IMANNI SPEC. IcOLL. LA 226 .M87 Cornell University Library LA 226.M87 Speech of Hon. Justin S. Morrill, of Ver 3 1924 013 061 282 Albert R. Mann Library COR-NELL UNrVERSITY Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013061282 SPEECH OP HON. JUSTIN S. MORRILL, OF VERMONT, ON THE BILL GRANTING LANDS FOR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES ; DELIVERED t^ TaS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, APRIL 20, 1858. WASHINGTON: PKrTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE, 1858. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. Mf. CLINGMAN. I now hope my motion will prevail, as I see the gentleman who is entitled to the floor [Mr. MoHrill] is in his seat. Mr. HOUSTON. Was not the Ho\iBe, when last in consideration of the business oFthe morn- ing hour, engaged in the call of committees for reports ? , The SPEAKER. It was; but there is a pend- ing report. Mr. ilOUSTON. Does the gentleman propose to resume the call, commencing whew the call was last suspended i ' Mr. CLINGMAN. Certainly. , The motion was agreed to. The SPEAKER. The pending bill is a bill do- nating public lands to the several States and Ter- ritories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. The gen- tleman from Michigan [Mr. WALSRifiBE] moved to postpone its consideration until Wednesday, the 31«t instant; and that the bill, and the report of the majority and views of the minority of the committee, be printed. Thegeptleman fromMaine [Mr. WisiiBORu] moved to reconsider the bill. The gentleman fr universally adored by man, for the slightest ail- ment, is handed over to the butchers of quackery, whose practice is more fatal than that ascribed even to Dr. Hornbook: " Folk maun do something for their bread. An' sae mnun De^th." We are indebted to Europe for our civilized in- habitants, and for nearly all of our domestic ani- mals, whatever the testimony of the rocks may be as to the preexistence of the latter. The soil wehave acquired by the displacement of the red man. The only thing we constantly dwell upon with complacency is, that we surpass the stock from which we sprang, and that we present our land better than we found it. But this is not beau- tiful unless true ! We bring forth new States by the litter, and when we want more, like our Norman ance'Stors, we commit "grand larceny," and annex them. This progress seems wonderful, but with it ap- pears the bitter fact that these n^w States in half a century — a brief time in the history of States — become depleted and stationary. This early ma- turity is followed by sudden barrenness. Concerted effort is necessary to educate and ele- vate whole nations. That effort is being made abroad with governmental aid in the lead. Here, in the "model Republic," where a free repub- lican government is installed to guard the gene- ral welfare, no such effort is being made. Gov- ernmenthasnotyetlbllowed the lead of the people, even afar off. We do not ask for constant and persistent outlay and guidance; but a jecogni- zance for once, and in the most convenient mode, of the propriety of encouraging useful knowledge among farmers and mechanics, in order to enlarge our productive power, give intelligence to those who will esteem it a higher boon than land or titles, and relieve ourselves from the thraldom of a debt due to holders abroad, for the little agricul- tural science we how have, and which is quite unsafe to use, by reason of the great differences of soil and climate. ^ Many foreign States support d population vastly larger per square mile than we maintain, and hold their annual increase; but, by the sys- tem of husban dry generally pursued here, the land is held until it is robbed of its virtue, skimmed of rits cream, and then the owner, selling his wasted field to some skinflint neighbor, flies to fresh fields with the foul purpose to repeat the same spolia- tion; and this annual exodus which prevails over all the older States, and even begins upon the first settlements of the n'ew States before their remoter borders have lost sight of the savage, painfully indicates that we have reached the maximum of population our land will support in the present slate of our agricultural economy. Our skill must be further developed, or here is our limit. A fever-and-aguish progress, warmed by speculative excitements, and chilled by panics, may be kept up while our unpeopled public domain is sup- posed to be inexhaustible, and while those who buy, buy to sell, and never otherwise intend " to hold or drive." But there is a barrier already visible, more impassable than the Rocky Mount- ains, the great sand plains stretching North and South, commencing near thfe ninety-eighth degree of west longitude, or about the center of Kansas, T and running to the Roolty Mountains, so barren of soil, water, timljer, and all vegetation, as to pre- clude the possibility of settlement by civilized in- habitants. Here the wave must be stayed; bat shall we not prove unworthy of our patrimony if we run over the whole before we learn how to man- age a part ! We are dilated with the notion that, as a na- tion, we may now claim rank with the oldest, the best, and the strongest. Our population is rap- idly increasing, and brings annually increased de- mands for breadand clothing. If we can barely meet this demand while we have ft^sh soils to appropriate, we shall early reach the point of our decline and fall. The nation which tills the soil and they demand of learning and of science a so so as to leave it worse than they found it, is doomed to decay and degradation. Other nations lead us, not in the invention and handling of improved im- plements, but in nearly all the practical sciences which'can be brought to aid the management and resiilts of agricultural labor. We owe it to our- selves not to become a weak competitor in tiie most important field where we are to meet the world as rivals. It touches us in tenderestpoints, our national honor as well as our private pockets. While we ought to possess the granary of the world, it has been but a brief time since bread- atufis rose almost to starvation point, and indi- cated the possibility that we might not forever escape the only test, that of famine, to which our institutions have not been subjected. Able to be independent, in a broader sense than any other people, having an area ninety-five times as large as EnglailQ and seventeen times as large as Bel- gium, yet over one hundred million of our imports of the last fiscal year were products mainly of the soil. It was not until Rome, deluded with military conquests and luxurious living, had become large- ly indebted to her conquered provinces for her agricultural products, that the " populous north" poured forth that rude horde which obtained the mastery and accomplished the downfall of the Roman Empire. Agriculture undoubtedly demands our first care ; because its products, in the aggregate, are not only of greater value than those of any other branch of industry, but greater than all others together; and because it is not merely conducive to thel health of society, the health of trade and of com-' merce, but essential to their very existence. But, while it is the most useful and earliest of arts, so sluggish- have been its advances that we are yet experimenting upon problems which were moot- points with farmers two thousand years ago. Surely an interest so superior, and of such vital consequence, ought not to be left to lingering rou- tine, but the aid of science should be invoked to accelerate its pace, until it can keep step with that of other industrial pursuits of mankind. The agriculturists have been, within afew years, aroused to their own wants. Perio3icals, from a higher point of dignity and influence, have fired their zeal. The eager crowds which throng to 'the annual fairs of our agricultural societies, from the .JVbttonnI down to " all the stars of lesser mag- nitude," proclaim the universal hunger there is for a profounder information touching that which comes home to their business and bosoms. They know there are mysteries dearly concerning them, lution. " Deformed, unfinished," experiments- " scarce halTmadc up, And that so lamely" — will not do. Farmers will not be cheated longer by un sustained speculations. The test of the field must follow and verify that of the laboratory. The half-bushel and the balance must prove the arithmetic. The result must support the theory. They want substance and not a shadow — bread and not a stone. They know well there is a vast force of agricultural labor hitherto misapplied, muscles that sow where they do not reap, and they demand light— demand to have their arms unpin- ioned ! What has been an art merely to supply physical wants must become a science — though it wears <* hodden gray and a* that" — doing, the same service, but more abundantly, and also doing something to satisfy and elevate the manhood of the mass of the people. Let us have such colleges as may rightfully claim the authority of teachers to announce facts and fixed laws, and to scatter broadcast that knowledge which will prove useful in building up agreat na- tion — great in its resources of wealth and power, but greatest of all in the aggregate of its intelli- gence and virtue. The mineral wealth of our country, already dis- closed, assumes almost unbounded proportions; but destitute of experience as we are, and largely dependent upon the skill of those but half-taught from other lands, our mines are much less remu- nerative than they would be under the control of Americans, with some fundamental instruction in their vocation. There is no class of our community of whom we may be so justly proud as our mechanics. Their genius is patent to all the world. For la- bor-saving cpntrivances, their tact seems univer- sal; and when any one of them is detailed to do the breathing of any engine, he speedily furnisher 8 lungs for the engine tp do that sort of work ,for itself. But they snatch their education, such as it is, from the crevices between labor and sleep. They grope in twilight. Our country relies upon them as its right arm to do the httndiwork of the nation. Let us, then, furnish the means for that arm to acquire culture, skill, and efficiency. We have schools to teach the art of manslay- ing and to, make masters of " deep-throated en- gines" of war; and shall we not have schools to teach men the way to feed, clothe, and enlighten the great brotherhood of man? It is just on the part of statesmen and legislators, just on the part of other learned professions, that they should aiij to elevate the class upon whom they lean for sup- port, and upon whom they depend for their audi- ence: There is no clashing of interests. Itisnot designed to make every man his own doctor, or every man his own lawyer; but to make every man understand his own business. A lawyer is not the worse for having an intelligent client, nor a clergyman the worse for having a prosperous parishioner. Our present literary colleges need have no more jealousy of agricultural colleges than a porcelain manufactory would have of an iron foundery. They move in separate spheres, without competition, and using no raw mate- rial that will diminish the supply of one or the other. The farmer and the mechanic require special schools and appropriate literature quite as much as any one of the so-called learned professions. The practical sciences are nowhere else called into such repeated and constant requisition. Would it be sound policy for one who expected to ex- pound Blaokstone to limit his reading to a muck manual or to agricultural chemistry.' If it would not, how are we to expect one to solve all the scientific relations of earth, water, air, and vege- table and animal life, who has only explored read- ing; writing, and arithmetic' All other professions and pursuits reckon among theirbrightest jewels men who were recruited from the robust ranks of agriculture. It is the untainted blood from this source that supplies the waste in the pulpit, the bar, the forum, and the camp. No other pursuit in life obtains this universal tribute, that, whatever may be the present idol of devo- tion, all classes and ranks of men hope to reach that estate first bestowed upon Adam, and become proprietors of the soil as their ultimate earthly paradise. Washington, Calhoun, Clay , and Web- ster, are more secure of love and homage as farm- ers than even as men of highest public renown; and Mount Vernon, Port Hill, Ashland, and Marshfield, the Meccas of America, prove the ideal truth of the words of Pliny, that" the earth took delight in being tilled by the hands of men crowned with laurels and decorated with triumph- ant honors." Many of the purest embellishments of literature have been drawn from the field of the husband- man. Gems, not only q{ poesy and song, but of painting and sculpture, of philosophy and elo- quence, thus have their origin. Let agriculture, then, make its reprisals, and build up a literature at once intelligible and satisfactory foi-its millions of thinkers. We need a careful, exact, arid systematized re- gistration of experiments— such as can be made at thoroughly scientific institutions, and such as will not be made elsewhere. These tests and these tables, So furnished, will give us, when reported and collated, as is provided for in this bill, a rational induction of principles upon which we may expect to establish a proper science; and the more widely gathered are the facts, the sounder the science. The discoveries of Coluinbus-struck amateurs will not be trumpeted forth until they have received the sanction of a body less sanguine than the vendors of a patent. Spurious dogmas will be touched lightly with the spear of hhuriel, and no longer squat around the ears of weary plowmen. We need to test the natural capability of soils and the power of different fertilizers; the relative value of different grasses for flesh, fat, and milk- giving purposes; the comparative value of grain, roots, and hay, for wintering stock; the value of a bushel of corn, oats, peas, carrots, potatoes, or turnips, in pounds of beef, pork, or mutton; deep plowing as well as drainage; the vitality and deterioration of seeds; breeds of animals; reme- dies for the potato disease and for all tribes of in- sects destructive t9 cotton, wheat,and fruit crops. These, and many more, are questions of scien- tific interest even beyond their economical import- ance in the researches of the agriculturist. The philosophy of manures, or of giving plants their appropriate food, is in jts infancy. In Eng- land they have, through the process of feeding wheat, raised the average 'yisld to double its former amount. Liebig, employed in 1840 by the ' Royal Agricultural Society, was almost the first, after Sir Humphrey Davy, to practically apply agricultural chemistry so as to arrest the atten- tion of farmers. It was at his suggestion, only seventeen years ago, that guano was brought into notice. In 1851, notwithstanding its extravagant price, England imported two hundred and forty- three thousand and fourteen tons of this concen- trated fertilizer, proving t:hat the fabled eggs of 9 the golden goose have been eclipsed in value by the " evacuations of sea-gulls." It is plainly an indication that education is talc- ing a step in advance when public sentiment be- gins to demand that the faculties pf young men shall be trained with some reference to the voca- tion to which they are to be devoted through life. It is clear that intellectual discipline can be ob- tained under more than one mode, and, if the pri- mary education sought for this purpose can be afterwards applied to practical use in the destined occupation, it is a point clearly gained . Law, the- ology, and medicine, have been specialities from the time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Special schools for art, trade, and commerce, though of later growth, have been long established in many places throughout Europe, and in our own American cities. In some places these institutions, intended to be practical rather than speculative, go by the not inapt name of Real Schools. Agricultural colleges and schools in many portions of Europe are a marked feature of the age. In our own country the general want of such places of instruction has been so manifest that States, societies, and individuals, have attempted to supply it, though necessarily ih stinted meas- ure. The " plentiful lack" of funds has retarded their maturity and usefulness; but there are some examples, like that of Michigan, liberally sup- ported by the State, in the full tide of successful experiment. Adequate means to start on a scale commensurate with the great objects in view seems an indispeiisable prerequisite. States have been unable to impose at once' the increased tax- ation that would be required, and the liberality of private individuals has been unequal to the task. But if this bill shall pass, the institutions of the character required by the people, and by our na- tive land, would spring into life, and not languish from poverty, doubt, or neglect. They would prove (if they should not literally, like the schools of ancient Sparta, hold the children of the State) the perennial nurseries of patriotism, thrift and liberal information — places " where men do not decay." They would turn out men for solid use, and not drones. It may be assumed that tuition would be free, and that the exercise of holding the plow and swinging the scythe — every whit as no- ble, artistic, and graceful, as the postures of the gymnastic or military drill — would go far towards defraying all other expenses of the students. Mus- cles hardehed by such training would not become soft in summer or torpid in winter; and the grad- uates would know how, to sustain American in- stitutions with American vigor. It is desirable that the agricultural hive, in all its industrial ramifications, should furnish such generous rewards, such noble incentives, as to re- claim the truants who have iled to and clog and embarrass other fiursuits and professions with untrained adventurera. The New York Mercan- tile Agency states the number of stores in the United States at 204,061, which would be about one store to every one hundred and twenty-three inhabitants. This shows ." Trade wields the sword ; and Agriculture leaves Her half-turned f\irrows; other harvests fire An avarice of renown." I suppose that it might be a fair estimate to say that eighty out of every hundred of these traders become insolvent every ten years. But had they invested their capital and labor in agriculture, it may be safely assumed that not twenty out of ^very hundred would have failed to secure a com- petency. Adam Smith, after having noticed "the precari- ous and uncertain possession" of capital engaged in commerce and manufactures, says: " That which arises from the more solid improvements of agriculture is much more durable, and cannot be destroyed but by those more violent convulsions occasioned by the depredations of hostile and barbarous nations continued for a century or two together." Mr. Speaker, when a money pressure over- takes the country, like that through which we are just passing, in searching for its cause no one thinks of charging it upon agriculturists. They are not only industrious, but frugal. Thrift is iheir cardinal virtue. They do not produce, vend, nor consume luxuries. They hasten slowly, and go untouched of all epidemical speculations. But when the crisis comes — when commerce, man - ufactures, banks, and even Government itself, quail beneath the storm — all eyes turn to tlie hardy tillers of the soil for relief. They stand, as they always stand, with enough- for theiiiselves and something to spare. They furnish raw material ^ freight, means of liquidation or of supply; and yet, Wl^en they: Would be even more useful, shall we pronounce them unworthy, and deny them opportunity? It is one of the political axioms of the writer ' already quoted, everywhere accredited, that na- tional wealth is greatly increased or diminished by the more or less skill, dexterity, and judg- ment, with' which labor is generally fipplied. As legislators, we can have no subject befo;-e us of higher intrinsic importance. Manufacturers , when their books disclose a los- ing business, change to a different class of goods; merchants, in like circumstances, to a different trade and other markets; but all history shows 10 the tenacity with which habits acquired in the cul- tivation of land clirtg to a people from generation to generation. In all ages farmers have been sta-r ble, conservative, and reverent to antiquity. The same plow as described three thousand years ago at Y Alliens, the eye of Greece, motlier of arts And eloquence," is still in use among the modern Greeks. The habitant of Canada as much believes to-day in the propriety of placing the yoke on to the horns of the ox, in order to secure the entire strength of fhe animal, as he did in the days when he owed allegi- ance to the Grand Monarch. Theold Roman plow, sometimes drawn, in the days of Nero, " by a wretched ass on the one side, and an old woman op the other," still retains its place in Italy, and in parts of Spain and the south of Prance. If we turn to the descendants of the Puritans, we shall find some of these yet kill their pork and plant their corn in " the old of the moon. " In all ages, and in all countries, the habits, as well as the vir- tues of agriculturists, remain fixed. Agricultural men dwell apart. Their business keeps them at home, and they cannot combine to secure general improvements, or to make their complaints heard. They suffer in silence — the rolling years only noted by " seed time and har- vest." All over the highest civilized parts of Europe we find the different Governments alive to the wants of agriculture. They have established-min- isters of instruction, model farms, experimental farms, botanical gardens, colleges, and a large number of secondary schools, with no otherpur- pose — and they need no higher or nobler — than the improvement of the industrial resources — the farms and the farmers — of the respective coun- tries. All these are chiefly supported by large annual expenditures ofthe different Governments, except so far as any may be self-supporting in- stitutions. The effect is in the largest degree fa- vorable to the people and to increased production. But the teachings of European professors are of little consequence to Americans, even if they could be comprehended and instantaneously adopted, as they are rarely suited to our circumstances. Can we not have something that we may-claim as our own .' Young Atjiericans should have some chance to study agriculture as a profession, and be attracted to it as to a learned, liberal, and in- tellectual pursuit. Is it true, as our detractors assert, that science can flourish only under the patronage of royalty? This system of education is known to be more complete in Prussia than in any other nation of Europe. It may be said that all the children at- tend school until they are thirteen years old; and agricultural colleges, and schools for the mechanic arts and higher trades, are- liberally stistained, and with a much larger staff of professors than is common in the United States. This nfition is making rapid progress in wealth and intelligence. In Saxony they have a number of experiment stations, or experimental farms, with laboratories attached, and five or more schools exclusively for agriculture. There is no country in the world where agriculture and all branches of industry are pursued with more enterprise and success than in the little monarchy of Saxony; and there, of 315,185 children between the ages of six and fourteen years, 311,454 were, inl851, in actual attendance at school. Belgium has its agricultural schools also, and great opportunies for general education are given, especially in the larger towns. Here farming is conducted most on a scientific basis; and Bel- gium, supporting a population of three hundred and thirty-six to the square mile, in a climate in- ferior to that of Kentucky or Virginia, averaging only twenty-six and twenty-three to the square mile, is the first in rank as an agricultural State in Europe. Its once noted battle-fields are now equally noted as model farms. This preeminence is chiefly the result of scientific attention to ma- nures. Prance, from the time of Napoleon, has done much fqjr agriculture. Beet-sugar, the mulberry, the grape, as well as Merino sheep and the Thi- bet goat, have received imperial attention. No expense in Prance is shirked in the cause of agri- cultural science. ' Her botanical gardens, chemical laboratories, physiological museums, and schools for instructions in the veterinary art, surpass all others in existence, and with her five agricultural colleges, and almost one hundred inferior agri- cultural schools are performing herculean labors . for the elevation of the farming population of the empire, rhe Revolution and the successive wars loaded Prance with an immense debt; but this was rapidly extinguished from the never-failing resources of her soil. The abrogation ofthe game laws and many other feudal enactments has aided her progress, but the breaking up and division of every estate at the death of the owner; doubtless retards much of permanentimprovement. But for this abuse of a true principle, and the illiterate condition of her people, Prance would have been the pioneeer of rural economy. As it is, we look more to England and Soot- land, and to Irelanfi tq some extent, for princi- ples and facts for our instruction. Here we find 11 agriculture developed in all its noblest attitftdea. Science, wealth, taste, mind, and rank, combine to increase its profit, beauty, and honor. The large fortunes of individuals enable Science to delve constantly in its belialf;but the Government, far from thinking that enough, annually contrib- utes liberally to the same object, especially in Ireland. Colleges and schools of agriculture are numerous in Great Britain, but their usefulness is greatly restricted on account of the limited attendance arising from the jealousies of caste. Agricultural improvement is impose^ on such a people from necessity. The heavy taxation, the enormous consumption of luxuries, and density of population, could not be otherwise supported. Science, l;ke the rod of Aaron, ha^ touched the soil, and behold ! the crops are doubled. Nothing but this in Ireland could have checked the disper- sion of a nation — a nation, too, that in ten years preceding 1846, exported more grain than all of the United States. Notwithstanding the magnifi- cent proportions of her commerce, freckling all seas with its Sag, and notwithstanding li£r all- embracing manufactures, with their countless fires blazing day and night, England, were her agri- culture to retrograde, or the land fail "to yield her increase," would be numbered with things that were, and the earth no more rook at the sound of Trafalgar or Waterloo. The Government of Russia, the growing giant of Europe, has recently taken a conspicuous lead ini the education of its people, and the cause of agriculture there holds a deserved prominence. Of colleges, schools, and specifil schools devoted to agriculture, Russia maintains a greater number than any other nation, Prance only excepted. No nation has arisen in the political firmament with a steadier splendor than the great northern bear, which, instead of pawing, like Milton's lion, "his hinder-parts to get free "from the mud df the Nile, is struggling to get free from the Polar ice of ig-. norance. The back-bone of Russia, in her recent contest, lay in her eigricultural forces, and against these but half-tutored resources of men and wealth, heilf the strength of Europe could only wage a drawn battle. Here we find a despotism, from motives merely of governmental policy, elevating labor, placing it within the power of her agricul- turists and artisans to become educated and skill- ful, whils our people with the Government in their own hands, parley on the brink, and do nothing for their own benefit. ^ Spain is weak in all her industry, because, while an uned^ttoated Spanish gentleman, it is said, can- not be found, so neither can a peasant be found who 9an,read or write. Italy, anciently far in advance of all herootcm- poraries, in theory and practice, is now behind all other States in her farming and industrial pur- suits, and here we find but one person in fifty pro- vided with any instruction whatever. I might contrast Bohemia with Saxony, and even Ireland with England, or the different can- tons of Switzerland with each other, to show the difference between ignorant and educated culture ^p[ the soil, but I have not space. Thus, we behold the suffrages of all the wiser civilized nations in favor of the measure contem- plated by the bill under consideration; examples as much to be imitated as those of an ojiposite character are to be shunned. If other nations ad- vance, though we but pause, we are distanced. The voice of our country, if it could find .utter- ance, is believed to be overwhelmingly in favor of the establishment of these institutions on our own soil. They are as much needed and will be as gratefully accepted in one direction of oilr coun- try as another. More than four fifths of our pop- ulation are engaged in agricultural and mechanical employments. This vast number out of thirty millions of people now, to be increased to fifty millions in Itess than twenty years, will forever furnish an inexhaustible supply of pupils who will not forsake their calling. Is it not of grave importance to give this vast force an intelligent direction .' In 1850 there were, between the ages of five and fifteen, 5,106,257 inhabitants of our country. There were engaged in the professions of law, medicine, and theology, 94,575 citizens, and in all the colleges of the United States there were 27,159 pupils only. If these pupils required two hun- dred and thirty-nine colleges fortAeirinstruction, how many ought we to have for the sons of the millions engaged in agriculture ? Why, sir, the number which it may be hoped will be provided for under the auspices of phis bill will hardly do more for some years than to supply teachers that will be required in secondary schools. At the close of the Revolution there was much difficulty about these lands. The States within whose boundaries the ungranted crown lands were situated felt disposed to claim them, unjustly as the other States thought, as State property. But finally all yielded to the Union, using in their conveyance words of like import — that the lands should be considered a common fund for the use and betiefit of all. Since then the revolutionary debt has been exlitiguished; gratitude for military ser- vices has been acknowledged to the extent of fbrty-four million one hundred and nine thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine aci-es; new States 12 have been properly treated with statesmanlike Uberality; nowbythisbilllheoldStates,by whose blood and treaaure the public domain was so largely acquired , will be alio wed some direct share, bpt not greater than that of others, in the distri- bution. What clause in the constitution inter- poses any barrier to this ? It cannot be pretended that this is one of a class of cases; for here is one where four fifths of all the people are directly, and all the rest indirectly, interested. No other can come up representing more than a fractional part of the remaining fifth. Our Government is also directly interested, as the holder and dealer in large tracts of land. If it be for the interest of small holders of land, it must be for the interest of a large holder. There is not even an exclusion of those who do not cultivate their land. If the measure shall in any degi^ae in- crease the future profits of cultivators, the value of all land, wherever it may be, whether held in small or large quantities, will be augmented. The cotton-gin has hardly done more to raise the price of estates in the South, than would now the dis- covery of a remedy for the boll-worm, and older destructive insects, which gore and gorge the cottot^-plant; nor have the reaping machines been of more advantage to western wheat fields, than would be a cure for the wheat midge. These in- vaders may not be overcorfle; may not be within the reach of human enginery; one sixth part of the cotton and wheat crop may still be lost; but some resulting improvements may safely be predicated upon the labors of thirty-two or more institutions actively engaged in scientific agriculture. There can be no doubt that the benefits to be derived, will prove art ample consideration for the lands disposed of.' One o/the most adequate consider- ations ever received for any testate by parent, is called, in legal parlance, " love and affection;" and that also will not be wanting here. ' These considerations are tendered by those elder States, to whose toils andexpenditares the mar-' ketable value of our public domain is so largely indebted. Blot out the canals and railroads of Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, costing over two hundred million dollars, and the buffalo and the fur-trader on the western prairies might strive for the mastery, but civilization would postpone her triumphs over the savage to a remoter age. Our " western empire" might be taxed the whole cost of the New York and Erie canal, and then be the gainer; and yet the bill I am advocating will not appropriate, among all the States, one fifth part of its original cost, and not one half of the amount of the yet unpaid canal debt of New York. The third section of article four of the Constitu- tion declares: " The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." Here is the whole of it; and there is norestric- tion,save that in the deeds of cession. Ourpublic lands are no longer pledged for a national debt; and, if held for the common benefit of all, hpw can it.be wrong to give all their rightful and exact proportion to the limited extent now proposed .' Who will be wronged .' What better thing shall we do with them.' Whatever discordantopinions there may have recently existed touching the true interpretation of this clause, as to persons, no one will pretend that it does not give complete control over the la*id (the property) belonging to the United States; and the measure I am considering is a literal compliance with the powers conferred in that it proceeds " to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations" respecting so much as is embraced in the bill. Grants of lands during and since 1850 have been made to ten States and one Territory, to aid in the construction of more than fifty railroads, of an extent of about liine thousand miles, amounting to 25,40.3,993 acres. These grants were made on the argument of " prudent proprietorship," and alternate sections were given. away to double the price of the remainder. Whether the policy will result in any loss to the Government or not, these States were treated with a liberality they will never forget. As a prudent proprietor, may we not do that which 'will not only tend to raise the valneofalllahd, ■whether owned by individuals or byjGrovernment, but make agricultural labormore profitable and more desirable as a pursuit in life? Up to the 30th of June, 1857, we had ungrudg- , ingly donated to different Slates and Territories sixty-seven million seven hundred and thirty-six thousand five hundred and seventy-two acres of land for schools and universities. No one shall be twitted for such acts by me ; but, if the purpose be a noble one as applied to a Territory sparsely populated, it is certainly not less so to States thickly peopled, If such donations are constitu- tional to inchoate States jean they be unconstitu- tional when proposed to the Old Dominion, the Empire, Keystone, and Little Rhody.' Is there a more urgent demand for such aid in behalf of the people of a Territory free of debt, whose frame of government is supported by the nation, than in behalf of States bearing all the debt and bur- dens of the national Government, and bending under JJ245,211, 259 of present State indebtedness? Surely the endowment of agricultural colleges 13 ought not to depend upon the resources of States aU'eadyso oppreaaively. laden, nor upon the come- by-chance charities of individuals, but upon the liberal administration of the Government which has been expressly constituted the trustee of an ample store for the common benefit of all the tatea. The executive and legislative precedents which can be arrayed to sustain the principles embodied in this measure are of great weight and authority. Commencing with those coeval with the Consti- tution, and continuing to a recent date, we have the opinions and acts of men that few at the pres- ent day would not think it robbery to claim for any favorite an equality. Washington brought the subject of agriculture before Congress in his first message . He thought it aaubject within the constitutional jurisdiction, and his experience increased that coilviction ; for in hia last message, December 7, 1796, he recurs to it with elaborate argument. He says: " It will not be doubted that, tvitli reference either to In- dividual or national WelHire, agriculture It, of primary Im- portance. In proportion as nations advance in population and otiier circumstances of maturity, this task becomes more apparent, and renders the cultivation of the soil more and more an object 6f public patronage. fnsUtutions for promoting it grow up, supported by the public purse ) and to ivbat object can it be dedicated with greater propriety?'* Thus we have the very germ of the whole pro- ject. " The cultivation of the soil," inslitutions " supported by the public purse," he exclaims, " to what object can it be dedicated with greater propriety ?" Itcannot be doubted that donations, of land fdr Eigricultural colleges would have re- ceived the approval of Washington. He pro- ceeds: " I have heretofore proposed to the bonslderatlon of Con- gress the ^xpedien(^ of establisliing a national university, and also a military academy. The desirableness of both these institutions has so constantly increased with every new view I have taker^ of the subject, that I cannot omit the opportunity of, once for all, recalling your attention to tliem. ('The assembly to which 1 address myseffis too enlight- eciod not to be fully sensible how mueb a flourishing state of the arts and sci^ccs contributes to national prosperity and reputation. True it is, that our country, much to its honor, crontains many seminaries of learning, highly re- spectable and useful; but the funds upon which they rest arc too narrow to command the ablest professors in the dif- ferent departments of liberal knowledge tbr the institution contomplated, though they would be excellent auxiliaries." This will be enough to satisfy all as to the opin- ions of Washington. Let us now see what were the opinions of Jefferson. In his sixth message he thus speaks: ' "Education la here Ijlaced among the articles of public care; not that It would 'be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private entci'llrlsi;, Which man- ages so much better all the oonoofns to which It Is equal i hut a public Institution can alone supply those sciences which, though rajely called for, are yet necessary to com- plete the circle, all the parisofwhichcontrtbute to the Im- provement of the country, itnd some of them to Its preserva- tion." ' The message goes on to show that if public moneys were to be used i'or roads and Canals, an amendment of the Constitution would be neces- sary, but that land might be used for that purpose without an amendment. He then proceeds to urge his favorite university thus: "The present consideration of a national establishment Ibr education, particulftrly. Is rendered proper by this cir- cumstance also, that If Congress, approving the proposition, shall yet think It more eligible to found It on a. donation of lands, they have It now In their power to endow it With those which will he amongst the earlieit to produce the neccssliry Income. This foundation would have the advantage of being independent In war, which may suspend other improve- ments, by rei)Uirlng for Its own purposes the resources des- tined for them." I submit that here the *hole question of eon» Btitutional power is covered, as well as a power> ful argument suggested, by Jefferson. For want of time, all reference to Madison, Monrofe, and Adams, rauat be omitted. Jackson was the steadfast friend of agriculture, and the first, in 1837, to call into the Patent Office a prac- tical farmer (Mr. Ellsworth) to collect statistics. As Senator, General Jackson voted a township of land to La Fayette. He approved, June 30, 1984, of giving thirty-aix sections of land to the Polish exiles expelled from Europe by Austria. He ap* proved, April 3, 1830, of a bill giving land to a State for the construction at the Miami canal. January 13, 1831, he approved of a bill granting a single section for schoois, in Lawrence, Mis' sissippi. March 2, 1833, an act was passed ehang" ing the Illinois canal grant t6 a railroad grant, with obligations attached. This was approved by General Jackson. That part of the Cumberland road in Ohio was surrendered in 1^31, and that in Virginia in 1833, to the respective States, with a compact that they should keep the same in repair and collect the tolls— approved by General Jack' aon,and the act decided since to be oonstitutlonal by the Supreme Court of the United States. Gen- eral Jackaon rejected the land bill of 1833, mainly for the reason that it first gave to the States wherever the lands might lie, twelve and a half per cent, before there was to be any division among the other States. Thia he denounced as injustice and inequality. It ia enough to say that no such objections can be raised against the division pro« posed now. There can be no question that Gen- eral Jackaon and the men who coSperated with 14 him would have approved of grants of land to all the States for the benefit of agrit^ultural col- leges. The bill donating lands to the State of Connec- ticut, for a Bcminary of learni,ng for the deaf and dumb, passed the Senate in IS'lD, without even a .^ call of the yeas and nays. The bill approved Jan- uary 29, 1827, donating lands to kentucky for a seminary of learning for^he deaf and dumb, passed the Senate by a vote of 27 to 6; and we find such men as King of Alabama, Johnson of Kentucky, Benton of Missouri, Eaton and White of Tennes- see, and Woodbury of New Hampshire, voting for the measure. In the House, the bill passed by 120 to 43; and among the yeas will be found the names of James Buchanan, James K. Polk, Cam- breleng, Livingston, MeDuffie, and Wickliffe. Surely these are no mean authorities on, constitu- tional questions, to be added to the names of Craw- ford , Monroe , Calhoun , Webster, Clay , and Clay- ton. In 1838, a'township of land in Florida was granted to Dr. Henry Perrine, to " promote the cultivation of tropical plants." In 1841, there was donated to each of the new States five hundred thousand acres of land. The present law, now on our Statutes at Large,, is, that when duties are brought down below twenty per cent., the pro- ceeds of the public lands are to be .distributed to the States. Congress donated to the State of Ten- nessee, August 6, 1846, of unproductive lands lying in that State, one million three hundred thousand acres, on the condition that the State should endow and establish a college, at an ex- pense of notless than forty thousand dollars. Over fifty million acres of swamp lands have been given to different States. President Taylor, in his mes- sage of 1849, says: "No direct aid has been given by the Geneml Govern- ment to the improvement of agriculture, except by the ex- penditure of smali sums for the coliection and publication of agricultural statistics, and for some chemical analyses, which have been, thus far, paid for out of the patent fund. This aid, in my opinion, is wholly inadequate.'* ' President Fillmore,, in his message of 1850, " Agriculture may justly be regarded as the great interest of our people. Four fifths of our active population are em ployed in the cultivation of the soil ; and the expansion of our settlements over new territory is daily adding to the number engaged in that vocation. Justice and sound policy, therefore, alike require that the Government should use all the means authorized by the Constitution to promote the interests and welfare of that important class of our fellow- citizens. And yet it is a singular fact that, whilst the man- ufacturing and commercial interests have engaged the at- tention of Congress during a large portion of every session, and uur statutes abound in provisions for their protection and encuunigcraent, litlle has yet been done direcUy for the advancement of agriculture. It is time that this reproach to our legislation should be removed ; and I sincerely hope , that the present Congress will not close their labors without adopting efficient means to supply the omissions of those who have preceded them," The constitutionality of a measure does not depend upon the amount, but upon the principle involved. The citations made show that there is a great preponderance, almost uninterrupted from the. foundation of the Government, of executive, legislative, and judicial authoi-ity, to prove that the pov/erofCongrcss-to dispose o/the public lands at its discretion la plaitj, absolute, and unlimited. The derivative title to a moiety of the lands im- posesa condition upon the disposal of that portion so derived — a condition itself persuasively urging our present object — which is " for the use and common benefit of all the States." While agriculture has been a neglected field of legislation, it does not now call for the exercise of novel constitutional power. Congress has long asserted the right to dispose of the public lands to establish school funds and universities, and no one now questions the soundness of such a policy. This measure is but an extension of the same principle over a wider field — wider in its applica- tions, but not wider in its amount, for the num- ber of acres now proposed for all the States is scarcely larger than have been donated to indi- vidual States. It is general and not local in its- reach. If we have the power to make special grants, in particular and individual cases, we cer- tainly have the power, and it would be far more just and expedient to exercise it, in its general ap- plication. Pass this measure and we shall have done — Something to enable the farmer to raise two blades of grass instead of one; Something for every owner of land; Something for all who desire to own land; Something for cheap scientific education; Something for every man who loves intelligence and not ignorance; ■ Something to induce the father's sons and daughters to settle and cluster around the old homesteads; Something to remove the last vestige of pauper- ism from our land; Something for peace, good order, and the bet- ter support of Christian churches and common schools; Something to enable sterile railroads to pay dividends; Something to enable the people to bear the enormous expenditures of the national Goverii- ment; 15 Something to check the pasaion of individuals, and of the nation, for indefinite territorial eXpan- sion.aqd ultimate decrepitude; Something to prevent the dispersion of our pop- ulatioDi and to concentrate it around the best lands ofourcountry^places hallowed by church spires, and mellowed by all the influences of time — where the consumer will be placed at the door of the pro- ducer; and thereby Something \o obtain higher prices (bt all sorts of agricultural productions; and Something to increase the loveliness of the American landscape. Soientilio culture is th%sure precursor of order and beauty. Our /esthetic Diedrich Knickerbockers, who have no land, will have a fairer opportunity to become great ad- mirers. of land that belongs to others. Many of our wisiest statesmen have denounced our general land system as a prolific source of corruption; but what corruption can flow from endowing agricultural colleges ,' Here- is neither profligacy nor waste, but a measure of justice and oeneficence. Without meaning to express my opinion for or against the homestead policy, I ask, n all candor, what man is there in the whole engtl) and breadth of our country, who would not prefer, if he could have his choice, sOch an education as might be obtained at one of these colleges to a warrant for one hundred and sixty acres of land? The persuasive arguments of precedents; the example of our worthiest rivals in Europe; the rejuvenation of worn-out lands, which ^ring,forth taxes only; the petitions of farmers everywhere, yearning for "a more excellent way;" philan- thropy, supported by our own highest interests — all these considerations impel us for once to do something for agriculture worthy of its national importance. ■ By the recent statement of the Land Office, we have 1,088,792,498 acres of land to dispose of; and when this bill shall have passed, there will then remain about one thousand and eighty-three mil- lions of acres. We shall still be the largest land- holder in the world, while confessedly we are not the^best farmers. Let it never be said we are " the greatest and the meanest of mankind." APPENDIX. A bill donating publicLands to the several States which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the me- dianlc arts. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives ^fthe United States ofJlmerica in Congress assembled^ That there be granted to the several States, for the purpose here- inafter mentioned, five millions, nine hundred and twenty fliousand jcres of land, to be apportioned to each Slate a quantity equal lo twenty thousand acres for each Senator and Representative In Congress, to which the States arc now respectively entitled. Sec. 2. ^nd be itjurther enacted^ That the land aforesaid, after being surveyed, sliall be apportioned t6 tlie several States, in sections or subdivisions ofsections, not less than one quarter of a section; and whenever there are public lands in a State, worth $1 35 per acre, (the value of said lands to bo determined by tlie Governor of said State,) Uie quantity to which said State shall be entitled, shall be se- lected from such lands, and the'Secretnry of the Interior is hereby directed to issue to those States In which there are no public lands of the value of §lf25 per acre, land scrip to the amount of their distributive shares in acres under the provisions of this act, said scrip to be sold By said States, and the proceeds thereof applied to tlie uses and the pur- poses prescribed in this act, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever: Provided, That in no case shall any Smte to which land scrip may thus be issued, be allowed to locate the same within the limits of any other State, but their as- signees may thus locate said land scrip upon any of the un- appropriated lands of the United States, subject to private entry. Sue. 3. ^nd he it further enacted. That all the expenses of managementand superintendence 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 men- tioned. Sec. 4. ^nd be it further enacted, That all moneys de- rived 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 stoclcs, yielding not less than five per centum upon the par value of said stocks; and that the moneys so invested shall constitute a perpetual hind, the capital of which shall re- mainforever undiminished (except so far as maybe pro- vided in section Hfth 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 scientiflc or classical studies, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture aud the mechanic arts, in such man- ner as the Leglsliitures of the States may respectively pre- scribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical educa- tion of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life. Sec. 5. iSnd be it further enacted. That the grant of land and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made, on the fol- lowing conditions, to which, as well as to the provisions hereinbefore contained, tlie previous assent of the several States shall be signified by legislative acts : JFirst. 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, be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the St