The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-06
AN rvfr, rTtAr rHRrATrNs.

 It is a generally accepted fact that the bon weevil threatens to become a serious menace to the South. Whatever other crops we may raise, and however necessary t may bs that grain and other food products be not neglected. the fact remains that cotton is and will continue to Be the south's great staple. As a money producer nothing can equal h. The world must have cotton, and. untIl conditions change our Southern States
 must supply the demand. That demand may .bc supplemented to some extent by | limited quantities from other countries \ but to this section the entire civilized ! world looks for its main supply.
 1 These being uncontroverted facts. 1t
 is equany patent that anything which
 threatens injury to the cotton crop can but be a source of grave apprehension to cur people. They have gone through
 many and grave disconragefnents during
 the past forty years They have faced | and overcome difacuities and disasters | that might have discouraged any other people. They have gone through much I that was disheartenfng. but they have
 never despaired. and lately the indfca-
 tions have been good that the South was about to become the most independent and prosperops portion of the Union. In fact. it was almost at that point.
 Now. as q, stunning blow to these bright nnticipations comes this worse than plague of iocusts. In the book vt Exodtis we read of that wonderful visi- l tAtion which descended on the land of Egypt, which covered the face of the wtois earth" and which 'did eat every herb of the land" until. as the sacred historian tells us. s.thefe remained not any green thing in the trees. or in the herbs of the fieid." That was a special
 visitation. but from that day to this
 there have been plagues of Iocusts bo,n iii the old world and the new.
 This modern plague does not menace the food crops. as yet. The .weev!ls do I not destroy every, green thing, and It
 might be that ,tlie people of tho South
 could i've if the cotton were all swept | from tfie face of the earth, but that would be catastrophe which our peo- | pie cannot contemplate with anything
 but dread. True. the plague has 50 far been practically confined to Texas, but | it can no more be localized than the winds can. Unless the pests are de- | stf'oyed in Texas they will increase wIth Il each year and the destroying army will march Eastward until it has ravaged tic
 entire cotton region. It is not Texas but
 the South that is menaced. | Can the boIl-weeviI be destroyed? IS | the question that is now u7perfnost in the minds of all cotton planters. Tho Government has appropriated 6 consid-
 erable sum for the purpose of making a
 systematic and determined campaign against the evil. What money and sci- ence can accomplish we may expect win be done, but with what success is yet | to be seen. Experts will render what
 assistance they cnn and if merely human
 effort can succeed we may hope that the threatening evil will be overcome.
 fTi our judgment one of the most effect i've methods of combating the evil that
 could be devised would be for all the cotton States to proceed at the earliest possible moment to enact stringent leg. isiation for the preservation of birds oi all kinds. The killing of insect-eatine
 birds is a mistake. and nothing can even partially Justify 1t except that certain birds are used as food. That Is par tiai Justification for the destruction oi any birds, but this poor excuse does mol | apply in the case of the many speclet
 of birds which are not eatable. and whi,f
 are killed either through wanton cruelty or else under the mistaken notion thA
 they are injurious to the farmer.
 we use the term mistaken notion
 advisedly, for 1t Is a serious mistake Any bird that eats insects is worth mort ! to fhe farmer than it's death would be 4 Tliie is a demonstrated fact which cah- not be refuted. Wherever inseotiverous l birds are thlnned out. insects Injurious
 to the farmer multiply rapidly. And ai- most all birds are either partially Or ] wholly insect eaters. Some subslst en- | tirely on animal food. others eat little | but vegetable food, while still others al c practically omniverous.
 l Be that as 1t may. the indiscriminate te l slaughter of birds is not only cruel ahd
 useless, but it Is a g1ievous economical mistake They are the farmers friends. | and should be protected by him, but in- | stead of protecting them the hand Vf
 every man and boy is against them. If
 insects multiply wherever bfrds are ex-
 terminated. as is certainly true. then
 it naturally and inevitably follows that
 insects will decrease wherever the birds
 multiply. This is so true and evident
 that it Is almost a syllogism, and its truth has been shown in many parts of
 the United States and can be tested any .
 where.
 We do not know that boll-weevils wodld
 form a favorite diet for birds. We do
 not know that they would be relished by
 all strictly insectivorous birds, but the
 matter can be tested and when 1t IS
 proven that certain species relish the
 weevils it will be an easy matter to pro-
 tect and encourage that species. To our
 defense against the evil that threatens
 the South in one of her most vital parts. The weevils will vastly decrease the 6ouths staple crop unless they can be exterminated The hirds # npofantn,,