Diary 1963 - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

Diaries 1963-2My instructor in Soil Chemistry, Dr. Benninghoff, has had more to do with the developmentof the Indio region than anybody else. I had a wonderful greeting there, the best conferences at toplevels, and I know enough about the technical side of these things to be treated very seriously andfound that all my suggestions had just been put into practice this last year—they were not in operationbefore—and have been successful. The end of it was a farewell comparable to all I have had inAsia, the first one in America, and I may be in the midst of a big Chamber of Commerce campaignsoon on another matter not related to Dates or Soil Chemistry but to one of my projects close to theAmerican Friends of the Middle East.In the meanwhile I was getting the usual snubs in regard to the Asian problems. I was refusedpoint blank permission to attend a so-called conference on Asia. The chief speakers were two Americanprofessors, one American and English Diplomat. Not a single Asian Consulate in this regionwas represented on the panels unless the doubtful one of Taiwan. My rejection raised my status, notlowered it.So I attended a debate on the world food problems. The chief speakers were a Dr. Dornbush, asociologist of Stanford; Dr. Karl Brandt, a food expert of Stanford; and Dr. Mehrens, head of Agriculturalmarketing at U. C. Berkeley. They agreed—that they should speak in English. The agreementended there.When the impasse became impossible I threw some questions at Dornbush, and this PhD, B.Sc.,L.L.D. and PDQ did a topsy-turvy and when he challenged me he was spurlos versankt. The worstof it is that if the other professors had said the same thing he would not have accepted it and headmitted in pubic I was right.No gloating. The meeting was on food and population. My arguments were that we could quadruplethe food supply and I got a lot of applause from Catholic priests who want to use this as anargument against family planning. I am all for family planning and then some.I understand Dr. Brandt who may play a big part in my book—a larger part than anybody notconnected with the UC or USDA research. Brandt agreed to see me at any time. Anyhow I wrote Dr.Mehrens a letter and received the most beautiful and cordial reply I have ever had from anybody.Two days later: Mehrens has just been appointed as Asst. Secretary of Agriculture, in charge of Marketing.Where do we go from here?Another one of my scientific stories is in connection with Dr. Robert Miller, of the Academy ofSciences, G.G. Park. I had written Miller of my work abroad and had a very favorable reaction.Now darlings, there are two Americans and I won’t go into details: for every one that sees“Cleopatra” 10 or a 100 see the Aquarium at G.G. Park and you can bet that the press and the USIAand the TV have no time for it. It is easy enough to get a seat at any of the high-pressured movies togetting standing room today at the Aquarium not counting the enormous crowds at the Planetarium,the Science Buildings and even the De Young Museum. This America is not known abroad, or evenat home.