Page 1

Strafford, Vt. Oct. 4, 1890
Dear Mr Benedict:
The Secy. of the Farmers League
asked whether or not 10 p.ct. of the original
Land Fund of the colleges could not be applied,
by the consent of the Legislature, to the purchases
of lands or sites for experimental farms, and I
merely answered yes, but that the States so far as
I know, had donated such farms by a
special

appropriation. Now the Secy., Herbert Myrick, sends
me the enclosed scraps from the Homestead
with his letter of Oct. 1st -- to which I have
made no reply. Please return the letter and
the cutting or slips I have marked.
I send the whole batch to you, so that
you may see that the Farmer's League are organi-


zing to establish a fourth college in Vermont,
and they intend to handle all the funds that
have been or may be appropriated for colleges

Page 2

by the United States. The Hatch experimental
fund is not likely to be continued many years,
and, when our public lands are exhausted, it
will be as Congress may choose
under the recent act
whether to
continue the appropriations longer or not.
Evidently they are going to make a sharp
contest. I wish that Gov. Dillingham had seen
it to be his duty to have ordered the first
payment to be made to the Vt. Un. & Ag. Coll.
Very truly yours,
Justin S. Morrill
Hon. G.G. Benedict,
Burlington, Vt.