Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-05-11
SECRETARY WILSON'S SUCCESS.

SECRETARY WILSON'S SUCCESS.
OF the many Iowa men who have
become nationally prominent, none has
a stronger hold upon the people than
Secretary James Wilson of the de-
partment of agriculture. Many bril-
liant men have ornamented the cabi-
net since William Mckinley was first
elected president, but no one has done
more good work for the country than
has "Tama jim His department does
Its work quietly, through corps Of
experts in the main, and 1t takes a
year or two to work out any Of the
big problems which are being tackled
from time to time. But Mr.. Wilson
has had charge of the work for sew
eral years. His ideas have been car
ried out faithfully by men devoted to
science, and the results will be felt in
agricultural communities all over the
country through all time to come.
Secretary Wilson, though he says
| little of his work, is receiving much
notice and the comment on his work
| is without exception, very favorable.
AS an instance of the opinion held of
him in the east, an editorial which
was published in the Buffalo, IN. Y.,)
News a few days ago compliments
him very highly and says:
When the record of great achieve
ment under President Mckinley and
President Roosevelt is finally made up
Secretary Wilson must be accorded a
very high place in the esteem and
honor Of his countrymen for the work
he has done and is doing as head of
the department of agriculture.
1T is indeed beginning to dawn on
the people that Mr.. Wilson's work is
Of value beyond calculation because
it leads to permanently better and
more profitable conditions of agricult-
ure, always the leading interest of the
nation. 1t is impossible in the limits
Of a single article to so much as refer
to all the victories of Secretary Will
son, even il they were not already rec.
ognized and appreciated, but mention
may be made with propriety of some
things not yet included in the official
reports of the department or known to
the general public.
The very latest success OF the Will
son student body Of experts is a first
class vanilla bean grown at Miami
Fla, under conditions that show the
ease with which the home market may
! be supplied from that state. We have
been spending 100000 a year for for.
eign vanilla beans, and now we find
through the intelligent work of the ag
ricultural department, that every dol
lar of that money may be paid to
Americans instead of going abroad
| Secretary Wilson has found out
where in the south the poppy may be
grown successfully and has wound ur
that work by perfecting way of get
ting morphine from the plant Itself
without first making it into opium. We
are making our own camphor direct
from the camphor bush, grown in
southern states, and we are in the way
Of saving to home industry nearly
$1,000.000 year spent for that drug
in other countries. He has found Out
how licorice may be produced in oul
sandy lands as we'll as in Europe OF
4 Asia, and $1,500,000 more be kept al
home.
i 'The department has in hand now
two tasks of immense difficulty and O
equal Importance. One is to find how
to grow cotton without the boil weevil
, and, incidentally, how to rotate crops
SO as to restore the former fertility O
lands in the south The other is tt
find the source of scab in cattle ant
sheep in mountain states and then tx
find a cure for it. Something is the
matter with rice in South Carolina ant
that must be run down and stopped.
1T is among the admirable things o
Mr.. Wilson's activity that he is dis
covering the south to the nation ant
to the world as an agricultural ant
half tropical territory immensely rict
in other resources than cotton. Cot
ton has so long held attention in the
commercial world, and has figured 81
largely in southern production, as tt
have led the people of that section 1t
self to neglect their resources in {
hundred other directions. Mr. Wilson
has found invaluable grasses ant
grains for the grazing and grai1
states He has discovered things tina
grow on the desert to feed man ant
beast. His triumphs are spread al
over the magnificent domain Of the
American republic.
Mr. Wilson is recognized among
statesmen as the ablest and mos
successful minister of agriculture
in the cabinet of any govern
.lment. His cabinet service i: