The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1897-06-17
man with his coat Of himself all his life.

his slow, heavy gait, as OF man measure
ing the distance between burrows, pro-
claims it; so do his tall, rugged, but some
what stopped figure, his lined, wind-swept
countenance, his steel blue eyes, their
singular brightness eloquent Of life in the
open fields, the lids habitually drawn to-
gether by lifelong evasion Of the glar-
ing brilliance of the harvest sun. Inc
honors he has gained have been thrust
upon him; literally by physical force he
was dragged from the farm to the forum
Now, summoned from the dictatorship OF
an Iowa agricultural college to the head
of the national agricultural institution,
he still processes to be nothing more than
a man in his shirt sleeves, working for
the advancement of men similarly divest-
ed.
In his labor-acquired physique, his
speech, his manner. his movements, ev-
cry one of Mr.. Wilson's seventy-three
inches Enthusiastically proclaims him
farmer; he is a fne-looking, generous,
sturdy looking figure of man who knows
what the dome of heaven looks like at
sunrise. When the torch of civil war
gave forth its first red illumination, young
Farmer Wilson was all for Selling mus
ket and rushing to the front. But the
family to which he belonged was large,
poor. and needed its men, who were strap
ped to the plough; moreover. his brother
Peter, an older man, wanted to go, and
had the law of primogeniture, observed
by the Scotch on his side. The two men
drew lots, and Peter went to the war,
and died in it, The younger man re-
turned to his plodding of the fields, to be
seized upon as parliamentary oy ms
neighbors few years later.
"Among the men with their coats off,
said Mr.. Wilson the other day, ARE the
dairymen of this country. They are just
setting about to tackle one of the biggest
jobs they have ever undertaken, and, if
have any kind of gift Of prophecy, they're
going to win. The problem is this: Eng
land is buying $65, 100000 worth of for
eign butter year. The United States
supplies perhaps 1 per cent Of it, or little
over 100000 worth, while little Denmark
supplies nearly $3O,OO0,OOO worth, buying
American COW feed for the purpose of
holding this immense business. We make
the best butter in the world. Then why
can't we sell at least as much of it to the
British people as a little country like
Denmark? That's one of the things am
going to find out, if it takes all Of the spe-
cial agents in this department to get me
the facts; and it will be one of the sur
prises of my life if at the end of three or
four years we are not furnishing Great
Britain with at least one-half the butter
she imports"
Secretary Wilson puts in from nine to
ten hours day at his department. He be-
longs to the careful, plodding type of
workmen. He likes to make the drafts in
his own handwriting of the more impor-
tant letters and documents to which he
appends his signature. Disaster befalls
him when, as often happens, his old farm
er friends from Iowa walk in upon him
at his office, for a single visitation of this
sort eats considerable hole in his work
ing day; and it does not console the Sec
rotary to be aware that it is his own fault.
He will not let such visitors depart with
in reasonable time. much as they pro-
test that they fear they are trenching up
on his indulgence. He lines up on leath-
er sofa alongside couple of these pros
porous looking elderly agricultursts. and
there ensueS a canvassing of farming
matters, treated either theoretically, tech
nically or practically
Being scientific farmer, as we'll as a
practical one. Mr.. Wilson says that he
feels as much compelled to keep up with
the latest writings Of scientific farming
as the ambitious physician is obliged to
follow the current developments in his
profession. Hundreds of pamphlets and
publications of all sorts relative to mat
tiers of the farm reach him every week,
and he looks through them ALL He has
one pet hobby, which. however, is an emf
nently practical and praiseworthy one,
viz, the fostering of the sugar beet indus
try in the United States. "Why should
the United States pay out $10O,OOO,OOO a
year for its sugar, when we can easily
raise it al homer" is an inquiry he puts to
his friends constantly, and before long he
intends to make personal inspection of
the most important fields in the country
where the sugar beet industry is growing.
Probably next year." said Mr. Wilson.
Il shall make tour of the farming dis
tricts throughout the South and South
west l am peculiarly farmer of the
temperate region in the Northwest. and
must own to considerable lack of infor-
nation as to the requirements of the men
with their coats off in the SUBJ tropical re-
gions of the country But am going to
find out as much about them as can, and
shall probably proceed as far as Califor-
MIA in the effort