The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-09-10


 Wilburn Lincoln wilson has the same Ideas which, under the Tugwell banner, were dangerous and "radical'. He, too, was @ college professor, and he uses the same phrases that made the senate hate his predecessor phrases like "the culture of tech- |, nOlogy" and "a new life pattern.
 Yet wilson holds the post and draws the salary that the senate grudgingly gave Tugwell = Under Secretary of Agriculture at $10,- 900 - and nobody writhes or foams at the mouth. The reason is that though Wilson has his vision in the stars he has his roots In the soil.
 You simply can't get worried listening to this sun-tanned agronomist, who has been . tenant farmer in Nebraska, . homesteader in Montana, and whose academic researches have dealt principally with dry farm- ing, wheat consumption, and the handing of blg-team hltches.
 Some of Tugwell's old enemies might get alarmed about Wilson, too, If they knew he was Q dc. vottee of e British savant named Merett and spent e lot Of time reading Merett's books on anthro- pology. They might feel very uncomfortable to hear him speak of "the normal habitat of homo sapiens", or to learn that in re- ligion he is "a cross between . Quaker, . Unitarian and Q sciens tlflc humanist."
 But his talk Is the comfortable colloquy of a farmer leaning across A rail fence. He even lets rural grammar creep into his speech. He reaches into his pocket for some change and elinks 1t meditatively as he says:
 "Oot to take some of Che treacher0us hasard out of farm ing. First there's . drouth that burns up everything, then along come (slo) . heavy crop and the bottom drops out of the mar ket."
 Tugwell Team
 This man whom Henry Wallace calls M. L." made c team with Tuewell in shaping the agricul- tural platform Of candidate Roose- welt in l932. Rex and M. L. came to Hyde Park while Wallace was still publishing his farm journal in Des Moines. It was Wilson who developed tho voluntary do- nestle allotment plan" which be- came the foundation of the AAA.
 He had their radical ideas to sell to the new presidential can. didate. He thought the govern. ment should "resettle" men whom industry had thrown out of work s-set them up with c house and c patch of land, SO they could get their living from the soil, as their fathers ihad done before them. He had heard about this set.up from the Quakers, who were resettling unemployed miners in West Virginia, and he called 1t the Subsistence homestead".
 Accordingly, his first big job under the New Deal had noth- ing to do with wheat farming or the Department of Agricul- ture. He was made director of the Division of Subsistence H0mesteads under Ickes in the Interior Department. It was thls division which built the projects at Arthurdale and Red House, West Virginia; ct Cross- vile, Tennessee; and later at Highst0wn, New Jersey.
 Through Mrs Roosevelt's interest in Arthurdale. Wilson came to know the First Lady, and he has c deep personal regard for her. He says she is the personifiea. ton of neighborlineBs that democratic goodwill which is the priceless heritage of the farm.
 This touches c point where Wil- son the scientist meets M. L., tho Humanitarian. Its symbol Is Tur- key Creek in southwest Iowa.
 Turkey Creek
 Wilson was born on 6 farm in Class County, Iowa, b3 years ago. As he grew up on that farm, he swan and fished in Turkey Creek, and he crossed it every day on his way to school. It was then crystal clear and in places as deep as 30 feet. Today the groves of shade trees are dying. the fields are giving way to erosion, and Turkey Creek Is c muddy trickle.
 Similarly, there has been hue man erosion. The neighborli- nAaA hA knew when tha town of