THE NEW EARTH 



giving their lives to the development of the 

 New Earth. 



If the nation were compelled to pay out, say, 

 as a war indemnity, or for some loan incurred 

 through national extravagance or unthrift, a 

 sum equal to the loss now sustained by insect 

 pests, it would arouse universal revolt; and 

 should it be known that the enormous sum 

 was a matter of annual payment, to be indefi- 

 nitely extended, apprehension of a deep and 

 vital type must take hold on the public. For 

 the losses in the United States in the past 

 ten years through insect pests, without con- 

 sidering indirect losses, in themselves vast, 

 have been seven billions of dollars, — an amount 

 more than three times the national debt, a 

 colossal sum even in a wealthy nation accus- 

 tomed to large figures. And the loss is pro- 

 gressing at the rate of seven hundred millions 

 of dollars a year, — enough to pay all the ex- 

 penses of the nation, including the pension roll 

 and the maintenance of the army and navy. 



To combat these pests which annually do 

 such vast harm, the ingenuity of man has been 

 taxed to the utmost. Science has come for- 

 ward with her formula and methods. Inven- 



86 



