26 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY REPORT. 
with local appropriations most generously. This joint participation 
by the Federal and State governments has resulted in deepening 
the interest in the work of the colleges and in spreading the in- 
terest among the secondary schools also. Recently, in a number 
of states, the question of extending industrial education to the rural 
schools has been taken up with vigor and intelligence. The colleges 
are in position now to advance this work by furnishing properly 
equipped teachers for such schools. The Federal government in- 
creased its grant to these colleges in 1890, by making a direct and 
equal appropriation to each State of $25,000 annually, and the 
last Congress before adjournment, made provision by which this 
amount should be annually increased in the amount of $5,000 until 
the appropriation shall reach the annual sum of $50,000, with the 
proviso that a portion of this increase might be used in the prepara- 
tion of teachers in the subjects of instruction in these colleges. 
This provision, together with the aid given by the states, will make 
these colleges representing industrial education the greatest national 
force binding together in common aims and ideals the multitudes 
of our people. 
Before these colleges were some important and difficult problems. 
They sprang into a popularity that made the demand upon teachers 
more than they could meet. The management believed that they 
were set to teach the sciences related to agriculture and the mechanic 
arts. Above all things else they were to be teaching institutions. 
They realized that if the sciences, especially those related to agri- 
culture, were to be taught successfully there must be a body of 
truth constituting that science. The case was not so desperate in 
the mechanic arts. Unless the Colleges of Agriculture were to 
contiuue to teach men to plant their potatoes in the moon and to 
follow the signs of the zodiac in the several other agricultural 
operations, there must be something else than a body of agricultural 
tradition as the court of appeal in the class room. The laboratory 
of investigation and research was a fundamental necessity. This 
could not be the result of the sporadic effort of an enthusiastic and 
tireless worker here and there. It was soon discovered that a 
systematic and comprehensive plan of investigation into all the 
problems of agriculture was vital and fundamental both for the 
teacher of agriculture and for the practical farmer. 
The transition to the Experiment Station was natural and easy. 
The Hatch Act, by which the Federal government made provision 
for experiment, investigation and research, was the logical result 
