34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 



cipal insects now in the United States have been introduced from 

 foreign countries, no effort on the part of the general government has 

 ever been made to prohibit the entrance of such pests. A national law 

 of this character would have excluded the boll weevil from the State 

 of Texas. 



It is true that in 1901, Senator Perkins introduced a bill into the 

 United States Senate providing rules and regulations governing the 

 importation of trees, plants, etc., and for the inspection of nursery stock 

 grown within the United States, which become subject to interstate 

 commerce or exportation, and while this act was reported favorably by 

 the Committee on Agriculture, it failed to pass. 



Necessity for such legislation on the part of the general govern- 

 ment is of absolute importance to the agricultural and horticultural 

 interests of the country, and this convention should energetically urge 

 upon our Senators and Representatives the importance of the subject. 

 Of course, an act could be drawn on lines broad and comprehensive 

 enough to cover the interstate branch of the immediate question now 

 under consideration, the prevention of the introduction of the boll 

 weevil from one State to another. 



We shall now direct our attention to the necessity of legislation on 

 the part of our State for the protection of our people against the im- 

 pending danger of the invasion of the boll weevil into the cotton pro- 

 ducing section of this State. 



The necessity of such legislation is of great importance for the protection 

 of our agricultural interests. The Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington strongly emphasizes the necessity of immediate legislation on 

 the subject, so as to enable the Federal Government to co-operate with 

 the State authorities in preventing the spread of the pest into our bor-' 

 ders, and the demand for it upon the part of the people has become 

 so strong that it should not long be delayed. 



Our geographical situation is such as to make our. State the key 

 to the situation. The State of Arkansas also occupies an important 

 position, and the federal authorities should call the attention of its 

 State authorities to the subject. The great cotton producing States on 

 the East can only be saved by prompt and energetic action on our 

 part. Some of these, States, notably Georgia, have already adopted 

 a quarantine against our State and the State of Texas. A regulation 

 recently adopted in that State prohibits the transportation of cotton seed 

 grown in Texas or Louisiana, or consigned from points within these 

 States, unless the same is accompanied by a certificate signed by a 

 duly authorized State or government entomologist, stating that said 

 cotton seed has been fumigated in such manner as to kill any boll 

 weevils, etc., which may be contained therein. 



I have an abiding faith in the intelligence and ability of the scientific 



