The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1911-08-02
Will BE- NEXT
The Nations Chief Farmer is Getting Too
Old For His Duties.
YOUNGER MAN NEEDED

YOUNGER MAN NEEDED
Recent Developments in the Depart
nlent OF Agriculture Indicate that
the Secretary is Lacking in Execu-
tive Strength, Due Probably to the
Encroachments of Age.
Because of repeated developments
IN the Agricultural Department at
Washington indicating that the exec
utive grip upon it is weak, the i'm
preston is growing that it's venera-
BILE head, Secretary Wilson, is feel
ing the encroachments Of age to
such an extent that he is incapable
Of handling the complicated machin-
cry of his great department with eff
cheney.
The Washington correspondent of
The News and Courier says it is being
said with good deal of freedom in
semi-oficial circles that some of the
1uost embarrassing troubles that have
afflicted the administration might
have been avoided if Secretary Will
son had supervised with the proper
alertness and positiveness the various
bureaus in which trouble has oc-
Cured.
In several important instances it
looks as the venerable Secretary has
been unaware Of what has been going
cn under his very nose, and only
when a veritable explosion occurs
does he arise to the necessity of do
| ing something to show his authority
snd accept his responsibility.
First, there was the Pinchot affair.
The bureau of forestry is a subsid-
iary of the department of agricul-
ture. 1t was built up into one of the
leading branches of the Government
under the direction of the former
chief forester, Clifford Pinchot, and
no one regarded the development
with greater satisfaction than the
Hon. jeremiah Wilson.
When the Taft administration
changed the policy of the interior de-
partment and Mr.. Ball1ger got to
work to 'kill snakes" there is rea-
son to believe that the Secretary of
Agriculture still sided with Pinchot
and that the latter had his chiefs ap-
proval in a number of acts that at
tracted the ire Of the new Secre-
tard Of the Interior. But when it
was evident that the President was
aggressively backing the Ballinger
policy, and that if the secretary of
agriculture did not disavow the do
iags of Pinchot there would probably
be new man holding the agricultur-
al portfolio, MT. Wilson dropped Pin
cnot lite a hot potato.
Secretary Wilson followed the
same course with regard to DR.. Will
ey, of the bureau of chemistry. When
the policy of safeguarding the pub
JIG against injuriously "doped" food
products and beverages was being de-
veloped, nobody enjoyed it more than
the Secretary of Agriculture. But
when the fight came to crisis and
the Interests" looked about them for
some way of stopping the assault on
tenzoate of soda as a preserVatiye,
Secretary Wilson raised no objection.
In the present effort to drive DR..
Wiley out of the government service,
Secretary Wilson has been revealed
in an attitude Of ignors nee or Of vac
illation by no means creditable to
him. He must recommend some
course Of action to the Presi-
dent with regard to the technical er-
ror in which DR.. Wiley has been ap-
pretended and the task is depressing
:he Secretary unspeakably.
| Another possibility of trouble for
the Secretary is found in the charges
preferred against the chief Of the
weather bureau, Mr.. Willis l..
.toore, who seems to have done some
thing like that which is ascribed to
Dr.. Wiley.
1t is said that Mr.. Moore hired
earthquake experts out of the emer-
gency fund, which technically should
not be used for such purpose. Com
ing at this time, the Moore charge
tends to- embarass the Secretary if he
is disposed to agree iwth the Attor-
ney General that DR.. Wiley should
leave the service. II DR.. Wiley, why
not also Dr.. Moore.
But the most conclusive evidence Of
the Seccetary's lack to grasp upon
the situation is the fact that an es-
| tinate of the size Of the forthcoming
! crop of cotton was published by his
department and given to the press
without his knowledge or approval.
Senator Smith, of South Carolina,
who is one of the leaders of the
Southern Cotton Gcvers Association
went to see Mr. Wilson the other day
to protest against the policy of the
department permitting such guesses
to be given out with its authority,
causing great generalization in the
cotton market and giving great i'm
petus to speculation against the far
mers' interest.
The Secretary told the Senator that
he(the Secretary had not been ap-
prised of the alleged estimate and
that is was without his sanction or
warrant of law, and that an estimate
had been published by the depart
ment it should never be done again.
The estimate was published, Of
course, and Mr.. Wilson'S statement