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JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 16 
on a purely economic basis. In this respect they are clearly related 
to the right of eminent domain and other similar functions of the state 
where a measure of liberty is withdrawn from the individual for the bene¬ 
fit of the public at large. Having a solely economic basis it is often some¬ 
what more difficult to arouse the public to their support than where moral 
or humanitarian issues are involved. For in the threefold relationship 
which the public bears towards quarantines, it may be expected that 
those on whom the restrictions fall will be antagonistic and those whose 
interests are not affected either way will be indifferent, while to those 
who may be presumed to profit by the measure the benefits are usually 
too distant or intangible to stir much thought. But if any particular 
quarantine, or the quarantine idea in general, is to be successful, it is 
important to secure the backing of popular support both in the group 
which is benefited and among public spirited citizens outside this group. 
The important feature for obtaining a favorable judgment from the 
public is after all the justness of the measure. Most quarantines are so 
simple in plan and so direct in method that when these are properly 
explained the average man accepts them as right and reasonable. With 
a program of popular education, news articles, and special efforts to 
reach those influential and public spirited elements in the community 
who have so much to do with molding general opinion, it ought not be 
difficult to awaken in the public an attitude of mind which may fall 
short of enthusiasm but which will at least guarantee intelligent acquies¬ 
cence. 
By way of parenthesis it may be noted that public interest, which 
always underlies support, is more easily roused in cases where the prob¬ 
lem or the method of solution possesses what may be termed the drama¬ 
tic quality. The White Pine Blister Rust has always been easy to get 
into the public ear, while appeals in prosaic cases like the Late Blight of 
potato, pass unheeded. In getting a quarantine before the public the 
use of whatever dramatic possibilities it may possess should not be 
overlooked. 
It is not always a simple matter to create a favorable public senti¬ 
ment, but it is terribly easy to destroy it. At best the public regards 
quarantines with mere toleration, as a necessary evil. This luke¬ 
warm favor can be alienated very quickly if there is negligence, un¬ 
fairness, or discrimination in carrying out the work. Unless the rules 
and regulations are drawn so as to be reasonable and fair, and unless 
equality of treatment is rigidly accorded to all, public confidence will 
vanish like flax in a flame. The critical and all-seeing eye of the public 
