treasure was stolen by the "carpet-baggers" and the negroes who were in full charge of state legislatures. When the white people came into possession of their government, with depleted treasuries and a people loaded down with tremendous debts which were the results of four years of war and nearly ten years of negro and "carpet-bagger" rule, they met with great difficulties in restoring these funds.

These colleges, however, in a few years after 1872, were established in all states of the South, and began the splendid work which resulted in the preparation of so many sons and daughters for industrial service to the country.

At first ridicule was cast on these colleges by many thoughtless people and by some of the leading journals in the South. They were strongly and persistently fought by the classical system then in vogue in all the old colleges and universities which had held sway for so many hundred years in this and foreign lands. There were mistakes also made by the friends of these industrial colleges in attempting too much at first, and in some states in trying to ingraft the new education on to the old classical courses, with the lion's share of the time devoted to Latin and Greek.

In the establishment of these agricultural and mechanical colleges a serious difficulty at once arose because the South did not have a sufficient number of trained men to fill the engineering and other industrial chairs. It is astonishing that such good work was accomplished. There were teachers of eminence and marked ability filling the chairs of mathematics, language and literature in the Southern colleges and universities, but very few advanced scientific thinkers were available. These few men, however, were wise beyond their times, and fortunately to them was entrusted the starting and plan

ning of these new industrial institutions. Such men as William Le Roy Broun, president of the Georgia State College; I. T. Tichenor, president of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute; Gen. Stephen D. Lee, president of the Mississippi Agricultural College; J. M. McBryde, president of the South Carolina University, in connection with which university the Agricultural and Mechanical College was established prior to 1890. In 1890, however, the college was separated from the university under the name of Clemson Agricultural College. These men, with others like them, did heroic and pioneer work with considerable odds against them, even among the people they were trying to benefit.

The dark clouds which hung over the entire South from 1860 to 1890 have passed away, and may the power of omnipotence never permit the people to suffer the like again. Rapid progress is being made in educating the young men and women of the South, resulting in intelligent attack upon the social, political and industrial problems which have disturbed the people for so many years. The present is bright with hope and the future is auspicious, representing an educated people, cultured, happy and prosperous in the enjoyment of the good things of this world. The South, restored to her important place in the councils of the Nation, is now in full control of her own people who are solving the problems of the cultivation of the soil and making the farm a place of beauty and source of wealth; who have reduced the percentage of death by eradicating from land, air and water the causes of diseases, and who have made the bowels of the earth yield the wealth hidden therein, and harnessed to the factory wheels the water powers running to waste in the streams. These results of industrial education indicate what

Vol. 10-24

the future has in store for the South if all the resources are put forth under the control of the thoroughly educated mind and hand.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Higher Education in South Carolina and Other Southern States, issued by United States Bureau of Education; Southern Agriculturist, published prior to 1835; Southern Cultivator, published prior to 1860; College Catalogues of the older universities in the South; The Farmers' Library and Monthly Journal of Agriculture, by Skinner (1846 and earlier years); Manufacturers' Record (Baltimore); Historical publications of Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina; The American Farmer, prior to 1860; Address by B. K. Meade of Virginia in 1821; Transactions of state agricultural societies, prior to 1860; Annual Report of Thomas Cooper to Board of Trustees of South Carolina College, 1836; South Carolina Statutes (Vols. V and VI); Richmond (Va.) Enquirer (1843; Genesse Farmer (1854); Address before South Carolina Agricultural Society in 1847 by Mitchell King; The Laws of Congress relating to industrial education; Soil of the South, published in Columbus, Ga., prior to 1860.

PATRICK HUES MELL,

President of Clemson Agricultural College.

CHAPTER XV.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE
SOUTHERN STATES.

The Morrill Bill.

REMARKABLE feature of the revival of learning since the Dark Ages, is that at first the most prominent branches of study related to things of the least consequence to the common people, and that it has taken a long period of years for the schools to give instruction in matters of every-day life and of special value to the masses. There was a slight awakening to the importance of agricultural education in the United States as early as 1800, but it required nearly sixty years for this to take the definite form of an appropriation

by Congress, known as the Morrill Bill, under which the colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts were established. This bill was passed in 1862 and granted to each state a total number of acres out of the public domain equal to 30,000 for each congressional district in the state. These lands were mainly for the purpose of endowment and the state was required to provide the buildings and equipment. It was impossible for the Southern states to accept the conditions of this Act at the time, consequently it was some years before these colleges were fully established in each of those states. Another feature peculiar to the South in accepting this grant was that the funds were generally divided so as to give a portion to colleges for the colored as well as for the whites. Inasmuch as it was left entirely to the states to determine just how each state would avail itself of the fund, in a number of cases the college of agriculture was made a part of the state university, and in others they were made independent colleges of agriculture, or of agriculture and the mechanic arts combined.

These colleges have sometimes been criticized upon the claim that they have not given a practical education, nor have many of their graduates returned to the farms to be useful citizens in promoting the cause of agriculture. This criticism will hardly stand if we consider that it requires a long time to thoroughly establish any line of education and perfect it. At first, upon the revival of letters, hardly anything was taught but the classics and mathematics and it took centuries before science was perImitted to have a standing of equal rank with the classics. From this standpoint it would appear that agricultural training has made remarkable progress since the establishment of these colleges of agri

culture, and a large share of credit is due to them for their general influence and for their leadership along industrial lines. They should not be judged by the specific number of men that have returned to the farm, but by the general uplift that they have given to the rural South. There has been quite a difference in the value of the work done by the several colleges; some have made most remarkable progress, others have not succeeded quite so well, but this difference is only natural and it has been made clear that all are putting forth an effort to do their best for the people.

The Hatch Bill.

In 1887 the Hatch Bill became a law. This granted to the several states the sum of $15,000 per annum for the establishment and maintenance of at least one experiment station in each state. This was a great acquisition, especially for the South. Immediately a corps of trained workers was placed in each state to investigate and develop the resources and to promote greater results along lines that were in actual progress. In 1890 the second Morrill Bill became a law, granting to each state $15,000 immediately, and an increase of $1,000 per annum until a maximum of $25,000 for each state should be reached, which would be a permanent endowment for instruction in agriculture. These appropriations by the Federal government placed the agricultural colleges upon a basis of independence. In addition, the states as a rule were very liberal to the agricultural colleges and they were able to do extension work in addition to carrying on the work of instruction, and their field of investigations and experiments. This extension work has taken the form of lectures by the professors in the