Agronomy

The President appointed Dr: William M. Jardine, President of the Kansas State Agricultural College, and a member of the President's Agricultural Conference, to be Secretary of Agriculture.

The bare facts of Mr. Jardine's career are that he, now 46, spent his boyhood on his father's ranch in Idaho punching cattle and breaking broncos. At 17, he went to Big Hole, Montana, and worked as helper on a dairy farm. Then he went to the Utah Agricultural College where he played football for four years, becoming captain of the team. Summers he spent on dairy farms and hay ranches. After graduating, he taught for a short time, then became manager of a farming company in Utah, then assistant cerealist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. These events occupied the six years between his graduation in 1904 and his going, in 1910, to the Kansas Agricultural College, at Manhattan, Kansas, as Professor of Agronomy.* There he rose in eight years to the presidency. His career is enough to indicate that he is physically hardy and mentally aggressive.

In the present case, the matter of chief importance is his opinions, which include:

1) Strong opposition to price-fixing for farm products.

2) The belief that only 10% of the farmers' troubles can be cured by legislation, that the other 90% must be solved by the farmers themselves.

3) Thorough confidence in the future of the cooperative movement.

His opinions, in brief, coincide with those of President Coolidge, but diverge largely from those of the farm bloc who wish price-fixing or other forms of direct aid for farmers. In appearing before Committees of Congress on behalf of the report of the President's Agricultural Conference (TIME, Jan. 26), Mr. Jardine has already entered into conflict with some members. He is an agronomist, not a legislator. If his appointment is confirmed, more conflicts between Congress and the Executive over agricultural projects are likely to be forthcoming.

* Agronomy is the application of scientific principles to the cultivation ef land.