I20 N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 



It is good to hear of what this county and that has accompHshed; 

 of the increased appropriations that are available for their work; it 

 all evidences local satisfaction and local belief that the effort made 

 is worth while. But what about the state at large, whose interest it 

 is, if it is anybody's? Facing the jibes of the whole country, handi- 

 capped in our industries, our agriculture, our home attractions, our 

 recreations, our whole normal, coherent development, the Legisla- 

 ture, by providing one-seventeenth as much money as the counties 

 put up, leaves it to be inferred that that sum represents the state's 

 concern in an enterprise whose complete success is conditioned upon 

 efifective coordination. 



Of course, I am talking about salt-marsh mosquito control alone. 

 The conditions under which the fresh-water forms breed and become 

 harmful, or annoying, point to the propriety of leaving their con- 

 trol to local effort and amply justify the attention that several 

 county commissions give to them. And though these forms un- 

 doubtedly contribute to the state's ill-repute, the bulk of that burden, 

 90 per cent is the estimate, rests upon the salt-marsh species, which 

 under favorable conditions are known to travel and become pesti- 

 ferous as much as forty miles from their breeding ground. This 

 wide radius of action is the central fact in the situation and should 

 be more strongly emphasized than it ever has been. It determines 

 the state, not the counties, as the chief party in interest because the 

 pests, arising from their breeding grounds along our tidal waters, 

 spread over city, town, factory and farm without regard to political 

 boundaries. Furthermore, all our mosquitoes are Jersey mosquitoes 

 — not Bergen County mosquitoes, or Atlantic County mosquitoes, 

 to most of those who are annoyed by them. 



What inference would any plain, ordinary business man draw 

 from your presentation of a situation, having solely in mind the 

 well-being and advancement of the interests committed to his care? 

 It would be, would it not, that having gone so far in the control of a 

 pest that has handicapped the whole state in its every endeavor, the 

 next step is to push the work, make the control complete and get the 

 benefits that are so clearly indicated. One is forced to speak plainly 

 and say that in this matter New Jersey is living up to her reputation 

 for being slow and not awake to her own interest. And if it is true, 

 as has been suggested, that the employment of prisoners to carry 

 through the clean-up would advertise the state's effort far and wide, 



