The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-04-09
Scientists Worry
Over Insect War
On Humanity

LONDON.-Can human h..,-.
win IN the great struggle tbs, ,L'
Insect is waging on tho very s,,.,
ence of civilization?
That is the question that q, -
agitating British men OF science "'"
Prof. Harold Maxwell rof-..
England's leading entomoloriat bS.
brought forward fourteen lr..s,ll..
OF the terrible rayages now brl, y
committed by insects througb..ss'
the world. His main example Ig ~
Argentine ant. which eats fani.s '
This insect first reached Ergl,,.
In 1913, after having srroaJ o,'ll
halt OF the world, especially sr,iI
since 1897. 1t has not merely 5o',
vourcd infants I'm their cradl,s In ~
Argentine, but II has comgIetoi.
wiped out the birds or Madeira NJ
eating their nestlings and is ruinls.
the orange and coffee harvest,
throughout eastern and Western
| hcmispheros.
Keeps Green Flies Prisnurr
II often kills tho plants, NOT direct.
! ~ but by encouraging other Irsac,s
| especially the green fly. vl|.b -
| keeps as n man keeps cows. IL Owe.
| builds hoSscA for them. acts as DO
tor to them and defends them from
enemies.
At the same time the ant, which IA
omnivorous, carries and .nreads
many of the worst human diseases.
There IS every fear that Il may nnF
/ "A congonial home in London
Professor Lefroy next instances
| the boil wcevil. which attacks the
/ cotton plant. After twenty years ~
| rcscach no preventive has bocn
found against this insect, whose raw.
| ages are so we'll known throusaout
| the cotton growing areas. Tho nro.
| fcssor agrees with the best American
| opinion that the next five years will
| sec practically no cotton RroWn in
America, and he anticipates that the
world will he at least 1000, 900 bales
! short annually.
These are not the worst OF tho
evils. Other instances that Professor
! LEROY gives are:
The flea has caused 1000 900
! deaths i'm India by carrying plague.
Ths>housetly kills 900 children in
! England every year by impartiug in.
! fant diarrhoca. Housoflies, he says.
! are as numerous as they were 500
| years ago, they carry typhoid, en-.
/
The British system OF sanitation lr
! Mosopotamia was ideally designed
for carrying flies.
A number OF women are on tho
verge Of breakdown because Of the
prevalence of the almost invisible
house mite
The beetle that destroyed the
ancient oak roof OF Westminster
hall is slowly but surely destroying
st. paurs and all the other ancient
buildings Of London.
The louise is the cause Of typhu.
and all the other plaques in Russia
and will wipe out nations II Cuudi,
| tions prevent cleanliness.
VIII intellectual man win against
these blind insects? asks Professor
LEROY. He is sufficiently optimistic
to believe that he will, but that Il
win need all the energies OF applied
science for years to come TO secure
the victory.
one inference drawn by Professor
LEROY is the urgent necessity tol
establishing new cotton growinl
! areas within the British empire.
There Us no time TO lose" M
says. Before the war the United
States produced half the worlds raw
cotton. Her output has fallen from
fourteen million bales to seven mil
lion bales and threatens 10 vanisi
under the peril OF the boil weeyiL
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