CHAPTER XXXIV

THE UNIVERSITIES

BEGINNINGS OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY-CONVENTION AT CHICAGO IN 1852-THE INDUSTRIAL LEAGUE OF ILLINOIS-CONGRESS PETITIONED FOR ASSISTANCE-INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY PLANNED LEGISLATURE TAKES ACTION-LAND GRANT ACT OF 1862-IMMENSE RESULTS FLOWING FROM THIS ACT-THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ESTABLISHED IN 1867-PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO-UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGOOLD UNIVERSITY ESTABLISHED IN 1857-CARRIED DOWN BY DEBT IN 1886-NEW START MADE IN 1890-LIBERAL BENEFACTIONS RECEIVED THE YERKES TELESCOPE --ROCKEFELLER'S LAST GIFT-ART INSTITUTE OF GIFTSTREASURES IN ITS POSSESSION-ITS SPLENDID BUILDING THE FERGUSON BEQUEST.

CHICAGO-NOTABLE

BEGINNINGS OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY

N the 24th day of November, 1852, a convention was held in Chicago, which though it attracted little public attention at the time was fraught with momentous results for the future University of Illinois. This convention was the third of a series that had been held in the state, the previous ones having met at other places, one of them at Granville, a small town in Putnam County, on the 18th of November, 1851, and the other at Springfield, June 8th, 1852. The object sought to be attained by those interested in the movement was "to take steps towards the establishment of an Agricultural University." Professor Jonathan B. Turner, of the Illinois College, at Jacksonville, was the leading spirit in the promotion of the movement.

President Edmund J. James has recently given a full account of the early movement, here referred to, in a bulletin of the University of Illinois, in the preface to which he states that Professor Turner "deserves the credit of having been the first to formulate clearly and definitely the plan of a national grant of land to each state in the Union for the promotion of education in agriculture and the mechanical arts, and of having inaugurated and continued to a successful issue the agitation that made possible the passage of the bill," that is, the bill known after its passage as the "Land Grant Act," otherwise as the "Morrill Act," passed July 2d, 1862, further mention of which will be made below.

THE CONVENTION AT CHICAGO

The third convention of the series of four conventions which were held in the years 1851, 1852 and 1853, was held in Chicago, as stated above, on November 24th, 1852. At this convention it was resolved to organize "The Industrial League

of the State of Illinois." The purposes of this League were "to keep up a concert of action among the friends of the industrial classes," to disseminate information on the subject, and to employ lecturers to address citizens in all parts of the state. It was also resolved "that this convention memorialize Congress for the purpose of obtaining a grant of public lands to establish and endow Industrial Institutions in each and every state in the Union."

The names of those present at the Chicago Convention as given below are gathered from the proceedings printed in the pamphlet already referred to entitled, "Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862," and from the issue of the "Prairie Farmer" for February, 1853. This is not a complete list probably, but the names given are all that could be found in the two sources mentioned. They were: Professor Jonathan B. Turner of Jacksonville, Dr. John A. Kennicott of Northfield, Cook county, and editor of the "Prairie Farmer," Dr. William H. Kennicott of Northfield, William Gooding of Lockport, Bronson Murray of La Salle county, William A. Pennell of Putnam county, J. T. Little of Fulton county, Dr. L. S. Pennington of Whiteside county, John Gage of Lake county; and the following gentlemen whose addresses do not appear, John Davis, L. S. Bullock, Ira L. Peck, Seth Paine, Dr. George Haskell, Ira Porter; and the following gentlemen whose first names and addresses do not appear, Dr. Daggett, Messrs. Warner, Brewster, Gaston and Bross, the latter perhaps William Bross of Chicago. Charles Kennicott was the "junior secretary." Some of these may not have been present, though their names appear either as taking part in the proceedings or on committee appointments.

FURTHER DETAILS OF THE PROCEEDINGS

The plan for an "Industrial University" which had been previously submitted to the Granville Convention by Professor Turner, and thus referred to as the “Granville plan," was read section by section, and with some changes was approved. The reading and discussion of this plan occupied a large part of the time during the two days that the convention was in session.

In the account of the proceedings given in the issue of the "Prairie Farmer" for February, 1853, it would seem that the discussion afforded an opportunity for the expression of some strong opinions. The plan proposed by Professor Turner contained the clause "whether a distinct classical department should be added or not, would depend on expediency." One of the debaters, however, declared that "such a contingency could never arise without the destruction of our (proposed) institution, by sinking its peculiar feature of practical work-a-day usefulness under the dead weight of dead languages." Another speaker said that "we want no 'classical drones,' nor men of more learning than common sense or practical ability." Meantime diligent efforts were made to arouse public sentiment on the question, so that the demand should be heard by the law making bodies of the state and nation. A committee was appointed to prepare an address to the citizens of the state on the subject of industrial education, and the establishment of an Industrial Institution.

THE CONVENTION AT SPRINGFIELD

The fourth convention of the series referred to was held at Springfield January 8th, 1853. Instead of addressing Congress direct on the subject it was de

cided at this convention that a "Memorial" should be presented to the State Legislature, and such a memorial was prepared. In this memorial were set forth the considerations in favor of industrial universities in every state of the Union to be established by Congress, and petitioning the Legislature to memorialize Congress on the subject.

The memorial opened with the statement that "we are members of the industrial classes of the state, actively and personally engaged in agricultural and mechanical pursuits. We are daily made to feel our own practical ignorance, and the misapplication of toil and labor, and the enormous waste of products, means, materials, and resources that result from it." It is further stated that while the several learned professions are amply provided with "universities and colleges, with libraries voluminous and vast, able and learned professors and teachers, constantly discovering new facts, and applying all known principles and truths directly to the practical uses of their several professions and pursuits," the industrial classes are without such advantages.

The Memorial continues: "We have neither universities, colleges, books, libraries, apparatus, or teachers, adapted or designed to concentrate and apply even all existing knowledge to our pursuits, much less have we the means of efficiently exploring and examining the vast practical unknown that daily lies all around us, spreading darkness and ruin upon our best laid plans, blighting our hopes, diminishing our resources, and working inevitable evil and loss to ourselves, to our families and to our country. Some think one-half-no intelligent man thinks that less than one-third or one-fourth of the entire labor and products of our state, are made an annual sacrifice to this needless ignorance and waste. Knowledge alone, here, is power, and our relief is as clearly obvious as our wants. We need the same thorough and practical application of knowledge to our pursuits, that the learned professions enjoy in theirs, through their universities and their literature, schools and libraries that have grown out of them. For even though knowledge may exist, it is perfectly powerless until properly applied, and we have not the means of applying it.

"We would, therefore, respectfully petition the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, that they present a united memorial to the Congress now assembled at Washington to appropriate to each State in the Union an amount of public lands not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars, for the liberal endowment of a system of industrial universities; one in each state in the Union, to co-operate with each other and with the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, for the more liberal and practical education of our industrial classes and their teachers, in their various pursuits, for the production of knowledge and literature needful in those pursuits, and developing to the fullest and most perfect extent the resources of our soil and arts, the virtue and intelligence of our people, and the true glory of our common country."

ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE

The Memorial, as prepared at the Springfield convention, was promptly presented to the Legislature then in session, and the merits of the plan were fully discussed by able and eloquent advocates. Resolutions were unanimously adopted