16 



in.Lcs of the convention of 1903. The proceedings in fnll were edited l).v tlie 

 chairman, and placed In the hands of the Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. 

 Department of Agricnlture, for puhlication, January 10, 190-t. 



Six subsequent meetings of the conunlttee, at each of which a quorum was 

 present, were held as follows: At Washington, D. C, December 18-10. .Tan- 

 uary 18-20, February 19-20, March 17-19, and October 1. and at Des Moines, 

 Iowa, October 31. Five circulars of information concerning the results of these 

 meetings were issued and i>osted to members of the association. Other busi- 

 ness was transacted by correspondence or by attention of individual members 

 of the committee. The call for the eighteenth annual convention (1904) was 

 issued .Tnly 1. and the progranmie for the convention, as arranged by the com- 

 mittee, October 22. 



In obedience to the instructions of the association at the last annual conven- 

 tion, your committee continued the efforts to secure favorable action by Congress 

 on the mining-school bill and for increasing the annual appropriation for the 

 experiment stations. The character and results of these efforts have been In 

 ]>art made known to the members of the association through the circulars 

 issued liy the committee. Meeting in \Vashington shortly after the convening 

 of the second session of the Fifty-eiglith Congress, in December, your committee 

 secured the consent of Mr. ^londell, of Wyoming, to leintroduce and endea.vor 

 to secure favorable action upon the bill for the endowment of schools of mines 

 in comiection with the hmd-grant colleges and other institutions, which had 

 failed of consideration in the Fifty-seventh <'ongress. The bill was practically 

 identical in wording with that ]»reviously introduced l)y General (irosvenor, which 

 had received the indorsement of the association. The National Association of 

 State Universities and the National Association of State Mining Schools proposed 

 an amendment to the bill, which your committee thought inimical to the interests 

 of the institutions represented in this associatou ; but after conference between 

 your committee and the executive committees of the other associations named 

 the amendment was abandoned, and these organizations came cordially and 

 actively to the support of the original bill of this association. Your connnittee 

 appeared before the Committee on }ilines and Alining of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives and secured a favorable vinanimous report on the bill, and it was so 

 reported to the House and placed on the Union Calendar February 1, 1904. 

 Guided by the wise counsels of Mr. Mondell, whose ettorts in behalf of the 

 measure \\ere most sympathetic and energetic, your committee employed its best 

 efforts to secure consideration for the bill, but without success. Failure we 

 believe to be attributable mainly to the shortness of the session of Congress and 

 fl disinclination to enact legislation of this character on the eve of a Presidential 

 election, and not to opposition to the bill on its merits. Impressed with the 

 imiM)rtance of the measure to the land-grant colleges, and having faith in 

 ultiujate success in its passage, your committee earnestly recommends continued 

 efforts of the association in this direction. 



Before the meeting of your committee Mr. Adams, of Wisconsin, had intro- 

 duced in the House of Representatives a bill providing for increased appropria- 

 tions to the experiment stations. After conference with Mr. Adams and the 

 suggestion of several desirable amendments, which were iiecei)ted l)y him, your 

 committee gave its hearty and active support to his bill, aud aided him to the 

 extent of its ability in furthering its progress. A favorable reiiort was secured 

 from the Committee on Agriculture of the House in February, but it was found 

 impossible to secure consideration for the bill before the adjournment of Con- 

 gress in March. Mr. Adams was most energetic, wise, aud able in the conduct 

 of his measure, giving, indeed, the major ]>ortion of his time and attention in 

 Congress in its interest. He has exi)ressed his firm conviction — which your 

 committee shares — that an over\^helming majority was favorable to the pas- 

 sage of his bill could consideration for it have been secured. The bill is still 

 pending in Congress, and as its terms are in the main quite satisfactory to our 

 institutions jour comnuttee recommends the continuance of the supi)ort of this 

 association. The report of failure of its efforts in connection with these im- 

 portant measures, and of I'epeated failure in case of the first, is unpleasant and. 

 to some extent, mortifying to your committee. But when it is remembered 

 that failures many times repeated met similar efforts in connection with the 

 Hatch Act and the act of 1890 before these were carried to final successful 

 issue we are encouraged to believe that similar persistence in these [iresent cases 

 will eventually be crowned with similar success. 



Immediately after the adjournment of the last annual convention your com- 

 mittee called upon the honorable Secretary of Agriculture, at Uis request, and 



