MISCELLANEOUS. 447 



a voice in the President's cabinet, during his administration. By his 

 wise administration of the office, both houses of Congress passed a bill 

 almost unanimously, creating it one of the great executive departments 

 of the government, and Mr. Colman had the distinguished honor of be- 

 ing appointed the first Secretary of Agriculture. 



The bill establishing experiment stations in connection with our 

 agricultural colleges was also passed, and the stations put into practical 

 working order during his administration, so that both of the highest ob- 

 jects of his ambition were accomplished. 



But it is much easier to tell of the achievements of these great ob- 

 jects than of the steps that had to be taken to secure them. And first, as 

 to the establishment of experiment stations. Feeling that it was esential 

 to achieve the co-operation and influence of the agricultural colleges in 

 order to secure the passage of a bill through Congress to create them 

 Mr. Colman, not long after taking his seat as Commissioner, issued a 

 call to the agricultural colleges in every state of the Union, requesting 

 them to send delegates to a convention to be held in the department build- 

 ing in Washington, July 8, 1885. This invitation was accepted, all the 

 colleges sending delegates, forming what history will proclaim, on account 

 of the great results achieved by it, one of the most important agricultural 

 conventions ever held. By unanimous vote, Mr. Colman was chosen 

 president of the convention, and that part of his address relating to ex- 

 periment stations was referred to a special committee, to which Mr. 

 Colman was afterward added, and that committee finally reported the 

 Experiment Station Bill, which was afterwards passed by Congress and 

 approved by the President, establishing experiment stations in every 

 state in the Union. Mr. Colman thought by enlisting the co-operation 

 and active work of each of the agricultural colleges in the different states 

 on its own senators and representatives in Congress, such a bill could 

 be passed, and the result was a justification of his judgment. 



To secure the passage of a bill evoluting the department into one of 

 the great executive departments of the government was a much more dif- 

 ficult task. Mr. Colman knew that this could only be accomplished by 

 m.eriting such promotion. It must be made worthy of such advancement. 

 It would take too much space to give a history of the work accomplished 

 by him during his four years' term of service. We can only refer to a 

 few of the many things secured under his administration. 



The first matter that attracted his attention was the stamping out of 

 that dread disease among our cattle, known as contagious pleuro pneu- 

 monia. It was found to exist in nearly twenty states of this Union. 

 The disease is incurable, and the only way to extirpate it was to kill every 

 affected animal and every animal that had been exposed to an affected 



