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Caption: Book - History of the University (Powell)
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78 History .University of Illinois impress President Cary and the board of trustees of Farmer's College. They called the north west industrial convention for September 13, 14, and 15, 1854 and invited prominent leaders from east and west to come and address them. Turner and Murray planned to go together to the convention but due to overwork Turner was stricken with an inflammation of his eyes which nearly caused permanent blindness; for this reason he was unable to make the trip; Murray attended, however, and was active in the proceedings of the meeting. One of the important results was the adoption of a series of five resolutions, the last of which urged the friends of industrial education to agitate the subject by means of press, lectures, and conventions, so as to direct the attention of the public to the importance of individual and of governmental action.82 Though Turner could not attend he did furnish on the urgent request of President Cary a copy of an address, " A discourse on American Education,'- to be published in the proceedings of the convention. Through the year 1854 both Murray and Turner carried on voluminous correspondence in conducting the work of the industrial league. This was true of Turner even after he was afflicted with temporary blindness and had to sit in a darkened room and dictate his letters to a member of his family through a crack in the door of his room. That these activities bore fruit is evidenced by the fact that in January Mr. E. Abbott of the Valley Farmer at St Louis, requested Turner to discuss the work of the league in that paper while Victor Bell of Mt. Carmel requested a copy of the "Plan for an industrial university" and certain other material which he expected to use while attending the coming session of the legislature. For several years Kennicott, Turner, and Murray had been dissatisfied with the lukewarm attitude of the Prairie Farmer under the management of its editor John Wright. It was true he had published many of their articles, but, they felt he was always trailing and they pointed to the fact that he had advised, just following the Granville convention, that Illinois wait and let some one of the older states lead in the movement. "See account of the convention, Prairie Farmer, October, 1854.
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