February, '10] INSPECTORS' PROCEEDINGS 67 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES GOVERNING 



THE ASSOCIATION 



1. The first and principal duty of the horticultural inspector is to his con- 

 stituents, the farmers and fruit growers of his state. 



2. Inspection, quarantine and similar laws are passed for the protection 

 of these interests, and so far as the inspector is charged with the enforce- 

 ment of the laws he must keep in mind always their purpose, no matter 

 what the effect may be on other interests. 



3. The inspector owes the nurserymen whose stock he inspects fair treat- 

 ment and all the consideration that the law allows him to accord, but 

 nothing else. 



4. The inspection laws, although meant primarily to protect the horticul- 

 tural and agricultural interests, are not intended to injure the nursery 

 interests, and they should never be made to bear any more severely upon 

 growers of stock than is absolutely necessary. 



5. Between the honest nurseryman and the inspector there should be 

 cooperation and an attitude of helpful interest on the part of the former. 



6. The dishonest nurseryman, or one who wishes to dispose of question- 

 able stock to avoid loss, deserves no consideration whatever. 



7. The Association of Horticultural Inspectors is a voluntary one, and its 

 members are bound by none of the actions taken at the meetings except as 

 they approve themselves to their judgment. 



8. The relation between the members is that of colleagues or comrades 

 engaged In efforts to the same end, under different conditions, seeking mutual 

 help and information, by free conference at the meetings. 



9. As colleagues, each member owes to every other member frankness, 

 honesty and a belief that every man is doing the best he can under his 

 circumstances, and that his certificates are honestly given, and state facts 

 correctly. 



10. Each member recognizes the possibility of error in his own work and 

 in that of others, and recognizes also that the receipt of a parcel of infested 

 stock bearing a certificate is not necessarily evidence of either carelessness 

 or lack of proper system on the part of the inspector whose certificate is 

 attached. 



11. Each member, whenever he gets track of a parcel of infested stock 

 bearing the certificate of a fellow member, owes it to that fellow member 

 to notify him immediately of all the facts in the case, that an investigation 

 may be made by the inspector concerned and a continued misuse of his cer- 

 tificate prevented. 



12. Whenever any inspector has reason to believe that any nurseryman 

 in his state is willing to run risks of shipping stock not suitable for inter- 

 state trade into another state, it is his duty to warn the inspectors of neigh- 

 boring states into which he has reason to believe stock may be sent, that 

 stock from such nursery is open to suspicion. 



13. It is the duty of every member of this Association to answer frankly 

 and freely every question asked by a fellow member concerning nurseries or 

 other conditions in his state, and it is the duty of the member so informed 

 to consider this information as confidential and not for publication. 



14. In case at any time a certificate be withdrawn or a nurseryman hold- 



