Pennsylvania Act 1855-50 — FARMERS HIGH SCHOOL OF PENNSYLVANIA INCORPORATED

Act text

FARMERS HIGH SCHOOL OF PENNSYLVANIA INCORPORATED
                  Act of Feb. 22, 1855, P.L. 46, No. 50               Cl. 24
                                  AN ACT

     To incorporate the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania.

        Section 1.  Incorporation; name
        That there be and is hereby erected and established, at the
     place which shall be designated by the authority and as
     hereinafter provided, an institution for the education of youth
     in the various branches of science, learning and practical
     agriculture, as they are connected with each other, by the name,
     style and title of the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania.
     1855, Feb. 22, P.L. 46, Sec. 1.
        Section 2.  Management by board of trustees
        The said institution shall be under the management and
     government of a board of trustees, of whom there shall be
     thirteen, and seven of whom shall be a quorum, competent to
     perform the duties hereinafter authorized and required.  1855,
     Feb. 22, P.L. 46, Sec. 2.
        Section 3.  Membership of board of trustees; name and style
     of board; power of board to take and dispose of property
        The Governor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, the President of
     the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, and the principal
     of the institution, shall each be ex officio a member of the
     board of trustees, which said trustees, and their successors in
     office, are hereby elected and declared to be a body politic and
     corporate in law, with perpetual succession, by the name, style
     and title of the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, by which
     name and title the said trustees, and their successors, shall be
     able and capable in law to take by gift, grant, sale or
     conveyance, by bequest, devise or otherwise, any estate in any
     lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods, chattels or effects,
     and at pleasure to alien or otherwise dispose of the same to and
     for the uses and purposes of the said institution: provided,
     however, that the annual income of the said State, so held,
     shall at no time exceed twenty-five thousand dollars; and the
     said corporation shall by the same name have power to sue and be
     sued, and generally to do and transact all and every business
     touching or concerning the premises, or which shall be
     necessarily incidental thereto, and to hold, enjoy and exercise
     all such powers, authorities and jurisdiction as are customary
     in the colleges within this Commonwealth. 1855, Feb. 22, P.L.
     46, Sec. 3.
        Section 4.  Seal
        The same trustees shall cause to be made a seal, with such
     devices as they may think proper, and by and with which all the
     deeds, diplomas, certificates and acts of the institution shall
     be authenticated, and they may at their pleasure alter the same.
     1855, Feb. 22, P.L. 46, Sec. 4.
        Section 5.  First meeting of trustees; term of office;
     election to choose successors
        At the first meeting of the board of trustees, the nine names
     who are not ex officio members, shall by themselves and by lot
     be divided into three classes, of three each, numbered one, two,
     and three; the appointment hereby made of class number one shall
     terminate on the first Monday of October, 1856, number two on
     the first Monday of October, 1857, and number three on the first
     Monday of October, 1858; and upon the termination of the office
     of such directors, to-wit: on the first Monday of October in
     every year, an election shall be held at the institution to
     supply their place, and such election shall be determined by the
     votes of the members of the executive committee of the
     Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, and the votes of three
     representatives duly chosen by each county agricultural society
     in this Commonwealth, which shall have been organized at least
     three months preceding the time of election, and it shall be the
     duty of the said board of trustees to appoint two of their
     number as judges to hold the said election, to receive and count
     the votes, and return the same to the board of trustees, with
     their certificate of the number of votes cast, and for whom,
     whereupon the said board shall determine who have received the
     highest number of votes, and who are thereby elected.  1855,
     Feb. 22, P.L. 46, Sec. 5.
        Section 6.  Powers and duties of trustees in general
        On the second thursday of june after the passage of this act,
     the board of trustees who are hereby appointed, shall meet at
     Harrisburg, and proceed to the organization of the institution,
     and selection of the most eligible site within the Commonwealth
     of Pennsylvania for its location, where they shall purchase or
     obtain by gift, grant or otherwise, a tract of land containing
     at least two hundred acres, and not exceeding two thousand
     acres, upon which they shall procure such improvements and
     alterations to be made, as will make it an institution properly
     adapted to the instruction of youth in the art of farming,
     according to the meaning and design of this act; they shall
     select and choose a principal for the said institution, who with
     such scientific attainments and capacity, to teach as the board
     shall deem necessary, shall be a good practical farmer., he with
     such other persons as shall from time to time be employed as
     teachers, shall compose the faculty, under whose control the
     immediate management of the institution, and the instruction of
     all the youth committed to its care, shall be subject however to
     the revision and all orders of the board of trustees; there
     shall be a quarterly meeting of the board of trustees at the
     institution, and as much oftener as shall be necessary, and they
     shall determine; the board shall have power to pass all such by-
     laws, ordinances and rules as the good government of the
     institution shall require, and therein to prescribe what shall
     be taught to and what labor performed by the pupils, and
     generally to do and perform all such administrative acts as are
     usually performed by and within the appropriate duty of a board
     of trustees, and shall by a secretary of their appointment, keep
     a minute of the proceedings and action of the board.  1855, Feb.
     22, P.L. 46, Sec. 6.
        Section 7.  Employment of teachers in addition to principal;
     cultivation of farm by pupils
        It shall be the duty of the board of trustees as soon and as
     often as the exigencies of the institution shall require, in
     addition to the principal, to employ such other professors,
     teachers or tutors, as shall be qualified to impart to pupils
     under their charge a knowledge of the English language, grammar,
     geography, history, mathematics, chemistry and such other
     branches of the natural and exact sciences as will conduce to
     the proper education of a farmer; the pupils shall themselves,
     at such proper times and seasons as shall be prescribed by the
     board of trustees, perform all the labor necessary in the
     cultivation of the farm, and shall thus be instructed and taught
     all things necessary to be known by a farmer, it being the
     design and intention of this act to establish an institution in
     which youth may be so educated as to fit them for the occupation
     of a farmer.  1855, Feb. 22, P.L. 46, Sec. 7.
        Section 8.  Election and duties of treasurer
        The board of trustees shall annually elect a treasurer who
     shall receive and disburse the funds of the institution, and
     perform such other duties as shall be required of him, and from
     whom they shall take such security for the faithful performance
     of his duty as necessity shall require; and it shall be the duty
     of the said board of trustees, annually, on or before the first
     of December, to make out a full and detailed account of the
     operations of the institution for the preceding year, and an
     account of all its receipts and disbursements, and report the
     same to the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, who shall
     embody said report in the annual report which by existing laws
     the said society is bound to make and transmit to the
     Legislature, on or before the first Monday of January, of each
     and every year.  1855, Feb. 22, P.L. 46, Sec. 8.
        Section 9.  Appropriations from State Agricultural Society
        It shall be lawful for the Pennsylvania State Agricultural
     Society to appropriate out of their funds to the object of this
     act, a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars, whenever the same
     shall be required, and to make such further appropriation,
     annually, out of their funds, as will aid in the prosecution of
     this object, and it shall be the duty and privilege of the said
     society, at such times as they shall deem expedient by their
     committees, officers or otherwise, to visit the said institution
     and examine into the details of its management.  1855, Feb. 22,
     P.L. 46, Sec. 9.