14 



would be dear at auy price, and wliicli must be accepted unquestioned 

 and must be paid for in advance to get the rate. Sucli stuff, set out 

 to make an orchard, never does well, but often lingers long* enough 

 to become a source of serious danger to the neighborhood. 



Incidentally this briugs up the question of imported pests of recent 

 introduction and limited spread. Is there really no method of meeting 

 these creatures ? It is not so long ago that the expenditure of a few 

 hundred dollars would ha^e exterminated the pear midge in the 

 United States; it has by this time destroyed fruit valued at as many 

 thousands. At present the Agrilus sinuattis, which is destroying the 

 pear trees in a limited part of Kew Jersey, can bo exterminated at 

 comparatively small cost; if allowed to spread it will soon get beyoud 

 control and pear growing will become a burden instead of a source of 

 profit. At i>resent I would guarantee to exterminate it for $5,000, with 

 a law giving me a right of entry only. In ten years ten times that sum 

 will make no impression on it. 



In this very State of Massachusetts we have a striking example of 

 a destructive increase of an imported pest — the gypsy moth — and an 

 interesting experiment in the direction of its destruction by the State. 

 There are to be two papers on this subject, I am informed, and there 

 will probably be a discussion on the i^rinciples concerned in the matter 

 of dealing with impoi^ted pests. But I will take the liberty of offering 

 just a few remarks here, not on the methods employed, but on the gen- 

 eral principles involved. Under our scheme of government the indi- 

 vidual States jealously reserve to themselves all matters of internal 

 interest, and the Federal authorities are excluded from all save a fairly 

 well-determined class of subjects. But no State seems to owe any duty 

 to its neighbors, and Connecticut can not force Massachusetts to pro- 

 tect it from an invasion by any Massachusetts pest, nor can it claim 

 damages for any resulting injury. Each State is thrown upon its own 

 resources for the ])rotection of its own citizens. Connecticut took no 

 steps to restrain the spread of the j)ear midge, and >Tew York and New 

 Jersey, though they are sufferers by the neglect, can make no com- 

 plaint; but these States have in turn left the matter to individual 

 effort, and Pennsylvania and Delaware, when their turn comes, will 

 most likely adoi^t the same policy of noninterference. There is noth- 

 ing, in other Avords, to prevent the spread of this insect over the entire 

 United States except the limitations imposed by nature itself. Just 

 what they are remains to be seen. 



Massachusetts owes no duty to other States to protect them from the 

 gypsy moth. She owes a duty to her citizens only, to the extent that 

 her citizens in a legal way themselves determine by their own repre- 

 sentatives. If in protecting themselves they protect their neighbors 

 also, they deserve no credit for this result and have no claim for assist- 

 ance. Yet it is a very grave question whether Massachusetts is not 

 entitled to the assistance of her neighbors or of the General Govern- 



