480 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1960 



of growth in materials of controlled production. The striking nature 

 of her findings and her brilliant and lucid presentations soon caught 

 the attention not only of the community of cotton scientists but also 

 of important elements in the rayon industry, which forthwith opened 

 to her an even more alluring research opportunity. Nevertheless, in 

 her relatively brief association with Webb's group, Mrs. Farr stirred 

 the interest of other workers who entered the field and, following her 

 lead in the use of X-ray apparatus, pursued further rewarding studies 

 of the basic wall structure of cotton fibers. 



Although the program of Webb's fiber laboratory was conceived 

 in true scientific modesty, and premature publication was sternly 

 discouraged, it w\as not long before paths were being worn to his 

 door from several directions. Designed originally, as it was, to en- 

 able the grade and staple standards to be placed on a foundation of 

 firm and incontrovertible specifications, the work began to fire the 

 imagination of thoughtful people throughout the entire range of the 

 industry and invitations to discuss this work publicly came with 

 increasing frequency. 



The intensity of public interest that had by this time developed 

 is well illustrated by a letter from Dr. R. Y. Winters, Director of 

 the North Carolina Experiment Station, dated April 5, 1935, in 

 which he said : 



I wish you to know how much we appreciate the conference with Drs. Webb 

 and Farr here on April 3. The conference was promoted by the Textile School, 

 the School of Science and Business, and the School of Agriculture of the 

 College. In arranging the conference, we had hoped to accomplish some very 

 definite objectives . . . We wished to bring to research workers and teachers 

 in technical subjects a fundamental approach to problems common to us all 

 . . . The advanced students in textiles and agriculture might get a broader 

 Insight into related problems with which they must deal in the future ... So 

 far as the perforuuuice of Dr. Webb and Dr. Farr was concerned, our objectives 

 were more than realized. Dr. Webb gave a splendid presentation of the fiber 

 work. The slides were clear and substantiated his splendid discussion . . . 

 Voluntary expressions from chemists, physicists, textile specialists, botanists, 

 physiologists, and agronomists In attendance indicate that they were all favor- 

 ably impressed. After the two conferences, I felt like shouting from the house- 

 tops that work like this will determine national security and supremacy . . , 



Dr. Winters' ringing words brought welcome encouragement at a 

 time when the basic soundness of the pioneer program was yet to be 

 demonstrated. Equally helpful was the support of other institutional 

 leaders, notably Dr. Henry W. Barre, Director of the South Carolina 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, whose unqiuilified endorsement did 

 much to assure its acceptance in agriculture's educational circles 

 throughout the South. Director Barre had indeed given sympathetic 

 counsel from the beginning, and, like Dr. Winters, had placed essen- 

 tial laboratory, gi-eenhouse, and field-plot facilities at the disposition 



