CHAPTER XLVI. 



CONGRESSIONAL ACTION ON INDUSTRIAL EDU 

 CATION. 



HOW THE AGEICULTUEAL BILL BECAME A LAW. 



From the time of the general awakening on the subject 

 of Industrial Education, as noticed in the last chapter, the 

 discussion of the subject was kept prominently before the 

 people of the United States. This eventuated in the intro 

 duction of several bills into Congress, most of which fell 

 still-born. One of them, however, successfully ran the 

 gauntlet of Congressional opposition, only to be strangled in 

 the very last stages of law-making. The following is a 

 brief summary of the matter. 



On the 14th of December, 1857, a bill was introduced 

 into the House of Representatives by Hon. Justin S. Mor- 

 rill, of Vermont, who was at that time Chairman of the 

 Committee on Agriculture, to appropriate a portion of the 

 public land to the several States for the purpose of found 

 ing colleges for the advancement of agricultural and me 

 chanical education. Great opposition was manifested to the 

 bill at once, and, instead of being referred to the Committee 

 on Agriculture, where it should legitimately have gone, it 

 was referred to that on Public Lands. There it was held 

 four mbnths, when the Chairman of that Committee, Mr. 

 Cobb, of Alabama, reported upon it adversely. Notwith- 

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