160 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 12 



carry through a campaign of education and stimulation. In fact, in 

 planning any comprehensive program of insect control there is reason 

 for adopting a definite schedule of educating the people, in order that 

 they may give to the problem intelligent and competent support, 

 financial and otherwise. 



At the best, the results of such a program of education will fall far 

 short of the mark that one would like to set. When it would seem 

 that certainly every citizen in the state must have come to understand 

 the principal facts about a disastrous insect outbreak, the entomologist 

 certainly will discover that six out of ten of those with whom he talks 

 have practically no real conception of the problem and probably are 

 sadly mixed in such information as they have absorbed. 



It follows that every available means must be used if a considerable 

 percentage of the public is to be reached and to be taught the essential 

 facts that eventually the property owner must know. The newspapers 

 will reach some, although their message will actually get into the 

 minds of a much smaller number than one at first anticipates. Cir- 

 culars and bulletins serve their purpose, but here, again, I doubt if 

 more than one out of five mailed out is read or absorbed by the recip- 

 ient. Posters can be made to help, provided they are very brief, so 

 that their import can be seized at a glance. Any printed matter should 

 invariably be simple, concise, void of technical terms and well illus- 

 trated. One page is better than two if one can possibly suffice. Two 

 pages are better than four. 



The spoken word will get a message home where no circular or bulle- 

 tins can find entry. People will listen to that which you say though 

 they may lay aside that which j^ou have had printed for them. The 

 best combination is the spoken word, reinforced by the printed circular 

 distributed at the same time, and exemplified by the insect itself or 

 its work actually exhibited. 



At the best, there is apt to be difficulty enough in getting adequate 

 funds for a real campaign of eradication or of strict suppression of a 

 threatening insect. Certainly sufficient funds constitute an absolutely 

 vital factor if the campaign is one of this nature. If it requires $100,000 

 to suppress a new insect at the beginning of its career, to spend half 

 of that sum may be practically to throw the money away. The cam- 

 paign must go the whole way. To stop short of the whole task is to 

 build a bridge that lacks one or two spans. It may be an excellent 

 structure to look at but it will be no good as a bridge. 



And, finally, there is the limitation of human capabilities among 

 those who are planning and directing the campaign. I believe that 

 seldom, indeed, shall we find, in the same man, the qualities that will 

 make him successful in conducting the scientific investigation of an 



