Protest Against Quarantine 37 
Statements regarding Federal Horticultural Board Quarantine 37, 
Presented at the Horticultural Conference in New York, 
June 15, 1920 
The Garden Club of America was represented at this Conference 
by Mrs. Edward Harding. A committee was there appointed under 
the chairmanship of Mr. W. C. Barrage, of which one of our Board of 
Directors, Mrs. Francis King, is a member. 
Statement of The government, people, horticulturists and horticultural societies 
Mr. W. C. of Massachusetts recognize the fact that the United States Govem- 
BuRRAGE ment, the United States Congress, the Department of Agriculture and 
the Federal Horticultural Board are seeking to foster and advance the 
horticulture and agriculture of the whole country, and that they are 
not trying to help any one interest at the expense of oth^r interests. 
Massachusetts, which is suffering so much from the Gypsy Moth, 
the Brown-Tail M'oth, the White Pine Rust, the Corn Borer, and other 
imported injurious plant diseases and insects, and is fearful of others 
yet to come, surely does not question the principles of Quarantine 
37, or the wisdom of the Law of 191 2 under which it was lawfully issued. 
We do not protest against the law or the quarantine. Still less 
do we question the motives or intentions of those who framed the law 
or the quarantine or those who are enforcing them. 
We do earnestly protest against what the Federal Horticultural 
Board, itself, calls its drastic provisions, some of which we maintain 
are wasteful, inefficient, unsound and dangerous. 
We do ask that the regulations of the quarandne and their en- 
forcemient shall be reasonable, effective and humane. We do ask that 
quarantine regulations of the Government, acting for the benefit of 
the whole people, shall be conducted in the right way. We ask that the 
United States Government, with all its power and wealth, shall handle 
the business part of this subject in a business way, the sanitary part 
in a scientific way, and the human part in a humane way. 
Massachusetts, during a long period, has enacted many laws, 
seeking not only to improve agriculture, but also to protect and 
carry forward the science of horticulture in the broadest way. 
We want protection against future danger to our horticulture and 
agriculture and to that of the whole country, but we do not want 
to be prevented from safely importing those trees, shrubs and plants 
which do not carry dangerous diseases or insects and which will give 
assistance, comfort, and pleasure to our people. 
We believe that the place to inspect, fumigate, and treat plants 
is at the port of entry, and we do not believe that it is economical, 
efficient, safe or justifiable, for example, to send plants from San 
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