16 
lugs of the convention of !!»<».;. The proceedings in full were edited by the 
chairman, and placed in the hands of the Office of Experiment Stations, r. s. 
Department of Agriculture, for publication, .January 10, 1904. 
six subsequent meetings of the committee, at each of which a quorum was 
present, were held as follows: At Washington, I). ('.. December 18-19, Jan- 
uary 18-20, February 19-20; March 17-19, and October 1. and at Dos Moines, 
Iowa. October .".1. Five circulars of Information concerning the results of these 
meetings were issued and posted to members of the association, other busi- 
ness was transacted by correspondence or by attention of individual members 
of the committee. The 'all for the eighteenth annual convention (1904) was 
issued July 1. and the programme for the convention, as arranged by the com- 
mittee, October 22. 
In obedience to the instructions of the association at the last annual conven- 
tion, your committee continued the efforts to secure favorable action by Congress 
on the mining-school bill and for increasing the annual appropriation for the 
experiment stations. The character and results of these efforts have been in 
part made known to the members of the association through the circulars 
issued by the committee. Meeting in Washington shortly after the convening 
of the second session of the Fifty-eighth Congress, in December, your committee 
secured the consent of Mr. Mondell, of Wyoming, to reintroduce and endeavor 
to secure favorable action upon the bill for the endowment of schools of mines 
in connection with the land-grant colleges and other institutions, which had 
failed of consideration in the Fifty-seventh Congress, The bill was practically 
identical in wording with that previously introduced by General Grosvenor, which 
had received the indorsement of the association. The National Association of 
State Universities and the National Association of State Mining Schools proposed 
an amendment to the bill, which your committee thought inimical to the interests 
of the institutions represented in this associaton ; but after conference between 
your committee and the executive committees of the other associations named 
the amendment was abandoned, and these organizations came cordially and 
actively to the support of the original bill of this association. Your committee 
appeared before the Committee on Mines and Mining of the House of Repre- 
sentatives and secured a favorable unanimous report on the bill, and it was so 
reported to the House and placed on the Union Calendar February 1, J 904. 
Guided by the wise counsels of Mr. Mondell, whose efforts in behalf of the 
measure were most sympathetic and energetic, your committee employed its best 
efforts to secure consideration for the hill, hut without success. Failure we 
believe to be attributable mainly to the shortness of the session of Congress and 
a disinclination to enact legislation of this character on the eve of a Presidential 
election, and not to opposition to the bill on its merits. Impressed with the 
importance of the measure to the land-grant colleges, and having faith in 
ultimate success in its passage, your committee earnestly recommends continued 
efforts of the association in this direction. 
Before the meeting of your committee Mr. Adams, of Wisconsin, had intro- 
duced in the House of Representatives a bill providing for increased appropria- 
tions to the experiment stations. After conference with Mr." Adams and the 
suggestion of several desirable amendments, which were accepted by him, your 
committee gave its hearty and active support to his bill, and aided him to the 
extent of its ability in furthering its progress. A favorable report was secured 
from the Committee on Agriculture of the House in February, but it was found 
impossible to secure consideration for the bill before the adjournment of Con- 
gress in March. Mr. Adams was most energetic, wise, and able in the conduct 
of his measure, giving, indeed, the major portion of his time and attention in 
Congress in its interest. He has expressed his firm conviction — which your 
committee shares — that an overwhelming majority was favorable to the pas- 
sage of his bill could consideration for it have been secured. The bill is still 
pending in Congress, and as its terms are in the main quite satisfactory to our 
institutions your committee recommends the continuance of the support of this 
association. The report of failure of its efforts in connection with these im- 
portant measures, and of repeated failure in case of the first, is unpleasant and. 
to some extent, mortifying to your committee. But when it is remembered 
that failures many times repeated met similar efforts in connection with the 
Hatch Act and the act of 1890 before these were carried to final successful 
i^sue we are encouraged to believe that similar persistence in those present eases 
will eventually be crowned with similar success. 
Immediately after the adjournment of the last annual convention your com- 
mittee called upon the honorable Secretary of Agriculture, at his request, and 
