The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-28
LETTER TO ASSEMBLY
LAWS RELATING GOVT OF A. & N. COL
LEGE AND AGRICUL rURAL DEPT.
Consolidation from 1888 to 1895. Dual Ar
rangement and Two Boards from
1897 Till 1899.
1897 Till 1899.

1897 Till 1899.
TO the members of the General As
sembly:
The Department of Agriculture is
department OF the Agricultural Colleges
in other States.
Believing it will assist the General
Assembly anxious to discharge it's pub
lie duty in an important matter, l sub
NIT some facts and suggestions.
Acts of 1885, chapter 30S, first act of
establishment of the college was
governed by the Board of Agri-
culture. and an advisory COM
nittee of three TO represent the city
of Raleigh. ON account of large private
donations. Five thousand dollars of
the tax derived from fertilizers was au-
thorizcd to he appropriated by the
Board of Agriculture. The embryo \.
and NJ College was then department
of the Agricultural Department. a ma
jority of the Board of Agriculture for
a long time bitterly fought-the estab-
lishment of the cOllege-as bitterly IS
they are now fighting its enlargement.
Acts of 1887, chapter 4l0-the act es-
tablishing the college on Il large scale on
the lands donated by X. S. Pullcn. The
management Of the college was vested
in a board of trustees composed of the
Board Of \ griculture and five other per-
sons appointed by the Governor with the
consent of the Senate. The college con-
| tinued under the act to be a depart
ment of the Department of Agriculture
and played second fiddle, and the Board
of Agriculture was content with CONSOLE
dation. Section required the Board
| to turn over to the college the whole
residue of their funds arising from the
| tax on fertilizers remaining over, and
not required to conduct the regular work
| of the Department of Agriculture. 1t
reads further: Tho Agricultural EX-
| pertinent and Fertilizers Control Station
| already established under the manage
ment of the said Board of Agriculture
shall be connected with the said college"
and the board was further authorized
to turn over to the college the buildings,
lands, museum and laboratories used in
connection with the said station 1t was
| the evident intention of this Act
that the Board of Agriculture should
magnify the college. but some of the
original enemies of the college contin-
ued on the board.
| Acts of 1891. chapter 34S, takes away
from the Board of Agriculture (still the
| main body of the college truS'ceSl the
| power to use their surplus for the
benefit of the college, Here the
enemies of the college got in their work.
| BUt it does not take away their power
to spend it for expositions, fairs, mu-
scum and for anything except for educa-
ton; and their books will show what
Tobjects, by the hundreds, they have
| lireferred to education and practical
training. The friends of industrial edu-
cation in North Carolina can easily
manage-the department. of Agriculture
but the friends of the department have
shown what they will do-they win even
take away their power to find any way
| TO benefit the college. Now this same
| class of men profess TO believe that
eighteen friends of industrial education
and nine practical agriculturalsts IS
| proposed by the Winston bill will Re less
scrupulOus in the disposition of the sur
| plus guano tax than they have been.
| Make then give an itemized statement
of what they have done with this sur
| plus for the past twenty years in ;s"e-
ference to spending it for educating our
young meni And the doubtful and the
| hating and the fearful Who can not
trust twenty-seven friends Of industrial
education and practical agriculture 10
spend this surplus kept it a profound
State secret that the Fusion Board was
| about to spend some $4,000 for build
| ing n State Museum and left to me to
| furnish Mr.. Winston ana Mr. Allen
with the information which broke up the
game. For shame gentlemen, for shame
either tell the Legislature what you
| have been doing. with the sixty thous-
and dollars of guano tax collected for
many years and what you propose TO
| do with it in the future, or don't pre-
| tend the friends of industrial education
would be less scrupulous than you have
been. | tell You caadidiy what the
| friends Of industrial education propose
| to do if they get charge of the college
and the Department of Agriculture.
They will confine the department of
agriculture to its legitimate sphere, not
letting it duplicate any work that ought
| to be done at the college. They will make
| it more efficient in its proper work
| than it has ever been and they will en-
deavor to save any surplus money left
| over for the upbuilding of technical ed
| ucation, and for experimentation where
| it can be best done and where the stu
dents can get the most benefit from it.
Mr.. PattersOn's bill shows that it con-
| templates the division of the Hatch
| fund between two departments of agri-
culture under two boards. 1t doubtless
| contemplates the use of some of the
surplus guano tax to supplement his
part of the Hatch fund. Now will any
lawyer in the Legislature or out of it
stand up and say that the guano tax
can be used for purposes other than poll
cling guano inside of Mr.. patters0n's
department and then say that it cannot
| he as well used for such extra pur-
poses outside of his department? Can
| anybody pretend that the Board of
Agriculture can more lawfully use that
surplus than n board having in charge
both the college and the Department of
Agriculture? And if he should say: II
intend to do my best extra work with
the Hatch fund or a part of it, then
| would say that The division of the
Hatch fund or use of it away from the
college is the very evil | am fighting.
In other States these experiments are
| conducted in connection with the coll
leges of agriculture.