17 



The results of tlio attention given liy the connnlttee to the several matters 

 referred to it in siit'cilic rt'solntlons of the last annual (Mtnvention have been, in 

 the main, connniniicated to members nf tlu' association by aiipropriate cir- 

 rnlars, and somewhat in detail. Copies of these circulai-s are hereto attached 

 as part of the iccord of the work of the committee. I'.rief reference to these 

 matters may. therefore, sullice at this time. 



In an intervii'w with the President of the United States your eoinmitte(> 

 renewed the reipiest that had been presented to him on a former occasion in 

 iiehalf of the associ^ition, that, in the ai)pointment to the post of Assistant Sec- 

 retary of Atrricnlture, then vacant, he would be pleased to consider the desira- 

 bilit.v that the incumbent should be one havint; knowledire of and sympathy with 

 the work of the a.icricultural experiment stations. Rec(>ivi>d most cordially by 

 the I'resident. your committee was informed that he had borne in mind the 

 rei)resentations previously ma(h' to him and had decided to ajipoint to the posi- 

 tion I'rof. W. M. Hays, of the Minnesota Kxiieriment Station. As is well 

 known to the association, the appointee to this important and res])onsibIe i)osi- 

 tion is an able worker in agricultural science and a distinguished member of 

 this assoeiation. 



After several conferences with the Secretary of War and the ollicers of the 

 (Jeneral Staff connected with the Army War College, very desirable modifica- 

 tions of th«> regulations governing the detail of army olhcers to the land-grant 

 colleges were secured. These modifications were comnnniiciited to members 

 of the association in a circidar of date Aih-II T. I'-M).'), and are set forth in 

 (ieneral Orders. No. 1(»1, of the War I )eiiartment. issued June 2'.), ]'M)~>\ the 

 committee trusts they may be satisfactory to the institutions conci'rned. The 

 committee wishes to record here its grateful api)reciation of the frankness, the 

 cordiality, and the earnest desire to meet the wishes of the association with 

 which the committee was met by the distinguished Secretary of War (lion. 

 W. II. Taft). the Chief of Staff ((ieneral Chaffee i. and the officers of the War 

 College. 



The committee made diligent effort and emiiloyed every resource at its <'om- 

 mand, including personal solicitation of the Speaker and other intluential mem- 

 bers of the House of Reprt-sentatives, to aid Hon. II. C. Adams of Wisconsin, in 

 securing consideration for his bill to increase the animal ai)propriations to the 

 exiieriment stations in the last session of the Fifty -eighth Congress, but without 

 avail. So far as could lie ascertained but littl(> objection existed to the propo- 

 sition on its merits, but other considerations were represented as preventing 

 favorable action at the time. Mr. Adams, who contiiuied and proposes to oon- 

 linue his able and energetic advocacy of the measure, expresses his intention 

 to reintroduce it in the Fifty-ninth Congress (of which he is a member), to 

 convene in December. The committee reconuneiids that the executive com- 

 mittee be instructed to cooperate diligently with Mr. Adams in his efforts to 

 secure increased annual api»ropriations from the Federal Treasury to the 

 agricultural experiment stations established luider the act of 1887. 



Similar effcu'ts were made by the connnlttee in behalf of the measure of Hon. 

 Frank W. Mondell. of INIontana. to establish and maintain schools of mines 

 uiid mining in connection with the land-grant colleges, with similar result, and, 

 apparently, for similar reasons. 



Your committee is forced to the conviction that the efforts of this associa- 

 tion to bring the National Legislature to consider seriously the important 

 measures affecting the national usefulness of the institutions here represented, 

 should, in order to be effective, Ije concentrated at a given time upon a single 

 purpose. There can Ite no doubt that the increasing prosperity and the iii- 

 creasing growth of industrial occupations throughout the country generally 

 and the undertaking or the supervision by the General Government of great 

 works of public utility, in which all the States and Territories are interested, 

 such as the irrigation of our arid lands and the conservation of our forests, 

 will create a demand for increased industrial and technical education and 

 research, which, in equity, the individual States should not be expected to 

 meet from their own resources, but for which provision should be made to the 

 States from the National Treasury. It is inevitable, as it is right, that addi- 

 tional appropriations of Federal funds should be made to the land-grant colleges. 

 lu due season these claims should be made, and doubtless will be, and it will 

 be the legitimate province of this association to initiate the appropriate mea- 

 sures for legislation. Such measures, when carefully prepared and .judiciously 

 presented, should be advocated with all the power and the influence of this 



21336— No. 164—06 M 2 



