would disappear with judicious legislation. The Cieneral 

 Government should act upon the principle that grants of land to the 

 State vested an interest from their date — that the Acts of Congress 

 operated as convej^ances. This would be equitable, and solve the diffi- 

 culty, provided it would also adopt the extensive surveys made by the 

 State officers, to which there can be no valid objection, and then list the 

 lands to the State which the latter has selected and sold, for the benefit 

 of its grantees. 



If the Legislature shall determine that it is not best to forfeit the 

 grant by inaction, such a result may be averted, in my judgment, by the 

 passage of an Act providing for and the organization of a Board of 

 Commissioners for the location and establishment of a college. This 

 Board should have the 2:)ower to fix the location of the college, and be 

 authorized to accept a suitable site. I do .not understand that the 

 requirement that the State shall provide a college in five years involves 

 the necessity that the college shall be in full operation in that time, but 

 simply that such legislative action shall be taken to provide for a college 

 as indicates a purpose to comply with the terms of the gi-ant. By this 

 we shall gain time for enforcing upon the Government proper action for 

 confirming the rights of the State and its grantees in the public lands, 

 and for making this grant productive for the purpose intended. 



Is it the best plan to actually establish a college, realizing as far as 

 possible the requirements of the Act of Congress, at the expense of the 

 State? I think so, for the benefits of such an institution wnll amply 

 repay the cost; but the State should understand the duty it assumes, 

 and the necessity of making continuousl}^ the requisite appropriations. 

 The interest of the Seminary Fund can be api^lied to this purpose, but 

 there must be liberal appropriations for the erection of the necessary 

 buildings, the preparation of an ex]3eriniental farm, and the employment 

 of competent professors. As the State is able to give title to the lamLs 

 donated by Congress for the purpose of such a college, a fund will be 

 created, and the interest of that fund will lighten the burden. Pi'ivate 

 donatiops and bequests will gradually create an endowment for the col- 

 lege, until it becomes independent of State aid. The great universities 

 of the East have risen from small beginnings until their property is 

 valued by millions. We may lay the foundation of a great university 

 now, and do much toward securing for it a useful and pow^erful future. 

 But to realize the great needs of this Pacific empire in this respect will 

 take long years of labor and ])atient waiting. We may expect much 



