220 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



plate it as it will appear when generations have perfected it, in all its 

 magnificence and glory; in its means of good to man, to all men, of all 

 classes; in its power to evolve and diffuse practical knowledge and skill, 

 true taste love of industry, and sound morality not on,ly through its ap- 

 paratus, experiments, instructions, and annual lectures and reports, but 

 through its thousands of graduates, in every pursuit of life, teaching and 

 lecturing in all our towns and villages, and then let him seriously ask 

 himself, is not such an object worthy of at least an effort, and worthy of a 

 fiitate w^hich God himself, in the very act of creation, designed to be the 

 first agricultural and commercial state on the face of the globe?" 



"Who should set the world so glorious an example cf educating their 

 sons worthily of their heritage, their duty and their destiny, if not the 

 people of such a state? In our country we have no aristocracy, with the 

 inalienable wealth of ages,, and constant leisaire and means to perform all 

 manner of useful experiments for their own amusement; but we must 

 create our nobility for this purpose, as we elect our rulers, from our own. 

 ranks, to aid and sierve, not to domineer over and control us. And this 

 done we will not only beat England, and beat the world in yachts and! 

 locks and repairs, but in all else that contributes to the well being and 

 true glory of man, 



I maintain that if every farmer's and mechanic's son in this state 

 could now visit such an institution but for a single day in the year, it 

 would do him more good in arousing and directing the dormant energies 

 of mind, than all the most incurred, and far more good than many a six 

 months of professed study of things he never needs and never wants to 

 know." 



The effort of this convention resulted in the land grant act of 1862, 

 which provided, "That there should be granted to each state 30,000 acres 

 of government land for every senator and representative to which it was 

 entitled, according to the census of 1860." 



Among the conditions were the following: 



"These colleges were for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts." 



