1906.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT --No. 73. 17 



Valuations of 1904 taken as Basis. 



Wherever valuations of real and personal property are referred 

 to in the gypsy and brown-tail moth suppression law, the valuations 

 of 1904 are meant. 



Wilful Resistance or Obstruction. 



Wilful resistance to or obstruction of any agent of the Com- 

 monwealth or of any city or town, while lawfully engaged in the 

 execution of the purposes of the moth-suppression law, is forbid- 

 den under penalty. 



THE WORK BEGUN. 



On May 8 the writer was called from New York, where 

 he was located at the time, at the request of His Excellency 

 W. L. Douglas, Governor of Massachusetts, to consider 



O 7 



accepting the position of superintendent for suppressing the 

 gypsy and brown-tail moths, and at an interview with His 

 Excellency May 10 the appointment was tendered. This 

 offer was wholly unexpected and unsolicited in any way. 

 The writer at once returned to New York and laid the 

 case fully before the business interests with which he was 

 connected. A release of services having been secured, 

 he returned to Boston, and on May 15 qualified for the 

 office. 



It was apparent that considerable time and effort must be 

 expended in preliminary work. There was no exact knowl- 

 edge of the bounds of the infested district ; no organization 

 was available for work ; the trained employees of the Board 

 of Agriculture had become widely scattered ; the somewhat 

 complex provisions of the law required careful study ; an 

 office force had to be organized and a careful system of ac- 

 counting devised, while tentative plans of work were required 

 almost immediatel}'. The only available assets, if such they 

 may be called, were the knowledge of effective methods 

 as developed by the previous State work, the records pre- 

 served by the Board of Agriculture and particularly the 

 availability of a limited number of trained men familiar with 

 the moths. The services of these men have been of the 

 greatest value. 



