"The Legislature of 1879 appropriated $15,000 for the support of the institute, provided $5,000 should be applied to the payment of its indebtedness. This appropriation was contained in the general appropriation bill, and was a grant to a corporation managing a charity. The Constitution provides: 'The General Assembly shall have no power to make any grant * * * * * * of public money or thing of value to any individual, association of individuals, municipal, or other corporation whatever.' The grant was in violation of that part of the Constitution just quoted." Governor Phelps, from whose message to the Legislature the above is taken, held the bill until the Board of Trustees met and unanimously voted to transfer the institute to the State. The bill was immediately approved. This friendly act of the late Governor enabled the trustees to pay every dollar of the debt which for several years had embarrassed them, and to place the institute on a more permanent basis. Since the institute became a State school, the Legislature has not only made large appropriations for its maintenance, but has also given money to erect dormitories, to purchase scientific apparatus, to make additions to the library and repair the main building. By an act of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly a college and a college preparatory school were established in connection with the institute. The same Assembly also passed an act which provides that the Normal diplomas shall entitle their holders to teach in the schools of the State without further examination; also that the graded certificates, which are granted upon the completion of the two years' course, shall entitle their holders to teach the several branches therein named for a period of two years from the day of graduation. Provision is made in the act for annulling these diplomas and certificates whenever it is found to be necessary. By an act of the Thirty-sixth General Assembly an industrial department was established in connection with the institute. There is no doubt but that Lincoln Institute is one of the best equipped State schools in the country for the education of colored people. Prof. J. H. Jackson, A. B., A. M., a graduate from Berea College, is President of Lincoln Institute. President Jackson has just entered upon the first year of his presidency of the institution, and it is fitting that a sketch of his life, though brief and inadequate, should be given to our readers. [Illustration: PROF. J. H. JACKSON, A. B., A. M.] Having been born in Kentucky, his early education was in the public schools of that old Blue-Grass State. Having the advantages that many others had not, he entered Berea College soon after he completed the public school course, and was graduated in June, 1874, with high honors, having the distinction of being the first Negro to be graduated in Kentucky. After his graduation, he taught for a number of years in the public schools of Lexington, Ky.