February, ’20] 
MARLATT: EUROPEAN CORN BORER 
75 
liable, but we have now had two years of careful study of the insect. 
What are the conditions today? They have been enumerated in part 
by Dr. Felt. Several of these are very hopeful and should very 
materially affect our attitude and recommendations with respect to 
the corn borer. We should look at these important modifying con¬ 
siderations fairly and not try to conceal any of them or push them 
aside on the fear that they may affect our appropriations and affect 
the public’s appreciation of the subject. 
My experience with Congress for over thirty years has been that by 
frank statements one gets a great deal farther than by exaggerated 
statements. In this way, for example, moneys have been secured for 
the pink bollworm work. Appropriations of $500,000 and $600,000 
have been obtained on the statement that the money was wanted as 
an insurance fund which might or might not be used. We have not 
represented to Congress that the cotton crop will be doomed unless 
the sums were given, but a plain statement of conditions has never 
failed to get what was needed. 
Now what is the situation with respect to the European corn borer? 
It was discovered only a few years ago, but we now have every reason 
to believe it has been in this country for ten years. I think the evi¬ 
dence of this is sufficiently clear to leave very little reasonable doubt. 
In the years 1909 and 1910 there was a great shortage of broom corn 
in the United States and nearly 10,000 tons of this commodity were 
imported chiefly from Austria-Hungary. Of that enormous mass of 
broom corn some 500 or 600 tons, a comparatively small portion of 
the importations, went to a factory in Boston, and a similar amount 
to the eastern New York invaded district. Approximately eight 
tenths of the total importations went elsewhere, most of it into the 
Mississippi Valley, to New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, and points in 
Kentucky, and was distributed from these centers to many, perhaps 
hundreds, of broom factories. We have made very little investigation 
of that distribution of broom corn, in fact, we have just begun it. 
We have traced a few of the shipments to destination and have made 
a very brief investigation of the field conditions surrounding those 
factories. This tracing and field inspection work is now temporarily 
discontinued, due, I am advised, to the unfavorable conditions entailed 
by midwinter. We expect to continue this work next season making 
a thorough investigation of the whole Mississippi Valley region to 
determine how widely the insect may have been carried by such 
broom corn. 
Of first importance is the determination of the distribution of this 
insect in the United States. In 1918 the inspection force was very 
limited. This year, shortly after the Congressional appropriations 
