PROTECTING AMERICAN CROP PLANTS 77 



We ha"\'e these plant enemies, therefore, both actual and poten- 

 tial, in all foreign countries. We shall always have them, and the 

 more intensive our agricultural and horticultural practices become, 

 the more likely are we to suffer from alien plant foes. 



Secmid. No system of plant inspection or no plan of plant 

 exclusion will suffice to entirely control the spread of these foreign 

 crop foes. There are no longer hermit kingdoms in the world. 

 Barring periods of War, men must move about freely over the earth 

 and the waters of the sea. Travel and commerce are international. 

 The good things of mankind and the bad things of mankind go with 

 mankind. Wherever he goes they go. Willingly or unwillingly, 

 knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, man is 

 the direct and indirect agent for the transportation of things that 

 may make him or things that may break him. Recognizing these 

 fundamental truths, there are two things that man may do to meet 

 the situation. He may adopt a laisser-faire doctrine and say that 

 what is to be will be, or he may take measures which while not 

 curative will at least be palliative. 



Third. The elaborate and systematic activities for the preven- 

 tion of the spread of diseases among man and domestic animals 

 and the preliminary steps that have been taken with respect to 

 plants along this line are all palliative. Despite every precaution, 

 diseases come in, but it has come to be recognized as a fundamental 

 tenet that these palliative measures pay. Every civilized country 

 in the world now practices these measures. Naturally the most 

 intensive efforts have been made in the direction of protecting the 

 health of mankind. Next, the most elaborate and to some extent 

 the most perfect system has to do with the prevention of the 

 spread of animal diseases throughout the world. These palliative 

 or protective measures, therefore, have come to be regarded by 

 all civilized countries as a form of insurance, highly essential and 

 necessary to the public welfare. 



We have now seen that actual and potential enemies to our crop 

 plants exist in all parts of the world ; that no system of inspection 

 or exclusion will completely keep these enemies out; that we may 

 fold our hands and let matters take care of themselves, or we may 

 adopt certain measures which are palliative and which are well 

 worth while, for they constitute a form of insurance that civilized 

 countries have found it to their interests to carry. 



