oil Mosquito Extermination. 21 



which has been done here and elsewhere during the past two 

 years to show that mosquitoes in any definite region can be re- 

 duced to a point far below the danger line and quite within the 

 comfort line, and in many instances it has been shown that 

 they can be exterminated at least for a time. This work will 

 undoubtedly continue, but there are many communities which 

 need constant prodding. The organization of the anti-mosquito 

 forces in this convention which you are to hold will greatly 

 stimulate public opinion, and will induce many of the indifferent 

 to take a more sanguine view of possibilities, and perhaps more 

 energetic action towards actual work. 



Yours sincerelv, 



L. O. Howard. 



Chairman : I propose next to call upon Mr, William J. 

 IVIatheson, who is "The Father of the Movement on the North 

 Shore of Long Island." Mr. Matheson is a near neighbor of 

 mine. My family state that they never had any mosquitoes at 

 their home until Mr. Matheson moved in the neighborhood and 

 began his efforts to exterminate the mosquitoes upon his prem- 

 ises. I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Matheson. 



i\Ir. Matheson : I have talked mosquitoes so frequently 

 during the past four or five years that I felt it was only safe to 

 dictate what I had to say for fear of over-running the limit of 

 six minutes of time given me. 



DOES EXTERMINATION EXTERMINATE MOSQUITOES ? 



Mr. William J. Matheson. 



Some five years ago, when I purchased an estate on Lloyd 

 Neck, Long Island, with a frontage on Oyster Bay and Lloyd 

 Harbor, I was told by my friends who were familiar \\\i\\ the 

 property, and by residents of the town in which it was situated, 

 that I had secured one of the most desirable places in the 

 vicinity of New York for a summer home, but that I could 

 only occupy it in the winter, on account of the mosquitoes. 

 Confident as I was of the possibility of exterminating the pests, 

 the uniform testimony that came to me, directly and indirectly, 



