Proce:i:dings 0^ Fii^TH Annuai. Me:eting 75 



seashore communities are those which should build up the back 

 country upon which the cities depend for food and labor and 

 much besides. Indeed, notwithstanding the great development 

 of our cities and home towns and resorts, it is easy to learn that 

 none of them have by any means exhausted their opportunities, 

 but that even in the most populous communities there still remain 

 great sections to be exploited. Hudson, Essex and Union coun- 

 ties will confirm this. With a few notable exceptions industrial 

 activities are restricted to the metropolitan district, the neigh- 

 borhood of Trenton and the neighborhood of Camden. Why 

 are there not factory towns all over the state, as there are in 

 Massachusetts, for example? Agriculture thrives in a few sec- 

 tions, especially in Monmouth and Gloucester counties, but in 

 others it has no great vitality in spite of the marvelous advan- 

 tages that are offered by our warm soils, moderate climate, and, 

 above all, nearby markets. 



Failing to find another sufficient reason, it appears that this 

 situation is due very largely, if not entirely, to the condition 

 which this conference has met to discuss. The cities and towns 

 about New York have grown in spite of the mosquito, because 

 their advantages are too great to be offset, and they will go on 

 growing because of those advantages, though I think that no 

 one here will deny that the opportunity to grow will increase in 

 direct proportion to the progress of mosquito control. 



In the same way there have grown up along the coast, on a 

 basis of natural attractions and in spite of the mosquitoes, a 

 number of resorts like that in which we are met; many other 

 locations have been started, but live more or less precariously; 

 still others have soon failed. The handicap of the mosquito is 

 too great for any but the sturdiest. 



The argicultural situation is more complicated than the urban, 

 the suburban or the resort; yet a glance at the map will show 

 you that there is some reason, at least, in the contention that our 

 thousands of abandoned farms, and hundreds of thousands of 

 undeveloped farm acres, can be charged to the account of the 

 mosquitoes. Some of the best lands in the state are within the 

 range of flight of the salt-marsh mosquito, and it is established 

 that farmis and farm communities frequently have been aban- 



