CONVENTION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 705 



may not have other scholarly attributes than that of action and at the same time 

 suit it to the equipment of the scholar who shall be differentiated from the masses 

 is one high and important office of the American university which is to be. - ' 



He pointed out that the land-grant colleges which derive their sup- 

 port so largely from the United States Treasury together constitute 

 this great national university. 



On motion of G. W. Atherton, the president's address was referred 

 to a committee of five for consideration. This committee, which con- 

 sisted of G. W. Atherton, J. E. Stubbs, E. H. Jesse, E. A. Bryan, and 

 J. K. Patterson, subsequently reported as follows: 



"(1) That the proceeds of the United States land-grant act of 1862 and the annual 

 appropriations provided for by the acts of Congress of 1887 and 1890 are a national 

 trust to be administered by the several States in strict accordance with the letter 

 and the spirit of the grant. 



"(2) That the land-grant colleges whether organized separately or as branches of 

 State universities are primarily educational institutions required by law to teach 

 certain branches of learning. 



"(3) That these branches of learning are to be taught with special reference to 

 their 'applications in the industries of life.' 



"(■i) That this requirement involves a thorough fundamental training in the prin- 

 ciples of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences, in order that their prac- 

 tical applications may be clearly understood, and forbids that the institutions shall 

 in any way be regarded as 'trade schools.' 



"(5) That the land-grant colleges are required bylaw to provide a 'liberal' as 

 Avell as a 'practical' education, and that it is therefore their special duty to study, 

 practice, and develop sound principles of instruction in the teaching of all branches 

 of learning both liberal and technical, to the end that the subjects taught may be 

 made the means and instruments of a true education, as well as a means of acquir- 

 ing a body of concrete knowledge. 



"(6) That the aim of all research should be to learn the truth, and the aim of all 

 teaching to teach the truth and nothing but the truth ; and that to this end freedom 

 of research and freedom of teaching are indispensable. 



"(7) That all teaching should accordingl}* be absolutely free from partisan or sec- 

 tarian bias; that the institutions should be free from partisan or sectarian control, 

 and that no interference in the administration or in the teaching or in the tenure of 

 office should be allowed on partisan or sectarian grounds." 



The Secretary of Agriculture responded to an invitation to address 

 the convention. He referred to his efforts to bring the Department of 

 Agriculture into closer sympathy with the agricultural colleges and 

 experiment stations, and briefly discussed the character and extent of 

 the work done by the Department in the interest of agriculture. He 

 urged upon the agricultural colleges the importance of special effort to 

 make their courses attractive to farmers' sons and especially adapted 

 to their needs. He suggested as means to this end the introduction of 

 nature studies into the common schools, and the more thorough train- 

 ing of teachers for such schools in the natural sciences. 



A resolution, introduced by E. H. Jesse, favoring the introduction 

 into the public and grammar schools of nature study and instruction 

 in the elements of the economic sciences, and the training of teachers 

 in these various lines at the agricultural colleges, was adopted. 



