Repository: UIHistories Project: Book - History of the University (Powell) [PAGE 122]

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96

History University of Illinois

I t seems somewhat strange that a public man interested in agriculture should not have known of a movement which had been discussed for five years in the agricultural press of the country and in the leading newspapers east and west, as well as in county, state, and national agricultural societies, and which had been presented to legislatures and to congress. Nevertheless it appears from Mr- Morrill's own statement and from the fact that his name is not mentioned in connection with this movement before December, 1857, that he had nothing to do with its origin and took no part in the educational work carried on for years in its interest without which the passage of the bill would have been impossible. The framing of the bill, while a matter of importance, was a secondary consideration; it might have been framed by a lawyer, or in these days by a typist These conclusions have been reached despite the contrary opinions of certain men among them the late William H. Brewer, professor in the Sheffield scientific school, who expressed his conviction regarding the origin of the land grant of 1862 in a letter written in 1908: " I have no doubt whatever," he said, " t h a t it originated with Mr. Morrill in 1857 with his first bill of that year, which was passed but was vetoed by President Buchanan." Mr. Brewer based his conclusions chiefly on an interview of 1864 with Representative Morrill in which the latter said that he had introduced the bill on two considerations: first, on account of the loud demand for more scientific instruction; and second, because there was so much of the public lands still available. There was nothing in the interview in the light of the record that has been traced to justify Mr. Brewer's conclusion. He was simply led to a mistaken conclusion because he did not have all the facts before him. In 1894 Morrill stated that he did not know or remember Turner though he did remember that a large number of "professors" came to see him when his bills were before congress and possibly Turner may have been one of them. Turner, however, was not among the visitors to Morrill for he did not go to Washington until after the land grant bill had been enacted into law. On the other hand it is known that Morrill corresponded