University of Maryland College Park - Terrapin / Reveille Yearbook (College Park, MD)

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and the Mechanic Arts. By the act of that year a sum of $15,000, to be increased by $1,000 each year until the sum of $25,000 was reached, was granted to each State to be applied to the further equipment and support ot the Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. The terms of this act especially designate the purposes for which the lund so granted shall be used. Its meaning admits of no doubt as to the intention of its author, Senator Morrill, of Vermont. The primary object of this legislation is the develop- ment of the Departments of Agriculture and Mechanical Engineering. Maryland, as was the case in all the States in which there is a consider- able negro population, in order to comply with the terms of the Act ot Congress, divided this fund between the State Agricult ral College and a some- what similar institution for the education of negroes. This college is located at Princess Anne, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It would be idle in this sketch to relate in detail the fortunes of the Agricultural College since its beginning in 1858. Like all such institutions it has had its periods of reverses and of prosperity. At times it has apparently departed widely from the intention of its founders. For the last few years, at least, its tendency has been to emphasize more and more those peculiar branches of education which distinguish it from colleges offering a liberal edu- cation. During the past five years the record of the college has been o ne to which the State can point with pride, a fact in no slight degree due to the efiforts of Ex-Governor Frank Brown and his asso- ciates, who during the entire time of their connec- nection with the college, took an active interest in its affairs and nobly seconded the efforts of the President and the Faculty. This policy, under Governor Lloyd Lowndes and his associates is being continued, as is evident by the building of a Chem- ical Laboratory, the establishment of the Depart- ment of Farmers ' Institute and the creation of the Department of State Entomology. Under such favorable auspices the institution must continue to grow, and reach a status of being the most import- ant factor in the agricultural development of the State. During the present administration the at- tendance has averaged about 125 students a year. There is every reason to believe that this number could have been materially increased, but for lack of accommodations. The curriculum at present embraces five dis- tinct courses of instruction: An Agricultural Course, a short Winter Agricultural Course, a Scientific Course, a Mechanical Course, and a Classical Course. IH

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By this act every State in which an Agricul- tural College was established, or was to be estab- lished, received unclaimed Western land to the amount ot 30,000 acres for each representative in Congress ; the proceeds from the sale of this land, in place or scrip, to be invested in Government or State bonds paying not less than 5 per cent., as a permanent endowment for such College. The Leg- islature of Maryland accepted the land so granted, in scrip, and designated the Maryland Agricultural College as the beneficiary thereof Owing to the depressed condition of land values at the time that this scrip was sold, 1S65, but comparatively little was realized from the sale in all about $112,000. This was invested in State bonds, yielding a little more than $6,000 per annum in the way of income to the college. At the time of the receipt of this important addition to its income the college had already broadened the sphere of its work, and had provided a somewhat elaborate course of instruc- tion. While the agricultural features of the course were still preserved, considerable attention was paid to the literary branches and the classics, and the degrees of A.B., A.M. and Ph.B. were conferred. But in 1865, the hard times and the unsettled state of affairs in Maryland, consequeut upon the Civil war, had reduced the attendance at the college and brought its finances to so low a point that it was found necessary to apply to the State for aid. The State came to the assistance of the college, becom- ing part owner of the land and property of the corporation, binding itself to an annual appropria- tion for its support, thus securing the right of representation on the Board of Control. Since that time several changes have been made in the com- position of the Board. At present it is constituted as follows. The Governor of the State is ex-officio president of the Board ; the other State officers who are ex-officio members are the Comptroller, the Attorney-General, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates. Besides this representation the Governor appoints six visi- tors and the stockholders elect five. In 1887 Congress passed a second important act in aid of the agricultural interests of the States, appropriating $15,000 a year for the establishment and maintenance of Agricultural Experiment Sta- tions. The Maryland Station was located on the college farm, and was made a department of the college. In 1892 the Board of Trustees so far separat- ed it from the college as to put it under a special Director, who is directly responsible to the Board. Again in 1892 the Federal Government showed its disposition to favor the colleges of Agriculture 17

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The percentage ot students pursuing the Agricul- tural Course compares most favorably with that in any Agricultural College in the East, while the per- centage of those in the Mechanical Course is greater than in most of the Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. The Chemical Department is second to none in the State, outside of the University. The departments of Biology, of Entomology, of Botany and Horticulture and of Physics have been par- ticularly objects of a care in development. A well- planned and well-equipped Mechanical building has been erected, and the course in Mechanical Engineering is proving most successful in its results. A new building for the Chemical Department, which has outgrown its old quarters, has just been completed. A large green-house has recently been added to the facilities for instruction in the Horti- cultural department. One prominent feature of the college work is the Military department. The students are under the control of an officer of the regular Army, and are instructed in the manual of arms and the maneuvers of the battalion. The Board of Trus- tees have recently directed that tlie military work of the year be completed by a week of encampment of the cadet corps. Physical culture is provided for by the maintenance of an excellent gymnasium, where regular instruction is given by a Professor of Athletics. The College Library, while still small, is a most serviceable one, and is well and comfort- ably located in the second story of the new Gymna- sium building. The future of the college will be what the people of the State choose to make it. To-day it is better prepared to take up the work of education along scientific, mechanical and liberal lines where the public schools of the State leave off than at any other stage of its histor ' ' . Supported in part by the State, in part by the Federal Government, it owes a duty to each, a duty which it can best per- form by living up in spirit as well as in letter to the provisions of that charter, the work of its wise and far-sighted founders, to which it owes its being. 19