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drainage funds are being collected is 5,000 acres, or 23 per cent, 

 of the total area. 



It is probable that before the end of the year about half the 

 salt-marsh area of the State will be under mosquito drainage. 

 So you can see that we are making progress. The only opposi- 

 tion we meet is from those advocates of nonpreparedness who 

 wish to spare the mosquitoes in the hope that they would drive 

 any foreign army which might land on our shores back into 

 Long Island Sound. They might help, but Connecticut believes 

 in both preparedness and mosquito extermination. 



The President — A representative of the New York State 

 Board of Health is with us to-day, and we shall be happy to 

 have a word from him, Mr. Overton. 



Mr. Overton — Mr. Chairman, I represent the State Depart- 

 ment of Health. I don't think anyone from the State Depart- 

 ment of Health of New York, New Jersey, or anywhere else, 

 has spoken. Dr. Emerson represented the city. Next to New 

 Jersey I think Long Island is the most prolific mosquito breeding 

 place. Nassau County has taken this up in a very interesting 

 way. They have Dr. Emerson's tutilage, and are very well 

 enthused. » Suffolk County is further out, and among them there 

 are some old-fashioned hayseeders who tell us that when Gabriel's 

 trumpet blows the mosquito will be there. We have more prob- 

 lems in the middle of the island, in marshes that could not be 

 drained, and in others that could be. You can't compel the 

 owners to drain them themselves, and I don't believe there is 

 any such problem anywhere else than in Suffolk County. 



I want to say I have enjoyed these meetings. I don't know 

 any convention I ever attended where I have listened with rapt 

 attention from one end to the other, without a dry moment, as 

 I have at this. I congratulate you on the success of this meeting. 



The President — Now, gentlemen, as far as my information 

 goes, I have called upon everybody here whom I thought would 

 be interested to speak and whom we would be interested to hear. 

 There are doubtless many more who could give us something 

 worth while, that would add to the success of the meeting, and 

 I will open the floor to any gentleman who cares to speak. 



