c 
 
 Itel 
 
 Co^ I 
 
 /A 
 
 Jonathan. Baldwin Turner. A Plan for ail 
 
 ' Industrial University for the State 
 
 of Illinois. (1851)
 
 .-crsity of fllindi at Urbaiu-Ctuunpaign t 
 
 This book has been 
 digitized through 
 the generosity of 
 
 Robert O. Blissard 
 Class of 1957 
 
 University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign
 
 A PLAN 
 
 FOR Atf 
 
 INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE STATE OF ILLINOIS^ 
 
 SUBMITTED TO THE 
 
 FARMERS' CONVENTION AT GRANVILLE, 
 
 Held November 18, 1851, 
 
 PY PROF. J. B. TURNER. 
 
 PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CONVENTION. 
 
 Under the supervision of the Committee of Publication. 
 
 1851.
 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 or TUB 
 
 FAEMEES' COIVENTION AT GEANVILLE 
 
 Held November 18, 1851. 
 
 
 In accordance with previous notice/ a conven- 
 tion of farmers was held at Granville, Putnam 
 county, on Tuesday the 18th day of November, 
 1851. j The attendance was quite large and from 
 Tarious parts of the state. 
 
 The convention! organized by appointing Hon. 
 Oaks Turner, of Hennepin, Chairman pro tern., 
 and Mr. M. Osman, of Ottawa, Secretary pro tern. 
 
 Mr. Ralph Ware moved that a committee of 
 three be appointed by the chair to nominate per- 
 manent officers for the convention , which was 
 agreed to ; whereupon the chair appointed Messrs. 
 Ralph Ware, John Hise, and Sidney Pulsifer said 
 committee. 
 
 The committee, after a few minutes absence, 
 ; _^ retarned and reported the following persons as 
 permanent officers of the convention; 
 
 Hon. Oaks Turner, President. 
 
 Hon. Wm. Reddick, of Ottawa, and Prof. J. B. 
 Turner, of Jacksonville, Vice Presidents. 
 
 Mr. M. Osman, Recording Secretary. 
 
 Mr. Ralph Ware, of Granville, Cor. Secretary. 
 
 On motion the report was adopted and the 
 committee discharged.\ 
 
 The president then stated that he was not fully 
 advised as to the real objects of the convention) 
 and suggested that some one better qualified 
 should make them known. 
 
 Mr. Ware then stated that, according to the 
 call, they had met to take into consideration such 
 measures as might be deemed most expedient to 
 further the interests of the agricultural communi- 
 ty, and particularly to take steps towards the es- 
 tablishment of an Agricultural University.! 
 
 On motion of Mr. Greble, a committee of three 
 was appointed to report business upon which the 
 
 convention should act. The committee consisted 
 of Mr. John Greble, Prof. J. B. Tarner, and Mr. 
 Lewis Weston. 
 
 During the absence of this committee, short ad- 
 dresses were delivered by Messrs. Hise, Greble, 
 Ware, and others. 
 
 The committee returned and stated that they 
 would not be fully prepared to report before eve- 
 ning ; aad suggested that the afternoon be devo- 
 ted to a general discussion of such subjects, per- 
 taining to agriculture, as might present themselves. 
 
 A lively discussion was then commenced on 
 various subjects, in which Powell, of Mt. Palatine, 
 Butler, of Spoon River, Greble, Putnam co., Wes- 
 ton, of La Salle co., Gilmer, of Granville, Reddick, 
 of Ottawa, and others participated. 
 
 After which the convention adjourned until half 
 past six o'clock in the evening. 
 
 (EVENING SESSION] 
 
 The convention was called to order by the 
 Chairman. 
 
 \ Prof. Turner, as Chairman of the Committee on 
 Business, reported the following resolutions for 
 the future action of the convention : 
 
 Resolved, That we greatly rejoice in the degree 
 of perfection to which our various institutions, for 
 the education of our brethren engaged in profes- 
 sional, scientific, and literary pursuits, have al- 
 ready attained, and in the mental and moral ele- 
 tation which those institutions have given them, 
 and their consequent preparation and capacity for 
 the great duties in the spheres of life in which 
 they are engaged ; and that we will aid in all 
 ways consistent, for the still greater perfection of 
 such institutions. 
 
 Resolved, That as the representatives of the in- 
 dustrial classes, including all cultivators of the 
 coil, artisans, mechanics, and merchants, we de-
 
 6 
 
 eiire the same niwileges and advantages for our- 
 fle^f&;<WjreA*-8, an( ' our posterity, in each of 
 ear s&v-f i;al pursuits and callings, as our profes- 
 BionalSWeuBen enjoy in theirs; and we admit 
 that it is our ,o,y8rfoultvtiiat we da not also enjoy 
 them. ' 
 
 Resolved, That, in our opinion, the institutions 
 originally and primarily designed to meet the 
 wants of the prosessioual classes as such, cannot, 
 in the nature of things, met ours, no more than 
 the institutions we desire to establish for ourselves 
 could meet theirs. Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we take immediate measures for 
 the establishment of a University, in the state of 
 Illinois, expressly to meet those felt wants of 
 each and all the industrial classes of our state ; 
 that we recommend the foundation of high schools, 
 lyceums, institutes, &c., in each of our counties, on 
 imilar principles, so soon as they may find it prac- 
 ticable so to do. 
 
 Resolved, That in our opinion such institutions 
 can never impede, but must greatly promote the 
 best interests of all those existing institutions. 
 
 After reading the above resolutions, Prof. Tur" 
 ner proceeded, in an able and interesting manner 
 to unfold his plan for the establishment and main- 
 tenance of an Industrial University. 
 
 The convention then adjourned till 9 o'clock 
 to-morrow morning. 
 
 WEDSESDAY MOEXINO, Xor. 19. 
 
 Met pursuant to adjournment. 
 
 On motion, the resolutions were again taken up 
 and read, and, after some deliberation, severally 
 adopted. 
 
 Mr Hise, offered the following resolutions : 
 
 Ri.solved, That we approve of the general plan 
 for an Illinois State University for the Industrial 
 Classes, presented by Prof. J. B. TCENEE, and re- 
 quest him to furnish the outlines of his plan, pre- 
 sented to this convention, to the committee of pub- 
 lication, for publication in the Prairie Farmer,and 
 all other papers in this state which will pub- 
 lish the same ; and that one thousand copies be 
 published in pamphlet form for gratuitous distribu- 
 tion. 
 
 Resolved, That W. A. Pennell, M. Osman, L. L. 
 Bulleck, and Ralph Ware, be a committee of pub- 
 lication. 
 
 Resolved, That the committee of publication 
 forward to each editor in every county in the 
 state a copy of the publications of this convention, 
 with a request that they should republish the 
 same : and, also, send a copy to our Governor, 
 Senators and Representatives and State Officers, 
 and to all others who may be interested in the 
 came. 
 
 Resolved, That each member of this convention 
 do all in his power to promote the circulation and 
 reading of the above publications, and through 
 this and other means to secure, as far as practica- 
 ble, speakers to lecture on the subject in each of 
 the counties in the state. 
 
 Resolved, That Messrs. J. B. Turner and Mar- 
 cus Morton, of Morgan co.; James McConncll, Eli- 
 jah Isles, and David L. Gregg, of Sangamon co.; 
 John Davis, of Decatur ; John Woods, of Quincy ; 
 Johq Hise, of La Salle co.; Aaron Shaw, of Law- 
 rence co.; John Dougherty, of Union co.; L. S. 
 Pennington, of Whitesids co.; W. J. Pbelps, of 
 Elm Wood, Peoria co.; and Dr. Ames, of Winne- 
 bago co., be a central committee to call a State 
 Convention, to meet at Springfield at an early 
 hour of the next session of the legislature, or at 
 such other time and place as they and the friends 
 of the cause may deem most expedient. 
 
 Resolved, That this convention earnestly solicit 
 the Governor of this state to enumerate in the call 
 for an extra session of the legislature, should one 
 beheld before the next regular session, the objects 
 of this convention in the establishment of an In- 
 dustrial University, as business to be acted upon 
 by that body at that time. 
 
 Resolved, That a memorial and petitions be 
 prepared and furnished by the publishing commit- 
 tee for the purpose of petitioning the legislature 
 upon this subject. 
 
 During the discussion of these resolutions the 
 convention adjourned till 1 o'clock P. M. 
 
 AFTERNOON SESSION. 
 
 Met pursuant to adjournment. 
 
 Mr. Hise's resolutions were again taken up and 
 severally passed. 
 
 Mr. Lofflin introduced the following resolution 
 which was adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That we earnestly solicit the people 
 of this state to meet in their primary assemblies 
 and discuss the objects of this convention as shall 
 be made known by our published proceedings, 
 and join with us in asking the legislature te grant 
 to the people of this state, the fund which belongs 
 to them, to aid them in establishing an institute 
 for the industrial classes of this state, instead of 
 dividing that fund among the different colleges, 
 now in the state, as contemplated by those insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 In compliance with a request made by Mr. 
 Thos. Ware and others, Prof. Turner gave a short 
 history of a number of experiments he had made 
 in reference to the blight upon fruit trees. 
 
 The convention then adjourned sine die. 
 
 M. OSMAN, Secy, OAKS TURNER,Pr'<.
 
 To THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION OF THK GRANVILLE CONVENTION: 
 
 GENTLEMEN: I have endeavored to prepare an outline of my views of an Industrial Universi- 
 ty for the State of Illinois, as perfect as the short time allowed me, and my own feeble health 
 would permit. Notwithstanding my total inability to do justice to the subject, I trust you may 
 find it useful in directing the mind of Jie people of this State to the most important interest 
 ever proposed for their consideration, and in eliciting from them an early and intelligent expres- 
 sion of their views and wishes in regard to .it. 
 
 I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 
 
 Most respectfully, yours. 
 
 JACKSONVILLE, November, 1851> J. B. TURNER.
 
 PLAN 
 
 fO* A* 
 
 INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY 
 
 STATE OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 {All civilized society is, necessarily, divided in- 
 to two distinct co- operative, not antagonistic, clas- 
 ses: a small class, whose proper business it is 
 to teach the true principles of religion, law, med- 
 icine, science, art, and literature ; and a much lar- 
 ger class who are engaged in some form of labor 
 in agriculture, commerce, and the arts. For the 
 sake of convenience, we will designate the for- 
 mer the PROFESSIONAL and the latter the INDUSTRI- 
 AL class; not implying that each may not be 
 equally industrious : the one in their intellectual, 
 the other in their industrial pursuits. Probably 
 in no case would society ever need more than five 
 men out of one hundred in the professional class, 
 leaving ninety -five in every hundred in the indus- 
 trial ; and, so long as so many of our ordinary 
 teachers and public men are taken from the indus- 
 trial class, as there are at present, and probably 
 will be for generations to come, we do not really 
 need over one professional man for every hundred, 
 leaving ninety -nine in the industrial class. 
 
 The vast difference, in the practical means, of an 
 
 APPROPRIATE LIBERAL EDUCATION, Suited to their 
 
 wants and their destiny, which these two classes 
 enjoy, and ever have enjoyed the world over, 
 must have arrested the attention of every think- 
 ing man. True, the same general abstract science 
 exists in the world for both classes alike, but the 
 means of bringing this abstract truth into effectu- 
 al contact with the daily business and pursuits of 
 the one class does exist, while in the other case it 
 does not exist, and never can till it is new-created. 
 The one class liaveBchools,seminaries, colleges, 
 
 universities, apparatus, professors, and multitu- 
 dinous appliances for educating and training them 
 for months and years, for the peculiar profession 
 which is to be the business of their life; and they 
 have already created, each class for its own use, 
 a vast and voluminous literature, that would well 
 nigh sink a whole navy of ships. 
 
 But where arc the universities, the apparatus, 
 the professors, and the literature, specifically 
 adapted to any one of the industrial classes? 
 Echo answers where ? In other words, society 
 has become, long since, wise enough to know that 
 its TEACHERS need to be educated, but it has not 
 yet become wise enough to know that its WORK- 
 ERS need education just as much. In these re- 
 marks I have not forgotten that our common 
 schools are equally adapted and applied to all 
 classes ; but reading, writing, <fec., are, properly, 
 no more education than gathering seed is agricul- 
 ture, or cutting ship-timber navigation.! They 
 are the mere rudiments, as they are called, or 
 means, the mere instrument of an after education, 
 and if not so used they are, and can be, of little 
 more use to the possessor than an axe in the gar- 
 ret or a ship rotting upon the stocks. 
 
 Nor am I unmindful of the efforts of the mon- 
 archs and aristocrats of the old world in founding 
 schools for the "fifteenth cousins" of their order 
 in hopes of training them into a sort of genteel far- 
 mers, or rather overseers of farmers ; nor yet, of 
 the several "backfires" (as the Prairie Farmer sig- 
 nificantly designates them) set by some of our 
 older professional inetitutiens, to keep the rising
 
 8 
 
 and blazing thought of the industrial masses from 
 burning too furiously. They have hauled a canoe 
 alongside of their huge professional steamships 
 and invited all the farmers and mechanics of the 
 State to jump on board and sail with them; but 
 the difficulty is, they will not embark. But we 
 thank them even for this pains and courtesy. It 
 shows that their hearts are yearning toward us, 
 notwithstanding the ludicrous awkwardness of 
 their first endeavors to save us. 
 
 But an answer to two simple questions will 
 perhaps sufficiently indicate our ideas of the whole 
 subject, though that answer, on the present occa- 
 sion, must necessarily be confined to a bare out- 
 line. The first question, then, is this : 
 
 J. WHAT DO THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES WANT! 
 
 JX._HOW CAN THAT WANT BE SUPPLIED ? 
 
 The first question may be answered in few 
 words. They want, and they ought to have, the 
 same facilities for understanding the true philoso- 
 phy the science and the art of their several pur- 
 suits, (their life-business,) and of efficiently apply- 
 ing existing knowledge thereto and widening its 
 domain, which the professional classes have long 
 enjoyed in their pursuits. Their first labor is, 
 therefore, to supply a vacuum from fountains al- 
 ready full, and bring the living waters of know- 
 ledge within their own reach. Their second is, to 
 help fill the fountains with still greater supplies. 
 They desire to depress no institution, no class 
 whatever ; they only wish to elevate themselves 
 and their pursuits to a position in society to which 
 nil men acknowledge they are justly entitled, and 
 to which they also desire to see them aspire. 
 
 1 1. HOW, THEN, CAN THAT WANT BE SUPPLIED ? 
 
 In answering this question, I shall endeavor to 
 present, with all possible frankness and clear- 
 clearness, the outline of impressions and convic- 
 tions that have been gradually deepening in my 
 own mind, for the past twenty years, and let them 
 pass for whatever the true friends of the cause 
 may think them worth. 
 
 And I answer first negatively, that this want 
 cannot be supplied by any of the existing insti- 
 tutions for the professional classes, nor by any 
 incidental appendage attached to them as a 
 mere secondary department. 
 
 These institutions were designed and adapted 
 to meet the wants of the professional classes as 
 euch especially the clerical order, and they are 
 
 no more suited to the real wants of the industri- 
 al class than the institution we prepose for them, 
 would be suited to the professional class. 
 
 Their whole spirit and aim is, or should be, lit- 
 erary and intellectual not practical and indus- 
 trial ; to make men of books and ready speech 
 i not men of work, and industrial, silent thought. 
 But,"the very best classical scholars are often the 
 very worst practical reasoners; and that they 
 should be made workers is contrary to the na- 
 ture of things the fixed laws of God. The 
 whole interest, business, and destiny for life, of 
 the two classes, run in opposite lines ; and that 
 ! the same course of study should be equally well 
 { adapted to both, is as utterly impossible as that 
 the same pursuits and habits should equally con- 
 cern and befit both classes. 
 
 The industrial classes know and feel this, and 
 therefore they do not, and will not, patronize 
 these institutions, only so far forth as they desire 
 to make professional men for public use. As a 
 general fact, their own multitudes do, and will 
 forever, stand aloof from them ; and, while they 
 desire to foster and cherish them for their own 
 appropriate uses, they know that they do not, 
 and cannot, fill the sphere of their own urgent 
 I industrial wants. They need a similar system of 
 t liberal education for their own class, and adapted 
 I to their own pursuits ; to create for them an Ix- 
 DUSTKIAL LITERATURE, adapted to their profes- 
 sional wants, to raise up for them teachers and 
 lecturers, for subordinate institutes, and to ele- 
 vate them, their pursuits, and their posterity to 
 that relative position in human society for which 
 ' God designed thenoj 
 
 The whole history of education, both in Pro- 
 ! testant and Catholic countries, shows that we 
 must begin with the higher institutions, or w 
 can never succeed with the lower ; for the plain 
 reason, that neither knowledge nor water will 
 run up hill. No people ever had, or ever can 
 have, any system of common schools and lower 
 seminaries worth any thing, until they first foun- 
 ded their higher institutions and fountains of 
 knowledge from which they could draw supplies 
 of teachers, <fec., for the lower. "We would begin, 
 therefore, where all experience and common 
 sense show that we must begin, if we would ef- 
 ect anything worthy of an effort. 
 In this view of the case, the first thing wanted
 
 in this process, ia a NATIONAL INSTITUTE OK SCI- 
 ENCE, to operate as the great central luminary of 
 the national mind, from which all minor institu- 
 tions should derive light and heat, and toward 
 which they should, also t reflect back their own. 
 This primary waqt is already, I trust, supplied 
 by the Smithsonian Institute, endowed by James 
 Smithson, and incorporated by the U. S. Con- 
 gress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 To co-operate with, this noble Institute, and 
 enable the industrial classes to realize its benefits 
 in practical life,we need a University for the In- 
 dustrial Classes in each of the states, with their 
 consequent subordinate institutes, lyceuni?, and 
 high schools, in each of the counties ar>d towns. 
 
 The object of these institutes should be to ap- 
 ply existing knowledge directly and efficiently to 
 all practical pursuits and professions in life, and 
 to extend the boundaries of our present know- 
 ledge in all possible praciical directions,^ 
 
 PLAN FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 There should be connected with such an insti- 
 tution, in this state, a sufficient quantity of land 
 of variable soil and aspect, for all its needful an- 
 nual experiments and processes in the great in" 
 terests of Agriculture and Horticulture. 
 
 Buildings of appropriate size and construction 
 for all its ordinary and special uses; a complete 
 philosophical, chemical, anatomical, and industri- 
 al apparatus; a general cabinet, embracing eve- 
 rything that relates to, illustrates, or facilitates 
 any one of the industrial arts ; especially all 
 sorts of animals, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, 
 shrubs, and plants found iu this state and the ad- 
 jacent states. 
 
 Instruction should be constantly given in the 
 anatomy and physiology, the nature, instincts 
 and habits of all animals, insects, trees, and plants ; 
 theirl was of propagation, primogeniture, growth, 
 and decay, disease and health, life and death ; on 
 the nature, composition, adaptation, and regenera- 
 tion of soils ; on the nature, strength, durability, 
 preservation, perfection, composition, cost, use, 
 and manufacture of all materials of art and trade ; 
 on political, financial, domestic, and manual 
 economy, (or the saving of labor, of the hand,) in 
 all industrial processes ; on the true principles of 
 national, constitutional, and civil law; and the 
 true theory and art of governing and controlling 
 ti directing the labor of men in the state, tLc fa- 
 
 mily, shop, and farm ; on the laws of vicinage, or 
 the laws of courtesy and comity between neigh- 
 bors as such, and on the principles of health and 
 disease in the human subject, so far at least as ia 
 needful for household safety ; on the laws of 
 trade and commerce, ethical, conventional, and 
 i practical; on bookkeeping and accounts; and. 
 in short, in all those studies and sciences, of what- 
 ever sort, which tend to throw ligM upon any art 
 or employment, which any student may desire to 
 master; or upon any duty he may be called to 
 perform ; or which may tend to secure his moral 
 civil, social, and industrial perfection, as a man. 
 
 No species of knowledge should be excluded, 
 practical or theoretieal ; unless, indeed, those 
 specimens of "organized ignorance" found in the 
 creeds of party politicians, and sectarian ecclesi- 
 astics should be mistaken by some for a species 
 of knowledge. 
 
 Whether a distinct classical department should 
 be added or not, would depend on expediency. 
 It might be deemed best to leave that department 
 to existing colleges as their more appropriate 
 work, and to form some practical and economical 
 connection with them for that purpose : or it 
 might be best to attach a classical department iu 
 due time to the institution itself. 
 
 To facilitate the increase and practical appli- 
 cation and diffusion of knowledge, the professors 
 should conduct, each in his own department, a 
 continued series of annual experiments,^ 
 
 For example let twenty or more acres of each 
 variety of grain (each acre accurately measured) 
 be annually sown, with some practical variation 
 on each acre, as regards the quality and prepera- 
 tion of the soil, the kind and quantity of seed, 
 the time and mode of sowing or planting, the 
 time and modes and processes of cultivation and 
 harvesting, and an accurate account kept of all 
 costs.labor, ttc., and of the final results. Let ana- 
 logous experiments be iried on all the varied pro- 
 ducts of tue farm, the fruit yard, the nursery, and 
 the garden ; on all modes of crossing, rearing, 
 and fattening domestic animals, under various 
 degrees of warmth and of light, with and with- 
 out shelter; on green, dry, raw, ground, and 
 cooked food, cold and warm; on the nature, caus- 
 es, and cure of their various diseases, both of 
 those on the premises and of those brought in 
 from abroad, and advice given, and annual re- 
 forts inude oa those and all similar topics. Let
 
 10 
 
 (he professors of physiology and entomology be 
 ever abroad at the proper seasons, with the need- 
 ful apparatus for seeing all things visible and in- 
 visible, and scrutinizing the latent causes of all 
 those blights, blasts, rots, rusts and mildews 
 which so often destroy the choicest products of 
 industry, and thereby impair the health, wealth, 
 and comfort of millions of our fellow men. Let 
 the professor of chemistry carefully analyze the 
 various soils and products of the state, retain spe- 
 cimens, give instruction, and report on their vari- 
 ons qualities, adaptations, and deficiencies. 
 
 Let similar experiments be made in all other 
 interests of agriculture and mechanic or chemical 
 art, mining, merchandize and transportation by 
 water and by land, and daily practical and expe- 
 rimental instruction given to each student in at- 
 tendance in his own chosen sphere of research or 
 labor in life. Especially let the comparative 
 merits of all labor saving tools, instruments, ma- 
 chines, engines, and processes, be thoroughly and 
 practically tested and explained, so that their be- 
 nefits might be at once enjoyed, or the expense 
 of their cost avoided by the unskilful and unwary. 
 
 It, is believed by many intelligent men, that 
 from one-third to one-half the annual products of 
 this state are annually lost from ignorance on the 
 above topics. And it can scarcely be doubted 
 that in a few years the entire cost of the whole 
 Institution would be annually saved to the state 
 in the above interests alone, aside from all its 
 other benefits, intellectual, moral, social, and pe- 
 cuniary. 
 
 The APPARATUS required for such a work is ob- 
 vious. There should be grounds devoted to a bo- 
 tanical and common garden, to orchards and fruit 
 yards, to appropriate lawns and promenades, in 
 which the beautiful art of landscape gardening 
 could be appropriately applied and illustrated, 
 to all varieties of pasture, meadow, and tillage 
 needful for the successful prosecution of the need- 
 ful annual experiments. And on these grounds 
 should be collected and exhibited a sample of ev- 
 ery variety of domestic animal, and of every 
 tree, plant, and vegetable that can minister to 
 the health, wealth, or taste and comfort of the 
 people of the state ; their nature, habits, merits, 
 production, improvement, culture, diseases, and 
 accidents thoroughly scrutinized, tested, and made 
 known to the students and to the people of the 
 etate. 
 
 There should, aUo, be erected a sufficient num 
 ber of buildings and out-buildings for all the pur- 
 poses above indicated, and a REPOSITORY, in 
 which all the ordinary tools and implements of 
 the institution should be kept, and models of all 
 other useful implements and machines from time 
 to time collected, and tested as-they are proffer- 
 ed to public use. At first it would be for the in- 
 terest of inventors and venders to make such de- 
 posits. But, should similar institutions be adopt- 
 ed in other states, the general government ought 
 to create in each state a general patent office, at- 
 tached to the Universities, similar to the existing 
 deposits at Washington, thus rendering this de- 
 partment of mechanical art and skill more 'acces- 
 sible to the great mass of the people of the 
 Union. 
 
 I should have said, also, that a suitable indus- 
 trial library should be at onee procured, did net 
 all the world know such a thing to be impossible, 
 and that one of the first and most important du- 
 ties of the professors of such institutions will be 
 to begin to create, at this late hour, a proper 
 j practical literature, and series of text books for 
 the industrial classes. 
 
 As regards the PROFESSORS, they should, of 
 course, not only be men of the most eminent, 
 practical ability in their several departments, but 
 their connexion with the institution shoud be 
 rendered so fixed and stable! as to enable them 
 to carry through such designs as they may form 
 or all the peculiar benefits of the system would 
 bejpst. 
 
 Instruction, by lectures and otherwise, should 
 be given mostly in the colder months of the 
 year; leaving the professors to prosecute their 
 investigations, and the students their necessary 
 labor, either at home or on the premises, du- 
 ring the warmer months. 
 
 The institution should be open to all classes of 
 students above a fixed age, and for any length 
 of time, whether three months or seven years, and 
 each taught in those particular branches of art 
 which he wishes to pursue, and to any extent, 
 more or less. And all should pay their tuition 
 and board bills, in whole or in part, either in mo-~ 
 ney or necessary work on the premises regard 
 being had to the ability of each. 
 
 Among those who labor, medals and testimo- 
 nials of merit should be given to those who per- 
 form their tasks with mo*t promptitude, energy,
 
 11 
 
 care, and skill; and all who prove indolent or un- 
 gavernable, excluded at first from all part in la- 
 bor, and speedily, if not thoroughly reformed, 
 from the institution itself, and here again let the 
 law of nature instead of the law of rakea and 
 dandies be regarded, and the true impression ev- 
 er made on the mind of all around, that WORK 
 ALONE is HONORABLE, and indolence certain dis- 
 grace if not ruin. 
 ^At some convenient season of the year, the 
 Commencement, or ANNUAL FAIK. of the Universi- 
 ty, should be holden through a succession of 
 days. On this occasion the doors of the institu- 
 tion, with all its treasures of art and resources of 
 knowledge, should be thrown open to all classes, 
 and as many other objects of agricultural or mecha- 
 nical skill, gathered from the whole state, as pos- 
 sible, and presented by the people for inspection 
 and premium on the best of each kind; judgment 
 being rendered, in all cases, by a committee 
 wholly disconnected \vith the institution. On 
 this occasion, all the professors, and aa many of 
 the pupils aa are sufficiently advanced, should 
 be constantly engaged in lecturing and explain- 
 ing the divres objects and interests of their de- 
 partments. In short, this occasion should bemade 
 the great annual GALA-DAY of the Institution, and 
 of all the industrial classes, and all other classes 
 in the state, for the exhibition of their products 
 and their skill, and for the vigorous and power- 
 ful diffusion of practical knowledge in their ranks, 
 and a more intense enthusiasm in its extension 
 and pursuit. 
 
 Aa matters now are, tho world has never 
 adopted any efficient means for the application and 
 diffusion of even the practical knowledge which 
 does exist. True, we have fairly got the pri- 
 mer, the spelling book, and the newspaper 
 abroad in the world, and we think that we have 
 done wonders; and so, comparatively, we have. 
 But if this is a wonder, there are still not only 
 wonders, but, to most minds, inconceivable mira- 
 cles, from new and unknown worlds of light, soon 
 to break forth upon the industrial mind of the 
 world. 
 
 Here, then, is a general, though very incom- 
 plete, outline of what such an institution should 
 endeavor to become. Let the reader contem- 
 plate it as it will appear when generations have 
 perfected it, in all its magnificence and glory ; 
 in its means of good to man, to all man of all 
 
 daises : in Us power to evolve and diffuse prn' - - 
 tical knowledge and skill, true taste, love of in- 
 dustry, and sound morality not only through its 
 apparatus, experiments, instructions, and annual 
 lectures and reports, but through its thousands 
 of graduates, in every pursuit in life, teaching 
 and lecturing in all our towns and villages, and 
 then let him seriously ask himself, is not such an 
 object worthy of at least an effort, and worthy 
 of a slate which God himself, in the very act of 
 creation, designed to be the first agricultural and 
 commercial state on the face of the globe I 
 
 Who should set the world so glorious an exam- 
 ple of educating their sons worthily of their herit- 
 age, their duty, and their destiny, if not the peo- 
 ple of such a state ? In our country we have no 
 aristocracy, with the inalienable wealth of ages, 
 and constant leisure and means to perform all 
 manner of useful experiments for their own 
 amusement; but we must create our nobility for 
 this purpose, as we elect our rulers, from our own 
 ranks, to aid and serve, not to domineer over 
 and control us. And this done, we will not 
 only beat England, and beat the world in yachta 
 and locks and reapers, but in all else that con- 
 tributes to the well being and true glory of man. 
 I maintain that, if every farmer's and mechan- 
 ic's son it this state could now visit such an in- 
 stitution but for a single day in the year, it would 
 do him more good in arousing and directing tho 
 dormant energies of mind, than all the cost incur- 
 red, and far more good than many a six months 
 of professed study of things he never need and 
 never wants tokqow. 
 
 As things now art), our best farmers and me- 
 chanics, by their own native force of mind, by tho 
 slow process of individual experience, come to 
 know, at forty, what they might have been taught 
 in six months at twenty; while a still greater 
 number of the less fortunate or less gifted, stum- 
 bio on through life, almost as ignorant of every 
 true principle of thuir art as when they begun. 
 A man of real skill is amazed at the slovenly ig- 
 norance and waste he everywhere discovers, on 
 all parts^of theirj premises ; and still more to hear 
 them boast of their ignorance of all "book farm- 
 ing," and maintain that "their children can do as 
 well as they have done ;" aud j^certaiuly would 
 be a great pity if they could no,L 
 
 The patrons of our University would be found 
 iu the former, not in the latter -dafs. The man
 
 12 
 
 whose highest conception of earthly bliss is a log- 
 hut, in nn uninclosed yard, where pigs of two spe- 
 cies are allowed equal rights, unless the four-leg- 
 ged tribe chance to get the upper hand, will be 
 found no patron of Industrial Universities. Why 
 should he be ? He knows it all already. 
 
 There is another class of untaught farmers who 
 devote all their capital and hired labor to the 
 culture, on a large scale, of some single product, 
 which always pays well when so produced on a 
 fresh soil, even in the most unskillful bands. Now, 
 such men often increase rapidly in wealth, but it 
 is not by their skill in agriculture, for they have 
 none ; tleir skill consists in the management of ca- 
 pital and labor, and, deprive them of these, and 
 confine them to the varied culture of a small farm, 
 nnd they would starve in five years, where a true 
 farmer would amass a small fortune. This class 
 are, however, generally, the fast friends of educa- 
 tion, though many a looker-on will cite them as 
 instances of the uselessnecs of acquired skill in 
 farming, whereas they should cite them only 
 an a sample of the resistless power of capital 
 ejen in comparatively unskilful hands. 
 \ Such institutions are the only possible remedy 
 for a caste education, legislation, and literature. 
 If any one class provide for their own liberal ed- 
 ucation, in the state, ns they should do, while 
 another class neglect this, it is as inevitable as 
 the law of gravitation, that they should form a 
 ruling caste or class by themselves, and wield 
 their power more or less for their own exclusive 
 interosts and the interests of their friends. 
 
 If the industrial were tha only educated 
 class in the state, the caste pover in their hands 
 would be as much stronger than it now is, as 
 their numbers are greater. But now industrial 
 education has been wholly neglected, and the va- 
 rioui industrial classes left still ignorant of mat- 
 ters of the greatest moment pertaining to their 
 vital interests, while the professions have been 
 tndied till trifles and fooleries have been mag- 
 nified into matters of immense importnnre, 
 and tornadoes of windy words and barrels of in- 
 nocent ink shed over them in vain. 
 
 This, too, \9 the inevitable result of trying to j 
 crowd all liberal, practical education into one nar- j 
 row sphere of human life. It crowds their ranks I 
 with men totally unfit by nature for professional ' 
 
 service. Many of these, under a more congenial 
 culture, might have become, instead of the starv- 
 ing scavengers of a learned profession, the honor- 
 ed members of an industrial one. Their love of 
 knowledge was indeed amiable and highly com- 
 mendable; but the necessity which drove them 
 from their natural sphere in life, in order to ob- 
 tain it, is truly deplorable. 
 
 But such a system of general education as we 
 now propose, would (in wars too numerous now 
 to mention) tend to increase the respectability, 
 power, numbers, and resourses of the true profes- 
 sional class. 
 
 Nor are the advantages of the mental and 
 moral discipline of the student to be overlooked : 
 indeed, I should have set them down as most im- 
 portant of all, had I not been distinctly aware 
 that such an opinion is a most deadly heresy ; 
 and I tremble at the thought of being arraigned be- 
 fore the tribunal of all the monks and eclesins- 
 tics of the old world, and no small number of 
 their progeny in the new. 
 
 It is deemed highly important that all in the 
 professional classes should become writers and 
 talkers; hence they are so incessantly drilled in 
 all the forms of language, dead and living, though 
 it has become quite doubtful whether, even in 
 their case such u course is most beneficial, except 
 in the single case, of the professors of literature 
 and theology, with whom these languages form 
 the foundation of their professions and the indis- 
 pensable instruments of their future art in life. 
 
 No inconsiderable share, however, of the men- 
 tal discipline that is attributed to this] peculiar 
 course of study, arises from daily intercourse, for 
 years, with minds of the first order in their teach- 
 ers and comrades, and would be produced under 
 any other course, if the parties had remained har- 
 moniously together. On the other hand, a clas- 
 sical teacher, who has no original, spontaneous 
 power of thought, and knows nothing but Latin 
 and Greek, however perfectly, is enough to stul- 
 tify a whole generation of boys and make them all 
 pedantic fools like himself. The idea of infusing 
 mind, or creating, or even materially increasing 
 it by the daily inculcation of unintelligible word* 
 all this awful wringing to get blood out of a 
 turnip will, at any rate, never succeed except 
 in the hands of the eminently wise and prudent,
 
 13 
 
 who have had long experience in the process ; 
 the plain, blunt sense of the unsophisticated will 
 never realize cost in the operation. There are, 
 moreover, probably, few men who do not already 
 talk more, in proportion to what they really know, 
 than they ought to. This chronic diarrhoea of 
 exhortation, which the social atmosphere of the 
 age tends to engender, tends far less to public 
 health than many suppose. The history of the 
 Quakers shows, that more sound sense, a purer 
 morality, and a more elevated practical piety 
 can exist, and does exist, entirely without it, than 
 is commonly found with it. Still, some should, 
 doubtless, be so educated as readily to discharge 
 all the uncomfortable popular wind they may 
 chance, at any time, to have on their stomachs ; 
 but the industrial classes, for most part, had bet- 
 ter work theirs off in some other way and, if 
 they cannot find words to express their idea?, 
 let them teach others, in the most effective of all 
 ways, by action and example. 
 
 At all events, we find, as society becomes less 
 conservative and pedantic, and more truly and 
 practically enlightened, a growing tendency, of 
 all other classes, except the literary and clerical, 
 to omit this supposed linguistic discipline, and 
 apply themselves directly to the more immediate 
 duties of their calling ; and, aside from some little 
 inconvenience at first in being outside of caste, that 
 they do not succeed quite as well in advancing 
 their own interests in life, and the true interests 
 of society, there is no sufficient proof. 
 
 Indeed I think the exclusive and extravagant 
 claims set up for ancient lore, as a means of discip- 
 lining the reasoning powers,simp!y ridiculous when 
 examined in the light of those ancient worthies 
 who produced that literature, or the modern ones 
 who have been most devoted to its pursuit in 
 this country and in Europe. If it produces infal- 
 lible practical reasoners, we have a great many 
 thousand infallible antagonistic truths, and ten 
 thousand conflicting paths of righ^t, interest, duty, 
 nnd salvation. If any man will just be at the 
 trouble to open his eyes and his ears, he can per- 
 ceive at a glance how much this evasive discipline 
 really does and has done for the reasoning faculty 
 of man, and how much for the power of sophisti- 
 cal cant, and stereotyped nonsense ; so that if 
 obvious facts, instead of verbose declamation, 
 are to have any weight in the case, 1 am willing 
 to join issue with the opposers of the 
 
 scheme, even on the bare ground of its superior 
 adaptation to develope the mental power of its 
 pupils. 
 
 The most natural and effectual mental discipline 
 possible for any man, arises from setting him to 
 earnest and constant thought about the things he 
 daily docs, sees, and handles, and all their con- 
 nected relations and interests. The final object to 
 be attained, with the industrial class, is to make 
 them THINKING LABORERS, while of the professional 
 class we should desire to make LABORIOUS THINK- 
 ERS : the production of goods to feed and adorn 
 the body being the final end of one class of pur- 
 suits, and the production of thought to do the samo 
 for the mind the end of the other. But neither 
 mind nor body can feed on the offals of preceding 
 generations. And this constantly recurring ne- 
 cessity of reproduction, leaves an equally honora- 
 ble, though somewhat different, career of labor 
 and duty open to both ; and, it is readily admit- 
 ted, should and must vary their modes of educa- 
 tion and preparation accordingly. 
 
 It may do tor the man of books to plunge at 
 once amid the catacombs of buried nations and lan- 
 guages, to soar away to Greece, or Rome, or No- 
 va-Zpmbla.Kamskatka, and the fixed stars, before 
 ho knows how to plant his own beans, or harness 
 his own horse, or can tell whether the functions 
 of his own body are performed by a heart, stom- 
 ach, and lungs, or with a gizzard and gill". 
 
 But for the man of work thus to bolt away 
 I at once from himself and all his pursuits in after 
 life contravenes the plainest principles of nature 
 and common sense. No wonder such educators 
 have ever deemed the liberal culture of the indus- 
 trial classes an impossibility ; for they have nev- 
 er tried par even conceived of any other way of 
 educating them except that by which they are 
 rendered totally unfit for their several callings in 
 after life. How absurd would it seem to set a 
 clergyman to plowing and studying the depreda- 
 tions of flights, insects, the growing of crops, <fec., 
 fcc., in order to give him habits of thought and 
 mental discipline for the pulpit; yet, this is not 
 half as ridiculoue. in reality, as the reverse absur- 
 dity of attempting to educate the man of work in 
 unknown tongues, abstract problems and theories, 
 and rnetaphyisical figments and quibbles. 
 
 Some, doubtless, will regard the themes of 
 such a course of education as too sensuous and 
 gross to be at the basis of a pure and elevated
 
 14 
 
 ctrtl tire: But the themes themselves cov- 
 er all possible knowledge of all modes and pluses 
 of science, abstract, mixed, and practical. In 
 short, the field embraces all that God has made, 
 ami all that human art has done, and if the crea- 
 ted Universe of God and the highest art of man 
 are too gross fur our refilled nses, it is a pity the 
 "morning stars and the sons of God" did not find 
 rt out as soon as the blunder was made. Btit, in 
 my opinion, these topics are of quHe as much con- 
 sequence to the well-being of man and the health- 
 ful development of mrad, as the concoetfon of the 
 final nostrum in medicine or the ultimate figment 
 in theology and law, or conjectures about the gal- 
 axy or the Greek accent ; unless, indeed, the pe- 
 dantic professional trifles of one man in a thousand 
 aro of more consequence than the daily vital in- 
 terests of all the rest of mankind. 
 
 But can such an institution be created and en- 
 dowed ? Doubtless it can be done, and done at 
 once, if the industrial classes so decide. The 
 fund given to this state by the general govern- 
 ment, expressly for this purpose, is amply suffi- 
 cient, without a dollar from any other source ; 
 and it is a mean, if not an illegal perversion of 
 this fund, to use it for any other purpose. It was 
 given to the people, the whole people of this 
 state not for a class, a party, or sect, or conglo- 
 meration of sects ; not for common schools, or 
 family schools, or classical schools; but for "An 
 University," or seminary of a high order, in which 
 ehould of course be taught all those things which 
 every class of the citizens most desire to learn 
 their own duty and business for life. This, and 
 this alone, is an University in the true, original 
 sense of the term. And if an institution which 
 teaches all that is needful only for the three pro- 
 fessions oflaw, divinity, and medicine is, therefore, 
 an University, surely one which teaches all that is 
 needful for all the varied professions of human 
 life, is far more deserving of the name and the 
 endowments of an university. 
 
 But in whose hands shall the guardianship and 
 oversight of this fund be placed, in order to make 
 it of any real use for such a purpose ? I answer, 
 without hesitation and without fear, that this 
 whole interest should, from the first, be placed di- 
 rectly in the hands of the people, and the whole 
 people, without any mediators or advisers, legis- 
 lative or ecclesiastical, save only their own ap- 
 pointed agents, nnd their awn juror? nnd courts 
 
 of justice, to which, of course, nil alike must sub- 
 mit. It was given to the people, and is the pro- 
 perty of the people, not of legislators, parties, or 
 sects, and they ought to have the whole control 
 of it, so far as is possible consistently with a due 
 security of the funds and needful stability of 
 plans of action and instruction. This control I 
 believe they will be found abundantly able to ex- 
 ercise ; and more than this tie well informed man 
 would desire. 
 
 The reasons for placing it at once and forever 
 beyond" all legislative and ecclesiastical control, 
 are obvfous to all. For if under the former, it 
 will continuafty exist as the mere tool of the do- 
 minaat party, and the object of jealous fear and 
 hatred of their opponents ; or else it will become 
 the mere foot ball of all parties, to be kicked 
 hither and thither as the party interests and pas- 
 sion of the hour may dictate. We well know- 
 how many millions of money have been worse 
 than thrown away by placing professed semina- 
 ries of learning under the influence of party pas- 
 sion, through legislative control. And it is sure- 
 ly a matter of devout gratitude that our legisla- 
 tors have had wisdom enough to see and feel this 
 difficulty, and that they have been led, from va- 
 rious causes, to hold this^fund free from all com- 
 mitment to the present hour, when the people 
 begin to be convinced that they need it, and can 
 safely control it; and no legislator but an aristo- 
 crat or a demagogue would desire to see it in other 
 hands. 
 
 The same difficulty occurs as regards sects.: 
 Let the institution be managed ever so well by 
 any one party or sect, it is still certain their op - 
 ponents will stand aloof from it, if not oppose and 
 malign it for that very reason. Hence, all will 
 see at once, that the greatest possible care should 
 be taken to free it from not only the reality, but 
 even from the sufpicion of any such influence. 
 Should the party in power, when the charter 
 may be granted, appoint a majority of the board 
 of trustees from the parties in the minority, ft 
 would show a proper spirit, and be fn all coming 
 time, an example of true magnanimity, which 
 their opponents could not fail to respect and to 
 imitate, and which the people at large would 
 highly approve. A victorious hero can afford to 
 be generous as well as brave none worthy of a 
 triumph can afford to be otherwise. In all future 
 appointments, also, the candidates should be
 
 elected with such an evident regard to merit, and 
 disregard of all political and sectarian relations, 
 as to ever carry the conviction that the equal 
 good of the whole alone is sought. There can 
 be no great difficulty in accomplishing all this, if 
 it is well known in the outset, that the people 
 will keep their eye closely upon that man, who- 
 ever he may be, who by any bargaining for votes, 
 or any direct or indirect local, sinister^or selfish 
 action or influence, or any evasion or postpone- 
 ment, or by any desire to tamper and amend, 
 merely to show himself off to advantage, shall in 
 *ny way embarrass or endanger this greatest of all 
 interests ever committed to a free state the in- 
 terest of properly and worthily educating all the 
 sons of her soil. Let the people set on such a 
 man, if the miscreant wretch lives, for all fu- 
 ture time, a mark as much blacker than the 
 mark set on Cain, as midnight is darker than noon- 
 day. This is a question, above all others, that a 
 man who is a man, will desire to meet openly 
 and frankly, like a man. Will our legislators 
 xlo it ? I, for one, believe they will. I shall not 
 
 '-believe the contrary till it is proved; and I will 
 even suggest, in general, a mode by which the 
 
 y - great end may be safely gained. Let others, 
 however, suggest a better one, and I will cheer- 
 Jully accord with it. 
 
 Let the Governor of the state nominate a board 
 of trust for the funds of the Institution. Let this 
 board consist of five of the most able and discreet 
 men in the state, and let at least four of them be 
 
 < taken from each of the extreme corners of the 
 state, so remote from all proximity to the possi- 
 ble location of the Institution, both in person and 
 in property, as to be free from all suspicion Of 
 partiality. Let the senate confirm such nomina- 
 tion. Let this board be sworn to locate the In- 
 stitution from a regard to the interests and con- 
 venience of the people of the whole state. And 
 when they have so done, let them be empowered 
 to elect twelve new members of their own body, 
 with perpetual power of filling their own vacan- 
 cies, each choice requiring a vote of two-thirds of 
 the -whole body ; and npon any failure to elect at 
 
 sent from any part of its annual meetings, thereby 
 forfeit his seat, unless detained by sickness, certi- 
 fied at the time, and the board on that occasion fill 
 the vacancy, either by his re-election, or by the 
 choice of some other man. Let the funds then, 
 by the same act, pass into the hands of the trus- 
 tees so organized, as a perpetual trust, they giv- 
 ing proper bonds for the 8ame, to be used for the 
 endowment and erection of an Industrial Univer- 
 sity for the state of Illinois. 
 
 This b&ird, so constituted, would be, and ought 
 to be, responsible to no legislature, sect, or party, 
 but directly to the people themselves to each 
 and every citizen, in the courts of law and justice, 
 so that, should any trustee of the institution ne- 
 glect, abuse, or pervert his trust to any selfish, lo- 
 cal, political, or sectarian end, or show himself in- 
 competent for ita exercise, every other member of 
 the board and every citizen at large should have 
 the right of impeaching him before the proper 
 court, and, if guilty, the court should discharge 
 him and order his place to be filled by a moro 
 suitable man. Due care should be taken, of 
 course, to guard against malicious prosecutions. 
 
 Doubtless objections can be urged against this 
 plan, and all others that can be proposed. Most 
 of them may be at once anticipated, but there is 
 not space to notice them here. Some, for exam- 
 ple, cherish an ardent and praiseworthy desire 
 for the perfection of our common schools, and de- 
 sire still longer to use that fund for that purpose. 
 But no one imagines that it can long be kept to 
 this use, and if it could, I think it plain that the 
 I >wer schools of all sorts would be far more bene- 
 fitted by it here than in any other place it could 
 be put. 
 
 Others may feel a little alarm when, for the first 
 time in the history of the world, they see the mil- 
 lions throwing themselves aloof from all political 
 and ecclesiastical control, and attempting to de- 
 vise a system of liberal education for themselves : 
 but on mature reflection we trust thev will ap- 
 prove the plan : or if they are too old to change, 
 their children will. 
 
 I shall enter upon no special pleas in favor of 
 
 the appointed annual meeting, the governor of i this plan of disposing of our state fund. lam 
 
 the state to fill the vacancy for one year, if re- 
 quested by any member of the board so to do. 
 Let nnr member of the board who shall be ab- 
 
 situated in life that it cannot possibly do me anv 
 personal good; save only in the just pride of see- 
 ing the interests of my brethren of the industrial
 
 16 
 
 class cared for and promoted, as in such nn age 
 and such a state they ought to be. If thej want 
 the benefit of such and institution they can have 
 it If they do Dot want it, I have uot another 
 
 word to say. In their own will, alone, lies tht 
 own destiny, and that of their children. 
 Respectfully submitted. 
 
 J. B. TURNER. 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 
 To the Honorable the Member* of the Senate and House of Representative* of the State of 
 
 Illinois. 
 
 The undersigned, citizens of this State, regarding with admiration the facilities which the civil- 
 ized world at present affords for the liberal education of the members ol the several learned pro- 
 fessions, and justly appreciating the benefits which they have derived therefrom in their several 
 pursuits in life, desire the same blessing for ourselves and our children, and for'each and all the 
 members of the several industrial classes of this State. "We. therefore, would humbly pray your 
 honorable bodies so to dispose of the Fund given by the General Government to this State for the 
 advancement of learning that a State University may be endowed with ample means for the ifbe- 
 ral and practical education of all classes in society, each in their own several pursuits in life; and 
 that these funds may be immediatefy committed to a Board of Trustees for this purpose, in accord- 
 ance with a plan herewith _subinitted ) and already approved by large numbers of our meat intel- 
 ligent and patriotic citizens.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 C IL6UE1851 C001 
 
 A PLAN FOR AN INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY FOR 
 
 30112025264091