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Caption: Book - History of the University (Powell)
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IbO History University of Illinois "An act to establish two agricultural colleges, one to be known as the agricultural college of southern Illinois, and the other as the agricultural college of northern Illinois.'>s The trustees named in this bill were men directly or indirectly, connected with Shurtleff or with Knox college and to them the eleventh section of the bill gave the power " t o make arrangements with any existing college for the accommodation and instruction of the students of such Agricultural College, and for the use of lands, buildings, libraries, etc." 4 These facts when made known revealed of course, that the bill was in the interests of the colleges and was " a shrewd effort on their part to get possession of a valuable endowment and ally themselves to a vigorous popular movement.J >5 y^| The industrial university men were caught napping; in January and February Kennieott and Turner apparently knew nothing of what was being prepared and directed in the other camp. Turner in a letter to Kennieott published in the Prairie Farmer, February 7, 1863, said that he did not desire to touch the matter of the grant for he wished all the feelings aroused in the earlier contests wholly to die away. When he found, as he soon did, what the college meii were up to, he entered with his usual vigor into plans to defeat them. Fortunately for the cause of the industrial men the legislature took a recess from February 14 to June 2. Aware at last of the danger the friends of the industrial movement issued a call in the latter part of May " t o the agriculturists and friends of agriculture throughout the state" to meet in convention in Springfield on June 9,1863.6 After drawing attention to the munificent donation to the state by congress the summons stated that such enactment remained to be done as would secure two things beyond peradventure: the fulfillment of the conditions upon which the grant rested, so that its object would not fail entirely; and the attainment of the greatest possible benefit to the industrial classes of the whole state, 'Senate Journal, 1863, p. 276; see also p. 141. *See below p. 181. 'Illinois School Beports, 1886-1888, p. exa •Prairie Farmer, May 30, 1863, and many other papers.
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