Evening star., 1927-10-23
SOMETIMES TuE EXPLORERS An

LIKE THIS.

| known Is 1t any wonder the Govern.
ment retires them quickly? Their
main job just now is to keep out the
pink boil worm. and in this connection
they must inspect all freight cars.
Sounds simple enough, but the situa.
tion becomes a wee bit warmer when
1t is realized that they must look over
| the cars in the Mexican freight yards,
as well as in the American.
Naturally there is much heated op-
position from certain Mexican inter-
ests, but the procedure has to run on
this basis, because If the boil worms
or other insects once arrive on this
side much infection might result and
soon:
The horticulture fumigation men
work hand-in-hand with the customs
officials. When first they were sta
toned on the border, the common run
Of Mexicans couldn't understand either
why they were there or who they
were. One kindly old Texan decided
1t was up to him to do bit of Boy
Scout work. He tried to explain to
the Mexicans in their own colloquial
terms that the Yankees were looking
for Pecudos. He meant the term to
mean boil weevil," though as a mat
ter of fact the fumigation men were
seeking to eliminate the pink boil
worm, an entirely different pest. How
ever, soon the Mexicans began to call
the inspectors "Pecudos" Later the
Modified inspectors discovered the
| literal meaning of the word--it rela ted
to an insect with long snout. or else
noisy individual with a long nose.
| Another side-splitting incident took
place at the port of New York year
| or SO ago. Perhaps ii should be ex-
planned here that the fumigation men
are stationed at all the important Gus
toms ports. Anyhow, 1t seems that a
woman arrived from Jamaica, and in
her possession was discovered a bas-
ket containing some plants. They did
not meet the current rigid require
| ments, so a fumigation expert ex-
planned that her plants could not be
brought in. The good woman replied
that she wasn't greatly interested in
the plants. but that she was anxious
to have the soil for her priced cat to
play init did so love to frolic about
in Jamaica, soil!
A tear or so appeared I'm the Of
| ficial's eye-for he was a kindly soul.
However, 1t did not remain there long.
After being hard-hearted enough to do
his duty and advise the dowager that
she must return sans the soil, he gave
it the thorough Sherlock Holmes. His
astonished but no longer humanita'
| rian eye noted two bottles of Jamaica
| gin buried therein. The worthy lady
error consisted chiefly in not explain.
| ing frankly whether or not her cat
was quadruped or a biped.
However, the hazards pretty gener-
ally Gust the humorous bits in the
| final numerical reckoning. In the first
| place, fumigation men must work
constantly around moving freight
cars. On one recent occasion an Off
cial was working in a freight yard
when a train suddenly came along
slightly humping the car near him
which in turn grazed his arm, giving
him minor skin tear. 1t was all In
the days work, so he thought nothing
more Of it-until, several days later
he contracted virulent form of lock-
jaw!
n
JOSEPH of biblical fame had a coat
of many colors. But the fumiga
tion men around Brownsville, Tex.
and the notorious Tia Juana district
are still chuckling over the Mexican
OF many pockets. 1t seems that some
years ago this man came waddlinR
across the border at such a slow rate
that he aroused suspicion. To begir
with, he was fat, but his avoirdupois
seemed to be not altogether OF thf
flesh. And II was not, examination oi
| his portly person revealed. Every
. ' nj h. ANl l-fa