610 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 568. 



are now more than forty-nine in all ! The 

 states have in nearly every instance con- 

 tributed to the further endowment of these 

 colleges in the form of permanent funds 

 or what is practically the same thing, in 

 the form of permanent annual appropria- 

 tions, exceeding, and in some cases far ex- 

 ceeding, the amount given by the federal 

 government itself. 



In some instances the new college was 

 incorporated in, or annexed .to, some exist- 

 ing institution. In others it was made an 

 entirely independent institution limited to 

 instruction in agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts. In still others it became the nucleus 

 of a great state university, with all the 

 departments properly belonging to an in- 

 stitution which may justly lay claim to 

 that time-honored name. 



This was the case in Illinois. The pro- 

 ceeds of the sale of this original land grant 

 constitute an endowment fund providing 

 about thirty-two thousand dollars a year 

 for the support of the institution. 



In 1887 the federal government passed 

 an act known as the Hatch Act, providing 

 an appropriation of fifteen thousand dol- 

 lars a year, to each state in the union, for 

 the establishment and support of an agri- 

 cultural experiment station. This, in the 

 state of Illinois, was made a department of 

 the state university. 



In 1890, by what is known as the second 

 Morrill Act, the federal government appro- 

 priated an additional sum of fifteen thou- 

 sand dollars a year, to be increased by one 

 thousand dollars annually until it reached 

 the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars a 

 year, for the further endowment of colleges 

 of agriculture and mechanic arts, founded 

 on the act of 1862. This sum, in Illinois, 

 was naturally also turned over to the state 

 university, so that, by these various federal 

 acts, the University of Illinois now receives, 

 either directly or indirectly from the fed- 



eral government, about seventy-thre'e thou- 

 sand dollars a year, to be applied in the 

 maintenance of an agricultural experiment 

 station, and the colleges of agriculture and 

 mechanic arts. 



The state of Illinois has added largely to 

 this sum of seventy-three thousand dollars 

 for the support of these two enterprises. 

 The last legislature, for example, appro- 

 priated four hundred thousand dollars per 

 annum for the support of these depart- 

 ments, or more than five times as much as 

 the federal government. In addition it 

 also appropriated considerable sums for the 

 support of other departments which, al- 

 though not mentioned specifically in the 

 Land Grant Act of 1862, were contemplated 

 by the words 'not excluding other scientific 

 and classical subjects.' 



In other words, the state of Illinois has 

 not only applied conscientiously to the pur- 

 poses of the federal act all the funds which 

 the congress has provided, but it has actu- 

 ally appropriated five times as much for 

 these same purposes as the federal govern- 

 ment itself. In addition it has provided 

 for the other departments necessary to 

 transform the original college of agricul- 

 ture and the mechanic arts into a full- 

 fledged university of the modern type. 



The comparatively small sum thus ap- 

 propriated by the federal government has 

 led in the sequel to the expenditure of ten 

 times as much for higher education by the 

 state of niinois. The other states have 

 followed in the same general path, so that 

 it is doubtful whether a similar expendi- 

 ture of funds to that made by the federal 

 government on this occasion ever led to 

 proportionately greater returns for higher 

 education, in the history of any time or 

 country. 



The University of Illinois has become the 

 largest of the institutions which owe their 

 origin to this federal grant. Opened for 



