USA > Kansas > A standard history of Kansas and Kansans, Volume II > Part 46
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In 1894, a loan fund to assist students was created. The enrollment was now double what it had been when the legislature fixed the annual appropriation for maintenance at $75,000, and the college was greatly
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handicapped for funds. The condition was relieved somewhat in 1895 by raising the amount to $100,000 annually. A post graduate course was offered for the first time in 1896. The recognition of the first year medical work of the Kansas University by the Illinois Board of Health about this time, led to enlarging the course, and in the establishment of a complete Medical School in 1899. A Department of Mechanical Engi- neering and Department of Mines was added at this time. A disastrous fire which damaged the boiler-honse and machine shops to the extent of $30,000 resulted in the installation of ample fire protection. An engi- neering and shop building had been provided for the private gift of $21,000 by Mr. Geo. A. Fowler, and in 1899 the legislature made an appropriation for a much needed chemistry building.
The old elaim which the Emigrant Aid Society had against the government for the destruction of Lawrence property, by Sheriff Jones in May. 1856, had been assigned to the University, and in 1901 the legislature directed that the proceeds should be used to build a gym- nasium. It was paid a few years later and the building erected. The valuable collections gathered by Professors Snow and Dyche at a cost to the state of less than a tenth of their value had long since overflowed Snow Hall, built in 1885, but it was not until 1903 that they were removed to suitable quarters in the new Museum building. A $50,000 law building was put up at that time. In 1905 the site of the Rosedale clinical hospital was accepted by the state, and in 1909, $50.000 was voted for a building. The administration building was begun that year on a $125,000 appropriation. In 1907, $150,000 was.voted for a Civil and Mechanical Engineering building, and $50,000 for a building for the Department of Mines.
By act of the legislature of 1913, the management of the University passed from the Board of Regents to the Board of Administration created to have charge of all state educational institutions.
ELIZABETH N. BARR.
KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
J. T. WILLARD
Dean, Division of General Science, Kansas State Agricultural College
War with all of its waste, license, and horror, and in spite of its untoward effect upon some of the higher and finer fields of human thought and activity, is accompanied by a loosening of the bonds of the past, a subversion of the merely conventional, a revival of the most fundamental virtues, and a bringing to the front of strong men and women to meet great emergencies. Such violent disturbances of existing conditions, if not prerequisite to progress, often constitute an opportunity for reform and constructive advancement of the highest order. Weaknesses are disclosed, and the social structure strengthened or rebuilt, and progress achieved that would be slowly attained, if at all, without the jar of war.
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THE LAND GRANT COLLEGES
During the war between the states, when our Nation was fighting for its life, under the farseeing guidance, and through the persistent effort of Justin S. Morrill of Vermont a system of colleges was established that has become one of the most influential factors in our national life. By the act of Congress approved by Abraham Lincoln July 2, 1862, there was offered to each state in the Union a grant from the public lands for "the endow- ment, support and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other seientifie and classical studies. and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legis- latures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pur- suits and professions of life."
The specific requirement of instruction in military tacties reflects the recognition of the national unpreparedness of 1860. The present advan- tage to the nation from the military training provided for by this far- reaching legislation is incalculable.
The founder of the land-grant system of colleges, however great his vision, could not have foreseen fully the development of the scope and service of these institutions. Because of their federal origin and endow- ment, they have been the channels through which national movements in education and research have found expression. On the other hand, through the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- ment Stations, these institutions have become the most influential educa- tional force in America.
The Kansas State Agricultural College located at Manhattan, is the sole beneficiary in Kansas of the land-grant act of July 2, 1862, and of subsequent supplementary federal legislation. The provisions of the Mor- rill Aet were accepted by the state, February 3, 1863, and the state obli- gated itself to comply with all of the provisions of said act. February 16. 1863, Manhattan was designated as the location of the new college.
BLUEMONT C'ENTRAL COLLEGE
Manhattan had been settled by a high class of people, one group of which brought with them a determination to found a college in their new home. This determination was carried out in the establishment, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Bluemont Central College, which was chartered February 9. 1858. The charter authorized the college "to establish in addition to the literary departments of arts and sciences, an agricultural department, with separate professors. to test soils, experiment in the raising of crops, the cultivation of trees, etc .. upon a farm set apart for the purpose." The foundation for agricultural education and research in Kansas was thus laid four years before the passage of the Morrill Act. The corner-stone of the new college was laid May 10, 1859, and instruction began about a year later.
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When the national endowment became available Bluemont College with its land, library, apparatus and other property was offered to the state on condition that it should be made the state agricultural college. This offer was accepted in the location of the college at Manhattan and the state thus obtained a very valuable nucleus for future growth. The institution in its new status opened September 2, 1863, only fourteen months after the passage of the Morrill Act. As the institution was at first only Bluemont College re-christened and nation-endowed, retaining President Denison and part of the old faculty, it continued with its old ideals to a large extent. It is important to recognize, however, that the old ideal included an agricultural department.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
No great enterprise can be conducted without adequate capital. This truth applies to an educational institution as fully as to any other organ- ization. The Congress voted to each state accepting the terms of the grant, 30,000 acres of land for each member of the house and the senate to which the state was entitled. Kansas having two senators and one representative at that time thus received 90,000 acres. While this seemed a splendid endowment, and has since yielded about one-half million dollars, it was not money nor income, and the college under its new name was in as straitened financial circumstances as before. For nearly a decade its trustees struggled for state recognition in order to obtain funds to enlarge the scope of the institution, and to purchase land and agricultural and scientific equipment. The legislature refused to appropriate funds for these purposes, but voted money for running ex- penses as a loan which was to be repaid after the income from the endow- ment was available. By 1870 the advances amounted to $29,134 and interest, and the state voted this debt to the development of the agricul- tural department. As this was not money the college was no more able than before to enter upon its natural destiny.
In April, 1871, Manhattan township voted $12,000 to buy land for farming. With this and some money from the interest fund, the present campns of 160 acres northwest of the city was purchased, and also a tract of 160 acres on Wild Cat Creek. The latter seems not to have been retained, perhaps was never wholly paid for. From this time on the interest arising from the endowment began to be more significant in amount and the college began its growth.
By the terms of the federal law all buildings must be furnished by the state. The first step in fulfillment of this obligation was taken by the legislature of 1872 when an appropriation of $15,000 was made for one wing of a barn, and the construction of a stone fence around the farm. The building erected was used as a barn nntil 1875, when it was taken over for college class-work. It has since served in many capacities and is now used as farm machinery hall.
Under the administration of President Anderson, 1873-1878, the state became more liberal in its provision of buildings, and a carpenter shop,
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chemical laboratory, horticulture hall and barn were erected. Since that time the obligation of the state to furnish buildings has been well recog- nized and at the present time (1917) the college is housed in twenty-one stone buildings and a considerable number of wooden buildings and smaller structures used for livestock and feed.
Under the provisions of an act approved March 2, 1887, which is commonly known as the Hatch Act, Congress provided an appropriation of $15,000 to the land-grant colleges "to aid in acquiring and diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects connected with agriculture, and to promote scientific investi- gation and experiment respecting the principles and practice of agricul tural science." This appropriation has been renewed annually since that time, and was the fundamental support of the agricultural experi- ment stations that have played so large a part in the development and improvement of agriculture during the past thirty years.
August 30, 1890, President Harrison approved a second Morrill act setting aside "a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agri- culture and the mechanic arts established under the provisions of an act of Congress approved July 2, 1862." Under the provisions of this act there was appropriated $15,000 for the year ending June 30, 1890, and amounts for succeeding years increasing annually by $1,000 until the total became $25,000. This sum is annually appropriated, and is available only for "instruction in agriculture, mechanic arts, the English lan- guage, and the various branches of mathematics, physical, natural and economie science with special reference to the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction."
The Congress, in an act approved March 16, 1906, by President Roose- velt, provided "for the more complete endowment and maintenance of agricultural experiment stations." This measure, known as the Adams Act, provided $5,000 the first year and amounts increasing by $2,000 annually subsequently until the appropriations thereunder reached $15,000 a year, where it still remains. This fund is used strictly for "paying the necessary expenses of conducting original researches or ex- periments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States." This fund is used for work of a more strictly scientific and research character than is insisted upon for the Hatch funds.
Still another provisions from federal resources, which was approved March 4, 1907, is the Nelson amendment to the agricultural appropria- tion bill of that year. Under the terms of this amendment $5,000 addi- tion were appropriated and amounts increasing annually by $5.000 for four years succeeding, making the final limit under this law $25,000. The law especially provides that a portion of this money may be used "for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts." In general, however. the provision is "for the more complete endowment and maintenance of agricultural colleges now established, or which may hereafter be estab- lished, in accordance with the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862."
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May 8, 1914, marks the date of a new departure in federal support to education in that President Wilson then approved "an act to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the several states receiving the benefits of an act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and of acts supplementary thereto, and the United States Department of Agriculture." This act appropriated $480,000 for the year ending June 30, 1914, and $600,000 for the succeeding fiscal year and provided for an annual increase for each year thereafter for seven years of $500,000 above the amount appropriated for each preceding year, and for each year thereafter there is to be permanently appropri- ated the sum of $4,580,000. The availability of these funds, however, is contingent upon their acceptance by the several states and upon the appropriation by the Legislature of an equal sum, or the provision of such a sum by state, county, college, local or individual contributions from within the state, for the maintenance of the co-operative agricultural extension work provided for by the act. This law is known as the Smith- Lever Act, and the federal appropriations are allotted annually to each state by the Secretary of Agriculture, and paid in the proportion which the rural population of each state bears to the total rural population of all the states. The state appropriation to the Agricultural College on this account for the year ending June 30, 1919, was $50,946.
The scope and purpose of the Smith-Lever Act is stated in section two, which reads: "Cooperative agricultural extension work shall consist of the giving of instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not attending or resident in said colleges in the several communities, and imparting to such persons information on said subjects through field demonstrations, publications, and otherwise; and this work shall be carried on in such manner as may be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of Agriculture and the state agricultural college or colleges receiving the benefits of this Act."
It is thus seen that the Agricultural College, in addition to the orig- inal endowment, which yields about $25,000 per annum, receives annually from the Federal Government, $50,000 for college purposes, $30,000 for agricultural experimentation and research, and also a large sum for agri- cultural extension work iu co-operation with the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, which is balanced by an equal amount from the state. The expenditures from all of these funds are subject to a federal super- vision which is rigid in holding the institution to the lines laid down in the several acts.
For many years the state appropriated little money to the Agricul- tural College, aside from that devoted to buildings. It was considered to a large extent as a federal institution, and with President Fairchild, 1879-1897, it was almost a matter of honor not to ask for any contribution toward general maintenance. However, with the growth in attendance and enlargement of the scope of instruction, in spite of increased income from the general Government, the college fell behind in meeting its obliga- tions, and in 1897 the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for 1896-97 to meet the existing deficiency, and $5,000 for each of the two succeeding
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years. This period covered the presidency of Thomas E. Will and at its end, 1899, the college was about $15,000 in debt. The Legislature of 1899 had appropriated $10,000 for each of the years 1899-1900 and 1900-01, and the Legislature of 1901 made an appropriation to absorb the deficit of 1899, and an additional one of $55,000 toward current expenses for the biennium 1901-03, thus entering definitely upon a policy of significant support to the college, not only in buildings but in equipment and general maintenance.
By the end of the administration of President Nichols, 1899-1909, the biennial appropriations for equipment and general maintenance had reached $295,000, but this period was especially characterized by lib- erality in provision of buildings. No less than eight large buildings were erected, besides several smaller ones and enlargements of others. Con- siderably more than one-half of the present floor space of the college dates from that time.
While the administration of President Waters, beginning in 1909 and still in progress, is marked by the erection of certain buildings, notably the east wing of a splendid hall for agriculture, the strongest feature of its financial history is the great increase in the biennial appropriations for salaries and general maintenance. For the biennial period 1917-19 these amount to $534,500. If to this be added the federal appropriations, the interest on the endowment, the very moderate fees received from students, the receipts from sales of stock, dairy products, grain, fruit, etc., and appropriations under the Smith-Lever Law, and for vocational edu- cation, the total funds expended under direction of the college are found to amount to more than $1,000,000 per annum. For a state which has no large cities to tax, this generous support must be regarded as a magnificent tribute to the service that the institution is giving to the people.
The history and present status of the service of the college to the state and the nation cannot be presented in detail here. Such consideration as space permits may be conveniently given under four chief heads, viz. : (1) The intra-mural educational work, (2) the organized resear ches, (3) the extra-mural educational activities, and (+) regulatory and inspection service.
EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE AND THE INDUSTRIES
From the first the college attempted to carry out the purposes of the organic act, but from lack of funds for some years little progress was made in the specialization that should characterize such an institution.
Military drill was given the first term and instruction of this charac- ter has continued almost uninterruptedly. At present the college is ranked by the War Department among the "distinguished institutions" in its class for the excellence and range of its military work.
College instruction during the first ten years was for the most part not very different from that of the ordinary classical college of that period, but as early as 1866-67 agricultural and scientific and military
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curricula were organized. J. S. Hougham was appointed professor of agricultural science in 1866, Fred E. Miller professor of practical agri- culture in 1870, E. Gale professor of botany and horticulture in 1870, and H. J. Detmers professor of veterinary science and animal husbandry in 1872. Experimental plantings of orchards and forest trees on a consid- erable scale were made in 1867 and 1868. Elementary instruction in mechanic arts was also given.
At first the lands on the college farms were cultivated in the ordinary way, but gradually more and more systematically, trials were made of special crops, methods of soil preparation, methods of planting, etc. The annual report for 1872 includes about twenty pages devoted to reporting the results of agricultural operations. Although persistent and even importunate efforts were made, the legislature made no appropriation for agriculture until 1870, and even then an ineffective one, and an appro- priation for a baru was not made until 1872. Taking all things together, the administration of President Denison, 1863-73, was an arduous and an honorable work. Those were pioneer times, and the state could not afford to appropriate much money. Many young people of the state obtained sound education that fitted them for teaching and other responsible work. Everywhere at that time education in agriculture was but an experiment at best, and the faculty of the first decade should be commended for what it did rather than criticized for what it did not do.
With the administration of President Anderson, 1873-78, the cur- ricula underwent a revolution. The president was radical in his ideas and forceful in their presentation. The college catalogue for 1874 sets forth his views and aims at great length. This quotation will suffice to show his general attitude: "The difference between our line and that of other agricultural colleges seems to be this: They take as an objective point the graduation of agricultural experts, who shall act as missionaries to working farmers. We take as an objective point the gradnation of a capable farmer, able to make a living by farming. Their theory is that of the normal school, training teachers who shall instruct scholars; our theory is that of training the scholar. Along the mechanical branch, they seek to graduate master builders or superintendents of machine shops; we seek to graduate intelligent and skillful carpenters, masons, or black- smiths. They strike directly for those industries considered the highest, and believe that in reaching them they include all below; we strike for the industries most commonly followed in this State, and by successfully mastering them expect to climb up to the very rarest."
The catalogue for 1874 was called a "Handbook of the Kansas State Agricultural College," and sixty-one of its 124 pages were occupied by President Anderson in setting forth his ideas upon liberal and practical education. There can be little doubt, looking at matters in the perspective of forty years, that he was extreme ; that he was ultra-practical, and failed to see the real value of much of what is too lightly stigmatized as theo- retical. Nevertheless, the times required his iconoclastic work to tear the college completely loose from the bonds of traditional education, and to place it squarely in a new setting where it has since remained. All in- Vol II-28
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struction in Latin and Greek was soon abolished, and they have never been restored to the curriculum. Practical and theoretical study of agri- culture was greatly extended, and daily work at some industry was re- quired of every student. These "industrials" were a distinctive feature of the institution for twenty years or more, but they have been to a large extent gradually replaced by systematic laboratory exercises carried out for the most part in connection with theoretical instruction. Instruction in farm and nursery work and music was continued and extended, and industrials were established in sewing, cooking, printing, telegraphy, ste- nography, and photography. The shop work was much amplified, the pre- vious facilities having been very meager. Science teaching was improved by specializing slightly. Chemistry was notably strengthened by the energy and ability of Professor Kedzie, through whose efforts a building for instruction in that science was erected. Three other buildings were erected, for horticulture, agriculture, and mechanic arts. The building for agriculture is now the north wing of Anderson HIall.
Agricultural facilities, equipment, and experimentation were ad- vanced greatly, being under the administration of one of the ablest and most forceful men ever connected with the college, Prof. Edward M. Shelton, a graduate of the Michigan Agricultural College.
President Anderson and his faculty were by no means a unit in view, and his abandonment of the college, and entry into the field of politics, in which he was distinguished by the same bold practicality, was prob- ably to a certain extent due to his inability to carry the faculty completely with him. The work that he did roused great opposition from friends of the old educational methods, and the friends of the faculty of the previous administration, but it is generally recognized today that it was work that needed doing, and that though he went too far, his excess was easily corrected.
It has always been a guiding principle with the responsible officers of the Agricultural College to keep the college connected with the rural schools. This principle led to low standards of admission, which were only gradually increased during the administration of President Fair- child, 1879-97, and elasses in preparatory subjects were conducted for those unable to enter the college curricula.
Throughout the administration of President Fairchild but one cur- riculum was offered, embodying, however, some differences required in meeting the needs of young men and young women, respectively. The dominant point of view was to develop strong, high-minded, eapable man- hood and womanhood through a thorough general education in the Eng- lish language, the natural and physical sciences, history and economies. A certain amount of systematic training in agriculture, manual training, and engineering was required of every young man and a certain amount of work in home economies was required of every young woman, but the courses offered in these special lines at that time must be regarded only as preparing the way for later developments. It is, however, signifieant that from that broad general curriculum, embodying a limited amount of specialization, have come the men and women who, up to within a few
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