WILSON'S HOT REPLYReplying to President Emery, Secretary Wilson said: "I came out here to listen, and I glean from the address of your president that the Department of Agriculture, which I thought had been doing much, has been doing nothing. Now let me tell you some of the things that it has done within the last year.or so." The Secretary then enumerated some of the achievements of the department. "Now with regard to a few preservatives, there is, a difference of opinion among the chemists of the world. One of these questions is benzoate of soda. "The manufacturers of the United States went to the President when the use of this was prohibited and asked for fair play. Finally he concluded to ask the presidents of the great universities to appoint some men to conduct an investigation who were competent to do the work. Under his authority I appointed five such gentlemen, who, I believe, are the best chemists in the United States, if not in the whole world. "President Emery has attacked their report. Now I have but one request. You have arranged a place upon your program to have the Referee Board here on Thursday to be heard. All I ask is that the hearing be a full and fair one." With representatives of interests aggregating more than $500,000,000 present to enter protest against a tentative "model" food law bill, which will probably be presented to the pure food convention for endorsement, the committee which drafted.the bill met last night at the Brown and gave the manufacturers' side a hearing. (The Daily News, Denver, Colo., Aug. 25, 1909.) The morning session was quite as pungent, although in another way. The convention was called to order at 10 o'clock and Gov. John F. Shafroth made an address of welcome. He complimented both Secretary Wilson and Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry at Washington, upon the work they have done for the country. He termed Secretary Wilson "the greatest Secretary of Agriculture the country has ever known," and the remark was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. He favored a uniformity in the state and national food laws and finished with an eulogy of Colorado's growth and development. PRESIDENT EMERY: "We held that if the National Government should indorse benzoic acid it would thus license one of the preservatives which encourages the same conditions in fruit and vegetable manufacture as were abolished in the meat-packing establishments by the national meat inspection law. In view of this position we appealed to President Roosevelt in the latter part of his term to appoint another committee to investigate the findings of the Remsen Board. This request was referred by President Roosevelt to Secretary of Agriculture Wilson, who reported back to the President against granting that request. Secretary Wilson's remarks were greeted with cheers, yet before he had stepped from the platform President Emery angrily said: "This Referee Board was asked to come to this convention by the executive committee, and the insinuation that it is not to be given fair play comes with poor grace. The report went to the Secretary of Agriculture and he sent it back without comment. We took it that it did not meet his approval. Secretary Wilson asked a moment to answer, and said dryly: "You gentlemen up Mackinac way took it upon yourselves to condemn us down at Washington unheard, and so we figured you were not the material from which judges of the Supreme Court can be made." R. W. Dunlap, of Ohio, is the only commissioner in the United States who is elected by the people instead of being, appointed. Commissioner Dunlap was elected by 12,000 majority, and is one of the most popular officials in Ohio. (From Denver Republican, Aug. 25, 1909.) After apparently having been whipped upon every question brought up during the pure food convention until there was no further fight left in them, the opposers of Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson's policies developed a remarkable strength in the battle for the electiort of the association's officers and put up one of the hottest contests ever seen during a convention meeting in this city. George L. Flanders, of New York, was elected president. New Orleans was chosen as the next place of meeting. The thirteenth annual convention of the National Association of State Food and Dairy Departments developed at its termination yesterday afternoon into a political struggle for the officers for next year, in which the Wilson, or administration, crowd won the presidency by three votes and lost all but one of the other officers. Had not Secretary Wilson been in Denver on the spot the administration would have been badly defeated not only on the election of the president but on many other questions as well. It was his political power and prestige as a member of the President's Cabinet and his experience in political campaigns that won the support of the convention for the administration. He seconded the nomination of Flanders. Supporters of President J. Q. Emery and Dr. Charles Reed, of Cincinnati, the opponents of benzoate of soda and of the administration, were quite free to call Secretary Wilson's crowd apolitical "ring" and a "clique." Certainlyitwas largely by a political trick that. the election of George L. Flanders, of New York, was secured and the defeat of A. C. Bird, of Michigan, was encompassed. George P. McCabe, Solicitor of the Department of Agriculture, and director of the battle for Secretary Wilson, was very busy just before the vote was taken and the votes upon the other officers looked as if he had made some advantageous trades for Flanders. This did not prevent Mr. McCabe's defeat for the office of executive committeeman, A. N. Cook, of South Dakota, winning against him.
GROUP AT SECOND DENVER CONVENTION IN 1925 Left to right: Dr. W. D. Bigelow, my first assistant in the Bureau of Chemistry; Dr. Harry E. Barnard, formerly Food Commissioner of Indiana; Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, former Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry; Mr. I. L. Miller, present Food Commissioner of Indiana; Dr. Robert M. Allen, former Food Commissioner of Ken. tucky; Mr. W. C. Geagley, Sec.-Treas. Association of Dairy, Food and Drug Officials of the United States Field Marshal McCabe became busy in his travels about the convention room, and when the vote was finally taken it was 57 to 54 in favor of Flanders, or the Wilson administration had only one state the best of the argument. The fact that the Secretary took the floor to second Flanders' nomination personally operated greatly for the latter's benefit, it is said. When the vote was taken on the other officers the Wilson slate was broken so badly that the pieces could not be found. (Denver Republican, Aug. 28, 1909.) After one of the stormiest sessions any convention of any kind ever had in Colorado, in which a great national organization at times took the aspect of a bitter political ward meeting, and in which politics was played every moment of the time, Dr. George L. Flanders, of New York, Secretary Wilson's candidate, yesterday was elected president of the Association of State and National Food and Dairy Departments, adding another point to the Secretary's sweeping victory in the benzoate of soda battle.
A. C. BIRD State Dairy and Food Commissioner of Michigan The Secretary of Agriculture led the fray in person. Flanders defeated A. C. Bird, State Dairy and Food Commissioner of Michigan, Wiley's candidate, by a vote of 57 to 54. Thirty-six states voted, each state having three votes. The vote by states was: Flanders 18, Bird 18, but the Department of Agriculture had three votes, and these three votes went to Flanders. The votes by states on the presidency was as follows: Flanders--Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Department of Agriculture, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, three votes each, total 19; total votes, 57. Bird--Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, total 18; total votes, 54. (The Daily News, Denver, Colo., Aug. 28, 1909.)
J. S. ABBOTT Food Commissioner of Texas, in attendance at Denver Convention Thus ended that most turbulent exhibition of disreputable politics ever witnessed in a so-called scientific convention in any country. It was the vote of the Department of Agriculture that elected Mr. Flanders. The Bureau of Chemistry took no part in this discreditable affair. The Health Office of the District of Columbia through Dr. Woodward cast its three votes in favor of the candidate of the food adulterators. The eminent members of the Referee Board must have been amazed at the character of their enthusiastic admirers. It was an astounding apotheosis of the Unholy. CHAPTER 6
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