REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. To the General Assembly of the State of Iowa: In the law relating to the Iowa Agricultural College, it is provided that a biennial report shall be made by the Board of Trustees to the General Assembly. In accordance therewith, we hereby submit for your consideration a brief statement of the condition and needs of the College. We are pleased to report the institution in a prosperous condition. The past two years have witnessed a healthy growth in each of its departments. A new course of study, intended for the specialist in agriculture, has been added to the curricula; the other courses have been revised and improved; additions have been made to the library, the museum, and to the apparatus and means of instruction in the different schools; extensive improvements have been made upon the farm, and new lines of experimentation entered upon in the Agricultural and Horticultural departments. In all the lines of its work the institution gives evidence of an honest and successful endeavor to carry out the Congressional law which gave it existence, and we congratulate the State that there is rapidly being built up here a college where the industrial classes may obtain, at a cost within their reach, a liberal and practical education in the pursuits and professions of life. By a wise management of the land grant received from the national government, and a careful husbanding of its resources, the College is able to meet all its ordinary running expenses, without cost to the people of the State. In the Congressional law bestowing this magnificent endowment, it is provided that the original fund shall never be diminished, and that the income arising therefrom shall be inviolably applied to the support and maintenance of the College. In this same law the use of college funds for the erection or repair of buildings is strictly forbidden. In accepting the grant with this condition attached, the State assumed the responsibility of furnishing and keeping in repair all buildings necessary to the full accomplishment of the purposes for which the grant was made. In order that the law may be complied with, the growth of the institution fostered, and its useful ness extended, we are compelled to ask of your honorable body, appropriations for the following purposes: First-For four houses to be used as residences by professors.....$ 10,000.00 Second-For another boarding cottage, and an addition to the present one, to furnish boarding facilities for an increased number of students.. 6,000.00 Third-For a building to be occupied by the schools of Mechani- 8,000.00 600.00 1,000.00 Sixth-For one cottage for foreman on the farm, one cottage for foreman in horticulture, and one cottage for farm laborer.... 2,400,00 Seventh-For experimentation in agriculture and horticulture an annual appropriation of... ........ 2,000.00 Eighth-For fire and burglar-proof safe and vault......... 1,500.00 1,200.00 1,300.00 500.00 Detailed reasons for all but the last three items are given in the President's report and the reports of the Professors of Agriculture and Horticulture, to which your attention is invited. A brief statement of facts will show the necessity for the other appropriations. We earnestly urge upon your honorable body the necessity of providing an annual fund for the payment of the salaries and expenses mentioned in the ninth item. The duty of the State in this matter is made evident from the following considerations: First-In accepting the national grant for the endowment of the College, the State obligated itself to pay these expenses. Upon this point the Congressional law is thus explicit: "All the expenses of management, superintendence, and taxes from date of selection of said lands previous to their sale, and all the expenses incurred in the management and disbursement of the moneys which may be received therefrom, shall be paid by the State to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said State, so that the entire proceeds of the sales of said lands shall be applied without any diminution whatever to the purposes hereinafter mentioned." The language of the above law is unmistakable. It plainly declares that the expenses in question shall be paid by the State. To put the matter, however, beyond all question, the Board, in May, 1879, obtained the opinion of Attorney-General McJunkin. The conclusion arrived at by him is thus concisely expressed: "The State has no right to use interest fund in the payment of commissions, exchange, or salary of Secretary or Treasurer." Second-The obligation of the General Assembly to provide for these expenses is enforced by a second consideration. The Board of Trustees is appointed to manage and control the affairs of the College. One of its most responsible duties is to manage the lands and funds which constitute the endowment of the College, and to disburse the income received therefrom. The Secretary and Treasurer are officers of the Board, and constitute an essential part of the machinery necessary to such management and disbursement. The Board of Trustees is paid by the State, and the same fund which pays it should pay its officers. At the last session the General Assembly appropriated an annual fund of $1,000, for the repair of college buildings. Previous to this the Board was compelled to use interest money illegally for that purpose. Thanking your honorable body for release from this responsibility, we earnestly ask that you will further relieve us from the necessity of applying funds, in direct contravention of law, to the payment of the salaries mentioned. Both the statute and the interests of the College demand that we shall employ these officers. Their services cannot be secured without compensation. We cannot, without violation of our official oaths, pay them from the interest fund. We therefore earnestly petition your honorable body for this appropriation. The tenth item of the appropriations needed, is a building to contain the offices of Secretary and Treasurer, also the business office of the President. It can be built, in connection with the vault, at a moderate expense. At present the institution has no safe place of deposit for its important books and papers. The Secretary is without a convenient office, and the room occupied by the Treasurer, since it is easy of access to the students, is much needed by the Steward. The offices of the Secretary and Treasurer should be in close proximity, and so situated that both can have access to the vault. The building, if erected, would be used by the Board of Trustees in the transaction of its busi ness. Finally, we are compelled, by the dire necessities of the case, to ask for a small sum with which to repair the public road leading to Ames. For no small portion of the past year this road has been practically impassable. The interests of the farm, and students' boarding departments, and the general good of the College demand a ready means of communication with town. Amendments suggested to the State law governing the Agricultural College-For the greater convenience of annual settlements of the financial matters, the Board recommend that the fiscal year be made to close on the fourth Wednesday of November, and the new year to commence on the Thursday following. Because of the impossibility of completing the business of the year within the thirty days prescribed by law, we recommend that the time allowed the Board be increased to thirty-six days per year. It is found that the business connected with an industrial institution is unavoidably more complicated and requires more time than that connected with institutions of ordinary character. For detailed statement of the work performed and progress made in the different departments, you are respectfully referred to the reports of the President and Professors, which are hereby attached to and made a part of this report. The reports of the financial officers and the proceedings of the Board of Trustees, give full information regarding the business affairs of the institution and the present condition of the college funds. Your attention is called to the gratifying condition of health in the College, as shown by the report of the Sanitary Committee. HENRY G. LITTLE, Chairman. WM. MCCLINTOCK. JNO. N. DIXON. CHAS. W. TENNEX. GEO. H. WRIGHT. REPORTS OF THE PRESIDENT AND THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, THE following twelve reports are made by the President and the heads of departments to the Board of Trustees. PRESIDENT'S REPORT. My annual report which is hereby presented in accordance with the law, will embrace a brief sketch (1) of the courses of study as now pursued in the Agricultural College; (2) a list of the teachers employed; (3) a synopsis showing the ratio of attendance from the different counties during the last two years, and (4) a statement of the wants of the institution which its growth has developed and which it is the province of the State under its contract with Congress, to supply. The organization of the college which meets in all respects the requirements of both the State and the national law, comprises: 1. A general course of studies related to the industries, and 2. Three special schools in which students may prepare themselves for some one of the industrial vocations, as follows: 1. GENERAL-INCLUDING THE COURSE IN SCIENCES RELATED TO THE INDUSTRIES. 2. TECHNICAL-INCLUDING 1. THE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE, Containing (1) The Course in Agriculture. (2) The Course in Horticulture. 2. THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, Containing (1) The Course in Mechanical Engineering. 8. THE SCHOOL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE, Containing The Course in Veterinary Science THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS. The special schools, while supplying the knowledge which is essential to a higher education, are organized for the purpose of preparing |