June, ’23 
strong: western views on quarantine 
267 
the practice of issuing a prohibitive quarantine without making pro¬ 
vision for compelling compliance with the prohibiting order. Too often 
the state entomologist or the state quarantine official writes a quarantine 
prohibiting the movement of a certain plant product out of a given dis¬ 
trict or into a given district, and then sits complacently in an office 
apparently either nursing the idea that the quarantine will automatically 
enforce itself, or placing an unjustified faith in human nature in the 
belief that in writing “Thou shalt not,” he has effectively and finally 
dissipated any desire individuals or companies may have had to even 
attempt to move any article restricted by the quarantine. Plant 
quarantines are issued for the single purpose of preventing the intro¬ 
duction and spread of pests. They are necessarily placed because there 
is a desire to transport the particular plant products which are by the 
quarantine restricted in their movement. To prohibit the movement of 
a certain product in no wise discourages the desire to move the product! 
As a matter of fact, it often has the opposite effect and stimulates a 
desire to move the product even if it becomes necessary to resort to 
surreptitious methods to evade the quarantine and accomplish the 
purpose. 
All these factors should be carefully considered before a quarantine is 
placed. If compliance with the regulations will be so burdensome on 
all agriculture as to cause the quarantine to be more burdensome than 
the pest quarantined against, then it is unquestionably wise not to use 
quarantine. In other words, the cure should not be made more deadly 
than the malady. California believes, and has believed for many years, 
in the wisdom, justice, and efficacy of plant quarantines. The Western 
States as a body believe in it, and the Federal Government believes in it. 
The effectiveness of a quarantine, however, as previously stated, de¬ 
pends entirely on the possibility of enforcement and the ability to 
realize the possibility. Quarantine enforcement in California has been 
made possible by the control of all shipments of plant products on 
arrival at points of destination. The state quarantine law provides 
that any person, persons, firm, or corporation who shall receive, bring, or 
cause to be brought into the state of California, any nursery stock, 
plants, trees, vines, shrubs, scions, buds, fruit, vegetables, or seed, 
shall, immediately after the arrival thereof, notify the State Department 
of Agriculture or Deputy Quarantine Officer or Quarantine Guardian of 
the district or county in which such nursery stock, etc., are received, of 
their arrival, and hold the same without unnecessarily moving the same 
or placing such articles where they may be harmful, for the immediate 
