Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-25
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

It Is so easy to magnify the distance
Of a calamity from ourselves and there
by to rest In fancied security from shar-
ing In It's ravages. Take the Mediter-
ranean fruit fiy down In FLORIDA, for
example: 1t is being confined to Florida,
and only in that unfortunate region are
men seeing their prosperity vanish.
What If some 25 or 80 banks have been
obliged to close because their loans have
suddenly been eaten UP by the pest?
Our own banks In Washington are safe
and sound. So the distance lends en-
chantment" to our fancies.
Probably even the Floridians were but
passively interested in that far away
pest which annoyed Pharaoh. when. as
told in Exodus, viii.24, There came q
grievouS swarm Of flies into the house
of Pharaoh and into his servants houses
and into all the land of Egypt, and the
land was corrupted by reason Of the
swarm of fiies."
There were no flies on the Israelites,
50 they did not worry. In the same
way there are no flies on Our District
Of Columbia fruit. so why worry?
Those AbysSinian flies, as they are
known in the Orient and In Egypt, are
whoppers-as big as humble bees-and
they come In swarms. driving cattle mad
with pain until the beasts roll In the
dirt to get rid of them. But not one
has ever posted ANYBODY in the Dis
trict of Columbia. We are forgetfui Of
what we miss.
1t is not certain that the fruit fly will
not pay us o visit before the Summer
Is over. The scientists knew of its
menace, years before 1t reached Florida,
and they were on the alert to bar its
entrance, yet 1t came. They are now
fighting it to prevent its escape from
Florida. but how can Gordon of men
bar little fly, no larger than a house.
flv. from travelling where it pleases?
1t does not limit It's diet to citrus
fruits: 1t has an onniverous appetite
and its menu covers not less. than 70
kinds Of items. including grapes. apples,
cherries. peaches. ssrden vegetables,
nuts, etc. also flowers. It has been
known for 100 years, yet not conquered,
It was discovered in Hawaii In 1911,
and. since then. horticulture has been
abandoned on the islands. As stated
by our Department Of Agriculture,
practically every fruit crop of value'
to man is subject to attack by this
fruit fly" The only exceptions. Of i'm.
portance are the Chinese banana and
the pineapple. 1t has never been known
to infest pineapples. green or ripe, and
that fact suggests that possibly the
best way to starve it, out is to grow
pineapples exclusively in place of all
other vegetation. though the remedy
might prove as bad as the disease.
The United States has suffered
various kinds Of insect pests. each Of
which seemed, at its worst dangerous
enough to constitute q major calamity.
Nevertheless. IL is impossible to con-
vince the entomoIogists that they cam
not win their fights and save mankind
from destruction at the onslaughts Of
bugs"
Half a century ago. there was the
Rocky Mountain locust-otherwise
known as the grasshopper plague. It
was indigenous TO the Eastern foothills
Of the Rocky Mountains. and fed on
grasses and flowers of the hills and
prairieS, until the settling Of the
Dakotas and farther West made con-
Meeting feast-belt for the creatures. and
they over1owed into the farms OF the
pioneers.
They swarmed as badly Is did the
pests of Pharaoh. and ate up the crops
as fast as they grew. Farmers fought
them with trenches, and with long
sheet-iron "hopperdozers" dragged by
horses across the fields, 80 that Tnyriads
Of the insects we're scraped up onto
the scoops, and poisoned with kerosene.
The insects are especially fond of bait
sweetened and poisoned with paris
green or london purple.
Old settlers of Minnesota relate how
o call was made by the governor OF
the state for q day Of fasting and
prayer that the locust pest be removed
ffom the fields. Thousands Of citizens
spent the day In the churches, and
next day, as II by miracle, al the
sxasshcppexs disappeared. There has