The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-07-04
sUrERrLUoUs JERRY RusK.


II q one Of che worst features OF the cent'a''
ling tendencies of the General Government
that as soon as department or bureau Is CO.
tablished in Washington under the charge Oh
the national authorities it at once i'ches "
become the paternal guardian. the patron,
izng superintendent of those.who are eneaeeo
in earning a livelihood by means OF the ih'ei-
est which the new department or bureau 10
supposed to represent.
Take for instance the Department OK hGrl-
culture, over which Jerry Rusk presldes Win
a good deal of bucolic pretention-for what
was the original bureau instituted? For the
collection and dissemination of information,
statistical and otherwise, about the growing
crops. soils. stock. It is perfectly well known
that Uncle Jerry would never have become a
Cabinet officer but for the fact that it was
necessary to throw a sop TO the agricultural
Cerberus. The rural intellect had to be BAN
boozled. and therefore an additional chair
was placed at the national Cabinet table.
Now it is not open to question that agricul-
ture is one Of the most important of interests
and that IL is fully entitled to representation,
the highest and the most conspicuous. But
when the Bureau of Agriculture is converted
into the Department Of Agriculture, more
dignifed and high-sounding appellation' why
should Jerry Rusk think that he IS called
upon to extend the powers of the new depart
ment? Why should the department concern
itself with objects which were foreign to the
bureau?
Not content with distributing seeds, dissent
mating information about the diseases Of hogs,
sheep and horses, the department is now
presuming TO advise the farmers of this coun-
try as to what amount OF soil they shall as a
body cultivate Uncle Jerry, having devel-
oped from Commissioner into Secretary OF
Agriculture. considers it necessary to enlarge
the dignity of his Office as much as possible.
He is already in charge of the Weather
Bureau. that bureau having been recently
merged in the Agricultural Department, and
he now comes forward as the director-gen-
eral of the American farmers. AS such he
has Just issued q bulletin from the recesses OF
the.Agricultural building in Washington in
which he solemnly warns the great class OF
American citizens who are supposed to be
nesting for protection under his benignant
wings against any enlargement of the wheat
area of this country.
Let the farmers beware" he exclaims, "of
accepting the false and dangerous theory that
we cannot grow wheat enough to reduce the
worlds wheat prices or even enough for our
own use after a few more shiploads of immi-
grants shall supplement the natural increase
Of our population. Such belief generally
acted on would in two years make the cheap
est wheat of the century. and give an intense
cerulean hue to the entire rural atmosphere.
Growers, 90 slew in extension of wheat
area"
All this may be very sound advice. No
doubt it is, but is it probable that it will re-
ceive any more attention because 1t pro-
ceeded from the brain of Jerry Rusk? Such
advice is needless because the facts TO which
it relates are self-evident, and it is entirely
gratuitous in the person from whom it ema-
mates because he has no moro right to be
issuing bulletin of this sort than he has
to issue n bulletin informing the iron pro-
ducers of America that every condition of
reviving prosperity demands that they shall
curtail the amount of their output. The adj
vice in the latter instance would not be less
presumptuous than the advice which he has
offered in the former.