The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-10-21
Chemical Warfare Service Co.
operates With Agricultural aid
Interior Departments.
WAR ON RODENT and INSECT
Permanent Artillery Against the Boil
WeeviI and Other Pests Hoped for
Research Work Since the war
Has Been Fruitful.

Washington.-The War department
mas recently asked the secretary of
agriculture and the secretary of the
interior to cooperate with the
chemical warfare service Of the army
IN devising peace-time z; ses to com
bat the boil weevil and other civic
n Industrial pests. 1t Is the belief
OF the army that SO many new chemical
gases and other chemical products
nave e e developed as a result of re-
search work since the wal that at
last the government is i'm a position
10 extend the hope that it may be able
not only to externinate the rodents that
Unrest the disease breeding quarters of
cities, but be able as well to cope
with and destroy the rodents and in
sects that destroy the agricultural
crops.
ihc developments of war must be
tbs implements cf peace. according to
.F1gadier General Amos A.. Fries,
chief Of chemical warfare Of the army.
accordingly, the chemical warfare SER
vice has begun a campaign to develop
gases that will attack and exterminate
not only the rats that infest sewers,
but the bugs and worms that eat up
the leaves and fruits Of various agri-
cultural products.
B~Iackbirds 4 Pest.
At present, the army is working on
a request from Representative Philip
ID. Swing. Of Imperial Valley,
California. in rhe hope Of finding some
thing that will e%xterminate the black
bird pest in that community.
Congressman Swing was a recent
visitor at the Edgewood Arsenal, at
Edeewood, Maryland. where the
chemical warfare gas research Is be-
ing carried 0 n He had already asked
the government to devise some preven-
tive against the blackbirds. He COM
planned that the blackbirds bred in
millions in the delta of the Colorado
river, just below the Grand Canyon,
and came over in midsummer to dew
astate the kaflir corn fields sowed by
the farmers Of the famous Imperial
Valley.
AS a result OF his visit he was as
sured that the Chemical Warfare
Service could devise a poison that
would kill some of the birds and drive
off the others. He was told, however,
that to use it the farmers would have
to content themselves with using their
products for food and fodder alone, as
the chemicals would destroy the re-
seeding value of the fruit. In re-
Spouse, the congressman pointed out
that as things stand the farmers get
neither food nor seed. Mr.. Swing was
assured that the government would
undertake Il new series of experiments
to attempt tc develop something that
would both protect the grain and its
re-seeding qualities.
The effectiveness Of chemical war
fave against rodents had already been
proven. The army recently sent a
group of experts to Cuba with chemi-
Gals and instruments for destroying
rats and other vermin. The result
Of their efforts is reported to have
been most satisfactory.
Come From Coal Tar.
Many Of the chemicals used by the
governments synthetic chemists In
making up the formulas for wiping out
these nuisances come from basic pro-
duets developed from coal tar. 1t is
because of the Importance OF this