CHAPTER 11. 



THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 



AS is well known, the Agricultural Colleges of the country 

 received their first endowment by a donation of lands 

 from the United States.* The sale of these lands and 

 the application of the funds were left to the states, some of 

 which have conserved them and have large endowments, 

 while others permitted them to be sold to speculators at low 

 rates, and now suffer for their folly. In addition to this endow- 

 ment, these colleges now receive an annual money appropri- 

 ation from tlie general government, whose expenditure is in 

 some degree supervised by national authorit}^ All tliese are 

 Colleges of Mechanics as well as of agriculture, and while 

 called "Agricultural" Colleges, are as much bound to develop 

 mechanical as agricultural science. In most states there is 

 now a "State University." In some states the national endow- 

 ment for the Agricultural College has been turned over to the 

 State University, in which case the institution is usually 



known as the "Agricultural College of University." 



In other cases the management has been kept separate, and 

 the location made in some other place than the University 

 town. This has frequently been determined simply by the 

 relative strength in the Legislature of rival places seeking the 

 advantage of the school and the trade it would bring. For 

 the most part, the so-called "purely Agricultural" Colleges are 

 weak for the reason that they have not the means to support 

 a sufficient number of instructors, or provide suitable labora- 

 tories and shops. To make their money go as far as it will, 

 they are compelled to pay lower salaries than the stronger 

 colleges, and so are unable to attract the strongest men or 

 retain such strong men as they develop. Certainly I do not 



*See Appendix A for Morrill Acts and Hatcli Act. 



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