ae 
GENERAL ITEMS 
(To July 20) 
Grasshopper situation.--In an earlier number of the Monthly Letter 
the record of the effort to secure Federal participation in grasshopper 
control in the northwestern Mississippi Valley States was brought down 
to May 20, and included what was then believed to have been final action 
py the House rejecting the appropriation. Between June 10 and 21, how- 
ever, the effort to secure Federal funds was twice renewed following many 
reports of abundance and threatening damage in the general area indicat— 
ed. Both of these efforts were in connection with the House considera— 
tion of the Agricultural Appropriation Bill. The first, June 10-11, was 
to secure, in view of the lateness of the season, a reduced appropriation 
of $750,000 for the purchase by the Department of bait and its dis-— 
tribution to the States in interest, i. e., under the terms of the orig- 
inal item of $1,450,000. Obviously if it was too late to secure full ben-— 
efit in the middle of May, an appropriation in the middle of June would 
pe of little use in view of the unavoidable delay in contracts, in pur-— 
chase by mills of necessary ingredients, poison and molasses, and the man— 
ufacture and delivery of the bait to the States. Information to this ef— 
fect, with the disapproval of the item, was submitted by the Secretary to 
the House and the effort failed by a very decisive majority. 
For the purpose of getting first-hand information on the grass— 
hopper Situation, the Chief of Bureau and Dr. Larrimer, with Dr. Parker, 
field leader in grasshopper investigations, made a survey of the general 
area on June 16-21. This survey included the States where grasshoppers 
had been particularly numerous the previous year, namely, northwestern 
Iowa, north-central Nebraska, southern and central South Dakota, northern 
and eastern Minnesota, and North Dakota. With the exception of South 
Dakota, where neither State nor farmers' funds were to be had, all of 
the States mentioned—-now without expectation of Federal assistance——were 
on their own account purchasing and distributing poison bait, and notably 
so in Minnesota where State funds amounting to $250,000 were made avail- 
able. It seemed apparent, however, that such funds would probably be 
inadequate in all of these States, with the possible exception of Minne— 
sota, and therefore that there was still a possibility of utilization of 
Federal aid if it was extended immediately to augment, under existing 
State contracts, purchases of bait. Substantially this information was 
given to the Secretary of Agriculture in the course of a telephone call 
from him to the Chief of Bureau in the field. After assembling full 
information from State and other sources, and with the approval of the 
President and the Budget, the Secretary recommended an appropriation 
item of $600,000 in a letter to the Chairman of the House Appropriations 
Committee. This item as drafted authorized direct aid to the States 
and was offered by Congressman Simmons as an amendment to the Agricul- 
tural Bill, but was defeated by a vote of 102 to 72. 
In relation to this failure of Federal aid, it is not only fair 
but a pleasure to report that the threat of grasshopper injury as of 
July 20 seems to have been very much modified from earlier indications. 
Notable reduction of grasshoppers by disease and parasites in the north- 
west Mississippi Valley States is now being reported by Department 
