OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.

(FORMERLY OHIO AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE.)

BY PROF. EDWARD ORTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY.

The history of this institution deserves a place in the records of the State Board of Agriculture, for the Board, by its collective action, and still more by the individual exertions of its past and present members, has had much to do in shaping the character and fortunes of the University up to the present date. The interest of the Board is fully justified by the fact that this institution must become a powerful auxiliary in advancing a rational and intelligent system of husbandry in the State, unless it proves recreant to one of the chief purposes for which it was founded. On the other hand, the recognition and aid which so influential and thoroughly representative a body as the State Board can give cannot fail to go far in accrediting and introducing the youthful institute to one of the great interests which it is especially set to serve. All experience in this country has shown that it is a very difficult task to establish any vital and valuable connection between practical agricul turists as a body on the one side, and those institutions on the other whose special aim it is to deal with the sciences that underlie agricul ture. The farmer sets an inordinate value on his practice and the man of science on his theory. The practice is often unscientific, and the science is perhaps still oftener un practical. It is very easy "to point a moral or adorn a tale" with the mistakes and blunders of either. Book farming, or the attempt to apply science to agriculture without adequate knowledge of the practical conditions involved, is often ludicrous enough in its outcome, but the wholesale mistakes of ignorant practice are of a far more serious nature, needlessly exhausting the fertility of great regions, and turning fruitful plains into partial deserts.

The State Board, as the representative of Ohio agriculture, is committed to both science and practice, and can better mediate between extreme views as to the exclusive value of either than any other organization in the State.

The history of this institution begins with an act passed by the Con

gress of the United States on July 2d, 1862, donating lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. The act is recited below:

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 to 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 land 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 sufficiency 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 be thus 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 per acre; and provided further, that not more than one million acres shall 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. 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 purpose hereinafter mentioned.

SEC. 4. That all moneys derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid by the state to which the lands are apportioned, and from the sales of the land scrip herein before provided for shall be invested in stocks of the United 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 objects 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 a manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life.

SEC. 5. That the grant of land and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made of

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 act:

1st. 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 state to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished, and the annual interest shall be regularly applied without diminution to the purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this act, except that a sum not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount received by any state under the provisions of this act may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites or experimental farms whenever authorized by the respective legislatures of said states.

2d. No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, shall be applied directly or indirectly under any pretence whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings.

3d. Any state which may take and claim the benefit of the provisions of this act, shall provide within five years at least not less than one college as described in the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such state shall cease, and said state shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold, and that the title to purchase under the same shall be valid.

4th. An annual report shall be made, regarding the progress of each college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their costs and results, and such other matters, including state industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free, by each, to all other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the secretary of the interior.

5th. When lands shall be selected from those which have been raised to double the minimum price, in consequence of railroad grants, they shall be computed to the states at the maximum price, and the number of acres proportionally diminished.

6th. No state while in condition of rebellion or insurrection against the government of the United States, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act.

7th. No state shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, unless it shall express its acceptance thereof by the legislature within two years from the date of its approval by the President.

SEC. 6. That land scrip issued under the provisions of this act, shall not be subject to location until after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixtythree.

SEC. 7. That the land officers shall receive the same fees, for locating land scrip issued under the provisions of this act, as are now allowed for the location of military bounty land warrants, under existing laws: provided, their maximum compensation shall not be thereby increased.

SEC. 8. That the governors of the several states to which scrip shall be issued under this act, shall be required to report annually to congress all sales made of such scrip until the whole shall be disposed of, the amount received for the same, and what appropriation has been made of the proceeds.

On February 9th, 1864, the General Assembly of the State of Ohio passed an act to accept the grant conveyed in the act above given, in the following words:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the assent of

said state is hereby signified to the aforesaid act of congress, and to all the conditions and provisions therein contained, and the faith of the state of Ohio is hereby pledged to the performance of all such conditions and provisions.

SEC. 2. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Governor John Brough, in his annual message, delivered in January, 1865, announced that certificates of scrip for 630,000 acres of land had been received and placed in the State Treasury. The next step was the passage of

AN ACT

To provide for the sale of land scrip, and other purposes.

[Passed and took effect April 13, 1865. 62 Vol. Stat., 189.]

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state are hereby authorized and directed on or before the first day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, to advertise in such form as they may deem proper, for proposals for the purchase of the land scrip received from the United States, for the establishment of an agricultural college or colleges in the state of Ohio. Such advertisement shall authorize proposals to be received by the auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, and by the auditor and treasurer in each and every county in the state. The term of said notice shall not be less than ninety days from the date thereof. No proposition shall be received for less than one hundred and sixty acres, nor for a rate of less than eighty cents per acre. [Repealed April 5, 1866.]

SEC. 2. If offers should not be received for the whole of said scrip, acceptable to said auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, the said officers are authorized and directed to again advertise, in like manner, for proposals for the portion remaining unsold. The term of said notice shall be sixty days from date, and be otherwise governed by the regulations herein before provided. [Repealed April 5, 1866 ]

SEC. 3. Upon the acceptance of proposals, and payment thereon, the party entitled thereto shall receive from said officers the amount of scrip so purchased, with a certificate that he has duly purchased and paid for the same; and on presentation of the same to the governor, he shall execute the necessary transfer of the scrip, in accordance with the regulations provided by the general land office therefor.

SEC. 4. The auditor and treasurer of each county in the state shall jointly receive for such service as they may perform under this act, in accordance with their instructions from the auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, a sum equal to five per centum on all moneys received and paid over by them upon the first three hundred and twenty acres of scrip sold, three per cent. on all moneys so received and paid over for the next three hundred and twenty acres sold, and one per cent. on all receipts for sales after six hundred and forty acres have been sold; and it is hereby made the duty of the auditor and treasurer of each county in the state to perform such services as may be required of them by the auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, under this act; and the aforesaid county officers shall be paid by the auditor of state out of the money hereinafter appropriated for such purpose.

SEC. 5. Said auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, on or before the first day of December next, shall make to the governor a full and explicit report of their proceedings under this act; which report the governor shall communicate to the general assembly at its next session. [Repealed April 5, 1866.]

SEC. 6. All money received from the sale of land scrip shall be paid into the state treasury, and shall be appropriated and used by the commissioners of the sinking fund for the reduction and payment of the other public debt of the state.

SEC. 7. Upon the amount of money so received for the sale of scrip appropriated for and to be used in the reduction of the other public debt of the state as aforesaid, there shall be allowed, and paid semi-annually on the first days of July and January in each year, interest at the rate of six per cent per annum; which shall be appropriated as provided in the act of congress approved July 2d, 1862, "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;" and for the prompt and regular payment of said interest, the preservation and appropriation of said fund, and the strict observance and fulfillment of the act of congress before referred to, the faith of the state is hereby irrevocably pledged.

SEC. 8. The commissioners of the sinking fund are hereby authorized and empow ered, as fast as the sinking fund will enable them to do so, to reduce the debt called the "agricultural fund," by the purchase of stocks of the United States or of this state, yielding not less than six per centum upon the par value of said stocks, which stocks, when so purchased, shall be transferred to the "state of Ohio, in trust for the agricultural college," and shall be deposited with the treasurer of state, and when so purchased, transferred, and deposited, shall, to the extent of the amount paid for such stocks, reduce the debt thereby created and denominated the "agricultural fund."

SEC. 9. There shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, five commissioners, no two of whom shall be residents of the same congressional district; two of whom shall be selected so as to represent the agricultural, and two representing the mechanical and manufacturing interests of the state, who shall be required to take and indorse upon their certificates of appointments an oath or affirmation to honestly and faithfully perform the duties imposed by this act; one of said commissioners shall be selected with reference to his military knowledge. [Repealed.] SEC. 10. Said commissioners, after full examination, shall report to the governor by the first of December next, their opinion as to the place for locating said college or colleges; and in forming such opinion, said commissioners shall consider the accessibility of such location to all parts of the state, by the ordinary meaus of travel, the inducements which may be offered by any locality in the way of donations of land, buildings, money, or other valuable property, for said college or colleges, the practicability of procuring, at reasonable expense, the necessary quantity of land adapted to the use of an experimental farm, with such other considerations as should have influence in the selection of such location. Said commissioners shall also consider and report any prop csitions which are now or may, within six months, be made, with the inducements offred for the establishment of more than one such college or colleges. Repeated April 5, 1866.]

SEC. 11. Said commissioners shall prepare and submit a detailed plan for the organization of said college or colleges, and the necessary buildings therefor. It shall embrace the proper control and management of the property, the necessary structures, implements, and stock of the farm; the branches and their respective divisions of learning to be tanght; the course of studies to be pursued, and their terms and extent; the professorships required to be established; the character and extent of experimental husbaudry upon the farm; the propriety and feasibility of connecting experimental studies in the mechanic arts; the probable expenditures for these respective purposes, and the