July 9, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



29 



established in Washington. These measures 

 proved, according to True^^ to be the " germs 

 from which has grown the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture." 



The moyement against slavery resulted in 

 the election in 1854 of a majority in the 

 House of Representatives of men pledged to 

 oppose the extension of slavery. Am.ong the 

 members of the Republican majority which 

 gained control of the House in 1855 was 

 Justin S. Morrill, who in December, 1857,^ 

 introduced a bill " donating public lands to 

 the several States and Territories which may 

 provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture 

 and mechanic arts." This bill, though finally 

 passed by Congress, was vetoed by the re- 

 actionary Buchanan. A similar bill, however, 

 introduced by Mr. Morrill in December, 16, 

 1861, was passed by both Houses and approved 

 by Abraham Lincoln July 2, 1862, the very 

 day when McClellan's army began its retreat 

 from the Peninsula after the battle of Mal- 

 vern Hill. Although under the provisions of 

 the act ten per cent, of the fund might be 

 expended for " the purchase of lands for sites 

 and experimental farms,"^^ the chief signifi- 

 cance of the Morrill Act for research lies in 

 its relation to the subsequent and closely con- 

 nected development of experiment stations.^* 

 After the fund which had been established by 

 the sale of the landscript donated to Connect- 

 icut under the Morrill Act had been given to 

 the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Univer- 

 sity in 1863, a professor of agriculture was 

 appointed. Under Samuel W. Johnson, pro- 

 fessor of theoretical and agricultural chem- 

 istry and William H. Brewer, professor of 

 agriculture in the Sheffield Scientific School, 

 experimental work for the benefit of agricul- 

 ture was carried on. And True^* does not 

 hesitate to ascribe to these men and their 

 pupils more than to any other single cause, 



21 True, A. C, "Education and Eesearch in 

 Agriculture in the United States," U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Yearbook, 1894, p. 99, 1895. 



22 True, A. C, 1900, op. cit., p. 167. 



23 True, A. C, 1895, op. cit., p. 96. 



24 True, A. C, 1895, op. cit., pp. 105-106. 



the recognition of the importance of the estab- 

 lishment of agricultural experiment stations. 



Professor W. O. Atwater, the first director 

 of the fijst regularly organized experiment 

 station in this country, was among the stu- 

 dents trained in this school. From such a 

 beginning grew the experiment stations of the 

 United States, first regularly organized under 

 the Hatch Act, approved by President Cleve- 

 land, March 2, 1887. 



Although the chief energies of Lincoln's 

 administration were turned toward the prose- 

 cution of our Civil War, Congress passed a 

 bill establishiug a Department of Agriculture,, 

 an act which became law by approval of 

 President Lincoln on the 15 of May, 1862.^^' 



Even during the trying days of reconstruc- 

 tion members of the first Republican Congress 

 did not neglect scientific investigation and " in 

 the spring of 1867 Hayden [F. V.] acting 

 under the direction of the General Land 

 Office, and with an appropriation from Con- 

 gress amounting to $5,000, began his work as 

 U. S. geologist in E^ebraska, and in so doing 

 laid the foundation for the U. S. Geological 

 Survey"^" which "for breadth of scope and 

 financial resources, is without counterpart in 

 the world's history of science. "-^^ 



To attempt to maintain that science can be 

 encouraged only under popular governments 

 would be impossible, even if desirable. The 

 history of science and education in the United 

 States does indicate, however, that in America 

 there has been no antagonism between popular 

 government and government supporting re- 

 search. Radicals in America have never 

 raised the cry " The Republic has no need of 



25 In calling attention to the fact that the bills 

 creating our Land Grant Colleges and Department 

 of Agriculture, were signed by the author of the 

 Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg ad- 

 dress, one is tempted to mention that the granting 

 of a charter by Congress to the United States Agri- 

 cultural Society was opposed in the Senate in 1855 

 by Jefeersou Davis. (True, A. C, op. cit., 1895, 

 p. 92.) 



26 Merrill, George P., "Contributions to the His- 

 tory of American Geology," Ept. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 1903-04, p. 592, 1906. 



27 Merrill, George P., op. cit., p. 551. 



