David Lubin

David Lubin
Lubin, in Rome
Born	10 June 1849 Poland
Died	1 January 1919 Rome, Italy
Occupation	Businessman
Children	Simon J. Lubin
Relatives	(half-brother)

David Lubin (10 June 1849 - 1 January 1919) was a merchant and agriculturalist. He was pivotal in founding the International Institute of Agriculture in 1908, in Rome.

He was born in Kłodawa,Poland. His family moved to England in 1853. On his father's death, David's mother married again and they emigrated to America. He received a scant education and at an early age was placed in a jewelry factory in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Finding slight opportunity of advancement there he drifted to California. He reached Sacramento, and after working at odd jobs he amassed sufficient funds to start a dry goods store of his own. He dealt largely in overalls and thus came in contact with the farmers of California, and as he met them in person he learned something of their problems. He started a prosperous mail order business with his half-brother Harris Weinstock and his sister Jeanette Levy. Lubin's One Price Store later became known as the Weinstock-Lubin Company.

While in Sacramento, he bought a fruit ranch near Sacramento and land for raising wheat. His knowledge of agriculture assisted him when he helped found the California Fruit Growers' Union. He then helped settle Eastern European Jewish refugees who worked on various farms in the area and, in 1891, he became the director of the International Society for the Colonization of Russian Jews. He then began to campaign for subsidies and protection for farmers, initially in California but eventually on an international scale.

In his new vocation of farmer, there came to him the idea of an international agricultural congress, whereby one side of the globe might learn what the other side was producing and how and at what costre. He began collecting statistics on the subject, studied plant life and domestic animals and made investigations into their diseases and sought remedies. His son, Simon, helped him develop a proposal for an international chamber of agriculture. In 1896, David Lubin moved to Europe to implement the proposal.

In Italy, in 1904, King Victor Emmanuel III saw the need for such an institution and gave it his ardent support, giving a building for the congress and an annual income of $60,000. In May 1908, the International Institute of Agriculture (the IIA) opened in Rome. The Institute's goals were to help farmers share knowledge, produce systematically, establish a cooperative system of rural credit, and have control over the marketing of their products. At the first gathering 40 nations were represented. In 1906, Lubin was appointed the permanent U.S. delegate to the IIA. In 1913 on the occasion of the meeting of the congress in Rome Mr. Lubin received a silver cup as a token of appreciation of his efforts in originating the organization. By 1919, 53 nations were represented at the IIA gatherings.

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