PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 47 



for a living all through the past years of low prices of cotton, but who 

 to-day are prosperous and happy, and with the very probable good prices 

 of cotton for the next few years, see a bright future for their prosperity 

 and for the welfare of their families. But if we allow this rice farmer to 

 destroy this hope of a bright future, by allowing him a further privilege 

 of obtaining his feed from any section he may see fit, without regard to the 

 prosperity and happiness of his neighbor cotton farmers we then be- 

 come a party to the crime, and we, as business men, depending for our 

 prosperity upon the prosperity of the cotton farmer, will suffer equally as 

 much. 



"The objection to the quarantine idea may be raised, due to the fact that 

 should we shut out Texas products, feed stuffs will have to be brought 

 from greater distances, thereby increasing the cost of feed bills to the 

 rice and sugar planters of the State. Whatever increase of cost this may 

 cause would not be the one-hundredth part of the damage brought upon 

 the cotton industry should it be infested with the boll weevil, and I 

 know, as far as my parish is concerned, our lands are so fertile, that there 

 is no acre anywhere to be found that, with proper cultivation and good 

 drainage, cannot raise as good corn, oats and forage crops as the State of 

 Texas, and should the increased cost of feed be such as to teach our rice 

 farmers, the necessity, both for their own welfare and for the good of 

 our parish, of their raising their own grain and forage crops, the lesson 

 will prove to be a God-send instead of a hardship. 



"There may be some doubt as to the result of this quarantine not keep- 

 ing out the boll weevil ; we claim that it is worth trying, and by enforcing 

 it strictly and providing a heavy penalty for its violation, would be one 

 of the best means to try to keep out the pest. 



"We would also suggest that the Legislature, in special session, be 

 called upon to enact laws for the strict enforcement of this quarantine, 

 and also to forbid that any specimens of the boll weevil, dead or alive, 

 be brought from Texas into our State, and we should also request the. 

 Postmaster General to issue strict orders to all postmasters in the in- 

 fested districts of Texas to prevent the mailing of any insects to other 

 parts of the country. 



"These measures, together with any other measures that this Conven- 

 tion may suggest, that would result in making a most serious effort in 

 keeping out the boll weevil, we will most earnestly support." 



Here Capt. Davenport announced that there would be a meeting of the 

 Committee on Resolutions at the St. Charles Hotel, at 8:30 o'clock p. m. 



The Convention thereupon adjourned to Tuesday, December 1st, at 10 

 o'clock. 



