42 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 



Meanwhile Dr. Solotaroff wrote a letter to a friend 

 of his, Professor Warden, of Washington, D. C., Vice- 

 President of the American Chemical Society, about Mr. 

 Sabsovich and his qualifications as an agricultural 

 chemist. Dr. Warden replied, saying that my husband 

 was just the sort of man who could readily be em- 

 ployed in one of the thirty-nine agricultural experiment 

 stations being opened with, but independent of, the 

 State agricultural colleges. He enclosed the names 

 and addresses of all the directors who were to be in 

 charge of these stations. Our friend came to us after 

 college hours he was a medical student at the time 

 and wrote letters for us to the various directors, until 

 all had been applied to. A few days later answers 

 began to pour in. Some few laboratories were already 

 opened; others were just about to be opened; some 

 were being built; others had not yet been started. 

 However, the correspondence soon narrowed down 

 to five directors of existing laboratories. 



In connection with these applications a funny inci- 

 dent took place. While being interviewed by the direc- 

 tor of the Geneva (N. Y.) Experiment Station, who 

 he met at the Astor House, my husband was asked: 

 "What are your ambitions?" He answered: "Why, 

 I have no ambitions." Undoubtedly the head of the 

 Geneva Laboratory must have been puzzled by this 

 reply. My husband took the word "ambition" in the 

 sense that the Russian intelligentsia understood it, 

 namely, as greed for conquest, getting ahead at any 



