REPORT ON MOSOiUITOES. 143 



the board that has jurisdiction in the danger area and request 

 that it take action. 



Under the law as it stands the owner of the property on which 

 the nuisance- is situated can be ordered to abate it; if he fails to 

 do so, it may be abated by the Board and the amount recovered 

 from tlie owner. 



The State Board of Health has general jurisdicticju within 

 the State, concurrent with local boards and in some cases its 

 jurisdiction is exclusive. It has no power to compel local boards 

 to act, but as it has all the powers of the local boards it may, in 

 case of necessity, compel the abatement of a nuisance for the 

 benefit of the community at large. So far as local conditions 

 go, this machinery, though a little clumsy, would work satisfac 

 torily provided a determined effort be made, but there is nothing 

 that makes it compulsory for the State Board to interfere in local 

 matters and the local boards have nt) right to demand action from 

 the State Board. 



Matters become complicated, however, when the source of the 

 mosquito trouble is miles away from the point where the nuis- 

 ance exists, and where property and other interests are imperiled. 

 In some parts of Atlantic County mosquitoes are so bad at times 

 that even the Italian berry pickers refuse to work, entailing se- 

 rious loss upon the growers, and, in the pines, manv a family has 

 been literally driven out by them. Lakewood in the Pines is 

 well known for its beautiful location and natural advantages, but 

 there are many other places in the ]jine belt, equallv accessible, 

 equally beautiful and ec^uallv available for either a summer or 

 winter resort. But the marsh mosquitoes are the bane of all 

 these localities, and land is held at from 50 cents to $5.00^ an acre. 



None of these localities can help themselves, however willing 

 they may be to do so. Nor can the owner of the marsh lands, 

 which often produce no revenue, be reasonably required to ex- 

 pend more monev than the lands are worth to put them into such 

 condition that they will not breed the mosquitoes that annoy a 

 population miles away. Some jurisdictions have more acres of 

 marsh land than thev have inhabitants, and breed mosquitoes 

 enough to supply as manv square miles as they have acres, and to 

 impose a dutv of drainage upon sucli a community where the 

 benefit would accrue to outsiders chiefly, would be unjust. 



The truth is that the matter of dealing with the salt marsh or 

 migratory mosquitoes is a State problem. Only the State has 

 universal jurisdiction ; only the State can compel co-operation, 

 and the State owes a duty to the large community living within 

 the range of these salt marsh forms. It is not suggested that 



