The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-20
CHAIRMAN SCOTT.

! Happy is the condition that Kansas,
1.-The great agricultural state she is,
stood with man in congress equal to
, the honor and ready for the high
| position of chairman of the Com
mittee on Agriculture.
Mr.. Scott is entering upon his
fourth term. and his first term as a
member from a district. For the
three terms Mr.. Scott has been in con-
gress he has been from the state at
large, where a members usefulness
and permanency in his Office is not so
certain as where he has fixed status.
The selection of Mr.. Scott is fndica-
tive of what man may do with a
committee assignment in congress
that is not in line, perhaps, with the
trend of his life work and his personal
tastes, and yet which may grow to be
very attractive. When Mr.. Scott
came to the house of representatives
in 1901. he was placed on the COM
mittee on agriculture. His pre-
decessor. w. y. Bailey, was a member
Of this committee. and it seemed the
most available assignment to secure.
Mr.. Scott was not a farmer. He was
an editor. a student. and a man OF let
ters. But he came to congress to
serve his state. and he took what he
could get meaning to do exactly what
he did do-master the details of the
constantly expanding agricultural ser
vice and be an authority. In two
years after he went on this committee,
he was a member of Subcommittee,
of five to draw the annual appropria-
ton bill. In three years time, he was
recognized as the right hand man of
Chairman Wadsworth, practical
farmer, a wise legislat tor. and a strong
man in congress. In five years time, |
following Mr.. Wadsworths defeat for
reelection, Mr.. Scott was recognized |
as his logical successor for chairman, |
though ranked on the committee by |
two men who had been on the COM |
mittee for many years before him.
Agriculture is fast becoming a |
science, and Mr.. Scott was among the |
first to recognize it. 1t finally got in
such condition that his student-like
ways and attachments were precisely i
the requirements essential to a proper
conduct and supervision of the great
department The increasing resea riches
Of the department. the work of the
soils bureau. the animal bureau, the
meat inspection, the weather bureau,
the plant bureau, the explorations
became not mere
farmers matters" but those of stu
dent and a man OF mental attainment.
Scott. too. has studied the wholesale
free garden seed business and is
against 1T. but has never yet been able
10 Smake congress as a whole see it. |
The committee has killed the PROPOSE
ton, but the body itself has blown the
breath of life into it every time so far.
Among other things which might be
numerated in studying the depart
nent of agriculture is the great forest
service. This branch, from an in
significant Office a few years ago, now
'upervises the $50 millions of acres
II reserves in the country, conserving
he rapidly decreasing lumber supply,
moisture, farming, and climate !,
Kansas held the craftsmanship of
his great committee twenty years
lgo, when E. H. Funston, curiously
enough representing the same district {
md coming from the same county as ]
Mr.. Scott. had the honor In that
congress Kansas also had other big
'hairmanships in both houses. but !
lone since until Senator Long was
placed at the head of the committee /
m the census, one of the middle class {
enate committees. Thus Mr. Scott's
elevation may spell the revival of kan j.,
ass power in congress in heading i'm /
'ortant committees.
As an incident to this discussion | I
night be mentioned the fact that Sem ,
ter Long is member of the senate ,
committee on agriculture, and con-
iders 1t his most important assign- {
nent. and expects to give the subject
more consideration in coming wears of
ervice, if it be granted him, than
.nything else.