160 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-XVI 



been growing more and more happy and the German pro 

 ducers more and more unhappy over this fact, when sud 

 denly there came from the American side accounts of the 

 scale-insects discovered on pears in California, and of se 

 vere measures taken by sundry other States of our Union 

 to prohibit their importation. The result was a prohibi 

 tion of our fruits in Germany, and this was carried so far 

 that not only pears from California, but all other fruits, 

 from all other parts of the country, were at first put under 

 the ban ; and not only fresh but dried and preserved fruits. 

 As a matter of fact, there was no danger whatever from 

 the scale-insect, so far as fruit was concerned. The 

 creature never stirs from the spot on the pear to which 

 it fastens itself, and therefore by no possibility can it 

 be carried from the house where the fruit is consumed 

 to the nurseries where trees are grown. We took pains to 

 show the facts in the case; dealing fairly and openly 

 with the German Government, allowing that the importa 

 tion of scale-infested trees and shrubs might be danger 

 ous, and making no objection to any fair measures 

 regarding these. The Foreign Office was reasonable, and 

 gradually the most vexatious of these prohibitions were 

 removed. 



But the war with Spain drew on, and animosities, so 

 far as the press on both sides of the water was concerned, 

 grew worse. Various newspapers in Germany charged 

 our government with a wonderful assortment of high 

 crimes and misdemeanors ; but, happily, in their eagerness 

 to cover us with obloquy, they frequently refuted each 

 other. Thus they one day charged us with having pre 

 pared long beforehand to crush Spain and to rob her of 

 her West Indian possessions, and the next day they 

 charged us with plunging into war suddenly, recklessly, 

 utterly careless of the consequences. One moment they 

 insisted that American sailors belonged to a deteriorated 

 race of mongrels, and could never stand against pure- 

 blooded Spanish sailors; and the next moment, that we 

 were crushing the noble navy of Spain by brute force. 



