Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-07-11
AGRrCULrURAL COLLEGE ACT.

AeShEtS Lf Cfs Al SOLLEGE Al.
we present herewith the act recently pass
ed by Congress providing, by grants Of Pub
lie Lands, fund in each State, for the estab
lishnient Of one or more Colleges for the cd
ucatien of youth in Agriculture and the Me
chanic Arts and the sciences auxiniar,
thereto. Ii is not often that measure 0
such promise is carried byimajorities sopver
whelming as this--nftcr years of struggle ant
debate--has commanded. We hail in this
triumphtan augury of wide and lasting good
The benefits of such measure cannot b.
speedily realized Probably two years viii
elapse before any State will have so perfected
the preliminary formalities and guarantees
most wisely required by this act as to be able
to avail herself directly and palpably Of its
benefits. Colleges must be organized, build
ings erected, faculties chosen, &C., &C., be
fore opportunity can be proffered under this
gladly combine Learning with Labor, and
master the sciences which will make then,
eminent Farmer and Mechanics rather than
those which would compel them into the al
ready over-crowded professions. But the
time ciU comc-it will not be delayed beyond
three years in some States, especially if i'll
stitutions already comnenced--such as the
Farmers College of Pennsylvania-shall be
taken as the basis and nucleus of the larger
and better seminaries which this act is in
tended and calculated to secure. Some
States may possibly decline to accept the
grant protfered them under the rather string
ent conditions imposed by this act; some
may fail even in hearty and well meant eff
orts to popuarlize Science and render the
Useful Arts liberal and even learned pun
suits; but it is not probable that all should
fail. And if the next result of this measure
is the establishment of fire Colleges in so
many different States, which shall within
five years succeed in placing within the reach
of our youth an education at once scien-
tifc and practical, including a knowledge of
the sciences which undcrlie and control the
chief processes of Productive Labor all the
cost of this measure will have been richly
repaid -. 40. .--r.~ .....,...-.~
A violent though not powcrrl opposition
to this measure was developed on the eve of
its passage, based on its alleged tendency to
throw the new lands of West into the hands
of speculation and monopoly. We'could not
sympathize with this view. All the lands
which can be taken under this act amount
to essathan Ten Millions of Acres, or about
the area of New Hampshire. The Govern
ment cannot own less than One Thousand
Million Acres of valuable lands at this hour
All these lands are practically open to appro-
priaton and enjoyment by actual settlers,
while at least one-fourth of them are survey
ed and formally open to settlement at 4 total
money cost OF not more than S15 for each
quarter-soction Of one hundred and sixty
acres. To suppose that this bill can create
an oppressive land monopoly, or even tina
the land appropriated by The scrip issued un-
der it can be held at a high price, is much
like shudaering fear that some thirsty OK
may drink up the Mississippi at spring flood
and leave all its vessels aground evermore.
If only as gracious and courteous ac-
acknowledgement 10y the New of the libcrality
Of the Old States in passing the Free Home
stead bill, we think this measure should have
received the unanimous and hearty support
of the Great West The Homestead bill is
certain to add impetus and volume to the gi-
gantlc wave of emigration which sets steadily
and irrestibly westward. Ten years hence,
the valleys of the Rocky Mountains will be
as familiar to white settlers as those of the
Aleghanies are to-day. The certainty that
the Precious Metal, with Coal and other less
lustrous but more useful minerals, exist in
nearly every part of the Sierra Nevada, Of
the Rocky Mountains, and of the vast though
mainly sterile and naked region that lies be-
tween, is certain to quicken and strengthen
the impulse to westward emigration which is
% stricking characteristic of our people and
race. The Free Homestead Act win give to
this impulse great and general acceleration
Where one pioneer from the Old States or
from Europe sought home on the great
prairies and plains Of the West in past years
five will do so in 1868 and fifty before 1870
The West is about to be peopled and improv-
ed more rapidly and grandly than ever reg
ion was, and one main element of this growth
is the provision for Free Homesteads. Min
ing, though it impoverishcs more than it di-
rectly enriches, will create markets in the
West for staples which otherwise must be
sold far cheaper in the East or in Europe -
the Pacific Railroad--no longer, we trust, a
mere proicct-willr rapidly add millions to the
population of the Plains and Mountains, by
allowing food and machinery to be transport
ed to the mines at rates less than ruinous-
A new and brighter era is opening for the
Great West; the acts of this Congress will
have done much to secure it; the East has
acted generously yet wisely in sustaining the
Homestead and Pacific Railroad bills; and
we trust the West will not grudge the small
requital involved in the donations for Agri-
cultural Colleges. We will try to send her
more farmers and better because of that
bencficent measure. E#aH EEE
The highest honor for the passge of this
measure should doubtless be accorded to the
Hon. Justin S. Morrill,, Of VT, it's author and
champion in the House. Hon. Benz. r.
Wade, of Ohio, who specially cared for and
defended it in the Senate, has there been
equally vigilant and effective. Tt can hardly
be so widely known that the Rev. Amos
Brown, President ofthe embryo Peoples Col
legc in our State, has devoted years in good
part to the patient and unobtrusive advocacy
Of the measure, with zeal, diligence and
tullness of information rarely cqualled. We
trust each of these may live to rejoice over a
general conviction that their handiwork has
been powerfully instrumental in dignifyins
Labor by increasing the average intelligence
of its votaries and the general efficiency Of
their efforts. We will not doubt that no,
merely the students in the colleges which this
act will call into existence, but the great mass
of their contemporaries also, will derive solid
and lasting advantage from the knowledge Of
Science and its Uses of which this act will