there had been a one-mill levy, but it had shortly been cut to a quarter of a mill, and a little later raised to threeeighths of a mill. The one-mill levy enabled the University to erect the much needed buildings and to take care of the rapidly increasing numbers of students.

The five funds of the University were designated by the Legislature in 1899 as the permanent endowment fund, representing the money from the sale of lands; the temporary University fund, consisting of the proceeds of the investment of the permanent fund, rental of lands leased, and the one-mill tax; the University cash fund, made up of fees, income from the farm, etc.; the U. S. Morrill fund, consisting of moneys obtained under the Act of 1890; and the U. S. Experiment Station fund, consisting of moneys obtained under the Hatch Act. All money accruing to the temporary University fund was to be spent for the maintenance of the University, including buildings and permanent improvements.

The Legislature allowed the University more freedom in the expenditure of its own funds. This is discussed in the report of the Board of Regents for the two years ending in 1908:

"Statutory enactments and adjudications by the Supreme Court have wrought some important changes in the methods and policies of conducting university finance. The act of 1907 authorizing the regents to draw upon the proceeds of the one mill levy and the statute of 1899 authorizing the regents to disburse funds of the university, other than those arising from taxation, without detailed legislative appropriation have recently been subjects of judicial review. In state ex rel. Ledwith vs. Searle, 112 N. W. Rep. 380, the Supreme Court held, in substance, that the 'proceeds' of the one mill tax was not limited to such cash as might be received by the treasurer from said tax from time to time, but that it meant the fund, a total definite amount, to eventually accrue from the tax levy, and that this fund was subject to disbursement by the regents, in the manner provided by law, without further appropriation. In state ex rel. Spencer Lens Co. vs. Searle, 109 N. W. Rep. 770, the court also held, in effect, that the statute of 1899 sufficiently authorized the regents to disburse moneys for the university, not derived from taxation,

without detailed legislative appropriation. The board is fully aware of the increased responsibilities involved in these changes of policy."

From time to time the general fund of the state was appropriated for specific purposes, such as the upkeep of the substation at North Platte and the farmers' institute work. The school lands of the state, including the endowment lands of the University, were withdrawn from sale in 1897, altho most of the University's lands had been disposed of by that time. A. E. Sheldon, then a member of the Legislature, was instrumental in putting a stop to the wanton sale of the school lands.

The Federal Government came to the assistance of the University, and especially the agricultural side of the work, with three important appropriations.

The Second Morrill Act of 1890 provided the institution with $25,000 of government money to be used in "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." The Second Morrill Act provided $15,000 for the year ending June 30, 1890, and an annual increase of $1,000 in the amount, until the total of $25,000 was reached.

The Nelson Amendment of 1907 provided that the money paid the University under the Second Morrill Act should be increased to $50,000. For the year ending June 30, 1908, $5,000 was to be added to the original $25,000 and this was to be increased at the rate of $5,000 a year until the grand total of $50,000 was reached. The Nelson Amendment provided that "colleges may use a portion of this money for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts."

The Adams Act of 1906, previously referred to, added $15,000 a year to the original appropriation under the Hatch Act of 1887 for the benefit of experiment stations.

For the year ending June 30, 1906, $5,000 of the additional $15,000 was to be available, and this was increased by $2,000 a year until the total of $30,000, under the Hatch and Adams Acts, was available.

REFERENCES

Agriculture. August, September, 1904; April, 1906; January, 1909; March, 1910; June, 1910 to January, 1911; May, 1911. School and College of Agriculture, Lincoln.

Annual Reports and Bulletins of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Nebraska.

1890-1909.

Annual Reports of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture. 1889, 1890, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1909.

CALDWELL, HOWARD W. Education in Nebraska.

Circular of Infor

mation No. 3, 1902, of the United States Bureau of Education.

Catalogs of the School of Agriculture.

Catalogs of the University of Nebraska.

1902-1909.

1890-1910.

Federal Legislation, Regulations, and Rulings Affecting Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. States Relations Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 1917.

HILL, D. S. Introduction to Vocational Education. Macmillan Company, New York. 1920.

Laws of the State of Nebraska. 1891-1909.

Nebraska Farmers' Institutes. First, second, third, and fourth reports, 1906-1909. University of Nebraska.

PALMER, TRUMAN. Concerning Sugar. United States Sugar Manufacturers' Association, Chicago. Loose-leaf.

Reports of the Board of Regents, University of Nebraska. 1890-1910. TRUE, A. C., and CLARK, V. A. Agricultural Experiment Stations in the United States. United States Department of Agriculture, 1900.

The University of Nebraska, 1869-1919.

versary Book. The University, 1919.

Semi-Centennial Anni

THE

VI

THE CROWNING YEARS

'HE years from about 1909 to 1923 were the crowning years in the history of the College of Agriculture. Could Professor Thompson, the first professor of agriculture, and those early residents of the state who wagged their heads at agricultural education have stepped into the farm campus in 1923, Professor Thompson would have found his most sanguine dreams more than realized, while those who scoffed perhaps would have remained to learn. They would have found nine great buildings devoted exclusively to experimentation and instruction, among them the finest agricultural engineering building in the world, a dairy building famous thruout the West, and the best equipped animal pathology plant in the Mississippi Valley. Instead of an unattractive farmstead of the seventies they would have found a magnificent campus laid out with trees and flower beds, a paved street running alongside the farm, and street cars to the door of the institution. Instead of ten or fifteen students studying agriculture, they would have found some one thousand students, men and women, about half of them enrolled in a practical high school course emphasizing agriculture and home economics and the other half enrolled in a regular college course. They would have found some seventy members of the college faculty, and nearly as many more connected with other branches of college activity, a great state-wide Agricultural Extension Service reaching every corner of the state with its force of county agents and extension specialists, three experimental substations in western Nebraska, a school of agriculture at Curtis, Neb., and a fruit farm near Union.

If the preceding period, dating from about 1890 to 1909, was the period in which agriculture came into its own, this was the period in which the Agricultural College came into

its own. The first big thing that happened during these years was the action of the Legislature in 1909 in dividing the Industrial College into a College of Engineering and a College of Agriculture. Once more the College of Agriculture was a unit by itself. The next big thing was the provision of the Legislature in the same year for two additional substations to be maintained in connection with the College of Agriculture. One of these was located at Valentine, and the other near Mitchell. With the substation at North Platte, this now made three substations under the control of the University. Then, in 1911, came provision for the school of agriculture in western Nebraska, located at Curtis.

The Agricultural Extension Service, as it is known today, really had its birth in this period. It was an outgrowth of the farmers' institute, and soon, thanks to the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, providing federal aid, became one of the most important lines of college activity, ranking in importance with the experiment station. Legislation providing for county aid for agricultural agents, or farm demonstrators, was passed by the Nebraska Legislature in 1913, and the first county agents in Nebraska began to be appointed about this time. The development of this extension work, along with that of the experimental substations, will be left for later discussion.

But the thing that made the most difference in the actual appearance and development of the material side of the institution goes back to an agitation which had been going on for a number of years to have the main University on the uptown campus moved out to the Agricultural College, or else to have additional land purchased uptown. Briefly, the University needed more room, both for immediate and for future needs. The attendance in all the schools and colleges of the University had increased to 3,992 (unrepeated names) in 1909-10. In this connection it is interesting to note that by 1915-16 the attendance had increased to 4,826, notwithstanding that a few years before the roster