ADMINISTRATION OF SECRETARY RUSK. 21 



The resolutions were passed on November 25 when the result of 

 the Presidential election of tliat year was still in doubt. All members 

 of the organization pledged themselves in su])port of the movement, 

 irrespective of political affiliations. 



The work of the Department was at this time treated slightingly by 

 many Congressmen, and was considered merely as a means to reach 

 many constituents with small favors by the distribution of seeds and 

 books. The clerkships and other ijositions in the Department were 

 regarded as patronage to be given to political adherents, with little 

 regard for fitness. So notorious was this condition that the Grange 

 leaders at one time seriously discussed the propriety of asking that the 

 Department be abolished entirely. 



But Commissioner Le Due, when appointed by President Hayes, took 

 up the duties with such earnestness and vigor that the Grange rallied 

 to his support. Congressmen were impressed with the seriousness of 

 the work for which the Commissioner asked appropriations, and at the 

 close of his term the supply of money was made moie liberal. 



The demand that the head of the Department be given a place at the 

 President's co mcil table was pressed i3ersistently by the National 

 Grange, and was finally taken up by the Farmers' Congress and other 

 influential bodies and by so many persons interested in public affairs 

 that public opinion became fixed in favor of the change, and it was 

 made. 



The office of Commissioner having been abolished, Mr. Colman was 

 appointed Secretary, and held the position a little less than a month. 



SECRETARY RUSK'S ADMINISTRATION. 



Hon. Jeremiah M. Rusk was selected by President Harrison as his 

 Secretary of Agriculture and took control on March 7. 1889. The 

 sketch of his life in the Congressional Directory of that year says: 

 "General Rusk was born in Morgan County, Ohio, in 1830. He was edu- 

 cated in the common schools of the neighborhood, which he attended 

 winters working on the farm in summer. He continued to reside on the 

 farm until his removal to Wisconsin in 185'?, since which time — with the 

 exception of a short time — he has been engaged in farming. He held 

 several county offices in Wisconsin; was a member of the legislature 

 of that State in 1862; was commissioned major of the Twentj^-fifth 

 Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry in July, 1862, and was soon after pro- 

 moted to the colonelcy. He served with General Sherman from the 

 siege of Vicksburg till mustered out at the close of the war, and was 

 brevetted brigadier-general for bravery at the battle of Salkehatchie. 

 He wtis elected bank comptroller of the State of Wisconsin in the year 

 1866, and reelected in 1868; was elected to the Forty-second, Forty- 

 third, and Forty-fourth Congresses, and was chairman of the Committee 

 on Invalid Pensions in the Forty-third Congress. He was a member 

 of the Republican Congressional Committee for several years, and was 



