PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 35 



men of this country to deal with the subject and ultimately eradicate 

 the pest, but, in the mean time, practically the only money crop of the 

 South is threatened with extinction. 



In view of a strong belief, entertained by the highest authority on 

 the subject, that the destruction of our cotton crops can be indefinitely 

 delayed or materially retarded, it is highly important that we adopt legis- 

 lation conferring on some organized authority the power to prevent 

 the importation into our State of any goods, wares or merchandise from 

 which the Mexican boll weevil is liable to be brought into our State, 

 and also to confiscate any crop or property infected with said pests, to 

 the end of preventing its spread, or, if possible, to eradicate it. 



The following excerpt from an editorial in the Shreveport Times, of 

 date November 24th, does not overestimate the importance of immediate 

 action on the subject: 



"The entire cotton belt is threatened by the boll weevil. Throughout 

 the South it is realized that unless decisive and prompt measures are 

 taken to arrest its progress, the weevil will in course of time destroy 

 a most important industry. That is why there was such unanimity 

 of action among suothern Congressmen in the effort to secure government 

 co-operation in the movement to exterminate or repress the boll worm. 

 It is proposed to have Congress provide for the creation of a special 

 commission to work out a plan for the extermination of the pest. 



"If the representatives of the people of the entire South appreciate 

 the necessity of prompt action in this matter, how much greater should 

 the people of Louisiana, which borders the infested State, feel the 

 need of decisive measures. Louisiana, by virtue of her geographical 

 position, is in much greater peril than any other Southern State. The 

 boll weevil is almost at her western border and she holds the key, as 

 it were, to this decidedly unpleasant situation. 



"It is impossible to overestimate the necessity of promptly devising 

 measures against the boll weevil in this State. Hesitation or evasion 

 would prove ruinous not only to the cotton interests of Louisiana, but 

 of the entire South. If we grasp the problem firmly and promptly, the 

 cotton interests may be rescued from the danger which now confronts 

 them." 



It is folly for anyone to minimize the injury wrought to the cotton 

 interests by the boll weevil. The subjoined table shows the yield of 

 cotton, in soo-pound bales, for the four years of 1899, 1900, 1901 and 

 1902, in the counties of Texas densely infected by the weevil. 



The President: The next subject, the last one on the program for 

 to-day, is the "Constitutionality of Proposed Legislation," by Judge 

 Walter Guion, Attorney General of Louisiana, of New Orleans. 



Before reading his paper, Judge Guion made a brief statement, as 

 follows : 



