138 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 12 



duties, or to committees who have neither the time nor wide knowledge 

 of the conditions that exist throughout the country, little of permanent 

 value is likely to result. 



Some office in the Bureau of Entomology or in the Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board should make a special study of these matters and after 

 becoming acquainted with all the details of the problem should make 

 an attempt to bring about better conditions. It is needless to say 

 that such a task calls for experience, skill, and the utmost tact, and 

 that improvement along these lines cannot be hastened by using a club. 

 Perhaps a committee of this association could cooperate to advantage 

 along these lines. 



In the control of introduced pests the problem is quite different. 

 During recent years the Federal Government has recognized its re- 

 sponsibility in this direction and an increasing amount of work is being 

 done. 



The control or extermination of introduced pests present many 

 difficult problems. In the first place the insect must be of great eco- 

 nomic importance and the necessity for active work must be well 

 recognized if it is to gain public support. It is impossible to accom- 

 plish results unless adequate funds are provided. If a skyscraper is to 

 be constructed the judgment of the architect is respected or he drops 

 the job. You cannot build a $10,000 house for $2,000 and few people 

 have the hardihood to attempt it. Yet it is not uncommon to see an 

 entomologist attempting to solve far more intricate and difficult prob- 

 lems in insect suppression with financial support which he and every 

 one else knows is inadequate. He tries to build the $10,000 house and if 

 perchance he is fortunate enough to lay the foundation with the funds 

 at his disposal, he congratulates himself that something has been ac- 

 complished, excuses the incompleteness of the work as best he can 

 and endeavors to secure more support in order to add another instal- 

 ment to the structure before the ravages of time undo the work that 

 has already been done. 



The results of this method are far-reaching. Because of inadequate 

 funds and superabundance of work, it is impossible to give the close 

 study to all the details which are necessary if the best results are to be 

 secured. There is also the tendency to secure quantity rather than 

 quality when assistants are employed and this must often be done be- 

 cause the funds are not available for a sufficient number of the best 

 experts. Under present conditions there is small inducement for young 

 men to specialize in entomology. When the expert can secure little 

 more than the untrained laborer, men of ability will naturally seek those 

 fields of employment where fair pay and the reasonable comforts of 

 life can be secured. If the most competent men are to be obtained to 



