ΜΑΙΝΕ.

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND THE

MECHANIC ARTS.

(Approved February 25, 1865.)

SECTION 1. Samuel F. Perley, N. T. Hill, Bradford Cummings, Thomas S. Lang, Dennis Moore, William D. Dana, S. L. Goodale, Robert Martin, Alfred S. Perkins, Joseph Farwell, Seward Dill, Joseph Day, Ebenezer Knowlton, Hannibal Hamlin, Charles A. Everett and William West Virgin, are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name of the Trustees of the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, having succession as hereinafter provided, with power to establish and maintain, subject to the provisions and limitations of this act, such a college as is authorized and provided for by the act of Congress, passed July 2, 1862, entitled "An Act donating lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts." They shall be entitled to receive from the State the income which shall accrue from the funds granted to the State by the aforesaid act, and shall apply the same, together with all such income as they shall receive from any other sources, to the maintenance of the college, in conformity with the act of Congress.

§ 2. The trustees shall annually elect one of their number to be president of the board. They shall appoint a clerk and treasurer, both of whom shall be sworn, and shall hold their offices at the pleasure of the trustees. The clerk shall record all proceedings of the board, and copies of their records, certified by him, shall be evidence in all cases in which the originals might be used. The treasurer shall be required to give suitable bond, and to renew the same whenever the trustees shall require.

§ 3. The governor and council shall at all times have the power, by themselves, or such committee as they shall appoint, to examine into the affairs of the college and the doings of the trustees, and to inspect all their records and accounts, and the buildings and premises occupied by the college. Whenever the governor and council shall have reason to believe that the trustees are exercising, or attempting to exercise, any unlawful powers, or unlawfully omitting to perform any legal duty, they may direct the attorney general to institute process against the trustees in their corporate capacity, in the nature of a complaint in equity, before the supreme judicial court, in the county in which the college may be established, and the court, after notice, shall hear and determine the same, by summary proceeding in term time, or by any judge in vacation, and may make suitable decree, restraining the trustees from performing or continuing the unlawful acts complained of, for requiring them to perform whatever is unlawfully omitted, and may enforce such decrees. In like manner, a com

plaint may be instituted against any individual trustee, and be heard in the county where he resides, alleging against him any cause deemed by the governor and council sufficient to disqualify him for the trust; and if, in the judgment of the court, such allegation shall be sustained, a decree shall be made removing such trustee from office, and his place shall be thereby vacated.

§ 4. No person shall be a trustee who is not an inhabitant of this State, nor any one who has reached the age of seventy years. The clerk of the trustees shall give notice of all vacancies to the governor and council; vacancies occurring in any of the foregoing modes, or by the resignation or decease of any trustee, shall be filled in the following manner. The first vacancy that shall occur shall be filled by the legislature at the next session thereafter, by joint ballot of the two branches; the second vacancy shall be filled by the trustees at their next meeting; and all succeeding vacancies shall be filled in like manner, alternately by the legislature and the trustees.

§ 5. The trustees, in their corporate capacity, may take and hold, in addition to the income which they shall receive through the State from the endow ment made by Congress, such other real and personal property as may be granted or devised to them for the purpose of promoting the objects of this act. But they shall not be entitled to receive any benefactions made to them upon conditions inconsistent with the act of Congress aforesaid, or for purposes, different from what is therein prescribed.

§ 6. The governor and council shall take measures, as soon as may be advantageously done after passage of this act, to sell the land scrip received by this State under the act of Congress, and to invest the same as required by the fourth section of said act. The securities shall be kept by the State treasurer, and he shall report annually to the legislature the amount and condition of the investments, and of the income of the same. He shall from time to time, as the income shall accrue, pay over the same to the treasurer of the college.

§7. It shall be the duty of the trustees, as soon as may be after their organization, to procure a tract of land suitable as a site for the establishment of the college. If no other provision shall be made therefor, there shall be placed at the disposal of the trustees for this purpose, such proportion as the governor and council may deem suitable, of that part of the fund which is authorized by the fifth section of the act of Congress to be expended for the purehase of lands for sites or experimental farms.

§ 8. The trustees shall appoint such directors, professors, lecturers and teachers in the college, and employ such other persons therein, from time to time, as the means at their command may permit for the accomplishment of the objects enumerated and described in the fourth section of the act of Congress. Every officer and every person employed shall hold his office or employment at the pleasure of the trustees. They shall, as soon as may be, arrange and make known the several courses of instruction which they will undertake at the Outset of the college, and shall enlarge and improve the same whenever practicable, subject to the limitations prescribed by Congress. They shall also establish the qualifications for admission, and modify the same as circumstances may require. But no student shall be admitted into or continued in the college, nor shall any person be employed in any office or service, who is not of good moral character and pure life.

§ 9. In addition to the instruction which is to be given by classes, textbooks, lectures and apparatus, in such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, the trustees shall provide, as fully as may be, for practical experiments and demonstrations of scientific principles and rules. They shall encourage, and for due proportions of time, at different seasons of the year, and with reference to other exercises, require all the students to engage in actual labor upon the lands and in the workshops with which the college may be furnished, and shall provide suitable oversight and direction in such labor, so that they may become habituated to skillful and productive industry.

§ 10. Military tactics shall be taught during some suitable part of each year to all students; and they shall be required to form and maintain such habits of obedience and subordination as may be useful to them if called into military service. The adjutant-general shall be authorized to furnish to the college for military drill, such arms and equipments, not needed by the State for other service, as may suffice for the number of students. He shall also furnish to the college a United States flag.

§ 11. Such other studies are to be taught, within the limitations of the act of Congress, as the facilities of the college and the period of instruction will permit.

§ 12. Students who satisfactorily complete any one or more of the prescribed courses of study, may receive public testimonials thereof, under the direction of the trustees, stating their proficiency.

§ 13. No charge shall be made for tuition to any student who is an inhabitant of this State; and the trustees, and all persons employed by them, shall constantly endeavor, by the adoption of judicious and effective arrangements in all the labor departments of the college, to reduce the cost of subsistence to the students, and to render the institution, as far as possible, self-sustaining.

§ 14. It shall be the duty of the trustees, directors and teachers of the college to impress on the minds of the students the principles of morality and justice, and a sacred regard to truth; love to their country; humanity and universal benevolence; sobriety, industry and frugality; chastity, moderation and temperance, and all other virtues which are the ornaments of human society; and among other means to promote these ends, and to secure the best personal improvement of the students, the trustees shall provide, as fully as may be practicable, that the internal organization of the college shall be on the plan of one or more well regulated households and families, so that the students may be brought into relations of domestic intimacy and confidence with their teachers.

§ 15. If at any time the number of students applying for admission shall be greater than the means of the trustees will enable them to receive, they shall make regulations for the number to be admitted, having reference to the proportions of population in the several senatorial districts in the State, and equalize the admissions according to such proportions, as nearly as may be.

§ 16. The trustees shall hold a regular session at the college at least once in each year, and may provide for periodical visitations by committee. No trustee shall receive any compensation, except actual travelling expenses, to be paid from the treasury of the college.

§ 17. The treasurer of the college shall make, as often as once in six months, a detailed report of all receipts and expenditures, and the trustees shall cause the same to be verified by full inspection and settlement of all his accounts, and shall transmit a copy of the same, as verified by them, to the governor and council. The trustees shall also cause to be made annually such report as is required by the fifth section of the act of Congress, and communicate the same as therein provided.

§ 18. The legislature shall have the right to grant any further powers, to alter, limit or restrain any of the powers vested in the trustees of the college established by this act, as shall be judged necessary to promote the best interests thereof. And this act shall take effect upon its approval by the governor.

MARYLAND.

AN ACT APPROPRIATING THE INTEREST TO BE RECEIVED FROM SALE OF SCRIP DONATED TO STATE OF MARYLAND.

(Passed March 21, 1856.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland: That after the comptroller shall have sold the said scrip and invested the proceeds thereof as provided by the act of the general assembly, passed at January, 1864, the annual interest or income of said investment shall be regularly paid by him, without diminution, to the Maryland Agricultural College; and the leading object of said college shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life; and the money so to be received by the said college shall be applied to the objects enumerated in the said act of Congress, and to no other purpose whatsoever; and the said college shall in all respects comply with the several requirements of said act, as to making and recording experiments, and reporting the same as therein prescribed: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit or preclude the general assembly, at any time hereafter, from making any other disposition of said funds, not inconsistent with the act of Congress making said donation.

§ 2. From and after the passage of this act, the State Board of Education shall be ex-officio members of the board of trustees of said college.

NOTE.

The Maryland Agricultural College was established in 1857, in Prince George's county, (post office, Agricultural College,) by subscriptions of citizens, mostly engaged in agricultural pursuits. It has received liberal aid from the State, not only towards its annual expense, but in large sums to relieve it from debt. Its past history and future prospects will be given in Part II.