Kapucian Korner by Senator Tim Kapucian
Iowa State Senator Tim Kapucian
Greetings from Under the Golden Dome
This week we have debated a number of bills working our way up to Appropriations. In a little different form this week I would like to relay a message I gave on the Senate floor for National Ag Day honoring a great Iowan, who I believe has not been given enough credit for past accomplishments.
March 19th was National Ag Day.
On that day we recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. And Iowa’s progressive role in the industry. I would like to celebrate agriculture today by going back in time to recognize an Iowa who many of you might not know of. We have all heard of the Wallaces, George Washington Carver, and Norman Borlaug but how many of us know who “Tama Jim” Wilson was.
James Wilson was born in Ayrshire Scotland in 1835. He was one of 14 children and his family immigrated to the United States in 1852. First to Connecticut and then to Iowa in Iowa in 1855 establishing a farm near Traer in Tama County. He attended Iowa College, (Grinnell College). He then returned to the family farm and then acquired a farmstead of his own, and when his brother Pete fought in the Civil War, Wilson also farmed his land, adding 1100 acres to their holdings. In 1867 Wilson’s work ethic impressed his neighbors and they sent him to Iowa’s Capitol where he served three terms in the legislature, the last in 1872-1873 as speaker of the House. He then served three terms in Congress. Next came six years as a professor of agriculture at Iowa State College where he was also in charge of the experiment station.
Henry C. Wallace who himself became a Secretary of Agriculture, recommended to President William McKinley that he appoint Wilson as Secretary of Agriculture. Under Presidents McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Howard Taft, Wilson brought respect to the Department of Agriculture holding the post from age 62 in 1897 to 1913. To this day Tama Jim Wilson is the longest serving cabinet member in the history of the United States. Under Wilson the Department went from a do-nothing joke to becoming one of the most important federal departments.
Wilson supported important meat inspection laws, the food and drug act laws, and provided for forest conservation. He made timely weather reports to farmers and developed weekly crop reports.
Wilson also introduced high-yielding Durum Wheat, helped re-establish the Morgan horse breed and encouraged new breeds of chickens and introduced new varieties of alfalfa. Wilson promoted the sugar beet industry, introduced a serum for hog cholera and supported good rural roads. He also was instrumental in starting the Extension Service.
At age 78 he returned to Iowa and spent his last few years with his family in Traer. He died in 1920 and is buried at Buckingham Cemetery near Traer in Tama County.
Tama Jim Wilson was an Iowan we can all be proud of. I hope I have enlightened all of you a little bit on Iowa’s Agriculture History on National Ag Day.
See you out and about the district!
P.S. I have had contact from citizens of Traer and they agree on the overlooked contributions of “Tama” Jim Wilson and I look forward to working with them to preserve the heritage of Traer’s most famous past resident.
Please feel free to contact me: tim.kapucian@legis.iowa.gov
