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CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION RESPECTING EDUCATION.

The following propositions, slightly modified since their first publication in Special Circular No. 4, contain the main features of a system of public instruction which the people of every State, speaking through their constitutional convention, should, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Education, make obligatory on the legislature to provide:

1. The authority and duty of the legislature to establish, aid, support, and supervise schools of every grade, and all institutions and agencies of education, science, and the arts.

2. The security against diminution or diversion of all educational funds and benefactions.

3. The certainty of a minimum rate of taxation, increasing with the population, sufficient every year to secure the elementary instruction of all children within the State who shall apply, by teachers professionally trained, and in schools legally inspected and approved.

4. The distribution of all State appropriations derived from taxation or funds, on such conditions and in modes as will secure local taxation or individual contributions for the same purpose, a lively municipal or public interest in the expenditure of both sums, the constant co-operation of parents at home in realizing the work of the school, and the regular attendance of pupils.

5. A State board of education, having supervision of all educational institu tions incorporated or aided by the State, and constituted in such way as to secure literary, scientific, and professional attainment and experience, freedom from denominational or party preponderance, sympathy with the wants of different sections and occupations, and independence of local or special influence.

6. A system of inspection, administered by the State board, intelligent, professional, frequent, and independent of local or institutional control, with the widest and fullest publicity of results.

7. State scholarships, securing free instruction in any higher institution incorporated or aided by the State, conditioned on fitness to enter and profit by the same, ascertained by open competitive examination.

8. A retiring fund, for teachers of public schools, made up of an annual allowance by the State, and an equal payment by those who register to secure its benefits, conditioned on prolonged service in the business of teaching.

9. An obligation on parents and guardians not to allow children to grow up in barbarism, ignorance, and vagrancy; and the exercise of the elective franchise, or of any public office, conditioned on the ability of the applicant to read understandingly the Constitution and the laws, and forfeited by any parent or guardian of children who neglects to secure the formal instruction of such children between the ages of 6 and 14 years, for at least eight months in the year, or to pay for their maintenance, if sent to a prison or reformatory, while minors.

NATIONAL LAND GRANTS,

FOR

EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.

STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS.

PRELIMINARY REPORT.

THE following pages contain the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, by which ten million acres of Public Lands were donated to the several States for the benefit of Colleges of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts; the Legislation of such States as have accepted the conditions of the grant and provided for the establishment of such Colleges; and an account of such Institutions as have thus far been established on the basis of the National Land Grants, and the Legislation of the States respecting the same.

NATIONAL LAND GRANTS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS.

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3. STATE COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE AND THE

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CIRCULAR RESPECTING SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,

Washington, D. C., September, 1867.

To the authorities in charge of the Colleges and Schools established or aided by the Congressional appropriation "for the benefit of Agricul ture and the Mechanic Arts." (Act of July 2, 1862.)

THE undersigned, in the discharge of his duties as the National Commissioner of Education, has been directed by Congress to prepare a report setting forth the history of all the appropriations by the General Government for the promotion of Education. As a portion of this report, it is important that full returns should be given in respect to the organization of the Schools of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts which have received the benefit of the land-scrip issued by authority of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862. These institutions as a class are so new in this country, and so much thought has been expended upon them, and at the same time so much remains to be ascertained in respect to their practical efficiency, even in the states where they exist, that a comparison of their various charters or acts of incorporation, programmes of study, regulations, funds, buildings, and collections is imperatively called for. Herewith you will find transcripts of the organic law of Congress, and also of all those state enactments consequent thereon, which have come to the knowledge of this Department. You will also find specific statements in respect to two Scientific Colleges in two of the oldest states of the Union, illustrating the kind of information which the undersigned desires to secure from every similar establishment.

Under these circumstances, you will contribute to the solution of a problem of momentous interest to the people of the United States, if you will respond as promptly and as fully as possible to the following requests. Letters and Documents addressed to the undersigned, and marked Official Business, may be forwarded free of postage.

I. Please forward one or more copies of any or all the documents published in your state respecting this national grant; especially,

(a) Any state laws or amendments to the state laws bearing on this subject, not given in the following pages

(b) The official reports required by the act of congress from every institution.

(c) Catalogues, circulars, programmes of study, regulations, etc., issued by the institution under your charge.

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(d) Messages of the governor, reports of state officers, legislative committees, or the like, referring to this grant.

(e) Addresses, newspaper or magazine articles, explanatory statements, etc., on Scientific Education, published in your state.

Where it is not possible to secure for the department a copy of a document, its title will be acceptable if given in full.

II. Please secure from one or more of the officers of your institution, brief statements on the following subjects, unless they are officially discussed in the printed documents which you forward.

(a) How was the land-scrip disposed of; what amount did it yield; how are the proceeds invested; and what is the annual income?

(b) What additional funds does your institution possess, and from what sources, and on what conditions were they received?

(c) Have any measures been taken to secure an experimental farm; if so, what are they? if not, why not?

(d) Are any provisions made in your institution for manual labor? (e) In what way is military instruction given?

(f) Are there any free scholarships in your institution, and on what terms are they bestowed?

(g) What buildings are owned or projected, and from what funds were they procured? A full description would be welcomed.

(h) What are the characteristics of your course of study, and the names and titles of your instructors?

(i) State the number of students in the present year, and in previous

years.

(j) What is the early history of efforts in your state for the promotion of scientific education prior to the Congressional enactment of July 2, 1862.

The Commissioner is aware that to give elaborate answers to all these enquiries would involve an amount of labor which he cannot expect to be in all cases bestowed. Very much of the information asked for has undoubtedly been given in the printed documents, and in all such cases a simple reference to the statements is all that is necessary. The results of these inquiries, carefully edited and arranged, will be presented to Congress at its next session, and a copy will be forwarded to you as soon as printed. Your early attention to this circular is earnestly and respectfully solicited.

HENRY BARNARD,

United States Commissioner of Education.

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