OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 85 
FOUNDER OF THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS 
27. The man who first appreciated in a concrete and con- 
structive way the effect of local conditions in the application 
of agricultural knowledge, was WiLLiam Henry Hatcu, origina- 
tor and proponent of the act that founded the agricultural experi- 
ment stations. He was a man of varied interests and many-sided 
personality, but through it all ran a warm sympathy that turned 
him to rural interests always, in spite of an eventful public life. 
Mr. Hatcu was born in Georgetown, Ky., Sept. 11, 1833, of 
New England parentage. During his early years he displayed 
a pastoral disposition, and was vitally concerned with all things 
connected with farm and animal life. For forty years his inter- 
ests were grounded in his own acres, and his public career was 
characterized by a constructive insight into the rural, social, 
and economic structure. His school life at Georgetown and 
Lexington, Ky., was very brief, and he early went to Richmond, 
Ky., where he secured employment in a drug store and studied 
law in the office of Jupce Turner. At the age of twenty-one, 
he was admitted to the bar, but soon removed to Missouri, where 
four vears later he was made attorney in the circuit court of 
the sixteenth judicial district for two terms. 
His second term was interrupted by his commission as captain 
in the Confederate army in 1862. The following year he was 
appointed commissioner in charge of the exchange of prisoners. 
He was stationed at Richmond, Virginia, and was so considerate 
in the discharge of his duty that he was endeared by friend and 
foe alike. About this time he was promoted to a lieutenant- 
colonelcy. 
In 1878, Cot. HatcH was elected to Congress, where he served 
for sixteen years. He was here the author of numerous bills 
of agricultural importance. In addition to the experiment sta- 
tion bill already mentioned, he fathered the oleomargarine law 
