Evening Star Newspaper, June 26, 1921, Page 54

2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTO: ON,_D. C, JUNE 2, 1921—PART DR. F. M. DORSET, CHIEF OF BIOCHEMIC DIV ALS INDUSTRY, WHO DISCOVERED HOG CHOLERA SERUM, WHICH IONS OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR FOR AMERICAN Insung Patriots of Pe 10N OF BUREAU OF BY JAMES A. BUCHANAN. UCKED away in little offices, sequestered in hothou: or surrounded by retorts, micro- scopes or other scientific in- _ptruments in laboratories are dozens < of unsung heroes who are today, as thev have been for years past, striv- ing to accomplish something that will #'“pe¢ of material benefit to the citizens ~ of-the United States. Far away from **the spotlight of publicity, removed Arom the shrine at which the lions of the hour are worshiped. these little- “known benefactors of mankind are| _“figvoting their lives to the end that| the United States Department of Ag- riculture may be enabled to assist ~“the rancheg, farmer or the plantation _.owner in faising bigger and better =2 until long past the usual closing hour.| These patriots, for such they are. ‘e %0 engrossed witlh their work that 6y give little heed to the fact that. 4% a rule, they are receiving far less ..{or their lubors than the average ef- cient clerk in any large corporation. ‘Vithout complaint or thought of iblic reward, these men are giving _1he best of thelr lives in service that means no personal ey are striving to reach but one Jal, and that is the giving of some- Ping worth while to our citizens. In European countries men who achieve Successes sueh as are common io the I S@vants of the- Agriculture Depart- ““ment have great honors conferred saypon t adulatiol serving Uncle Sam. as a rule, an: but not so with those who City folks coneeption 5Pt the importance of agriculture as} They appear to take it/ ~an industry. Ifor wrunted. that the farmer's busi- +.Dess Is to raise such articles as they Taidéd. and they ken a5 to the vast energy that is necessary to _*provide them with food and raiment. Of late we have read much of the shysical valuation of the railroads of the country, but few realize that if the farmers combined in a sale of their live stock and crops for a period of one year they would have ..ymoney enough to purchase all the railroads, rolling stock and equip- ‘ment in the- United States. If, on .the other hand, it were possible for!| 1.thgm to scil their farm holdings, to- gether with their crops aml live stock, ““they could with the money received. purchase all the railroads. manufac- turing establishments. mines and “quarries in the United States. About eighty billion dollars is invested in soagriculture in the United States, and *“The yearly value of live stock and crops will Tun from twenty to thirty billion dollars ) * ok x * must not be imagined that the +s& men who till the 8oil or who raise .-'the sheep and provide the fruits and ».:food products receive these billions “a# a net profit, for in producing arti- |'iles that have a selling value of this » amount there are many dollars ex- pended. Agriculture is a most im- nd consuming power of the farmers and their families. * Not many people ‘ have given thought to the fact that the food supply in the larger cities is sufficient to last only for a few o.weeks or months at best. and if there #Ye an interruption to the flow of these wo-farm products, the denizens of the >%ties would quickly face starvation. Z7In order that there may be no inter- “ ruption to the flow of food supplies, ‘it is necessary that the farmer be Hupplied with means by which to com- "bat injury to or loss of his crops by ~{nsects or pests of any kind, and it “i8 to the end fhat the farmer may Yave adequate protegtion that these t, unassuming employes of the iculture Department devote their ‘lives to the prevention of crop de- pon them and are objects of public | States. and %0 on one might chronicle hundreds of examples where the de- partment has added billions to the na- tion's wealth. It is not possible, owing to lack of space to describe all the achievements of the self-sacrificing men employed in the Departmet of Agricul- ture, but those described here are a few that the writer learned about during a recent visit to this most important branch of the government's activities. ERE FOOD obtained from the hog forms one of the most important food elements of the people in this country and prior to 1912 the farmers Yyearly faced severe losses as the ,result of the hundreds of thousands of cases of hog cholera. In some instances the rate was as high as 115 affected animals per thousand. In one year the losses by this dread disease totaled $72.000,- 000, representing a loss of 6,300,000 hogs. | Cases where western farmers suffered a crops, and they labor from early morn | 100 per cent loss were by no means rare; not only was there a severe mone- tary loss, but there was a loss of morale because of the uncertainty as to the | aggrandisem:nt | Jeveloping the ‘means of apply bringing through to selling conditions a {larger and extensive herd of pigs. In one of the little offices of the Agricultural Department is Dr. F. Ma- r hief of the biochemic di the bureau of animal indus- 1 to him belongs the credit of ering the hog cholera serum and ng it . Tenn., disco Dr. Dorzet was born in Colufmbi stroyals. to producing new food prod- | rots and to the discovery of methods hich will cause a greater yield per = re ana ol articies to have a higher ‘ grreeniage of usefulness. Before describing some of the ac- ‘romplishments of the employes of "“the Department of Agriculture, it will “be well to sight a few instances where the department has, through ,/its_experts, spent a little money that 'has resulted in yields amounting to -“umillions. For instance, the expendi- 'ure of $25,000 in establishing Durum wheat has resulted in a crop worth $50,000,000 a year. The introduction #vand establishing of the rice industry +=4n’ Califarnia cost about $200,000: the « yearly yield s $21,000.000. $40.000 wms expended ;in introducing Egyp- «tian eotton into this cotntry, this amaount also includes the breeding up Samet'it and the establishment of the in- #Bustry in the arid regions of the #southwest. The trop yield per year is $20,000,000. The serum that pre- vents hog cholera has sgved the country about $40,000,000 a year. In the southwest corn had never been grown successfully. A few thousand . flollars were expended in introducing grain and forage Sorghums. The average yleld of Kafir and other g:u"! sorghum is about 125,000,000 +. bushels. Seyeral years ago an Amer- = sc.n missionary “sent seven navel 4% drange trees to the department from Brasil. The department, through its .experts, introduced these trees as a pnXesult. California markets from ten Trte fifteen million boxes yearly, Two ‘af, the original trees are still in the %&gn,o! the Agricuitural De- . = a figs from Turkey were, in- = luced, ter gredt difficulty, and gountry now ) roduces almost »atiosgh high-grade to supply the o ets. - From t the de- .,,partment secured the toothsome @&ute, ented with it and then im- jroved it,’and today the finest dates | the world are grown in the United of Ag-icull ‘W. A. WHEELER, SPECIALIST, IN CHARGE OF MARKET INFORMATION. HE IS SOLVING THE BIG MARKETING PROBLEMS. _—nm in 1872, graduating from the univer- sity of that state in 1893 with a degree of bachelor of science. Three years l‘te; he received the degree of doctor of e Columbian, medicine from now. . | George Washingtos. University. He also 17Portant factor: there is the buying studied at the University of Penns: vania. He was an_instructor in bac- teriology and pathology and from the Dbeginning of his career, as a teacher, he turned his attention to research work on bacterial toxins, especially those of tuberculosis, and -also re- searches concerning efiology and pre- vention of their numerous diseases. In 1894 the doctor was appointed as assistant chemist in the biochemic laboratory, and for the valuable serv- ice of a highly trajned mind he re- ceived the stupendous salary of $1,200 per year. Two years later he was promoted to the post of assistant in the biochemic division, but his salary remained the same, until two years later, when he became veterinary inspector, that his salary was raiscd to $1,400. Through some strange twist of fatc two years later he was awarded $200 a year incrqase in salary, and it was not until.quite some time after he had made his dis- covery of the cholera and hog serum, one of the most important made by & research man in years, that the government was able to boost his salary beyond the $3.000 mark. His arly pay today totals less than $5,000. while his work in this one line alone has saved the people of the United States hundfeds of millions of dollars. Away back in 1878 department path- ologists had been searching for a cure for hog cholera, and after its discov- ery by Dr. Dorset. hie work was proven in state experlutent stations. I¢ was not until 1913 that Congress appropriated $75.000 to _carry on the work made possible by the discovery. Dr. Dorset is a member of the Amer- ican Public Health Association, American Chemical Society, Society of American Pathologists and fellow of A. A. A. 8. 0. F. Cook is bionomist in charge of acclimatization and adaptation investigations. What he has done for the country will increase by many. many millions of dollars the value of the cotton crop of the United States, for this modeste scientist discovered that the close spacing of cotton will replace vegetation branches by fruit- ing branches, thus increasing the yield of cotton, so making for early maturity and thus minimizing the boll weevil danger. 1In 1890 Mr. Cook graduated from Syracuse University. He was particularly _interested 'in botany and zoology. He taught and studied in various institutions in this country, visited numerous geats of learning in Europe and did much scientific exploration work in West Africa. Upon his return to the United States he bscame connected with the Smithsonian Institution, In 1397 he became attached to the De and and it was not| M ne Man Who Ha% No Salary at All ANY Scientists in Department of Agriculture Have Made Discoveries That Saved Millions of Dollars Each Year—These Men, Graduates of Colleges and Travelers-in Foreign Lands in Their Search for Ideas to Benefit Their People at l Home, Work for Small Salaries—O charge of seed and plant introduc- tion at a salary of $2,000 u year. During the course of his work in economic botany he investigated coffee, rubber dgnd other crops of & tropical character, but his favorite amoung them all was cotton. In Mex- ico and Central America, the native home of the, boll weevil, he made ex- haustive studies of cotton, bringing back Strains that appeared promis. ing, and experimented’ with them in our cotton states. It ‘was his belief that unintelligent hapdling had not brought out the greatest good in the cotton plant and so e set to work to acclimatize and develop by selec- tion and then to devise the par- ticular fleld necessary to bring the strains to their best production, mak- ing the acclimatized varieties. As a result the Durango and long-staple upland variety are now grown In many districts, from Virginia to Cali- fornia, and the Acala is grown ex- tensively in Oklahoma. There is also the lone star. of which variety hu dreds of thousands of acres in Texas are planted, und the new Meade, a prospective guccéssor of tha sea island type, the latter having succumbed to the boll weevil. * k ® % T ‘OGETHER with Dr. T. H. Kearney, Mr. Cook has developed the pro- duction of Egyptiam ootton in this country, this being based on the Pima variety and the special breeding and adaptation discovered by these gen- tlemen has resulted in thousands of acres of cotton flelds in Arizona and California. To summarize Mr. Cook's work along these lines, one can say that it has consisted in discovering potentially valuable types in different parts of the world, bringing them to the United States and then devising means to bring them to the point of their best production. It is mot un- likely that with the gemeral accept- ance of his methods by the plsnta- tion owners the cotton crop will be donbled. The general belief in that the late Gen. Gorgas was the discoverer of the fact that insects are carriers of dis- ease. and while the writer does not in the slightest wav desire to take credit from the magnificent achievements of Gen. Gorgas. he must say that the dis- covery is the work of Dr. Theobald mith, who, at the time he made the 1 discovery, wax an employe of the De- ! partment of Agriculture, as chief of the division of animal pathology of the bureau of animal industry: as a salary of $1.800 per vear. It was by the application of the discovery by Dr. Smith that Gen. Gorgas was ena- bled to stamp out yellow fever. ma- laria and other diseases in the Canal Zone. thus making possible the con- struction of the canal. This discovery was brought about by the identification of the Texas tick as the cause of splenetic fever lin cattle. The Texas fever was a dreaded scourge. one that caused great loss to stockmen. It was im- P ible to bring the cattle from the south to the north without spreading the disease. and it was imposaible to take the northern cattle to the south. Prior to Dr. Smith's discovery, sci- entists had believed that the tick played no part in the spread of this | er. but many of the ranchers and | stockmen were of the opinion that there was some connection between :_I:la ticks and the spread of the “mur- Dr. Smith is quite unassuming and a diligent research man, a thoroughly trained scientist, a graduate of Cor- nell, later an alumnus of the medical school. He came to the Department of Agriculture in 1884 at a salary of éle'p‘fi'gt yErl);‘alr. ‘When he left the ment he was recei y orDsz.lzoo. ving a salary uring the summer of 1888 Dr. Smith noted the destruction of the blood corpuscles in cattle affected with tick fever and-his systematic experiments resulted in the discovery of.a pecullar micro-organism in the red blood corpuscles, a protozoan. La- ter study proved this to be the true cause of the disease. . Side by side with Dr. 8mith was Dr. Merton B. Waite, who as a lad worked from sunup to sundown on an Illinois farm.. Even in these early days Dr. Walte was interested In the progress of fruit trees. Leaving ‘the farm, he at- tended the University of 1lliinois, where he majored in botany under Dr. T. J. Burrell. It was the latter who had but a short time before discovered that pear blight was a bacterial -plant disease. Young Walte, after acting as assistant to Dr. Burreli, resigned and.came to' the department In 1888 at a salary of $1,000 of the opinion that insécts were carriers of plant disease. Picking’out a Leconte pear tree in the department grounds as & subject for observation, <he watched it carefully, often_remainfrig" until long after the ciosing hours. His vigll was rewarded when on one Sunday morning he noted a bee making stralght for the blossoms. He reasoned that insects might be carriers of disease if they flew trom diseased to healthy blossoms. So he caught a number of bees, washed out their mouths and found a bagjllus of the disease. This discovery was an- nounced in August, 1891. Dr. Waite screened some pear trees o prevent the wpread of the discase by insects, and It was while conducting this experiment he found that the screened Bartlett pear trees did not set the fruit, while the un- reened trees set freely. This furnished a clue to cross pollination, which has re- sulted in interplanting f certain varie- tics of fruits to secure better flekds. While working on.the pear blight he made another important discovery. He likewise achieved his goal in the pear- blight cndeavor and found the treatment for that destructive agency. * X x ¥ 0 Dr. Garner, physielogist ia charge of tobacco and plant nutris tion investigations, beldngs the credit for the discovery of the influence of the relative length of day and night plant growth. Dr. Gdrper, after ye- ceiving his degree from -the.Utilversity of South Carolina, taok-a post-gradu- ate course at Johns king, ‘A little over sixteen years ago-he entered the _service as sysistant chemist at $30 per per year as an assistant. Hehadlongbeen'| 1 plication of original methods, was enabled to bring a number of these insccts alive to Californa. where they quckly became acclimated. In addition io this notable achieve- ment, Dr. Swingle hus created several new citrus hybirds—for instance, the tangelo, a cross between the tangerine and the grapefruit. He also brought out & hybrid of the lime and the kum- quat, the resnit being a hardier truit and ‘an excellent substitute for the Jime. It is not an easy matter to es- timate in doilars and cents the value of Dr. Swingle's work, but it is safe to say that it has beén worth many thousand times more per annum than the salury he receives, wnich is less than $5.800 per year. Dr. Archibald D. Shamel of the of- fice of horticultural pomological in- vestigations is one of the hard work- ers in the department who has delved into the fundamentals and brought forth facts that have resulted in bringing additional profits to the growers, thus furthering agriculture in the country generally. While Dr. ‘| Shamel's work in' the breeding of corn and tobacco has gained for him re- nown, his foremost achievement is the establishment of the theory of bud va- riation, more especially as it applies to the orange and grapefruit regions of the country. With the introduction of the navel orange the growers gen- erally were of the opinion that buds from any bearing trce could be used ace Who Work for Uncle Sam an | 1 GEORGE LIVINGSTON GENIUS WHO 1S D salary was less than $3,000 per annum, and it was during this period that he made many of his important discov- eries. It is hard to of persistent making investigations of growth, ferti- lization and crop rotation practice of tobacco and the curing of the crop. co production he discovered that rela- tive length of night and day was an im- portant factor. He found a type known as the Maryland Mammoth, a very pro- ductive and commercially _desirable product, but he also found that these would not mature seed, in Maryland. He found that by-shifting plants from the open fleld to the greenhouse ‘when the end of the growing season ap- proached in the fall, the tobacco plants promptly flowered and seeded: but if held until the next spring, they stopped seeding. The question was then to find out why they would seed in a greenhouse. but_would not when growing in the field the next spring and summer. After many tedious experiments he discovered that many economic plants would flower and fruit under a fairly definite length of independent of temperature and humidity. As a re- sult of his discoveries winter planting of Maryland mammoth tobacco in southern Florida for the production of seed to be used in the former state is now a practice. The short day and winter in southern Florida is the con- dition under which the tobacco plant of this variety requires to flower and seed. — This discovery has not only been of much use to the tobacco planters, but has been of material benefit in green- house practice generally. The day i shortened during the summer months by darkening the greenhouse, and artificial light is vsed to lengthen the day in winter. That bird migration is influenced by length of day rather than by temperature is the explana- tion of the flight of these birds, ac- cording to Dr. Garner. Since the advent of near-prohibition in_this country, and more especially when there wi a shortage in the sugar supply, the manufacturers of soft drinks have been casting about for a substitute for sugar, and into the breach stepped another earnest worker in the department, Dr. W. W. Skinner, chemist in charge of the wa- ter and beverage laboratories of the bureau of chemistry. Dr. Skinner worked out formulae during the war period, and these were distributed to the trade and generally used. Dr. Skinner is a graduate of the Maryland Agricultural College, where, subse- quent to his graduation, he served four years as an instructor in chem- istry.” He also accepted a similar po- sition at the University of Arizona. He directs the work of the bureau of chemistry in the application to the federal food and drugs act of mineral waters and soft drinks and is ever on the alert to safeguard the public against drinks that are harmful in tleir composition. Another important feature of his work has been the de- velopment of methods of analysis for waters. These methods are used by chemists throughout the world. He is also the author of a number of scientific papers. ‘Without doubt the reader has wan- dered through an apple orchard dur- ing the month of August at some time SHERMAN, OF THE BUREAV OPING THREE SPECIFIC LI month. For over thirteen vears hlslln his life, and at that time has no- | ticea | tice sualize the years | stance of this odor can be impri nerve-racking work in|and analyzed and that an odor exact- successfully in grafting new stock. After a series of investigations Dr. Shumel came 1o the conclusion that Promiscious inethods of selecting buds only of the sort of stock he desired, promiscious methods of selecting buds that had obtained before his theory RKETS, 1S A S OF WORK. oF the Boft, pleasing odor of th ple as the breeze gently caressed its crimson or golden sides. That the -ub& one ly identical can be built up from sub- stances which have no relation to an . lapple. sounds like_the telling of a While studying the matter of tobac-|fairy tale, but this seemingly:impos- | sible feat has been accomplished by Dr. Frederick Belding Power, head of the phytochemical laboratory of the department. In order that wWe might gain some idea of the weight of this odor, or rather one should properly say gas, to be able to obtain feven pounds of the distillate, it would be necessary to reduce 1.000.068 pounds of Ben Davis apples, or if the same weight of crab apples was used thir- teen pounds of distillate would be the result. To the minds of those not.di- rectly interested in the scientific value of these discoveries these state- ments may not be of interest unless their value is expjained. When the pathologist of the bureau of plant industry sought the cause and pre- ventive measures for apple scald. which causes apples to rot in storage, these discoveries were of great value Dr. Power's connection with_the Department of Agriculture is only an incident in a most brilllant career. It was this savant who identified the essential properties in chaulmoogra oil and its, distillates into an ester that could be used as an intramus- cular injection in the treatment of leprosy. The public health service 50 far has treated nearly a hundred cases of this scourge of, the ages with apparent success. Dr. Power, previous to his employ- ment by the bureau. was a director in the Wellcome Research Laboratory, London. His services to sclence have caused to be bestowed upon him a dozen or more gold medals. the last one being presented by his old friend and former associate, Henry S. Well- come. When Dr. Power returned from London to his home, in Hudson, N. Y., he found that he could not remain idle and offered his services to the Department of Agriculture, merel asking if they could use his services —not_ 2 thought of salary, not a thought of fame, only a desire to serve his fellow men. * % X % TD the untiring efforts and genius of Walter G. Swingle, physiolo- gist in charge of crop physiology and breeding investigations, is .due the credit of the establishment of two very important industries in the Cnited States. Through Dr. Swingle's efforts the fig and date were brought to this country and their culture un- dertaken and made possible. A lit- tle insect known as the blastophaga plays a very. important part in fig production. The insect fertilizes the fig, carrying the pollen from the Capri to the Smyrna fig. Owing to the fact that this insect is not a native of this country and that it was highly essential to the fig in- dustry, it was necessary to secure a supply from foreign shores. Previous attempts to transport the little bug [to this country had resulted in fafl- ure. Dr. Swingle, however, by ap- was made public had not, in the main, been satisfactol ‘With the accept- ence of his theory came larger yields, better quality and a desirable ripening season. This theory appiles not only to oranges, but practically to ail forms of horticulture. Dr. Shamel un- dertook his task at a salary of less than $5.000 per year. Dr. A. D. Hopkins, forest entomolo- Eist, several years ago discovered the bioclimatic law by which the fly free dates for sowing wheat were worked out. Dr. Hopkins is one of the strik- ing examples of a small group of men who have achieved prominence without the benefit of special training. He was born in Jackson county, W. Va., in 1857, and had only the advantages of a com- mon school education. He was, however, a born nataoralist and after leaving school went to farming and it was at this time he became intensely interested {in_insects, especially forest insects. In 1§89 the West Virginia experiment sta- tion was formed. Dr. Hopkins was ap- pointed entomologist. In 1896 he was : elected_professor of entomology in the West Virginia University. Six vears later Dr. L. O. Howard brought him to Washington and he was placed in charge of the division of forest -insect Dr. Hopkins is a man of vision, a man with an imagination as well as be- ing a keen observer, and it was he who worked out the percentage principle of control. For B number of years bark beetles had caused havoc through a great western forest of coniferous trees. The lumber men were distraught. Dr. Hopkins saved the day by demonstrat- ing that it was not necessary to fell all the trees attacked, but only a per- centage, working on the theory that as the number of beetles were reduced one half, the remainder would die out, be- ing Xilled by their parasites, or dying from_other causes. From an economi standpoint, the theory has been most successful. The important work on which Dr. PHYSIOLOGIST, GROWTH. Hopkins is concentrating at present is bioclimatic law. The doctor noticed that there was a coincidence among many natural phenomena, such as the blossoming of wild trees which coin- cided with the best date of sowing certain crops; using the Hessian fly, he found that the dates for that local- ity at which If winter wheat iz sowed it would escape the attack of the fly, but if sowed at an earlier date it was liable to be seriously damaged, if not destroyed. This natural law has done much to further the doing away of the damage to wheat by improper period sowing. He has progressed far beyond the field of entomology into a field of the broadest biological in- terest. For years Dr. Hopkins, despite the fact that he has rendered signal serv- ice to his country, received less than $3,000 a year. ' * % % FOR a number of years prior to 1906 the country suffered at the hands of those who would give in- ferior grades of food and drug prod- in‘these adulterations the workers of the Department of Agriculture found many substitutes that were injurioys to human life, and it was largely through their recommendations that the food and drug act of 1906 was passed. This department, which su- Dervises the inspection of meat and Other articles of food, must ever be on the watch to conserve the public's health. The law provides that every ounce of food and every particle of drugs which crosses a state line or is shipped from foreign countries to the | United States or from this country ‘| abroad must conform to the law as to o ) SPECIALIST N MARKETING FRUITS - AND/ VEGETABLES, : ! Tity and quality. The cost of this ::l’per{'illon is less than $1,000,000. an lnflnlleatm:l percenlll‘; of the values of the goods supervised. ‘VVI]!&'! Gilbert Campbell is In charge of this: branch of the department’s activities A lawyer by profession, and one with a splendid practice, ‘he sacrificed his personal career in order that he might serve in the protection of the peoplc from inferior products. A native of Kentucky, born in Flat Lick in 1877, a graduate of the State University in 1502, a lawyer with a Jucrative practice in Louisville, is, in part, his history. It was shortly after his practice had assumed large pro- portions that he was retained to look after the, interest of the Kentucky experiment station. Becoming “inter- ested *in the work, he abandoned his law practice and became connected with the department. The sulary he received is along the general lines paid the employes of the department. George Livingston, chief of the ucts to the people of the country, and!| l DR. W. W. GARNER (LEFT) AND H. A. ALLARD. BELONGS THE CREDIT OF DISCOVERY INFLUENCE OF THE RELATIVE LENGTH OF DAY AND NIGHT PLANT — WALTER GILBERT CAMPBELL, WHO SEES THAT THE ANMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT FORCED TO EAT ADULTERATED AND IMPURE FOODS. (Photo by Harrie & Bwing.) _—_— bureau of markets, is an odd genius He possesses qualifications which would make him a valuable man to any large corporate body. He took the officially developed standards of wheat, shelled corn and oats and gave them a practicable application in the complex business of marketing the immense grain crops of the country When one considers that about two bitlion bushels of these grains are now handled in our interstate com- merce and are inspected cntirely on a basis of the standards formed by Mr. Livingston, it is easy to discern that he possesses good judgment. sound common sense, discretion and tact, he being ®ie leveling force between big-business and officialdom. Mr. Livingsion is developing three specific lines of work. The close and accurate state of the costs of mar- keting, a comprchensive study of world conditions with references to their bearing on American conditions and the making available to every farmer and business interest of this country prompt, reiiable and unbiased market news. As cities took on additional popula tion and suburbs bec thick populated it was necessary for: the fruit and vegetable industry to move further away from the market cen- ters. This has resuited in the grow- ers being handicapped by incorrect market quotations. They were also in ignorance of the daily output of TO DR. GARNER, OF THE competing _districts, so it became necessary for the bureau of markets to find a remed The Agricultural Department has a habit of keeping its eyes open for men who really do things, and it reached out _its “long arm, with the result that Wells A. Sherman, a farmer of Fairfax county, Vu,. was selected to h: le the tele- graphic end of the servi Mr. Sher- man knew marketing game from A-Z. He had sold his own products in Washington. He is a man of initia- tive gnd push. Giving up a lucrative business, he came to Vi ngien fo scrve the government. The service now works from coast to coast, and its hours of duty measure twenty- four per day. Growers throughout the country de- clare this service is saving them mil- lions of dollars by preventing glutted. markets and stabilizing prices. -Just as an additional bit of work, Mr. Sherman has been.placed in charge of the collection and distribution of excess profits in the 1918 wool glip, & heritage from the War Industries Board. The collection up to the present ung has amounted to over 3570/, Accurate, timely and comprehensive information regarding the agriculture markets is most essential. Organiza- tions, individuals and institutions concerned with production and dis tribution are daily and insistently calling upon the bureau of markets for information how to reach the organized and unorganized, the farmer. the agencies, the people as {2 whole, and was a problem that con- fronted the department about years ago. two * Kk X % W, A WHEELBR, in charge of the * market inforrpation section of the bureau, was called into consulta- tion, the' situation explained to him, and he was told to work out a solu- tion of thie prablem. Today there is & weekly periodical, known as the “Market Reporter,” which gives mur- ket news free to users. The market- gram service is the medium through which the news of the week of the principal markets of the country is summarized on the evening of each business day and wired to the agri- culture and daily press. There 18 in #ddition a radiogram market news service by pich this news is sent, without cost, to the country at large. Mr. Wheel expeets inside of a few weeks to dispatch market' reports, both national and local by wireless and radiophone from eight radio sta- tions having a combined area cover- ing more than half of the states. ¥t Congress will permit continuance of this work, thé day. is not fa: 1 | tant when farmers in eyery nook and | corner of the country Will be able to !keep themselves informed as to the day by day conditiohs of the markets. Not only is the American farmer concerned with the markets of this country, for beyond our shores are other markets. It is of interest to him to know the amount of g.ain or wool that Argentina is producing, just how many hundreds of thousands of dozens of eggs will be transported from China during the present year. He is interested in knowing just how much beef, cotton or butter that Europe consumed last year and what the requirements will be for 1921. It is of interest to him to know how many apples Great Britain will need. E. G. Montgomery of the foreign mar- | ket®division is placing this information | in the hands of the tiller of our soil, and | he states it is essential that the infor- mation be accurate and up-to-date. He ’18 EVer preparing a concrete. compre- hensive and useful digest for the farm- ers throughout the length and breath of the land. He is giving them information material not only to thgir welfare, but als 4 « weafth. in the earlier day life lived on a'farm in Nebrasku, iand he learned at first hand the prob- lems that confronted the farmer. Having gained a practical knowledge of h bandry, he went to the agriculture col- lege at Lincoln and began the study of the theoretical science of farming. He afterward became a professor in that in- stitution of learning. From there he was called to Cornell University, and then gave up 4 promising career to enter the bureau of markets. Down in the remote Texas region, far distant from schools or the lux- uries of life, was the early home of Leon M. Estabrook. The early years of his life were spent in a daily fight to secure a home for his family and opportunities for advancement. After finishing the chores at the end of hard day's work. he retired to his room to study. The result has been that it developed a power to overcome difficulties that has made him one of the most valuable men in the Depart- ment of Agriculture. Through cruel, bitter experiences of early youth, the development of constructive: imagina- tion and brilliant business acumen, are, in part, the attributes that have enabled him to put life and energy into cold dry figures, to transpose those heretofore uninteresting facts into reading matter that means meat and drink to hundreds and thousands of farmers and business men. Great masses’ of statistics filter into the de- partment: these must be arranged, in- dexed, filed and put away, so that when the time comes he may draw upon each little cubby-hole and bring forth the portion that will fit into his puzzle problem. Through his work the bureau of crop estimates has be- come the dispenser of figures that are awaited with breathless interest by many different agencies, for they speil future ents, prosperity or depres- sion, in an $80,000,000,000 industry. There are other shining examples of highly trained minds possessed by the indefatible workers' of the De- partment of Agriculture that might be cited. There are other unsung he- roes whose names have not been men- tioned, others who like their fellows are laboring day and night without thought of fame or monetary recom- pense in order that they might heip the country, and when these peace- time patriots have bcen called to their reward no more fitting epitaph could be penned than “They served well; they Berved without thought of self. (Copyright, 1031, by The Washington Star. An Old Custom. (O seldom hears of a man being presented with a gold-headed cane. It is one of the customs of the olden time which seem to have been cast into the discard. It is about as common to hear of such a ceremony as it is to hear that a gentleman has been presenfed with a silver snuff box or a tortoise-shell snuff box by his ad- miring friends. Ypt as much timber is turned inco walking sticks as used to be. Once, and that was only two i or three generations ago, a man could no more be dressed without his stick than without his stock. He would as soon go out without his hat and cout as without his cane. He did nol, to any great extent, actually walk with his walking stick, but he used it to swing, to twirl and to toy with. In- stead of the stick helping to carry him, he carried it. It was used more as an ald to grace and ease of manner than as an aid to locomotion. Few men carried a cane because of lathencss or rheumatism; they carricd it ac a toilet article or appendage. A fow centuries ago every gentleman carried his rapler, his claymore or some other form of blade. When the sword dropped from the thigh of all but professional soldiers the civiliun took to carrying a stick, and every “young blade” and old blade kept his ! trusty cane, usually of malacca or | bamboo, by his side. The cane was ioften geld-headed, and when not that it was apt to be u silver-headed cane. Some men argue that the walking stick s a survival of the pilgrim's staff, but men did not take up that Ikind of stick until they became plous or until the years pressed heav- ily upon them. One student of canes has.sald that the cane-carrying habit became fashionable in France in the eighteenth century with rich persons who had no right to carry a sword. The walking stick habit goes farther back than that. The gane s older than France. Something like two dozen centuries ago an Athenlan citi- sen would be arrested s a suspicious { character 17 seen abread without his, walking Mlc\k. (