120 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



To offset this difficulty we may observe that full ten years have 

 been taken to accomplish what has already been done. A large 

 amount of this time has been consumed in educational propa- 

 ganda. The education which the country has received as to the 

 value of tick eradication will undoubtedly go a long way toward 

 overcoming the natural obstacles which confront the eradicators 

 in the territory still under quarantine. The wisdom of the policy 

 Tick Being fof the past shows clearly, and the merit of the movement is 

 Eliminated as ^Q^y generally recognized. With the majority of men, women 

 and children in the South now recognizing the importance of get- 

 ting rid of the cattle tick, a much larger amount of the effort of 

 the next ten years can be spent in active tick eradication work. 

 The tick-free area has now reached the sea coast and by the end 

 of the present calendar year we may expect to see released from 

 quarantine at least one state which was in 1906 entirely tick- 

 infested. This event will add to the impetus of the movement in 

 other states and state-wide tick-eradication laws will not only 

 appear on the statute books of all states where tick quarantine 

 exists, but they will be sincerely and energetically administered. 



We are thus rapidly adding to the country's tick-free terri- 

 tory. However, the common assumption that the eradication of 

 Tick Eradica- the cattle tick automatically adds just so much area to the cattle- 

 tion and the producing territory, is not exactly true. A large portion of the 

 Cattle Pro- ^ territory which has been released from quarantine during the last 

 torii^^ ^^"' ^^" years has always produced cattle of sorts, but in much of the 

 territory from which the tick is still to be driven out, the profit- 

 able production of beef cattle has been practically unknown. 



Let me make myself exactly clear on this point. I admit the 

 fact that in some sections which are primarily pasture sections, 

 beef cattle have been profitably produced where ticks have been 

 present and the infestation light, and considerable progress has 

 been made in breeding up native stock by the use of purebred 

 bulls. It is also a fact that in some sections where the "piney- 

 woods" cattle are common, the owners have made a profit. It is 

 still possible, no doubt, for a few individuals to make a living 

 from cattle of this type, but such a business, regarded in the 

 broad light of economics, cannot be said to be profitable as an 

 industry. If the proper charge had been made for the use of 

 the land over which these cattle grazed, the profit in their pro- 

 duction would probably be reduced to zero. 



