OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 63 



FATHER OF THE FARMERS' SHORT COURSE 



19. Few of the earliest statesmen of American history have 

 recognized the constructive possibilities of agricultural education 

 and the dissemination of agricultural information. Fewer still 

 have there been whose keenness of vision and clarity of foresight 

 have made it possible to crystallize the need of the industry into 

 constructive and beneficent laws. Of this pioneer coterie was 

 Senator William Freeman Vilas. 



Bom in Chelsea, Vermont, July, 1840, he gained the instinct of 

 public service from his father, the HoN. Levi B. Vilas. In June, 

 1851, the family settled at Madison, Wis., and at eighteen years of 

 age, the future statesman was graduated from the University of 

 Wisconsin. Two years later he finished at the Albany (New 

 York) Law School, and established himself in practice at Madi- 

 son. The Civil War interrupted his efforts as a barrister and in 

 July, 1862, he recruited Company A of the 23rd Wisconsin Volun- 

 teers, proceeding into the season's campaign as its Captain. Pro- 

 moted to Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded his ragiment during 

 the siege of Vicksburg, after which he resigned from the army 

 and returned to his practice. He was a Regent and Law Professor 

 of the University of Wisconsin, and in this position instituted the 

 first winter course in agriculture for farmer's sons held in the 

 United States, contributing his idea to Dean Henry (20), and 

 was later a member of a commission to revise the Wisconsin 

 Statutes, during which time he gained his first insight into the 

 need of constructive agricultural legislation for the state. 



In 1878, his political career proper began. For eight years 

 he was a member of the Democratic National Committee, being 

 made permanent chairman at the National Democratic Convention 

 in 1884. In 1885 he was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature, and 

 after President Cleveland's inauguration was made successively 

 Postmaster General and Secretary of the Interior. In the latter 

 capacity he introduced some reforms in the occupancy of Govern- 



