By mistake, Francis went to the wrong office and soon found himself working for the Corn Products Refining Company, a small food manufacturing firm.
[1] After working for Corn Products and Ralston Purina, Francis joined the Postum Company (later General Foods) in 1924.
In 1949, Francis was appointed by Secretary of Interior Julius A. Krug to chair an official United States Citizens Committee for the United Nations Scientific Conference on Conservation and Utilization of Resources, held in August of that year at Lake Success, New York.
He became a special consultant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower with the responsibility of disposing of the vast agricultural surpluses which the federal government had accumulated.
[4] At the same time he served as chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Hoover Report, and was the American representative on the European Productivity Agency.