The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-05-20
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular correspordent.l

OulSoo Otl0 S6utlIIi0HO VI lllO O0IldCe
is very different from that of the
House we shall soon have a new
Cabinet officer, to be known as the
Secretary of Agriculture. The work
so theoretically pursued by Mr.. LIE
Due while he was Commissioner is
likely to be crowned with success
long after that worthy but visionary
person has followed into obscurity
his non producing tea-plants and ex-
perimental toad-stools. But LIE DUO
is not the first Commissioner who
aimed to exalt the honors of his Office.
Ever since the creation of the De-
partment of Agriculture the Commits
sioner of that bureau for the time be-
ing has been ambitious to be made
Cabinet officer, and through himself
and his friends has constantly agita-
ted the subject before Congress. The
first Commissioner, Mr.. Newton,
took the view that he was entitled to
rank as Cabinet officer under the
bill creating the Department of Ag-
riculture, and demanded that he
should be admitted to the Cabinet
council as full member. The Pres
ident who appointed him did not
recognize his pretensions and he had
to go to Congress- Bills have been
frequently introduced in the two
Houses to make the head of the de-
partment a Cabinet officer. They
have been discussed from time to
time, but have generally been looked
upon more with ridicule than with
seriousness. When DIR. Loring, the
present Commissioner, was appoin.
ted, his friends said he would never
rest until he had succeeded where all
his predecessors had failed. He is a
man of wealth and of fine address,
and since his incumbency has enter
tanned as handsomely as almost any
one in Washington. It is an adage
as old as the hills that arguments
addressed to the stomach are most
forcible. 1t may be that the truth OF
the old adage is again made manifest
in the fact that the House, with only
seven dissenting votes, passed bill
to make the Commissioner of Agri.
culture Cabinet officer, or it may be
that the motive and the cause of such
remarkable unanimity was an in
: terest in the welfare of the agricul-
turists, of the country. Just how
they will be benefited by making a
Cabinet officer of the Commissioner
Of Agriculture will remain for the
: future to demonstrate. -. .-.,.
The new executive department is
to be under the management of a
Secretary, who must be San exper.
fenced and practical agriculturist,' y
according to the terms of the bill
Originally it was intended that there
should be four bureaus in the new
department, and that one or two sub.
divisions should be taken from Other
executive departments of the Gov
eminent to increase the importance
!, of these, AS passed, however, the
bill provides for only three bureaus
the subdivisions of which already
exist, in form more or less definite
in the Department of Agriculture, to
day. The Bureau of Agriculture
Products is to include botany, chem
istry, and Chronology, These diyi
sions already form the better part O.
the present Department of Agricul
ture, the first two being important
practical branches, while the third
although of real value, is the subject
of great mirth to the non-agricultura
members of Congress, who consider
it great fun to ridicule the division o
"bugolOgy" of the Department o
Agriculture. The Bureau of Anima
Industry is to be in charge of yeti
nary surgeon, and embraces in its du
ties the Investigation and reports con
corning the number, condition, anC
value of the domestic animals in thu
country, and shall provide for thei
protection from diseases and collec
and disseminate information relative
to breeding, importation, and i'm
proyement of stock. The Bureau o
Lands and Statistics is to report or
: the resources and capabilities o
lands suitable for stock raising. A
second division of this bureau is tt
be devoted to the collection of labol
and agricultural statistics and croI
reports; while q third division is t.
, be employed in the collection anC
: circulation of information and stats
: tics relating to forestry, the demand
and supply of timber and the preser'
walton of forests being made its es'
pecial care. This synopsis will moi
impress any one familiar with the
operations and conduct of the present
Department of Agriculture with the