A. G. L. Rogers 117 



as on the score that it goes too far. But for many reasons, I think it 

 is a great step in the right direction. It establishes the principle of 

 international action in the first place, and of international unity in 

 the second. It implies direct administrative effort to control dangerous 

 plant diseases, and it checks excessive and unreasoning restrictions. 

 It is based on the principle of mutual trust, and the procedure con- 

 templated is the productive method of the eradication of disease at 

 home in place of the present wasteful system of inspection of foreign 

 consignments. It will, I hope, promote trade and not hinder it. It 

 will benefit both the nurseryman and the consumer. These considera- 

 tions cannot be overlooked by administrators and pure economists. But 

 on this occasion it is natural that other questions should be asked. 

 Scientists may well demand whether it will promote the cause of 

 learning, and encourage research or if it will by establishing adminis- 

 trative rules and procedure, which will tend to become stereotyped and 

 inelastic, hinder the application of new scientific discoveries and become 

 a bar to progress. It is difficult to forecast the future. We all know 

 how the wisest laws, if maintained after the need for them has ceased, 

 prove instruments of reaction, and it is impossible to say that no flaw 

 will ever be found in this Convention, or that it will never be open to 

 criticism. There are some people who object to State action in such 

 matters on principle, and others who do not believe that regulations 

 can check the spread of disease. Such persons will no doubt view the 

 whole idea of a Convention with disapproval. But to those who are 

 prepared to accept the principle that epidemic diseases can be checked by 

 State action, and probably by State action alone, I would point out that 

 this is the first time that any Convention, so far as I am aware, has 

 made it an essential part of the obligations of each adhering State, 

 that scientific research must be associated with administrative action : 

 that this Convention gives economic biology and phytopathology a 

 status they never had before, and both directly and indirectly offers 

 a new field for scientific research. 



