Lubin, David (1849–1919)

Polish-born US agriculturist. He fought the US railroads over practices that benefited the middlemen over agricultural growers and proposed that government subsidize the cost of shipping produce overseas. In 1896, at the International Agricultural Congress in Budapest, he realized that justice for the US farmer depended on justice for all farmers. For 12 years he sought a sovereign state to support an International Institute of Agriculture; in 1910 Italy agreed and the Institute's treaty was ratified by 46 nations. He was the US delegate to the Institute until his death.

Lubin was born in present-day Klodowa, Poland. His family settled in New York City in 1855. At age 16 he drifted west to San Francisco, California. In 1874 he opened a successful dry goods store with his half-brother in Sacramento, California. In 1884, on a visit to Palestine, he had a vision that his life should serve justice as did the prophet Israel's. Returning to Sacramento, he found a calling in agriculture.