Biographies
DAVID LUBIN
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 to a jewelry polisher in North Attleboro, Mass. In 1867, he drifted
to California and thence to Arizona, where he worked in Gray & Company'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 & Company,
in which he remained an active partner for many years.
A number of years ago, Mr. Lubin withdrew himself to an idea which he had conceived,
for 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 middlemen 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 Emmanuel 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. The King built a palace for the use of the Institute,
and endowed it with L12,000 a year, or $60,000. It
stands on the eminence in a lovely spot of the beautiful Villa Borghese, and there Mr. Lubin
resided and carried on his life work. There in 1905 the delegations from the
various powers gathered and signed a convention to create the institute, but
not until 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 of today can know the total crop prospects or
output of ninety-five percent of the land in the world and ninety-eight percent
of the world's population, a practical world summary. He has all the
information formerly 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 was the only international agency the efficiency and work
of which was not disrupted by the World War. In fact the International
Institute supplied the fundamental data for the Inter-allied Food Commission
during the trying days of war. Mr. Lubin, while
seemingly still active and in good health and at his post, was stricken in
death from influenza on January 1, 1919, at the age of seventy years. A man of
international fame, he had labored hard to improve the economic conditions of
the various countries. It was a work of love to him, for he enjoyed doing
service for others. It was a work of building up and making life easier, and
the results Mr. Lubin's persistency and enthusiasm
will live long after him.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page 279. Historic Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.