CIRCULAR RESPECTING SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., September, 1867. To the authorities in charge of the Colleges and Schools established or aided by the Congressional appropriation "for the benefit of Agricul ture and the Mechanic Arts." (Act of July 2, 1862.) THE undersigned, in the discharge of his duties as the National Commissioner of Education, has been directed by Congress to prepare a report setting forth the history of all the appropriations by the General Government for the promotion of Education. As a portion of this report, it is important that full returns should be given in respect to the organization of the Schools of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts which have received the benefit of the land-scrip issued by authority of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862. These institutions as a class are so new in this country, and so much thought has been expended upon them, and at the same time so much remains to be ascertained in respect to their practical efficiency, even in the states where they exist, that a comparison of their various charters or acts of incorporation, programmes of study, regulations, funds, buildings, and collections is imperatively called for. Herewith you will find transcripts of the organic law of Congress, and also of all those state enactments consequent thereon, which have come to the knowledge of this Department. You will also find specific statements in respect to two Scientific Colleges in two of the oldest states of the Union, illustrating the kind of information which the undersigned desires to secure from every similar establishment. Under these circumstances, you will contribute to the solution of a problem of momentous interest to the people of the United States, if you will respond as promptly and as fully as possible to the following requests. Letters and Documents addressed to the undersigned, and marked Official Business, may be forwarded free of postage. I. Please forward one or more copies of any or all the documents published in your state respecting this national grant; especially, (a) Any state laws or amendments to the state laws bearing on this subject, not given in the following pages (b) The official reports required by the act of congress from every institution. (c) Catalogues, circulars, programmes of study, regulations, etc., issued by the institution under your charge. (d) Messages of the governor, reports of state officers, legislative committees, or the like, referring to this grant. (e) Addresses, newspaper or magazine articles, explanatory statements, etc., on Scientific Education, published in your state. Where it is not possible to secure for the department a copy of a document, its title will be acceptable if given in full. II. Please secure from one or more of the officers of your institution, brief statements on the following subjects, unless they are officially discussed in the printed documents which you forward. (a) How was the land-scrip disposed of; what amount did it yield; how are the proceeds invested; and what is the annual income? (b) What additional funds does your institution possess, and from what sources, and on what conditions were they received? (c) Have any measures been taken to secure an experimental farm; if so, what are they? if not, why not? (d) Are any provisions made in your institution for manual labor? (e) In what way is military instruction given ? (f) Are there any free scholarships in your institution, and on what terms are they bestowed? (g) What buildings are owned or projected, and from what funds were they procured? A full description would be welcomed. (h) What are the characteristics of your course of study, and the names and titles of your instructors? (i) State the number of students in the present year, and in previous years. (j) What is the early history of efforts in your state for the promotion of scientific education prior to the Congressional enactment of July 2, 1862. The Commissioner is aware that to give elaborate answers to all these enquiries would involve an amount of labor which he cannot expect to be in all cases bestowed. Very much of the information asked for has undoubtedly been given in the printed documents, and in all such cases a simple reference to the statements is all that is necessary. The results of these inquiries, carefully edited and arranged, will be presented to Congress at its next session, and a copy will be forwarded to you as soon as printed. Your early attention to this circular is earnestly and respectfully solicited. HENRY BARNARD, United States Commissioner of Education. PART I. NATIONAL AND STATE LEGISLATION RESPECTING COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS. I. LEGISLATION OF CONGRESS DONATING PUBLIC LANDS ΤΟ THE SEVERAL STATES TO PROVIDE COLLEGES FOR THE BENEFIT OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS. II. LEGISLATION OF THE STATES ESTABLISHING COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS, IN PURSUANCE OF ACTS OF CONGRESS, DONATING PUBLIC LANDS FOR THIS PURPOSE. CONTENTS. CIRCULAR respecting Colleges of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, PART I. 131 1. NATIONAL LEGISLATION, 133 Act of Congress donating Lands to the States, July 2, 1862, 133 134 134 2. LEGISLATION OF THE SEVERAL STATES ESTABLISHING COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS, on the basis of National Land Grant, 135 COLLEGES, SCHOOLS AND DEPARTMENTS OF SCIENCE applied to the Industrial Arts in the different States, CONNECTICUT. Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, at New Haven, AN ACT DONATING PUBLIC LANDS TO THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERRITORIES WHICH MAY PROVIDE COLLEGES FOR THE BENEFIT OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be granted to the several States, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be apportioned to each State, a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each senator and representative in Congress to which the States are respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of eighteen hundred and sixty: Provided, That no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased under the provisions of this act. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the land aforesaid, after being surveyed, shall be apportioned to the several States in sections or subdivisions of sections, not less than one-quarter of a section; and whenever there are public lands in a State subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the quantity to which said State shall be entitled shall be selected from such lands within the limits of such State, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to issue to each of the States in which there is not the quantity of public lands subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre to which said State may be entitled under the provisions of this act, land scrip to the amount in acres for the deficiency of its distributive share; said scrip to be sold by said States and the proceeds thereof applied to the uses and purposes prescribed in this act, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever: Provided, That in no case shall any State to which land. scrip may thus be issued be allowed to locate the same within the limits of any other State, or of any Territory of the United States, but their assignees may thus locate said land scrip upon any of the unappropriated lands of the United States subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre: And provided, further, That not more than one million acres shail be located by such assignees in any one of the States: And provided, further, That no such location shall be made before one year from the passage of this act. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the expenses of management, superintendence, and taxes from date of selection of said lands, previous to their sales, and all expenses incurred in the management and disbursement of the moneys which may be received therefrom, shall be paid by the States to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said States, so that the entire proceeds of the sale of said lands shall be applied without any diminution whatever to the purposes hereinafter mentioned. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all moneys derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid by the States to which the lands are apportioned, and from the sales of land scrip hereinbefore provided for, shall be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the States, or some other safe stocks yielding not less than five per centum upon the par value of said stocks; and that the moneys so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished, (except so far as may be provided in section fifth of this act,) and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated by each State which may take and claim the benefit of this act to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in several pursuits and professions in life. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the grant of land and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as to the provisions herein before contained, the previous assent of the several States shall be signified by legislative acts: First. If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the foregoing section, or any portion of the interest thereon, shall, by any action or contingency, |