Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-06
AIM ER|CAN MEATS
Behind the Scenes With SeCre-
tary Wilson.
SUPPLY OF BEEF AND PORK
What Improved Stock is Doing for
the Country.
MARKET HERE AND ABROAD
England is Our Best Customer-Ef-
feet of the Packing House In
vestigation on Foreign Trade.
SUPPLY OF BEEF AND PORK
MARKET HERE AND ABROAD

L
Wilson about American meats at home and
abroad. The conversation took place in the
Agricultural Department. the Secretary and
myself being seated, cheek by jowl and
knee by knee beside the big desk before
which he schemes out the various improve
ments in seeds and cultivation which are
revolutionizing the farming Of the United
States.
Before detail our conversation. want to
say a word two about the Secretary OF
Agriculture. He is one of the strongest men
in President Roosevelt's cabinet. and at the
same time one Of the simplest. 1t is lib
eral education. with Sunday school at
tachment, to know him. He comes of old
Scotch United Presbyterian stock, and is,
in fact, Scotchman. Seated with him at
dinner, the other night, We began talking
about our United Presbyterian ancestors,
myself being a grandson of preacher OF
that ilk; and I asked the Secretary If he
had ever learned the shorter catechism. He
replied by quoting the first question and
answer as Ito mans chief end" and then
going on to the close with the proper dell
nitions Of sanctifcation, election and jas
LITIGATION. 1 asked him if he could repeat
any Of the old psalms as they were sung
in Rouse's versions. He replied that he
knew them all. and that if 1 would start
one he could go through 1t to the end. l
thereupon began:
81 to the hills will lift mine eyes,"
The Secretary at once chimed in,
From whence doth come mine aid
My safety cometh from the Lord
Thy foot He'll not let slide.
Nor will He slumber that thee keeps
The Lord who keepeth Israel
He then took up the second verse and
third, and went on to the end of the psalm.
From Plow Boy to the Cabinet.
Secretary Wilson can quote Burns quite as
well as the Bible. He gives the poet with
the broad Scotch accent and with the same
accent that Burns used himself. He was
brought up in the Burns country and was
born near Ayr in the same locality where
Robert Burns first saw light and where
Tam O'Shanter had his famous race after
the dance Of the witches. Like Burns.
and he followed the pillow there until he was
sixteen Then his father emigrated to
America and settled in Connecticut. Three
years later the family moved to Iowa going
homestead, and James Wilson worked on his
fathers farm for three years and then
entered a homestead of his own. Ihat Is
the way he started farming In the United
States and he has been farming from that
day to this. He has done all kinds Of farm
work common to the middle west. He has
raised corn. wheat and live stock and has
made money out Of them. Before he came
agricultural papers to which he gave week
" agricultural suggestions. and since then
he has made his department a great cores
pondence school in which the millions OF
our American farmers are studying.
A Man With an Imagination.
Some people call Secretary Wilson Wis
ionary. That is just what he Is, and 1t is
his ina gination that has added many mtl-
lions to our national wealth. Your Grad
srinds or men of facts never make for
fumes. They do not invent new methods
nor Introduce new things. 1t takes imag-
nation to make a creator. an inventor, or
an improver 1t was Secretary Wilson's
Imagination which saw the possibilities OF
our deserts, and which brought macarond
wheat from northern Africa to grow upon
them. AS a result that land, which was as
bare as your hand now produces millions
of bushels of the finest hard wheat known
to the world. 1t is the same with the
swampy rice fields along the Gulf of Mex
leo. which have changed us from rice i'm
porting to a rice exporting nation, and so
which scientific investigation and seed
breeding are increasing beyond the dreams
of avarice.
It takes Imagination to see the possibili-
ties Of business or of a scientific fact.
Secretary Wilson has 1T, and Uncle Sam Is
growing rich through the application OF 1t.
| He tells me we can double our corn crop.
| which is now worth more than twice as
much as all the gold and silver that man
digs from the earth. in one year by merely
using the proper seeds, and that by the jul
dicious application OF the fertilizer of the
| air by means Of bacteria we can turn the
worn-out lands Of the south into very
Garden Of Eden.
Our Meat Supply.
But I started out to tell you about my
conversation with the Secretary on Ameri-
can meats His head has been full Of them
ever since the investigation Of the beef
trust. and he has made a number Of quiet
| trips during the past year to the packing
centers, dropping into the various estab-
lishments without notice to inspect their