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three forces are as interdependent and as triune as the l^ody, mind, and soul. Hon. 

 Justin S. Morrill, who iiiiniortali/ed himself hy l)eing the author of the act of 1862, 

 which made him the father of tiie iand-<irant colleges of America, certainly had in 

 mind these three great forces, and certainly intended the agricultural and me(;hanical 

 colleges to perform the three functions of education, investigation, and application. 

 He cSrtainlv intended them to he more than in-;titutions of i)ure science, for his very 

 purpose was to differentiate them from institutions of the general science and classi- 

 cal type, hv making them technii'al or institutions of applied science. 



Tresident Thompson, of the Ohio University, in discussing the mission of the land- 

 grant colleges l^efore the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations 

 at its session here two vears ago, said: 



"Mr. Morrill's arguiiient in support of the bill was chiefly from the side of agricul- 

 ture. He presented statistics showing that the conditions of agriculture in many 

 regions were growing less favorable and that the products of the soil were decreasing 

 to'such a degree as to endanger the peri)etual prosperity of that great industry. The 

 decrease in the number of animals and somewhat widespread discouragement in the 

 older States led liim to make a strong plea for such provision as w(juld eventually 

 prevent the exhausting of the soil and maintain the permanent prosperity of the 

 farmers." 



This was the work that was to be done by the colleges that Mr. Morrill was seek- 

 ing to establish. He conceivetl this work to l)e of national imi)ortance and deserving 

 national support, and who in all the land now doubts that he was right or denies the 

 wisdom of his course? 



It soon became evident to the thinking and observing men of the country that the one 

 college organization could not do the work intended, and so the conception of the 

 work expanded and gave birth to the experiment station as an adjunct to the college. 

 The Hatch act of 1887 gave them a distinct organization and made what was thought 

 at that time ample provision for their support. And who now doubts the wisdom of 

 this act? No intelligent man can Ije found who is not i)roud of the work that has 

 been accomplished bv the exjieriment stations of America. But as excellent as has 

 been their work, I am" sure that much more would have been accomplished had there 

 been a clearer conception of the specific functions that the experiment station was 

 intended to perform. The Hatch act was intended to create a distinct instrumentality 

 for the ac-complishment of a distinct work. Otherwise it might have been styled "An 

 act to still further endow the land-grant colleges." The purpose of the act was not 

 to enable the colleges to strengthen and extend their work such as was accomplished 

 by the second Morrill act of 1890, but was to give them an additional organization 

 especially adapted for making investigations and experiments, a work which the col- 

 lege as a'college is whollv unal)le to perform. The work of the college is one thing 

 and the work of the experiment station is another. My [)Osition is that just as in 

 the fullness of time it became necessary to differentiate the work of the college by 

 evolving the experiment station as a separate organization with a separate endow- 

 ment, the time has come when the work of the experiment station should V)e differ- 

 entiated and when there should be evolved a .separate organization, to be known 

 as the farmers' institute, and supjiorted by Federal appropriation. It is perfectly 

 clear that when the Federal (iovernment appropriated more than 11,000,000 acres 

 of land for the support of the land-grant colleges, it was intended that a part of 

 their work should be that now being done by the experiment stations. It afterwards 

 became evident that the work could be better done by two organizations than by one; 

 and as a result of this conviction the Hatch act was framed and passed, calling into 

 existence an experiment station in connection with every land-grant colles^e in the 

 country. I believe the time has now come when the work mapped out in the Hatch 

 act can be better done by two organizations tiian l)y one. The question of putting 

 the farmers' institutes n\nm a national basis and supported Ijy Federal aj)i)ropriation 

 does not involve a new i)rincii)le, does not recjuire an extension of power on the part 

 of Congress, for the very work that the farmers' institute would do in an organized, 

 consecutive, and efficient way is now l)eing done by many experiment stations and 

 colleges to a small extent, and only at such times as least interferes with their regular 

 organized work. Their regular organize<l work is growing and expamling to such an 

 extent as to require all of their time, money, and energy. The question then reduces 

 itself as to how the work may be dont; the most efficiently and the most economically. 

 It is a (piestion of organization, for as before stated tlie work is partially being 

 done by the experiment stations and is l)eing paid lor by the Federal (Tovernment. 

 That the work is important and should he continued is known to all intelligent citi- 

 zens. To emphasize this point, I (piotf from Dean W. A. Henry, of Wisconsin, who 

 said in his address before the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 

 Stations at its meeting in New Orleans in 1893: 



