The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-03-17
THEHASKINLETTER
+ A NEW TYPE OF SECRETARY
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

WASHINGTON, d. c., March H.
There Is a new secretary of agricul-
ture on the job in Washington who is
new type of man for that position,
and who approaches it in a different
way from those who have gone before,
His name is Edwin Thomas Meredith.
He is publisher and banker and is an
aggressive man of affairs. He comes
from Des Moines, where he publishes
farm paper He has been director
in enc of the leading banks OF Iowa, In
the federal reserve bank at Chicago,
and in the chamber of commerce of
the United States has been the/head
Of the National Association of Adver-
Using clubs, and has served on various
governmental bodies during and since
the war.
The department of agriculture here
tofore has gone in for two types CT
secretary. The type which has pre-
dominated through most of its existence
has grown copious quantities of whis-
kers, has harked back to the good old
| days of whiting sticks at the corner
| grocery, has harbored pair OF bro
gans in its closet, reminiscent of earlier
| times. 1t has been Of the SOIL repre-
| sentative of a class in our citizenship.
| The second type has been from the col
| lege classroom, the laboratory of the
| scientist. It has understood the miracle
performed by the plant root when 1t
| reaches into the earth for nature $
elements and hands them to the farm
| er in the form of prize ears of corn. 1t
has known that clover will not bear
| seed unless the bumblebse isl present
| in the fields, carrying pollen from one
| blossom to another on its feet as it
hunts honey, and thus fertilizing those
| blossoms.
| But here comes new type. Secretary
| Meredith has none of the earmarks OF
| the farmer. There is none of the dan
| druff Of the scientist on his coat col
lar. While he has edited agricultural
papers, and made something of a study
| of farming, he makes no pretense OF
being an authority. While he IS a col
| lege man from a school which leans
| toward agriculture, he cohVerses little
| of chemical reactions. He is a stall
| wart, outstanding man, wearing bust
ness suit of the best materials, made
by the best tailors. His, mustache is
short cropped. his eyes alert, his en-
thusiasm pnbomded, his geniality con-
tagious He is the type of man one
would set down as an executive. He
| might be the mead OF a big corpora
ton, the driving force in any large
undertaking.
1t is in the light of executive genera,
agriculture regards himself He does
not believe that it is his business tC
master the scientific problems of the
department There are hundreds Of
scientists under him, each of whom has
devoted years to the study of given de-
tails. Whenever he wants scientific
to get a specialist He realizes that
the executive must assign detail, moi
handle it. He believes that the mar
, who sits at the center of an organiza'
ton which is far-flung, nation wide, is
primarily the co-ordlnating agent which
L mol q nDln nind
machine. and secondariy, the sales
agent who sees to 1t that the produce
of the machine Is properly marketed
Theoretically, the departments a
Washington are executive. Their busi
ness is TO handle the detail of govern
ment. The state department take.
care Of those issues that arise day b,
! day as between the United States an(
other nations The treasury depart
ment is the fiscal agent Of the gov
5 eminent taking care of the business
that comes to it. Thus most of tn,
= handle the daily grist The depart
: ment of agriculture is on differen
basis. Its purpose Is not executive
, but chiefly creative, II is to make TIVE
blades grow where one formerly sprout
, ed but withered. 1t is to increase tn,
i tables of its peoples and provide SOM
! for other peoples who are hungry. |
, Is hardly an executive department a
| ALL
II was a quarter OF century ag,
that the department Of agriculture be
gan TO get hold on the consciousness
OF the American farmer. Ii was thel
p, that that group of scientific men which
= it had gathered began to hammer hom
: the lessons in farming that may b.
. learned from an understanding of tn
E laws of nature that lie back of the un
folding Of crops IT was than that Their
2 began TO grow an appreciation of tn
) possil ilities that lay In studying tn
/ results in given crops attained by nj
! men everywhere and making the hes
, results available at the farm
1t was hard fight those first fey
years against he prejudice which tn
experienced farmer felt toward tn
dude who came out from the, city I
teach him how TO farm. Ii took a Ion
!. time for the book farmers sprinkle
. here and there throughout the nation
to demonstrate their results In profit
and thus win a following But toda
| the value of scientific farming Is un
disputed Il no longer requires IN
seductiveness of the missionary. An
. needs is that the people be aroused /
Il an energetic practice OF what has al
) ready been demonstrated.