letters dated September 2, 1890, to Hon. J. G. Cannon, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, U. S. House of Representatives, and to President H. E. Alvord, of the Agricultural College of Maryland, in the following language:

*

Under this act for the fiscal year 1890, these several institutions will be entitled to $15,000 for that year, and $16,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891. The aggregate sum of $31,000 I assume can now be paid on the proper requisition of the Secretary of the Interior under the act. As stated, I think it creates a permanent annual specific appropriation for the purpose pointed out in the act without further legislation on the part of Congress.

"The fact that the act of Congress was not passed in time to make the payments provided for in the fiscal year 1890, and that an appropriation for 1891 could not be paid in the July following, does not in any manner interfere with the rights established by Congress under the appropriation. Time, in such cases, is not at all material. Congress intended to make these appropriations for the benefit of these colleges and they are entitled to have them paid now, although the time in which they might have been paid has elapsed. (To Mr. Cannon.)

You will see by reference to section 4 of this act that the Secretary of the Interior is "charged with the proper administration of this law" and he will doubtless furnish you with information as to what he will deem prerequisite to his making his warrant (requisition) on the Secretary of the Treasury as provided in section 2.

"In answer to your fourth question, I would say that the amount for the fiscal year 1890 is available now, and will be paid as soon as the Secretary shall ask for it. (To President Alvord.)”

This letter, sent by the Secretary of the Interior to the governors of the States and Territories, bore date of September 22, 1890, and, after calling attention to the act of Congress, requested the following information:

1. Is there in your State a college of agriculture and the mechanic arts, established under or receiving the benefit of the act of Congress of July 2, 1862?

2. If so, is any distinction of race or color in the admission of students thereto recognized or made in the State law, or in the regulations and practice of the institution?

3. Or (a) is there such a college for the education of white students, and also (b) a similar college for colored students, or an institution or like character aided by the State from its own revenue for the education of colored students in agriculture and the mechanic arts? Please give name, location, and president or administrative officer of each of such institutions.

4. Has your legislature met in regular session since August 30, 1890, or when will it so meet?

5. If it has not so met do you as authorized by the act referred to assent in behalf of your State to "the purpose of said grants," as provided in section second of the act?

6. Please give the name, title, and address of the State treasurer or other officer to whom payments should be made under this law.

You will please transmit with your reply a copy of the charter of such college, with the rules and regulations, duly certified by the secretary of state.

Upon the receipt of satisfactory replies to these inquiries, and the official assent to the terms of the act, given by the State legislature or the governor, certification was at once made to the Secretary of the Treasury for the payment of the amount of the first installment of the fund ($15,000) to the State treasurers, to be made over, in the manner

prescribed in the act of Congress, to such institutions as were respectively designated to receive it.

January 19, 1891, a circular letter was sent by the Commissioner of Education to the presidents of the colleges which had received the first installment, in which attention was especially called to the limitations placed by the act upon the use of the money received, and accompanied by a blank form for making a provisional report of the receipt and expenditure of the first installment. This report called for a statement of the date of receipt of the first installment and the amount thereof received by the college, the amount expended up to date and for what purposes, and the specific purposes to which the balance was to be applied.

On September 20, 1891, a circular letter was sent to the college presidents, accompanied by a form for the statistics to be forwarded with the president's report, which form had been recommended by the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, in session in Washington during the summer of 1891. This statistical report shows the receipts and expenditures of the college for and during the year; for the college and the experiment station; the condition of the college library; and the classified record of students and instructors and of officers of the station. At the same time blank forms were furnished for the financial statement of the college treasurer, showing receipt and detailed expenditure of the fund received under the act of 1890.

On June 30, 1892, still another circular letter from the Commissioner of Education called attention to several important clauses of the act of 1890 and laid especial stress upon that section which relates to the uses to which the fund could be applied. The statistical reports for this year include, besides the matter of information furnished in 1891, statistics of farm lands, buildings, and general equipment of the college. The following is an extract from the Commissioner's letter of June 30, 1892:

The fact that it has already been necessary to require several institutions to replace sums of money erroneously expended from this fund, makes it advisable to call attention again to the limitations placed by the act of Congress of August 30, 1890, upon the use of the money appropriated by it, which is "to be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural, and economic science, with special reference to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction." It is held that this language authorizes the purchase from this money of apparatus, machinery, text-books, reference books, stock, and material used in instruction or for purposes of illustration in connection with any of the branches enumerated, and the payment of salaries of instructors in said branches only. The erection of buildings is specifically prohibited by the act, and the Assistant Attorney-General has decided that the purchase of land is not allowable. It should not be expended for repairs, furniture, cases, shelving, or the like, or (as in one instance) for musical instruments, the salary of a music teacher, an outfit of tableware and cooking utensils, etc. In short, the plant-the land, buildings, and ordinary appliances of a school-must be provided from other sources, and this particular fund must be applied exclusively to the sub

jects named in the act and the facilities especially required for those subjects. In closing his report the treasurer should certify that his statement is correct and true and that no part of said fund has been applied to any subject not contemplated in the act of Congress.

The reports of the presidents and treasurers, prepared in the manner suggested by the Commissioner, are subjected to careful scrutiny at the Bureau. Three copies of each report are required, one being retained by the Bureau for its own use, the others being sent to the Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture. Certification to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment is made when all reports are found to be correctly stated and show no illegal or improper use of the funds.

This detailed account of the manner in which the law is administered will show that no effort is neglected on the part of the Executive Department to fully and equitably carry out the provisions of the act. ED 91-38

Name.

Receipts and Disbursements Under the Act of August 30, 1890, to June 30, 1892.,

Fiscal year

ended June 30, 1892.

Balance.