Norman Jay Colman

Colman, Norman Jay, 1827–1911, American agriculturist and lawyer, b. near Richfield Springs, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Louisville law school, 1851. He promoted the passage of the Hatch Act (1887), which authorized the creation of agricultural experiment stations. As commissioner of agriculture (1885–89) he was influential in causing the Dept. of Agriculture to be made an executive department (1889) represented in the cabinet; he was the first Secretary of Agriculture.

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