membered than that which is stated in mere words. Every where the practical methods should supplement and impress the theoretical instruction. At the Michigan Agricultural College the students repair the farm tools and make many of them. Several important improvements in farming implements have already originated there, though they have, as yet, no fully provided mechanical department. Students are also employed in the erection of new buildings as they are needed, and they are said to soon excel common workmen in the excellence of their work. CONCLUSION. In presenting this preliminary report, the committee purposely hold in reserve several points of much interest and importance, which they hope to be able to present finally in a much more definite and satisfactory form than can be done with the information now in hand. Maturer consideration than the time now allowed them has permitted, may also lead to some modification of certain of the points here presented. Fully comprehending the great magnitude and the immeasurable importance of the enterprise which they are seeking to shape into life and power, they can only bespeak for it the wise support and the just forbearance of all good and intelligent citizens An Industrial University such as we are planning is, in a large part, without precedent or example. The field of its labors is as yet almost untracked in its widest stretches. The very classes for whom its benefits are designed, are as yet not half persuaded of the importance and real value of those benefits. The farmers and mechanics, accustomed to regard higher education as needful and desirable only for professional men, and almost wholly incredulous as to the utility of science in its applications to their work, will look with slow-coming faith upon a University which proposes to make farming a scientific employment, and to lift mechanics into a learned profession. They have, in many cases, yet to be convinced that a highly cultured mind may be linked to a brawny hand, and that a classical scholar may feel at home in a workshop; aye! and find use for all his scholarship and taste in the successful practice of his art. But the age is propitious. The working masses of mankind are waking to their needs, and calling for light. The thunder of the machinery by the side of which they toil, and the magic power of the new processes of arts which they daily employ, have roused the long slumbering power of thought. Brains are coming into use and honor in all the fields of human labor, and brains will speedily demand light and knowledge. In an age of learning. the farmer and the mechanic will soon come to covet the rich heritages of science for their sons. Already the children of the laboring classes are crowding the public high schools. They will not stop there. The University lies the next step beyond. They will crowd to its doors; and soon will begin to issue from its halls that long column, with its yearly additions, of graduates with broad brows, and science-lighted brains, bearing back to the farms and the workshops an intelligent skill and power, to invoke new and unwonted fruitfulness from the soil and from the mechanic's art. "If I had fifty sons," said a farmer who had reluctantly permitted his eldest boy to take a course at an Agricultural College, and now brought his youngest to the same College, "If I had fifty sons they should all go to this College, for my boy, who graduated here, farms so much better than I ever did, skillful as I thought myself, that he is getting rich from his half of the crops he raises on my land, and I live like a prince on the remainder." And the light of high and classic learning will be found as beautiful and becoming when it shines in an educated farmer's home, as when it gilds the residence of the graduated lawyer or physician. Rich libraries are already seen in the houses of some of our leading agriculturists, and no one has found that they hinder the growth of harvests, or unfit the hand of the reaper. When our Industrial University shall have come fully into its work, these libraries will be increased in number, and there will gather around the firesides in our farm houses, and in the homes of our master mechanics, groups of cultivated and intelligent people, the peers in knowledge, refinement and power of the best and bravest in the land. And what richer growths shall yet start from these magnificent prairies to repay the farmer's toil, and what more splendid achievements shall yet spring from our myriad-handed mechanic art—what more beautiful bloom in our gardens, and more delicious fruits from our orchards-what more tasteful and convenient homes from our architecture, and what grander and more abundant products from our multiplying manufactories-what nobler forms of civilization to grace our free institutions, and what better types of manhood to tell of the blessings of liberty and learning, when education shall have fully achieved this last triumph, and carried her victorious banner of light down into the fields where the toiling millions of mankind must still, by the stern but beneficent ordination of Heaven, "eat their bread in the sweat of their brows." J. M. GREGORY, Committee. NOTE-TIME OF OPENING. It was the earnest desire both of the Trustees and of the Regent to open the University for students, as early at least as next September; but a careful considera_ tion of the character and extent of the preparations necessary to be made, in order to the successful inauguration of an enterprise of such magnitude and importance, convinced the Board of the necessity of some delay. It was accordingly voted that the opening be deferred till the first Monday in March, 1868. It was found that important alterations were needed to be made in the University building, requiring several months for their completion; the University grounds, which are a portion of an open and unsettled prairie, were to be graded, and this grading will leave the soil naked, to be turned into an expanse of mud by the autumnal rains; fences were to be built, walks laid, sewers constructed, out-houses erected, blackboards and other apparatus and furniture to be made or purchased, and the institution to be equipped for service. Financial considerations of much importance also forbade haste. The sale of the scrip, which could not be made for several weeks, was uncertain. No interest would accrue on the fund still the first of May, 1868, and the expense of the repairs and equipments, together with nearly the entire amount for salaries and current expenses would have to be taken from the principal of the University fund, thus seriously diminishing the means needed for the permanent support of the Institution. But even if these difficulties could be overcome or safely submitted to, the selection of a faculty could not be wisely made in a time so limited. To ripen the working plans, to select and appoint a suitable faculty, to allow the professors, when chosen, time to close their present engagements, and to remove their families and effects to the seat of the University, to properly advertise the opening, and to dif fuse every where through the state clear and definite information of the proposed courses of instruction and conditions of admission, to carry out the plan for the examination of candidates for the honorary scholarships, and to do all this well and thoroughly, required much more time than could be gained in a single summer In an institution which is to last through ages, the delay of six months in the opening is of little consequence if it avails to make that opening successful and auspicious. It was believed that the opportunity afforded by this delay to the Regent to visit the different counties of the State, and, by public addresses and personal interviews, to diffuse information concerning the plans and purposes of the University, would pave the way for a much more successful inauguration of its career. Vol. II-11 PROCEEDINGS OF NOVEMBER MEETING---1867. URBANA, November 26, 1867. The Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University, met at the University building, in the Regent's office, at 9 o'clock, A. M., November 26th, 1867, pursuant to the call of the Regent and the Executive Committee. The meeting was opened with prayer by the Regent. Upon the roll being called, nineteen members were present and answered to their names. Other members arrived later, making in all twenty-two present at the meeting. The absentees were, Brown of Chicago, Hammond, Hungate, Pullen, VanOsdel, and the Governor. Reports of committees were called for. J. W. SCROGGS, Secretary of the Executive Committee, made a full report, by reading the record of the acts of said committee to this date. Action upon this report was deferred. The REGENT called for the report of the Auditing Committee. Mr. LAWRENCE, Chairman of said committee, reported, informally, that he had corresponded with members of his committee, in reference to auditing the accounts of expenses of members of the Board, and had, with their consent, forwarded these accounts, with his approval, to the Regent. The REGENT called for the report of the Finance Committee. Mr. COBB, Chairman, made a full report of the action of said committee to this date, as follows: To the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University: GENTLEMEN-The Finance Committee are only required by the statute to report at the regular annual meetings. But, thinking that a brief statement, upon some of the more important matters referred to us, might be of interest to you, we herewith submit the following: 1. SALE OF SCRIP.-As per your instructions, the Treasurer, Regent and Chairman of the Finance Committee advertised and sold 180,000 acres of the scrip, realizing therefor $101,764 50. This sale, being considered favorable at the time, induced the Executive Committee to recommend to the Trustees the sale of an additional 100,000 acres. Your approval, in writing, having been obtained, the sale was conducted in the same manner as the first, realizing therefor the sum of $58,427 91. 2. FUNDS FOR CURRENT Expenses.-In accordance with a resolution offered by Mr. Burchard, at our last meeting, the Treasurer sold twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) of Champaign county bonds, using money obtained from the sale of scrip for the purchase of the same; thereby keeping our one hundred thousand dollars of Champaign county bonds good. 3. LOCATION OF SCRIP.-A resolution of the Board instructed our Committee to take immediate steps to ascertain the practicability of obtaining desirable lands, and if, in their (our) judgment, a judicious location of such lands can be made, they (we) were authorized to locate the same to the extent of one hundred thousand acres. The Committee having become convinced, after extensive inquiries, that excellent lands could be obtained, instructed the Regent and their Chairman, with such other Trustees as they might call in to aid them, to proceed to make locations in the four States of Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. The Regent and Mr. Goltra proceeded to Minnesota, and, after a careful inspection, located about sixteen thousand acres in that State. At a later date, Mr. Goltra proceeded to Nebraska, and located about nine thousand acres; making in all, located to this time, something over twenty-five thousand acres. Mr. Goltra expresses his opinion that thirty thousand acres, in addition, can be advantageously located during the next four months; and that, by taking a little further time, the balance, to make the entire amount of one hundred thousand acres, can be well located. It is believed that the lands already obtained will, within a few years, bring from three to five dollars per acre. As soon as the location of the 100,000 acres is completed, a descriptive catalogue should be issued and measures taken to secure an early sale. Upon application to the Regent for a detailed statement of the expenditures thus far, he furnished the following, which, upon examination, seems to be correct, and in accordance with instructions of the Board and Executive Committee: EXPENDITURES.-The total expenditures made thus far, for all purposes, is twentyfive thousand six hundred and twenty-two dollars and thirty-five cents ($25,622 35). Some of the warrants embraced in this amount are, probably, still outstanding, and may not, therefore, appear in the Treasurer's statement. Of these expenditures, much the larger part, viz: fourteen thousand and eightytwo 35-100 dollars, ($14,082 35,) was paid for additional grounds. The other expenses were as follows, viz: For expenses of meetings of boards and committees...... For grading grounds.... For furniture, stationery, printing, etc. For cut stone, lumber, labor, etc.. For salary of Regent.. $1,032 30 902 32 |