Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Ag Building [PAGE 32]

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ADDRESS

t THOMAS J* BURRIUL, PH. D.,, LL. D., University. Vice-President University of Illinois and Dean of the General Faculty.

SOME EARLY INSIDE HISTORY AND ITS LESSONS

Agricultural education and the direct application of science to the affairs of practical agriculture have come up in our country through great tribulations. A word now at the formal dedication of these magnificent buildings, erected in the interests of agricultural arts and sciences, and for the educational benefit of people having* to do with these developing- departments of skill and learning,—a word uttered here under the stimulating* conditions and with this augury of marvelous thing's to come,—a word by way of contrast upon the early struggles connected with and inside of our own University, can not be without its lessons upon this occasion. It is quite impossible to enter here upon a history of agriculture in the University of Illinois, but attention may be solicited to a few facts in that history. In the light of the discussions which led to the donation of land scrip by Congress, and the founding of the institution by the State, any one may clearly read in the wording- of the acts by which these measures were accomplished, the intent and purpose to make agriculture and the matters inherently pertaining- thereto, the leading* subjects of instruction and investigation in the new institutions. Mr. Morrill himself, whether as representative or senator, rarely spoke of anything else. In all his congressional speeches he but once emphasized the importance of mechanics and the need of aid in mechanical pursuits. He did dwell at length upon the necessity of special education for rural people and upon the crying need of better methods in farm management So the land-grant colleges were most frequently spoken of as agricultural colleges. In Illinois, previous to the passage of the founding act by the state legislature, hardly any other name was in use, and afterward for some years the term agricultural college was more commonly heard as applied to this institution, as it then existed, than was the legal 30