82 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



the sanction of President Lincoln and became a law. This 

 bill, known as the Merrill Act, had a tremendous influence 

 upon agricultural education. Mr. Morrill lived to see in- 

 stitutions of this kind established and sustained by this 

 act in every state of the Union. 



This law was strengthened by the "Hatch Bill "approved 

 by President Cleveland, March 2, 188QJ creating experiment 

 stations in connection with the land-grant colleges; and 

 four years later, Senator Morrill brought in a bill, approved 

 by President Harrison, August 30, 1890, for a more com- 

 plete endowment of the land-grant colleges. All the bills 

 for the advancement of industrial education were cham- 

 pioned by the practical wisdom and consummate tact of 

 Mr. Morrill; and he will stand at the bar of history as 

 one of our greatest national benefactors. 



A gentleman was once introduced to Mr. Morrill as a 

 friend of President Goodell, and the Senator, taking his 

 hand in both his own, said, with an earnestness not to be 

 mistaken, " I congratulate you sir, most heartily, on having 

 such a man for your friend." When George F. Hoar pub- 

 lished his "Autobiography of Seventy Years," the attention 

 of President Goodell was called to the chapter on some of 

 the Senators with whom Mr. Hoar had served. After read- 

 ing it he wrote: "All this is very beautiful, but as I went on 

 from one splendid characterization to another, I began to 

 fear that he would get exhausted and break down before 

 he got to Senator Morrill. But he rose to the occasion. It 

 was the last, and fine as the others were, this was the best of 

 all. It was beautiful beyond any words of mine to describe, 

 and it is as true as it is beautiful. It is a mystery to me how 

 a man could write such a chapter as that." 



