26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 



dent in his message. I have no doubt, from my talk with the Secretary 

 of Agriculture, and with the President, that that message will contain 

 a very earnest request to the Congress, advice to the Congress, to adopt 

 legislation that will look to help a long ways towards suppressing this evil, 

 language containing this national aspect of the question, as it is now pre- 

 sented and is now in existence. 



Mr. Burgess, I see by the papers, has introduced a bill in Congress, em- 

 bracing this idea, this present plan, as mapped out by the Secretary of 

 Agriculture; but, gentlemen, please don't consider that that fight is won. 

 A fight upon the floor of Congress, for any measure, is never won, until 

 it has finally received the President's signature. The Louisiana delega- 

 tion, the Texas delegation, the Arkansas delegation, the Mississippi dele- 

 gation, all of the cotton growing States are earnest and zealous, and will 

 be in their efforts to accomplish legislation by the Congress along those 

 lines; but I tell you that we can be sustained and helped out, more than 

 you can well imagine, when we are backed by the unanimous opinion and 

 zealous efforts of our people at home. It is always a source of great en- 

 couragement to a Congressman, when he takes the floor to speak upon 

 any question, to know that his people are in full accord with him, and by 

 their good wishes, and their efforts, are co-operating with him at home. 

 So I ask you to-day, when you pass your resolutions, to make them 

 strong, make them broad, make them liberal, don't attempt to localize this 

 trouble. Let us go there on something from which we can appeal to the 

 whole nation, as the people of Massachusetts appealed to us, in the last 

 Congress, in the 57th Congress, with a matter in my mind, identical with 

 this one in character, and a bill that I voted for, readily, cheerfully, gladly. 



They came to us with a proposition to appropriate $3000,000.00, placing 

 it at the disposal of the Secretary of Agriculture, to stamp out, suppress 

 and eradicate the foot and mouth disease of the cattle, then existing in 

 Massachusetts. Why they had no trouble ; no effort was made hardly ; 

 we all readily saw the national character of the question, and we voted 

 for the appropriation ; and I am glad to say that the report from the Agri- 

 cultural Department shows that only $150,000.00 of that was used, leaving 

 a balance of the same amount, which Secretary Wilson intimated would 

 still remain in his hands, and might be used for this purpose in case of an 

 emergency So, I say, we can appeal to those people from that standpoint. 

 and we can go to New England showing the great interest we all have, 

 as a nation, in the preservation of the supremacy of the cotton of this 

 country, in the cotton market of the world. I have no doubt that we can 

 accomplish something; we will do something that will help to eradicate 

 this evil. In the meantime, there must be local legislation that will per- 

 mit our State Government to co-operate with the national government, in 

 coping with this national trouble, in every way. 



Now, I have not looked far enough into the laws now existing, to know 



