MEMORIAL IN BEHALF OF WHITE'S MANUAL LABOR INSTITUTE. To the General Assembly of the State of Iowa: The undersigned Trustees of the "WHITE'S IOWA MANUAL LABOR INSTITUTE," Would, in view of the fact that a petition will be presented to your Honorable Body asking an appropriation for said Institute, present the following brief statement of the history, present condition and object of the enterprise : About the year 1851, Joseph White, of Philadelphia, a member of the Society of Friends, died, and in his will, among other bequests, is one of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000.00) to establish a "Manual Labor School," near Salem, Iowa, for the benefit of poor children, "white, colored and Indian." The will directs that one half of the bequest shall be laid out in the purchase and improvement of a tract of land one- and -a - half miles square, situated in the northern part of Lee county, Iowa, near the town of Salem aforesaid, which tract the donor was negotiating for at the time of his decease and the remaining half to be expended in the erection of school buildings. Under the will, the purchase of this beautiful body of fourteen hundred and forty (1440) acres of undulating prairie, was consummated at an expense of seven thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars ($7,760) by trustees appointed by the Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends who, according to the bequest, was at that time to have the care and management thereof. While under their direction, the Institution was incorporated under the laws of this State; one section of the land was enclosed and cultivated, several tenement houses. were erected, and some preparation made for school buildings. In the fall of the year 1864 the aforesaid Yearly Meeting transfered its trust, as contemplated in the will, to the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends who provide for its management through three trustees and an advising committee of ten persons, whose reports appear annually in the printed proceedings of the Yearly Meeting, which show that the work has been prosecuted toward completion as rapidly as circumstances would permit. PRESENT CONDITION. Six hundred and forty (640) acres are in good state of cultivation, and thereon are six good frame houses and barns, also granaries, wells of water, &c., necessary for the use of those that till the farm. Three hundred and twenty acres are enclosed and used for pasture, and preparations are being made to enclose and improve the remaining four hundred and eighty acres. The proceeds of the premises the past year amounts to about fifteen hundred dollars ($1500). The school edifice is handsomely situated near the center of the tract, and is seventy-four feet long and thirty-five and a half feet in width a stone basement of twelve feet, and two stories of brick each sixteen feet in height. Only the best material was used, and no pains were spared to make it a substantial and durable building. It is also admirably adapted for the home as well as school room of pupils and teachers. When the walls were enclosed the treasury was exhausted and an indebtedness of nearly two thousand dollars incurred by the great advance in the price of material and labor after the adoption of the plan and during the construction of the building. This incumbrance the products of the farm can liquidate, but many years must elapse before the means from that source will be sufficient to complete the structure and equip it for use. The cash value of the premises is estimated from fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars. DESIGN OF THE INSTITUTION. * 66 The Christian donor, as appears by his will, designed this institution to be a Nursery for the poor children of our State without regard to sect or color, and in his own language "such as have not the means to procure schooling, board and clothing themselves." His "design and intent being not so much a Literary Institution, or education (however valuable this may be to them) as a Spiritual education." * * * Believing that such a religious education strictly maintained from the early age of six to nine years and kept up to, from fifteen to twenty-one years of age would under the blessings of our Saviour and Redeemer who did so much and also died for man, be a blessing to many through life whatever may be their change of circumstances." "And to have the care and management of said school it is my desire that the Yearly Meeting of Friends or Quakers of which I am in unity in Indiana, and if that becomes divided as is now proposed, that the Yearly Meeting nearest each location of the schools take charge of them by a committee. And to give further security to the permanency of said school, "I order and direct that the condition of the grant of land and improvements referred to for each school, is that in no case or under any circumstances, is the fee simple in the schools granted so as to subject any of said land and improvements to be ever sold, or in any way embarassed or accountable for any debt the institution, or those having charge of it, or either of them may engage in." The fact of his confiding this valuable trust to the "care and management" of the Society of Friends, may give color to the conclusion that the education should be sectarian in character, yet from a free and lengthy correspondence had with the donor by those he employed to lay the foundation of the Institution, we are not justified in placing such a construction thereon, but that the course of instruction should be liberal and Christian, inculcating the fundamental doctrines of the "Protestant faith" held and believed by evangelical churches, and laid down by our Saviour as contained in the New Testament; and upon this system we intend to conduct the Institution. According to the rules and order of our society, and the provisions of the will, our children are debarred the advantages of this gift; its benefits are intended for the friendless, the homeless, and the poorest of the poor whose condition merits the active charity of the State. To rescue this class from the path of poverty and ignorance that so often leads to crime, and surround them with influences and opportunities that will fit them with industrious business habits, and high moral principles, is certainly the prime object in view. As the Society in Iowa in whose care the Institution is intrusted finds itself unable to furnish the means required to complete the work already so far advanced, we are stimulated by the fearful record of crime among the youth, as shown by the prison reports, to earnestly and prayerfully solicit legislative aid for an enterprise in which all citizens of the State are equally interested. We therefore trust that your honorable body will appropriate to White's Iowa Manual Labor Institute fifteen thousand dollars to be expended under your direction and upon conditions of your own choosing (so as not to conflict with the provisions of the will as aforesaid) for the purpose of completing and furnishing said school edifice, to provide the necessary out - buildings, and for the erection and furnishing of workshops, where trades can be taught the pupils. All of which is respectfully submitted. JOHN H. PICKERING, WM. MARSHALL, Trustees of White's Iowa Manual Labor Institute. |