It may be stated as a fact-which will not be denied-that by the existing laws, the object of Congress in making donations of land for educational purposes in this State has been wholly disregarded, and the funds obtained from the sale of said lands, which, in the language of the Act of eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, were designed primarily for the establishment of "the College of Agriculture, and the College of Mechanic Arts," have been appropriated principally in establishing and maintaining colleges of literature and science, thus ignoring colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts.

THE VIEWS OF THE FACULTY AND REGENTS.

At pages fifty-eight and fifty-nine of the Register of the University of California, eighteen hundred and seventy-six and seven, will be found an argument in extenso, designed to establish the proposition that practical education in industrial agriculture and the mechanical arts was not intended by the Act of Congress," and "that it is not the kind of education really desired by the industrial classes for their sons."

PRESIDENT LE CONTE'S VIEWS.

In his address made to the last graduating class of the University, President Le Conte said: "It is necessary to guard against the idea that the University is to teach any trade or business; there could be no greater mistake than for it to attempt to do so. The experiment has been repeatedly tried, and has uniformly failed. The purely technical knowledge of trade mus: be learned by practicing it. The teaching in a public institution can, with advantage, extend only as far as the special application of abstract science to the different arts."

VIEWS OF THE GRANGERS AND MECHANICS.

In a memorial presented to the last Legislature, by the grangers and mechanics, the following occurs, to wit: "Agriculture, in its various departments, should be so taught and practiced in our University as to send forth scientific farmers, whose labor and skill can utilize the soil, and develop its greatest resources; while the mechanical department should graduate learned and skilled mechanics; and it is the earnest desire of the agriculturists and mechanics of this State to make these great departments of industry the leading features of our State University."

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In an address published by the "Golden Gate Grange" of this State for eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, the following occurs, to wit: "In California, taking the whole population, your committee learns, from the best census returns at hand, that of each one hundred men twenty are in agricultural pursuits, thirty-four in mechanical and mining industries, fourteen in trade and transportation, twenty-nine in personal service. From the statement of so plain a truth, it appears to be manifest that no inconsiderable portion of these funds (derived from sales of land) should be used in providing for industrial education, by which is meant a system of education by work;' 'education by uses;' an education of the hand and eye, as well as of the brain; instructing boys and girls in the work in which it is hoped they may hereafter be occupied."

INDUSTRIAL INSTRUCTION ELSEWHERE.

From the report made by the Department of Agriculture of the United States, for the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six, it appears that thirty-four Agricultural Colleges have been established in as many States of the Union, based upon the land donations made by Congress for that purpose. In the several reports from these institutions made to the Department at Washington City for that year, practical, industrial, and mechanical education is highly approved. The number of students engaged in those departments of instruction in those institutions was, in eighteen hundred and seventy-six, over three thousand.

The system of practical education, as herein specified, has been thoroughly tested in Massachusetts, Cornell Institute, New York, Virginia Agricultural College, Agricultural College of Michigan, and the Kansas State Agricultural College, with results highly satisfactory and beneficial. The President of the Michigan Agricultural College, in speaking of labor education in that institution, says: It works better and better now after a trial of nineteen years." Forty-two per cent of the graduates are farmers and horticulturists.

REMARKS.

It is manifest from the foregoing:

First-That the Regents and Faculty of the University of California have deliberately determined to exclude altogether from the branches taught, and to be taught in said institution, practical instruction in agriculture and the mechanical arts. This is established by a reference to the labored argument found in the register herein specified; by the repeated declarations of the members of the Faculty and Regents, and by the policy uniformly and persistently pursued by the government of said institution during the past nine years. As further evidence of this determination, the Legislature passed an Act, approved April third, eighteen hundred and seventyfive, appropriating forty thousand dollars "for the construction of a Mechanical Art College, for the purpose of mechanical instruction." No practical action was taken by the government of said institution, in reference to the construction of said Art College, until within a few weeks past. This action was doubtless caused by the agitation of the subject, both by the press, and by the action of the grangers and mechanics. Two years and a half were permitted to pass away without even an intimation on the part of the Regents and Faculty that they intended to give effect to the desire of the Legislature thus emphatically expressed.

During all that time, the forty thousand dollars were lying useless and unproductive; the desire of the Legislature was treated with contempt, and the interests of the great laboring and productive classes were wholly disregarded. In addition, it is ascertained that the Regents have contracted for the construction of an edifice of such dimensions and character as will absorb nearly the whole appropriation of forty thousand dollars, leaving nothing for machinery and mechanical implements; whereas, in the opinion of this committee, about twenty thousand dollars would have been amply sufficient to construct the edifice, and the balance would have procured the machinery and implements required for practical instruction.

Second-It is manifest from the authorities herein presented and referred to, that the statements made by said Regents and Faculty, to the effect that labor education in colleges had been repeatedly attempted to be taught, but had uniformly failed, is emphatically contradicted. On the contrary, the uniform success which has always attended such instruction, when faithfully pursued, is established beyond all reasonable doubt.

Third-We agree with President Le Conte, that "the purely technical knowledge of trade must be learned by practicing it." We are therefore in favor of introducing such instruction in the University of California, in pursuance of the Act of Congress, the legislative Act of eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and the repeatedly expressed wish of the great laboring classes of California. We, therefore, respectfully and earnestly urge upon your honorable bodies the enactment of a law which will secure for our children and youth of both sexes, who may graduate from the University and our public schools, such an education as will qualify them to enter upon the