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State geologist, and in another a political manager and lawyer is to be 
made inspector of mines, why may not in a third State a politician be 
made the official entomologist? Ifa political party is to reorganize the 
technical staff of an experiment station to suit its own political ¢ »m- 
plexion, if other States are to use these technical positions for State, 
local, or institutional politics, what sort of hands will these interests 
be likely to fall into? 
I speak of all these matters here, not with the idea of complaining, 
or with feelings of envy or jealousy, and certainly not from political 
motives, but because the influences of such actions are far-reaching, 
and go far beyond institution or State, and throw every scientific man 
in the country into more or less disrepute, so that when we come to 
stand up by the side of our fellows in other countries, where such 
irregularities are not permissible, we are at a serious disadvantage. 
Therefore, instead of offering a tirade against these objectionable 
features, | am simply pleading for a higher standard of applied scien- 
tific work, because, as I have said, the term science stands for accuracy, 
exactness, and truthfulness, and witbout these no economic investiga- 
tions, in whatever science, can be of permanent value, but are sure to 
be vague and misleading. Instill the same scientific exactness into our 
economic studies that characterizes similar studies elsewhere, and to 
these add our push, energy, and ingenuity, and we need not fear to 
face the best that the world can bring to match us. 
The complaint is often made that entomologists frequently duplicate 
the work of each other. In the case of inexperienced men this is doubt- 
less to some extent true, but with trained workers, located in places 
differing in almost every respect from each other, there is much to be 
done that at first may appear unnecessary. If the entomologists of 
every State were to set to work on the same species, we should have 
results that would more than doubly repay any slight duplication. 
Proof is only secured by duplication, and variation can only be studied 
by uniform and systematic work carried on over large areas. The 
same insect differs radically in the North and the South, in the East 
and the West, and, as we all know, a measure for its suppression may 
be effective in one section and entirely ineffective in another. 
Now, while, as I have stated, we probably lead the world in applied 
entomology, unless we can have such a condition of environment as will 
enable us to do as good or better work than in the past, we shall not 
long hold this precedence. There is too much work purporting to 
be scientific (and by the word scientific I mean truthful) that is mis- 
named, and is being put forth merely for effect. 
I have sketched, truthfully, | believe, the present condition of eco- 
nomic entomology in America. It would be manifestly unjust to give 
such an explanation without accompanying it with a statement of the 
conditions which govern our movements and investigations. If scien- 
tifie work is to be done in experiment stations, these must be under the 
