An act to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the
more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of
agriculture and the mechanic arts established under the provisions of an
act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
State of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be, and hereby
is, annually appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise
approvided, to each State and Territory for the more complete endowment
and maintenance of colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic
arts now established, or which may be hereafter established, in accordance
with an act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,
the sum of fifteen thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth,
eighteen hundred and ninety, and an annual increase of the amount of such
appropriation thereafter for ten years by an additional sum of one thousand
dollars over the preceding year, and the annual amount of be paid thereafter
to each State and Territory shall be twenty-five thousand dollars to be
applied only to 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 facilities for such instruction:
Provided, That no money shall be paid out under this act to any State or
Territory for the support and maintenance of a college where a distinction
of race or color is made in the admission of students, but the establishment
and maintenance of such colleges separately for white and colored students
shall be held to be a compliance with the provisions of this act if the
funds received in such State or Territory be equitably divided as hereinafter
set forth:
Provided, That in any State in which there has been one college established
in pursuance of the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,
and also in which an educational institution of like character has been
established, or may be hereafter established, and is now aided by such
a state from its own revenue, for the education of colored students in
agriculture and the mechanic arts, however named or styled, or whether
or not it has received money heretofore under the act to which this act
is an amendment, the legislature of such a State may propose and report
to the Secretary of the Interior a just and equitable division of the fund
to be received under this act between one college for white students and
one institution for colored students established as aforesaid, which shall
be divided into two parts and paid accordingly, and thereupon such institution
for colored students shall be entitled to the benefits of this act and
subject to its provisions, as much as it would have been if it had been
included under the act of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the fulfillment
of the foregoing provisions shall be taken as a compliance with the provision
in reference to separate colleges for white and colored students.
That the sums hereby appropriated to the States and Territories for
the further endowment and support of colleges shall be annually paid on
or before the thirty-first of July of each year, by the Secretary of the
Treasury, upon the warrant of the Secretary of the Interior, out of the
Treasury of the United States, to the State or Territorial treasurer, or
to such officer as shall be designated by the laws of such State or Territory
to receive the same, who shall, upon the order of the trustees of the college,
or the institution for the colored students, immediately pay over said
sums to the treasurers of the respective colleges or other institutions
entitled to receive the same, and such treasurers shall be required to
report to the Secretary of Agriculture and to the Secretary of the Interior,
on or before the first day of September of each year, a detailed statement
of the amount so received and of its disbursement. The grants of moneys
authorized by this act are made subject to the legislative assent of the
several States and Territories to the purpose of said grants:
Provided, That payments of such installments of the apportion herein made
as shall become due to any State before the adjournment of the regular
session of legislature meeting next after the passage of this act shall
be made upon the assent of the governor thereof, duly certified to the
Secretary of the Treasury.
That if any portion of the moneys received by the designated officer of
the State or Territory for the further and more complete endowment, support,
and maintenance of colleges, or of institutions for colored students, as
provided in this act, shall, by any action or contingency, be diminished
or lost, or be misapplied, it shall be replaced by the State or Territory
to which it belongs, and until so replaced no subsequent appropriation
shall be apportioned or paid to such State or Territory; and no portion
of said moneys shall be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretense
whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building
or buildings. An annual report by the president of each of said colleges
shall be made to the Secretary of Agriculture, as well as to the Secretary
of the Interior, regarding the condition and progress of each college,
including statistical information in relation to its receipts and expenditures,
its library, the number of its students and professors, and also as to
any improvements and experiments made under the direction of any experiment
stations attached to said colleges, with their cost and results, and such
other industrial and economical statistics as may be regarded as useful,
one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free to all other colleges
further endowed under this act.
That on or before the first day of July in each year, after the passage
of this act, the Secretary of the Interior shall ascertain and certify
to the Secretary of the Treasury as to each State and Territory whether
it is entitled to receive its share of the annual appropriation for colleges,
or of institutions for colored students, under this act, and the amount
which thereupon each is entitled, respectively, to receive. If the Secretary
of the Interior shall withhold a certificate from any State or Territory
of its appropriation the facts and reasons therefor shall be reported to
the President, and the amount involved shall be kept separate in the Treasury
until the close of the next Congress, in order that the State or Territory
may, if it should so desire, appeal to Congress from the determination
of the Secretary of the Interior. If the next Congress shall not direct
such sum to be paid it shall be covered into the Treasury. And the Secretary
of the Interior is hereby charged with the proper administration of this
law.
That the Secretary of the Interior shall annually report to Congress the
disbursements which have been made in all the States and Territories, and
also whether the appropriation of any State or Territory has been withheld,
and if so, the reasons therefor.
Congress may at any time amend, suspend, or repeal any or all of the provisions
of this act.
Approved, August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. 417).