Sacramento County
Biographies
DAVID LUBIN
A history of Sacramento county would not
be complete without mention of David Lubin, who
stands today among the benefactors of the world and more directly of the
farmer. Coming from his native country in Europe, he began his career in this
country as an apprentice as a jewelry polisher in North Attleboro, Mass. In
1867 he drifted to California and thence to Arizona, where he worked in a
lumber yard and as a cowboy. Returning to San Francisco, he worked in Gray
& Co.'s jewelry factory and afterwards, returning east, became a commercial
traveler for a lamp manufacturing firm. In 1874 he came back to Sacramento and
started in business as a member of the firm of Weinstock,
Lubin & Co., in which he remained an active
partner for many years.
A number of years ago Mr. Lubin withdrew from active work in the firm
and devoted himself to an idea which he had conceived, of benefiting his
fellow men. The idea is embodied in what he terms "the single numerical
statement." Observing that the farmer was at the mercy of the middleman
and speculators, who fixed the price which he received for his wheat,
regardless of the world's supply for the year, he formulated and perfected a
plan for ascertaining the exact supply of wheat produced in the various
wheat-producing countries of the world. He became an enthusiast in the
propagation of his idea and has devoted years to carrying it out, visiting
foreign countries and importuning the governments to establish departments for
collecting and exchanging crop data, through a central organization. As a
prophet is not without honor save in his own country, Mr. Lubin
was forced to meet with discouragement after discouragement at Washington, but
finally succeeded in overcoming the opposition and being appointed to represent
this country at the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome. For it was
in King Victor Emanuel of Italy that Mr. Lubin first
found a willing ear and a mind quick to grasp his idea and appreciate its
importance to the world. He built a palace for the use of the institute, and
endowed it with $12,000 a year, or $60,000. It stands on an eminence in a
lovely spot of the beautiful Villa Borghese, and
their Mr. Lubin resides and carries on his life work.
There in 1905 the delegations from the various powers gathered and signed a
convention to create the institute, but not till 1910 did Mr. Lubin see the culmination of his hopes, when the first
single numerical statement of six nations was published, and in August, the
following month, data from eleven nations followed. In 1912 fifty nations
provided the necessary data. Russia being the last one to
join, after long and repeated solicitation by Mr. Lubin.
The principal wheat-growing countries are now all represented, and the farmer
today can now know the total crop prospects or output of ninety-five per cent
of the land in the world and ninety-eight per cent of the world's population --
a practical world's summary. He has all the information properly possessed by
the middleman and the speculator, who can no more exploit his ignorance, to his
own advantage and the detriment of the producer. The nations are contributing
liberally to the support of the institute. Returns are now being gathered for
other crops and products as well as the cereals, and the work of the
institute is expanding in many other directions also. It is a work of building
up and making life easier, and the results of Mr. Lubin's persistence and enthusiasm will live long after
him.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 833-834. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.