permanent endowment for it. This can readily be done by setting apart an interest-bearing certificate of endowment. In a former message I used the following language in reference to this subject: "The annual interest on the certificate could stand in lieu of the appropriations asked for at each meeting of the General Assembly. This policy would not increase the expenses of the State, while it would secure certainty and uniformity of income, upon which the authorities of the University and associate institutions could always depend." Indeed, it is plain that such a course would be a saving to the State, for the certificate would predetermine the formulation of the University item in the biennial appropriation bills, and do away with the wasting of time and money in discussing the same subject .over and over again and avoiding the oft recurring scene of presidents, professors and other: gentlemen lobbying in favor of a meagre appropriation in behalf of the State University, and by anticipating in a definite business way the income available, it would be used more efficiently and profitably to the State. If asked to suggest the amount of the certificate to be added to the present endowment, I should say: not less than one million dollars, and that bearing 6 per cent. per annum interest. Certificates already issued by the State to the various school systems should have that uniform rate of interest. This certificate would not increase the debt nor the taxes of the State one dollar; would in fact be a part of its wealth and its honor, giving it strength at home and reputation abroad. Missouri is in the centre of an educational circle of States, which are rapidly assuming an advanced position on this bulwark of strength and greatness. Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois are challenging admiration in this "broad field of battle," and Missouri must gird up its loins for greater exertions, else it will pass to the rear and no longer be a "hero in the strife." This should not be. Population and wealth follow progress and intelligence. There is strength in well directed liberality; there is weakness in inconsid. erate parsimony. In the words of the wise man: "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." The University should be placed on as firm a basis, and rendered as independent as the common school system of the State. Endowments beget endowments, and largely endowed colleges ever receive the largest foreign as well as domestic patronage.

Doubtless the Board of Curators and the visiting committee will in their reports to the General Assembly, submit to your consideration these and other matters of much importance, affecting the University. My apology for having spoken at such length on the University is my profound interest in that institution of learning, which, being not only

the oldest, but also the central one of the State, and must, in the nature of things, either be the "crown of glory," or the shame of this great State, depending alone upon the manner of legislation bearing upon its existence. In the words of old John Adams, when both blind and paralytic, I say :

"The Universities and schools mutually support each other; the schools furnish students for the colieges, and four years afterwards the colleges send the young men into the country to keep school."

So, keep both in full force and strength, as vigilant supplements to the prosperity of Missouri and the freedom of our people. "What spectacle," in the words of Mr. Madison, "can be more edifying or more reasonable than that of liberty and learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support."

SCHOOL OF MINES.

This school is not in as prosperous a condition as could be desired. From some cause it has not been patronized as was expected. It is eligibly located at Rolla, Phelps county, whose citizens are intelligent and enterprising, and is presided over by an accomplished President. The Legislature should consider the propriety of removing the school to Columbia, creating a separate professorship for that branch of learning, and substituting in its place at Rolla a normal school, which would be of more utility to that part of the State, and especially so to Rolla. There are sixty students in attendance at the school this year and a very large proportion of those, so I am informed, are in its preparatory department.

MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL.

I now call your attention to another system of education which should soonor or later be made a part of our general system. It enters so intimately into all the other branches that no State can afford to disregard its practical usefulness. The progress of the age demands a further enlargement of our educational facilities. Industrial art has become one of the most productive factors of national wealth. A superiority in handicraft has often changed the channels of commerce. The experience of modern Europe forcibly illustrates the value and necessity of skilled labor. The industrial competition between France and England is replete with instructive suggestions. The polytechnic schools of Europe are prolific sources of national opulence. Prior to 1851, the manufactories of Europe were largely fashioned by the hands. of uneducated workmen, wholly unlearned in the higher arts of their alling, but the wares of France were embellished with a beauty de

rived from trained intelligence. The greater excellence and attractiveness of French goods, secured a large part of the patronage which had formerly enriched England. The losses to which the infirmity of its artisans subjected Great Britain were enormous. In order to regain its manufacturing ascendancy, England has spent millions of dollars on its polytechnic schools and the result has shown the wisdom of the expenditure. Latterly Germany has been devoting much attention to the education of its workmen, and the higher finish of their products attest the effect of the training. In some respects the polytechnic schools of Russia are the best in the world, and they are exerting a very beneficial influence upon the practical arts of that realm. Such institutions, though comparatively recent in the United States, have long existed in the foremost countries of Europe, and their usefulness has effectively promoted the material greatness of the lands in which they have been located. The United States may profitably imitate examples so productive of wealth. The prosperity of modern nations is based upon the foundation of intelligence of manual skill. An ignorant population is sure to fail in a competition for manufacturing and commercial supremacy. The spirit of the age demands an universal system of industrial education. The rich resources of Missouri require skillful workmen for their full development. The hands of our youth should be educated by manual training schools. Handicraft is an efficient ally of science. Equipped with a thorough mastery of principles and with a practiced dexterity in the use of tools, the young men of this commonwealth may go forth to the industrial battles of life with an assured confidence of victory. The artisan intelligently skillful in his craft, produces the best work and commands the highest wages. His dexterity is a guarantee of steady employment. In periods of in dustrial depression, the working force reduced, it is always the ignorant and less productive who are discharged. The instruction given in manual training schools is necessarily rudimentary. It does not pretend to fit lads for the practice of any technical profession. It must be supplemented by the tuition of the actual workshop. But it familiarizes boys with the handling of tools, shortens the term of apprenticeship, develops natural aptitudes, cultivates mechanical, and fosters an inventive spirit. Technical education strengthens manhood, cultivates independence and self reliance, and enables the peniless boy to obtain an easier start in life. I think manual training should be incorporated in our system of public instruction and be taught in every school of the land. If all the young men of this State had educated minds and dextrous hands, Missouri would soon occupy its rightful place in the front rank of American progress and greatness. I favor those measures that will educate our young, guard their habits,

give them means of labor and that will elevate Missouri to that point where it will be a pattern of all excellence.

Having now completed my reflections upon the school system of the State, from the Kinter Garten to the University, invoking the most vigilant guardianship over all, let me especially ask that no unfriendly hand be laid upon the common and Normal schools; those schools that are so near the door of every citizen, and which truly can be called "the poor man's friend." No party can strike them down without striking down its own existence and supremacy, and no party can stand before the people of Missouri for one day as the antagonist of schools and the enemy of education. God forbid that it ever should! Whenever such a hand is put forth against these schools a swelling chorus of voices should be heard from one end of the State to the other, exclaiming:

"Woodman spare that tree,

Touch not a single bough,
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now."

SCHOOL BOOKS.

One of the most important questions that can engage your attention is the law regulating the adoption of text books in our common schools. This question has assumed such proportions as to vitally interest every patron of the public schools. It is now an economic question in every household. Our present laws were framed with the purpose of avoiding the very evil which they have made possible. The contests between the various publishing houses for supremacy in securing the adoption of their respective books, have, in many instances been both disgraceful and expensive to the participants. To avoid a recurrence of this labor and expense, several of the leading publishing houses have formed a pool, so that no matter which system or series of books may be adopted in a county, the result is the same to all the houses in the pool. The result is that a monopoly has fastened itself upon the people of Missouri which calls loudly for your interference. In my judgment there are but two remedies for this evil. The first of these is to provide for the selection of text-books by the board of directors in each school district separately. This plan is not without objections, but I should regard it as, in every way, superior to the one now in force. The other plan, while involving a radical change in the law, has much to recommend it. Governor Sherman, in his recent biennial message to the Iowa legislature, in discussing the same question, says:

"I respectfully ask your attention to a matter not mentioned in the report, but which I believe to be an important one to the State. I allude to the subject of

SCHOOL BOOKS,

which has grown to be a very serious one to very many of the people. Every head of a family is cognizant of the fact that one of the most expensive items connected with the education of his children, is that for the purchase of school books, and when he removes from one district to another, he is often subjected to the necessity of purchasing an entirely new series, different from that obtained in the locality where he previously resided, although in the same county. That this is a serious and expensive matter, is known to every parent, and ofttimes the cause of real embarrassment. Every one knows, too, the enormous profit enjoyed by the publishers of these text books, averaging, as it does, over one hundred per cent. above the cost of publication. In order to relieve a large proportion of our people, and as well to establish uniformity throughout the State, which in itself is a great desideratum, I am earnestly in favor of the State adopting and publishing a series of elementary books intended for the earlier instruction of the pupils in our schools, which shall obtain in all our schools. A committee of competent educators, citizens of our own State, can easily be secured who can prepare and edit these works, and the State publish the same, furnishing the books at cost price, and thus insure great saving to the people and the State.

I am thoroughly satisfied of the feasibility of this suggestion, and would be glad to see it adopted by the General Assembly. There is no good reason why hundreds of thousands of dollars should thus be expended without the State, to the pecuniary advantage of a few book publishers, when the State through its own publication of these works, can save so much to its own people.

I commend the subject to your unprejudiced consideration."

I believe, with Gov. Sherman, that the plan providing for the publication of a series of text-books by the State, is feasible, and furnishes a solution of this important question. I earnestly urge you to give this matter the attention its magnitude and importance demand. Many of you have personal knowledge of this matter and will, therefore, feel a personal interest in its proper adjustment.

LUNATIC ASYLUMS.

There is no class of humanity so deserving of sympathy and the best efforts of philanthropy as the insane. They appeal to us, by every