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

Page 23 text:

The College rejoiced as the young giant to run a race. Her loins were girded up for victory. Pros- perity smiled upon her ; no prophet could have predicted aught but a useful and successful future. But it was then, when all the present was secure and all the future .seemed bright, that the awful storm of civil war burst over this fair land. We shall not trace the vicissitudes of that dark and dreary period. But when, at length, the war-cloud lifted, and the light of peace shone over the land, it .showed the College crippled, burdened by debt, the fortunes of many of its founders wrecked bj ' the tide of war, and the great agricultural class of Maryland, upon whom it had depended mainly for its sympathj ' and support, impoverished and weakened in political power. But the need for such an institution in this State, ajiparent to the people before the ravages of war had left their mark upon our land, was now so urgent that again the State came to the aid of the struggling school. In iS66 the Legislature, in return for a half interest in the estate of the College, and on condition that the State should enjoy representation on the Board of Tru.stees, appropriated $45,000 for the u.se of the College, such sum representing approximately the value of the College estate at the time. This grant having lieen accepted by a majority of the stockholders, the career of the College as a private institution was ended ; and, instead of having onh ' a nominal interest in th.e school, the State came to be the main factor in the development of its destiny. Under the new regime, the College did not progress as its founders had hoped and expected. The Trustees having failed to carry out the main idea of its e.stablish- nient — the maintenance of a .school for instruction in agriculture — the Legislature refused to make the annual appropriation of $6000, which the College had hitherto enjoyed. The darkest period in the history of the insti- tution followed the withdrawal of the aid of the State ; and it was not until the )-ear 1888 that interest in the school began to revive. In that year the Congress of the United .States, by the so-called Hatch Act, established in each State and terri- tory of the Union an agricultural experiment station. That of Maryland was fixed upon the estate of the Mary- land Agricultural College. Two years later, under the provisions of the second Morrill Act, the Congress appro- priated $15,000, this sum to be increased by $1000 aiuuially until the sum of $25,000 should be reached, to provide for ' ' the salaries of instructors and facilities for instruction, in each of the agricultural colleges in the I ' nited States. ITnder the provisions of the first Morrill Act, the original Land Grant Act, by which the various agricultural colleges of the different States had been brought into existence, the laryland College had been a beneficiary since 1862. The lands donated by the Federal Government to the State, had been sold by the State, and the proceeds of the .sales had been invested as a permanent fund, the income from which, about $5,760 annually, can be used for no other purpose than for the support of the Agricultural College. 13

Page 22 text:

THE PROPOSED MECHANICAL BUILDING.

Page 24 text:

The Maryland College has enjoyed these liberal pro- visions made by the Congress until the present time ; and by this means has been enabled to secure the ser ' ices of a staff of instructors competent to take charge of many times the number of students for which the State has provided accommodations. On its part the State has granted an annual appropriation of $9000 to provide for the general expenses of carrying on the college work. The interposition of the liberal hand of the Federal Government began a new career for the College. Since the passage of the .second Morrill Act the institution has gone .steadily forward, increasing its efficiency, multi- plying the number of students receiving the benefit of its courses of instruction, and greatly extending the scope of its influence on the agricultural development of the State. This latter growth may be noted by a mere reference to the following lines of work in which the College is the leading factor. Under the terms of the Hatch Act above referred to, the College entered into a mutually beneficial cooperation with the Experiment vStation. On the one hand, the College profits by having available, for pur- poses of instruction, the various experiments, methods of investigation and scientific research, carried on by the Experiment Station ; on the other hand, the latter, by reason of similarity of aims in many particulars, is enabled to have the .services of certain members of the College Faculty ; while together both institutions work for the dissemination of information valuable to the great agricultural interests of the State. There is al.so a verj ' great benefit to these interests resulting from the establishment of the State Fertilizer In.spection, the Department of Farmers Institutes and the vState Horti- cultural Department, all of which are the results of the effort on the par t of the College to extend its usefulness within the sphere of its allotted work. But the influence of the College on the agricultural development of the State does not end here. Recent 3 ' ears have witnessed a great extension of its scope of usefulness by its cooperation with the State Highway Commission and the local Road Commissions, under whose management the roads of the State are being gradually but surely placed on a better basis. All of these evident efforts on the part of the College to make felt its influence for the betterment of the agricultural interests of the State have not been made by it unaided by any other force. On the contrary, it has ever been the aim of the College to recognize and cooperate with the various agricultural organizations existing throughout the State, and to further in every way possible the com- pleteness of such organization. It is, indeed, by an intelligent recognition, on the part of such organizations, of the usefulness of the work which the College has been trying to perform, that has made possible the above extensions of its sphere of influence. Upon this recog- nition, and the .sympathy and support resulting there- from, the College has relied in the past and will continue to rely in the future. And there should be required no better evidence of the fact that the College has been 14