The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Buchanan or Lincoln? I have long had a notion to write a column about American land-grant colleges. It was at one such institution that I got my start in...
...Had it passed, that bill would have gone a long way toward setting things right...
...It proposed that funds accruing from the sale of public lands be divided among the states and utilized to provide instruction not only "in agriculture and mechanic arts" but in the liberal arts as well...
...The bill passed the Senate but was held up in the House...
...This magnificent project was conceived by Jonathan B. Turner, a professor at a Presbyterian college in Illinois...
...It was at one such institution that I got my start in life...
...When the very life of our nation was at stake they dared to propose that "scientific and classical studies" be cultivated along with agriculture and the mechanical arts...
...Although Ohio State was supposed to be "a university for the industrial classes," its curriculum included almost the whole range of academic studies...
...In 1857, he introduced the first bill which provided for the use of land-grant income for educational aid...
...It provided that the Federal government and the states cooperate to establish a good school system...
...3) that billions of dollars should not be drained from the treasury for such a purpose during a time of military danger...
...Land-grant colleges also have some bearing on the comprehensive aid to education bill which was introduced into the 87th Congress by the Kennedy Administration...
...The Legislature passed it on to the national Congress, where it was picked up by a Vermonter, Justin S. Morrill...
...The states, counties and towns, they say, cannot raise sufficient funds to put up the necessary buildings and pay teachers adequate salaries...
...and (4) that the proposed bill was unfair to private and parochial schools, which naturally would not partake in the largesse from Washington...
...But Congressman Morrill introduced a similar bill in 1862...
...At that time the annual tuition was $25 and the range of studies practically limitless...
...We have a right to be proud of the broadmindedness exhibited by our Congressmen of 100 years ago...
...Their record is of special importance to Americans today when educators proclaim that schools of all grades are in a period of desperate crisis...
...But the main question which present members of the House and Senate should answer is this: Do they want to be lined up with Jim Buchanan or Abe Lincoln...
...I well recall the pride with which I took in my initial view of the Ohio State campus in 1899 and my satisfaction with the first-class teachers and scholars on the faculty...
...Now all members of Congress ought to examine these arguments in the light of the history of land-grant colleges...
...This was during the static Administration of James Buchanan, who is remembered as the wearer of impeccable clothes and as having been an expert judge of food...
...He suggested to the Illinois Legislature that it devote the money from the sale of its public lands to the establishment of a state university...
...To this notable gourmet the original aid to education bill tasted unconstitutional, and he vetoed it...
...Last session, there were four major arguments against the aid to education bill: (1) that it was unconstitutional...
...It will, of course, be reintroduced when Congress meets in January...
...Federally sponsored land-grant colleges were inaugurated 100 years ago...
...2) that it would give the Federal government the power to control our educational system and thus eventually our entire social life...
...As for the control of education by Washington, the thought never entered the minds of our 19th century politicians...
...The idea was turned down but did not die...
...Neither did the strange notion that sectarian institutions should be supported by money drawn from the pockets of the general population...
...In that year, on the very day when he called out 300,000 soldiers, Abrasi ham Lincoln—who was less interested in food and clothes than his predecessor—signed the education bill into law...
Vol. 44 • December 1961 • No. 40
