THE PROBLEM A NATIONAL ONE. 29 1 
to locust ravages that it is the duty of the general government to offer 
bounties for the eggs and young locusts, as this would be one efficient means 
of destroying these pests. But it is difficult to convince members of 
Congress from Mississippi and Georgia that there is any better reason 
for paying the citizens of Minnesota and Nebraska for destroying insects 
injuring their wheat and corn than there is for paying the planters of 
Mississippi and Georgia for collecting the worms injuring their cotton. 
It is therefore not at all probable that any such plan will ever be adopted 
by Congress, at least in States which have power to adopt such measures 
for themselves. But there is another light in which this question may 
be considered which brings it out somewhat from under the principle 
stated. If it could be shown that there is a limited area within the 
bounds of our national territory from which the cotton-worm moths pro- 
ceed and spread over the cotton States to deposit the eggs that produce 
the worm, and that by destroying the insects in this native home the 
spreading would be prevented, then the subject becomes a national one; 
just as the passing of lines of commerce over State boundaries renders 
them subjects of national control. If this native habitat should be in a 
territory, this fact of itself would bring it more exclusively under na- 
tional control. 
That all these supposed conditions do apply to the locust problem has 
been fully shown in our reports, and is well known to every one. The 
question then arises, Is not the general government under obligations 
to make a reasonable effort to prevent the hordes of locusts bred in the 
Territories from invading the States % The lands of Minnesota, Nebraska, 
Iowa, and Kansas have been sold to those who have them, or have been 
granted to them for the purpose of inducing them to settle upon and 
improve them. Now they find they are subject to the ravages of an in- 
sect which has its native home and breeding grounds beyond the bounds 
of their own States, and in Territories of the United States over which 
their State authorities have no control, and where they can take no 
measures for destroying the pests or preventing their invasions. These 
facts render the case peculiar, and different even from that of the Colorado 
potato-beetle. In the latter case, as in the case of many other injurious 
insects, it was an extension of the permanent home, thus bringing all 
possible remedies within the reach of the authority of any State or 
section invaded. But it is not so with the locusts; their migrations are 
not a spread of their native habitat, and do not bring within reach of 
the authority of the State invaded all possible remedies ; in fact, the 
most effectual remedies are beyond the control of the States in the tem- 
porary region ; they have no authority to take even the first step toward 
preventing the invasion of their territory, and hence are entirely help- 
less in this respect. 
We hold, therefore, that this is an exceptional case, and that the gen- 
eral principle above mentioned does not apply to it ; and we think it is 
the duty of the general government to make a reasonable effort to pre- 
