FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



or more ex-presidents of the Association were also seated on the 

 stage. Colonel Butt was seated in the second row immediately 

 behind President Taft, and I sat next to Colonel Butt. In his 

 address of welcome the President was very happy, but I am 

 telling this story on account of one little incident. He said sub- 

 stantially, among many other pleasant and pertinent things, "I 

 am sure that the scientific men of Washington are very glad to 

 have you here, and I feel that this meeting is a great honor to 

 Washington. Moreover, I am sure that you are glad to come 

 here. Not only is it the Capitol of the nation, of which every 

 citizen should be proud, but it is a center of the greatest sci- 

 entific interest. You will be glad to see for yourselves the inner 

 workings of our great scientific bureaus, such as the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, the Smithsonian Institution, the Geological Sur- 

 vey, the U. S. Naval Observatory, and " Here he hesitated. 



His memory had failed him for the moment. Obviously he 

 couldn't think of any more big scientific bureaus. At that time 

 the Bureau of Entomology was small, but I was its chief and 

 had its interests very much at heart. I said to myself, "Oh, if 

 the Bureau of Entomology were only important enough to be 

 mentioned right here!" Evidently there was a thought transfer- 

 ence, for the President resumed, "And the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy." And Archie Butt kicked me maliciously on the shins. 



Years afterwards I had a chat one night in New Haven with 

 the ex-President, and I told him this story. It brought out his 

 famous chuckle, which, however, had lost some of its irre- 

 sistible quality after the President had lost sixty or seventy 

 pounds by diet and exercise. 



I first met Woodrow Wilson in the early part of the century 

 at a supper in Brooklyn. Professor Wilson, Professor Jeremiah 

 W. Jenks of Cornell, and I had lectured the same evening in 



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