AGRICULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC SCHOOLS. The following table shows the number of acres to which each State is entitled under the Act donating land to the States and Territories for Agricultural Colleges, (provided Congress removes the disability of States that have not complied with the provisions of the bill), and other general facts relative to the acceptance of the grant by the State legislatures and the location of Colleges, so far as they have been established: Delaware. Florida. Georgia 390,000 March 6, 1865) Maine.... 7 Maryland 7 Massachusetts.. 12 210,000 Jan. 24, 1864) Michigan.. Minnesota 5 150,000 March 31, 1866 March 31, 1866 Agricultural, Mining, and Me chanic Arts College. 180,000 June 24, 1863 June 24, 1863 Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, New Haven. 90,000 Feb. 17, 1867 March 14, 1867 Delaware State College, Newark. 3 90,000 6 3 8 480,000 Jan. 25, 1867 Feb. 28, 1867 Illinois Industrial University, Ur 240,000 Sept. 11, 1862 March 29, 1866 bana, Champaign county. State Agricult'l Coll., Manhattan. 210,000 March 25, 1863 Feb. 25, 1865 State College of Agricultural and 1863 Mechanic Arts, Orono. 240,000 Feb. 25, 1863 March 18, 1863 State Agricult'l College, Lansing. 4 120,000 March 2, 1865 January, 1868 Agricult'l College of Minnesota, with State University, St. Paul. 150,000 Nov. 11, 1863 Nov. 22, 1864 University of Vermont and State Agricult'l College, Burlington. 7, 1867 Agricultural College of West Virginia, Morgantown. University of Wisconsin, (College of Arts,) Madison. COMPARATIVE TABLE OF THE EXPENSE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES. [Compiled in the U. S. Department of Education from the latest official reports]. 720 7,253 7,973 $4,714,782.04 $591.34 $13.53 $1,984,829.28 $5.04 $6,699,611.32 $18.57 $7,947,196.36 $24.45 NOTE.-By comparing the above table with similar tables, (e. g., one prepared by S. A. Briggs for the Chicago report of 1867, the other by W. H. Parker for the Philadelphia report for 1867), it will be seen that the results differ in some respects; but the difference may be accounted for, in the main, by the fact that the original reports, from which these tables are drawn, either cover different points of time, or include different elements. For instance, the total expense of schools in San Francisco and St. Louis does not include the cost of lots, new buildings, and the debts of previous years, which, in San Francisco, amounted to $297,000, and in St. Louis, according to their "historical table," to $192,158. $490,523.57 $27.00 533,241.88 21.23 99,284.68 16.11 Librarian of Congress.. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. AINSWORTH R. SPOFFORD. FREDERIC VINTON, C. H. W. MEEHAN, THEO- An act passed during the first session of the 6th Federal Congress and approved April 24, 1800, was the first provision for establishing the National Library of Congress. Subsequent acts from 1802 to 1811 provided for the appointment of librarian, authorized regulations and restrictions, and appropriated $1,000 annually for the increase of the library. About 3,000 volumes had been collected, when after the battle of Bladensburg, August 24, 1814, the library was burned by the British under General Ross and Admiral Cockburn. Congress, by an act approved January 30, 1815, authorized the purchase of the library of Mr. Jefferson, consisting of 6,700 volumes, for $23,950. This library, which contained many rare and valuable books, was first placed in a room of the building temporarily occupied by Congress, but was removed to the north wing of the capitol in 1818 or 1819. An act approved December 3, 1818, directed that suitable apartments be fitted up and furnished for it, and $2,000 was appropriated for the purchase of books. Additional appropriations were made which from 1820 to 1828 amounted to $26,000, for the purchase of books, and $5,490 for furniture, stoves, &c. Additions of books, maps, charts, and works of art were made from time to time until, in 1851, the number of volumes in the library was over 55,000, and the Library room was the favorite resort of visitors to the metropolis. On the 24th of December, the library took fire and 35,000 volumes of books, and many valuable paintings and works of art were destroyed. An appropriation of $10,000 was immediately made to commence the restoration of the library. Another appropriation of $72,500 was made March 19, 1852, for repairs of the library room. August 31, 1852, $75,000 was appropriated for the purchase of books. The Law Department of the Library, which is in a separate room, contains the largest and best selection of law books in America, and up to 1867, had cost about $63,000. The Library of the Smithsonian Institution was transferred to the library of Congress under an act approved April 5, 1866. There were about 40,000 volumes in this collection, comprising many scientific books, journals, and transactions of learned societies. The whole number of volumes in the Library, December 1, 1867, was 165,467, exclusive of unbound pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts and maps; 23,915 volumes belong to the Law Department. The library of Peter Force of Washington, comprising with other works, a large collection of early books, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, and maps, relating to America, was purchased in 1867 for $100,000 and added to the library of Congress. The classification of the library has been much improved by Mr. Spofford. the present librarian. A complete catalogue of the books arranged alphabetically under the head of authors, has been prepared and printed under his direction, and a full catalogue by subjects is now (November, 1868), passing through the press. The Library embraces the whole of the western projection of the center of the original Capitol, and consists of a hall occupying the center of the western front flanked by two other halls, one on the north, and the other on the south side of the projection. The west hall, which formerly embraced the whole Library, was 91 feet 6 inches in length, 34 feet wide, and 38 feet high; the other two halls, of the same height, are 29 feet 6 inches wide, and 95 feet long. The halls are lighted by windows and skylights. The ceiling is iron and glass, and rests on foliated iron brackets, each weighing a ton. The pilasters and panels are of iron painted a delicate buff color. and burnished with gold leaf. The floor is laid in tessellated black and white marble. There are successive stories of iron cases for books; the upper stories are traversed by galleries, protected by railings and floored with cast-iron plates. Light wire screens prevent the books from being disturbed or stolen. The north and south halls have four galleries, while the west hall has but three. The total length of iron shelving is 21,360 feet, affording space for about 172,000 volumes. If to this be added the shelf accommodation of the Law Library Room (formerly occupied by the United States Supreme Court) and the long attic room communicating with the upper gallery of the main library, the entire length of shelving is 26,148 feet, or nearly five miles, affording space for about 210,000 volumes. There are (November 1868), more than 175,000 volumes in the library. The privilege of taking books from the Library extends to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Cabinet officers, the Judges of the Supreme Court, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House, the agent of joint committee on the Library, and the Diplomatic Corps. The use of books within the Library is free to all. The Senate and House have also separate libraries of documents kept in other apartments, which, including duplicates, number many thousands of volumes. The President of the United States appoints the Librarian of Congress, and he in turn, the assistants he may require. A Joint Committee of the two Houses of Congress have charge of the affairs of the Library. The Library is kept open every week day throughout the year, from 9 o'clock A. M. until 4 P. M., except during one month at mid-summer, when it is closed for renovation. James Smithson of London, bequeathed his property to the United States for the purpose of founding in Washington an establishment to be known as the Smithsonian Institution for the purpose of increasing and diffusing knowledge among men. Congress accepted the bequest, and Aug. 10, 1846, passed an act incorporating the institution. The original amount of money received from the bequest was $515,169, to which should be added the principal of an annuity received in 1865, amounting to $26,210.63, making in all from the bequest of Smithson, $541,379.63. At the time of passing the act establishing the Institution, in 1846, the sum of $242,000 had accrued in interest, and this the Regents were authorized to expend on a building. But, instead of appropriating this sum immediately to this purpose, they put it at interest, and deferred the completion of the building for several years, until over $100,000 should be accumulated, the income of which might defray the expenses of keeping the building, and the greater portion of the income of the original bequest be devoted to the objects for which it was designed. The permanent fund of the Institution, January, 1868, was $650,000, besides $72,500 in Virginia state bonds, the market value of which was about $30,000. The act of 1846, provides "That the President and Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster General, the Attorney General, the Chief Justice, and the Commissioner of the Patent Office of the United States, and the Mayor of the City of Washington, during the time for which they shall hold their respective offices, and such other persons as they may elect as honorary members, be and they are hereby constituted |
