The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-22
MIR. RILEY NOT LIKED.
Horticultln'iSt LeIong Makes
Charges.
THE PROFESSOR is VAIN.
Claims Discoveries Which Are Not
His Own.
WANTS A POSITION FOR HIMSELF.
Why Mr.. Riley Resigned From the
chronological Department.
Refuses to Talk.
WANTS A POSITION FOR HIMSELF.

of humor with Professor G. n. Riley, who
was until recently Chief United States En-
tomologist, and apparently with sufficient
reason. They say that, not satisfied with
opposing them when appropriations were
asked for, and hampering them in their
work in every possible way, he has delib-
erately made misstatements calculated to
impair the efficiency of the board, and is
even now working to accomplish his latest
and greatest injury-the abolition of the
institution.
''The trouble with Mr.. Riley" said Secre
tary Lelong yesterday, "is that he is sore
and is working against US for revenge, for
he is out of the bureau and cannot iniure
US in any official way. The fact of the
matter is that his resignation from the
chronological Bureau was caused by
charges preferred against him by Presi-
dent Cooper of the State Board. From the
first day we began to come into contact
with him he caused us trouble.
Being exceedingly egotistical and vain,
he cannot bear to see any one else get the
benefit or credit of his discoveries, and has
for fruit pests and other discoveries of inn
portance to which he had not the slightest
right. We could have stood matters of
that kind, but when it came to making
deliberate misstatements to his superior,
the Secretary of Agriculture, regarding the
work and methods of the California State
Board, we thought that he was going too
far, and the charges which led to his res
ignation were forwarded to the department
"Now, in regard to some OF the state
ments he makes in this recent interview
with morning paper, let me show you
some correspondence we have had with
the department and with the chronological
bureaus of other States regarding Mr.
Riley. He says that he resigned from his
position as chief entomologist, which
may be literally true, but he resigned be-
cause he was forced to. Several months
ago Secretary of Agriculture Morton
briefly, plainly and officially demanded his
resignation. President Cooper has in his
possession a letter from the secretary,
stating that such action was taken in con-
sequence of the charges preferred.
''Mr. Cooper's main accusation was that
bv intentional and malicious misState-
ments Professor Riley had retarded the
work of the California State Board. The
facts are these: In 1887 a meeting of the
fruit-growers of the State was held at
Riverside to consider the means of destroy
ing fruit pests, which were then doing
thousands and hundreds of thousands dol
lars damage every year. Mr.. Riley was
there and made an address advocating a
kerosene emulsion wash for trees affected
by certain insects, and we had for years
been experimenting with wash Of another
character, which had proven better than
kerosene emulsion, and this statement was
made before the meeting. Mr. Riley i'm
mediately jumped up and said that j. r.
Dobbins, a prominent fruit-grower, who
was not at the meeting, had told him that
our wash was not worth anything, Not
believing his tale Mr.. Cooper at once tele-
graphed to Mr.. Dobbins at Los Angeles
and received the following reply by wire:
"Elocood Cooper, Riuerside Cal: Have used kerr
osene and many other remedies. Consider
Lelong's wash eminently superior-decidedly
the best J. K. DoBBINs.
"Of course that nailed the lie, and to avoid
the shame of facing the assembled horti-
sulturists Riley hurriedly departed, without
as much as saying good-by.
'fWhen Frank McCoppin was sent as
Commissioner to the Melbourne Exposi-
ton we had Albert Koeble, an expert ento-
mologist, go with him to get parasites for
the purpose of Kidding California orchards
Of fruit pests. Riley told everybo that
he would not accomplish anything, but as
soon as it was found that the Vedalia car
with him was a success, our esteemed
friend Immediately claimed all the credit
of the discovery.
''Mr. McCoppin proved the falsity of this
assertion by publishing statements show
ing that Riley had no connection with the
discovery. He also claimed the honor of
discovering an insect which infests furs.
but this was proved to belong to George H.
Horn, Md, of Philadelphia, who pub
lished pamphlet showing Riley up in his
true light. In spite of determined efforts
on the part of Riley, Mr. Koeble has since
made a second visit to Australia in the in
terest of horticulturists, and has found
three parasites which have saved Califor-
MIA fruit-growers thousands of dollars
Another charge made by Mr.. Cooper
against Riley, and which assisted materi-
ally in getting him out of the department,
was the writing of anonymous letters to
California papers casting reflections upon
the State board and hampering it's work.
These and the hindering of our work by
opposing every measure we proposed were
the accusations which were responsible for
his dismissal.
'sNow besides his hope of getting revenge
on us by having the State Board Of Horti-
culture abolished, Riley has another mo-
tive, and that is his hope of catching a
plum himself In event of the work of the
State Board being turned over to the State
| University, he might, with one or two who
are helping him, get a fat berth. He is
working for himself
HE intimates that he could if he wished
make interesting disclosures regarding the
board, though he fails to substantiate his
allegation. The charges or statements, or
whatever they may be, are probably on a
| par with many he has made in an official
way We are not in the least alarmed
about them. From the fact that the presi-
dent OF this board assisted him out of the
fat position he held for so many wears, and
on serious charges, he naturally does not
feel very friendly toward u.s. The only
charges I ever heard him make were that
sufficient credit was not given him in our
reports for the work he had done for us.
AS that work was largely imaginary, he
probably got fully as much as he deserved.
'eTo show you how much the horticulture
lists of this State appreciate the work of the
board a large delegation of prominent
fruit-growers called on Governor Budd as
soon as they heard that there was talk of
abolishing the board and told him that if
the Legislature did not care to appropriate
the money for the board they would them
selves see that the work went on. Among
them were: B. f. Walton president State
Fruit Exchange; L. w. Buck of Vacaville.
general manager California FrIlit Union