Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-05-14

continued Secretary of Agriculture Right there
where the farmers of the country up and emitted
long and commanding howl Railway mail
taxed to their fullest capacity to rush to Washington
the thousands of letters demanding that Jim Wilson
be retained in the Cabinet, and the gossip in Washing
ton nowadays is that the President never did finish
reading all the indignant communications.
And "Unce Jim still in the Cabinet. Incidentally,
he will probably be there until he dies; for,
anyone asks him whether he is going resi- he
springs up of his chair, kicks it side, PAGES
the floor rapidly and gives uterance to emphatic de-
mails of any such intention. He has the farmer vote
tied up in a sack.
He got his love of plant introduction and breeding
when he director of the agricultural experiment
ton at the Iowa Agricultural College for six years He
was also member of the orty-thrd forty-fourth,
and forty-eighth Congresses; but this experience he
regards merely incidental His mission in life is with
plants and farmers. While he was running the expert
station he the possibilities of the work if it
was carried through on bigger scale.
What He Enjoys Most
WIHEN he got to Washington as head of the depart
ment, he laid aside, literally speaking the shovel
and the hoe the seed and the slip; but metaphoricaly
he has sat at his desk every day for fourteen years with
hoe in hand and garden hose in the other bringing
the crop of additional wealth for the farmers The
thing he enjoys most is flower plant
snatched from the Businesses of the North gathered
the sunlight of the Tropics and taught to bloom and
produce in the United States.
He is one of the greatest floral naturalists known
to these times.
But he has not only taught the people of this country
how to find and grow new plants Europe has sat at
his feet and profited by his wisdom. Germany espe-
cay has studied the literature sent out by his depart
ment. Several years ago Englishman wrote to him
asking for sample of alfalfa. "Uncle Jim" complied
with the request, and today the Englishman claims
that he has the best alfalfa field in Great Britain.
Wilson is himself native of Scotland; but, when he
was sixteen years old, his family settled in Iowa He
has dry of humor and is characterized by great
capacity for work and wonderful energy. Few people
realize that when he took charge of the Department of
Agriculture he had reached age at which many
retire from active work. He siXty-two years old
when he took up the portfolio he holds.
Although plant introduction and breeding is of
his greatest fads it is only one of the things he has
fathered increase the wealth of the farmer
Under him his department has studied and devised the
most economical way of hauling perishabe fruits; it
has put out much literature and has given object lessons
of how crops should be rotated to preserve the fer
tility of the land; and it has shown how certain var
cites adapted than others to peculiar soil con-
ditions.
farmers life. 1t has taught the best methods for
ming vegetables, fruits and meats the economical
way of raising and Strengthening cattle the most whole
way of handling and shipping meat. 1t admins
the pure food law and the inspection law. Its
laboratories busy every day with Investigations Of
plants and gases and soils.
The Departments output of educational literature is
far greater than that of any other department. Last
year issued than twelve hundred different pub
lications, containing more than forty-two thousand
printed pages. Some idea of the demand for these
printed "leSsons' be obtained from the fact that
seventeen million copies were sent out.
His Two Helpers
THERE two upon whom "Unce Jim" relies
for a vast amount of work. One of them is Willet
NJ Hays Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, who when
he in charge of experiment station in Iowa, de-
veoped to such extent that he showed the
belt of the country miles farther north than it
ever had been before. The other is David c. Farchild
who in charge of the seed and plant introduction
work F.irchild has written lot of books about his