120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Starting with that act, or starting with the acceptance by 

 our legislature of the annual income provided by that act, we 

 have stood no longer as a private enterprise, or as an in- 

 stitution peculiar to our State, but we commenced then and 

 stand today in a certain sense a national institution, one whose 

 interests are expanded beyond the borders of our State. And, 

 more than that, we stand to a certain degree independent of 

 the vacillating suffrages of some of our somewhat inconstant 

 friends. 



That the wisdom of founding the land-grant colleges was 

 great, and that the money has been well expended, we have 

 proof, you know, in the fact that in 1887 there was passed an 

 act founding the agricultural experiment stations of this 

 country. There was a proof that the experiment in agri- 

 cultural education had proved to be wise in the judgment of 

 Congress. And we as colleges have still further national 

 assistance. On August 30, 1890, an act was passed by 

 Congress appropriating to each State a fixed sum. The 

 annual appropriation at first was to be $15,000, and that was 

 to be increased at the rate of $1,000 a year until it reached 

 the amount of $25,000. Last September, if I remember the 

 date, we received $25,000 in one lump from the national 

 government to be applied to instruction in the Connecticut 

 Agricultural College. We also received during the year, in 

 round numbers, $7,500 from the land-grant act. So that alto- 

 gether we have from the national government, entirely in- 

 dependently of this State, an income of nearly $33,000, — 

 thirty-two thousand and a half. Every salary of the teaching 

 force of our institution is paid from funds provided by the 

 national government. 



Sometimes questions are asked relative to our courses of 

 study. It has been queried whether we have the right, or 

 whether it is the proper policy for us to teach anything besides 

 agriculture. Let me tell you once for all that we are under 

 bonds, moral and legal, to the national government to teach 

 the fhechanic arts; to teach Greek and Latin if a student wants 

 them, to teach French and German, to teach mathematics, 

 and to teach engineering, as well as the sciences immediately 

 connected with agriculture. I want you to appreciate that, be- 

 cause it is a tremendous fact. 



