Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-05-27
SCIENTIST IN The SENATE
Dr.. E. #. Lddd Of South Dakota
Has ftCuliaF Distinction.
ELECTED By NON PARTISAN LEAGUE


Was For Many Years President oi
Great Agricultural College and Ha:
Always Fought strenousIy to Es.
tab!ish Farming as Recognized
Industrial Business.
Dearborn Independent.
Unless there comes change in the
nations views on farming, we may
look for crisis that will be the worst
and the costliest the country has ever
known. Ffnnce faced such a crisis
fifty years ago; so did England; and In
each of those cases the trouble was
| due to causes like those which are
now coming to focus in this country.
The chief cause was and is concentra- :
ton on the growth of what we call
business and industry, to the exclusion
! Of agriculture. When I say business
and industry certain things come to
your mind as symbols of what the
words mean These symbols are fac
ships and railroads and mines. The
words don't suggest farming, for they
haven't and don't yet mean farming
That's the chief error in our national
view Of farming. 1t can be corrected
only by bringing farming into the
group uf activities you think OF IN
terms of business and industry For
farming is now as much OF business
or industry as any Of the others and
il will survive only in case it is so
viewed and treated by the nation
The speaker was DR.. Z. F. Ladd. new
United States Senator from North Da-
kota. DR.. Ladd is not by occupation a
farmer. But his election was due dis
tinctly to the demand of the farmers
of his state that they have in the
United States senate a spokesman VINO
could talk with absolute authority.
Not the authority merely Of an Official
commission, nor even that Of the plow-
handles or,the pitchfork, but OF sclent-
tic knowledge Of the problems oil agrl-
culture. It probably has been a long
/ time since DR.. Ladd rode a harvester
grasped the handle Of hoe, or even
looked after plowing up field. yet
for twenty-five years or more ne mas
been accepted as an authority, beyond
probably any working farmer, on asr'-
culture. What~he knows has been
gained by lifelong laboratory studies
ont of reach Of the man who must
make his living in the fields. For
many years he was head of the Nortn
Dakota Agricultural College, ana III
addition 10 looking after the training
given youths, he carried on fight after
fight, for the farmers and the pubic
generally of his section.
"In the last quarter Of century, ne
said to the writer Il haven't gone 10
bed a single night without being a
defendant in one or more court fights
arising from my work. Among otners'
have on my hands just now llpei
suit for one hundred thousand dollars
In no case, so far, has the final court
decision been against me-" The doctor
has had tugs Of war with most or tne
big trusts, for he was one OF the earI-
est advocates of laws putting ermps
into monopolies, and protecting the
pubIic against such things as impure
foods. He was one of President Eoose-
veIt's advisers in the pure food fight OF
fifteen wears ago. Being chemist as
we'll as an economist Of wide fame, he
has sometimes even been summoned
abroad to give expert advice on 1904
problems, as in the fight over bleached
flour in England
His Coming Pleases Senate.
Oddly, Dir. Ladd is one OF only yer!
few men of science ever elected to Ion
cress and probably the only one OF MS
type ever to sit in the United States
senate. Though his election was due
To the Non Partisan League, the run
of oven the most conservative senator's
viewed with pleasure his coming 10
congress. For WllalSNei SOu i'i"J ''
about il in other respects, congress al
wavs has q warm welcome for the man
who knows what he is talking ABOUT
oven though the bulk Of other members
dnn't agree with all he has to say. Ana
those who know look upon DR.. Ladd as
such a man. Hence, tn an extent
| greater than has been the case WITH
any senator Of the past, DR.. Ladd Is
likely To be accepted as the scnatorlal
Spokesman and authority for the
farmers of the country. During most
OF an afternoon Of one Of the first DAYS
hc spent as Il senator at the capital
| Dr. Ladd talked over with the writer
the uruhlems uf agriculture as he sees
Ihom. There was one striking thlns
lnbuut the way he dealt with the SUD-
icrt. Rarely WIS he local and then Tor
uIIruoscs Of illustration only. BEHIND
what he said there was clearly Il ma =
itiunal even an international, cnnccp-
ton Of the subject
"Just as farming is no longer mere
calling to which IL person IS borh' IL
can no longer be viewed rs IL local o'
state. or in fanny senses. Il natlon;'
s,iIiect alone" he said. What the
fIF