FRIDAY EVENING SESSION, FEBRUARY 6, 1920 



(The meeting was called to order at 840 by President Hudson). 



President Hudson : Mr. Gaskill, the Director of the Depart- 

 ment of Conservation and Development, will speak on the object and 

 aims of the mosquito work. 



What We Are Working For 



Alfred Gaskill 



Director, New Jersey State Department of Conservation and 



Development 



You have listened to reports of the mosquito-control work done 

 by the extermination commissions of eleven counties and several 

 outside agencies. There has been some incidental reference to what 

 our state, as an entity, has not done. You have also heard something 

 about the scientific aspects of mosquito control and a little welcome 

 appreciation of what is being done in Jersey. It occurs to me that 

 the presentation is not complete without a background, or setting, 

 which shall resolve these various elements into a coherent whole. 



It has been said that some men never see a forest for the beautiful 

 and interesting trees ; without assuming that that applies here it may 

 be profitable to consider these efforts in mosquito control as figures, 

 or features, upon a canvas. Standing alone, or even as dominants, 

 these figures lack proportion, and the picture is criticised, or conr 

 demned, because it is not harmonious. It is only when each element 

 is assigned its proper relative value, and an adequate background is 

 provided, that the desired effect is produced. 



If this be too fanciful a view for such practical folk as mosquito 

 fighters, bear with me a moment ; I shall dwell upon it only long 

 enough to emphasize a conviction that as isolated figures, however 

 well-grouped, cannot make a picture, our present effort lacks the 

 coordinating, valuing quality that state effort and state-wide interest 

 alone can give. That is, if mosquito control is as closely related to 

 state welfare, and state development, as we believe it to be, must 

 it not be brought into closer touch with other state, as distinguished 

 from local, interests? In a word, must it not become a vital part of 

 the state's road program, school program, industrial program, food 

 program ? 



