days. Of course, we are solicitous that it may not find a lodgment in this country, as it would undoubtedly destroy the fruit crops of any State where it gets lodgment.

Now, we recognize the fact that if strenuous efforts had been made at the very beginning when the brown-tailed moths were brought over here to stamp out that insect pest we would not have had to expend the many millions of dollars that we have been expending since then to stamp them out; and so we feel that if your committee sees its way clear to make this appropriation at this time, so as to allow the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Entomology, to send experts to Hawaii to help stamp out this Mediterranean flay, it will be a great saving in the long run, and it will be a protection to the fruit industries of this country.

The CHAIRMAN. We have a bill already that seems to cover that. Mr. KAHN. That, of course, provides for rigid inspection of nursery stock coming from abroad, but Hawaii is not a foreign country. It is a part of our own country. I want to say in all fairness to the people of Hawaii that last year they raised a fund of $8,000 to help stamp out this pest. They have been doing what they can to eradicate this evil, but I do not think inspection is enough. The people there ought to be protected and helped, and the pest ought to be wiped out so far as it can be wiped out.

Mr. HOWELL. Has the State of California done more than any State in the Union

Mr. KAHN. There is no State in the Union that appropriates as much money for the eradication of insect pests. We have a board of horticulture and a large corps of entomologists, who have done. remarkable work. Our entomologists have brought to this country numerous parasitic enemies of insect pests, and I think the officials of the Department of Agriculture will tell you that if every State in the Union were doing as much as the State of California is doing we would have nothing to fear. As a matter of fact, our great citrusfruit industry is largely near the Mexican border, and the Mololos worm, which attacks the oranges in Mexico, is an insect pest that would work irreparable damage to us if it ever got into the State of California. We have manged to keep that worm out of the orange groves of California. We of California have expended millions of dollars to do that kind of work.

Mr. LEVER. What appropriation do you think is necessary for this purpose?

Mr. KAHN. Dr. Howard thought $50,000 would be necessary. I want to say that scientists have not as yet been able to find a parasite that is a natural enemy of this fly-that will kill this fly-and that is one of the things that worries the entomologists. The only thing they have been able to do in Hawaii up to the present time-or so, at least, Dr. Wilcox, of the experiment station at Honolulu, told meis to gather up the fruit and burn it. They gather as much of the affected fruit as they can and burn it to keep the pest down as much as possible.

Mr. HOWELL. Has that fly reached California?

Mr. KAHN. Not yet, but we are fearful that it will. We are not so much afraid of its coming into California direct, because we have a very rigid quarantine inspection of all fruit and foliage that comes from the Hawaiian Islands.

Mr. HANNA. Is there any danger of the fly coming over in the vessels?

Mr. KAHN. Yes, sir.

Mr. HANNA. I mean the fly itself.

Mr. KAHN. Efforts are being made to prevent fruit from Hawaii from being landed; the landing of such fruit is one of the sources of danger which exists. Take the orange that grows over there. Of course you know the Hawaiian orange does not have the color of the orange in this country even when it is fully ripened. It is green even when it is ripe. Passengers try to bring it in surreptitiously. They will not allow the orange to come through for fear of that insect pest.

The CHAIRMAN. I have a letter from Dr. Howard in reply to one I wrote him about this matter, in which he covers pretty much the points you have made; but I will read it to the committee when we come to this matter.

Mr. LEVER. I would like to suggest that the method of gathering up the fruit and burning it seems to be a rather cumbersome and expensive method, and perhaps the only way you will manage this pest is through the parasite remedy; and if that is the fact, then a smaller appropriation will start the work.

Mr. KAHN. Of course, the trouble is that up to the present time they have not been able to discover a natural enemy to the fly. The only difficulty about the situation in Hawaii is these great areas of wild guava. I believe you will have to burn them out.

Mr. LEVER. You think $50,000 will be sufficient?

Mr. KAHN. I think so. You have the precipitous mountain sides where the wild guava is growing, and so long as the guava is infected you can not stamp out that fly until you find its natural enemy, and that, of course, is a matter that has engaged the attention of entomologists of all countries for a good many years.

Mr. LEVER. What would be the attitude of the natives in reference to such a system of stamping out this fly?

Mr. KAHN. The wild guava has no commercial value. There will be no objection to that, because as yet it has not been utilized for any purpose. The natives themselves would have no objection, I am positive; and I do not think that any of the people who own or live on the land on which these wild guava bushes grow would have any objection. To show you how easily the pest spreads, I may say it was first introduced on the island of Oahu about two years ago, and it has spread all over that island. Senator Fairchild, of the Hawaiian Legislature, called on me at my office to tell me that it had crossed the channel into Kauai, an island probably 75 miles north of Oahu. The fly is now devastating the fruit crops of that island.

Mr. LEVER. My idea is first to pass the Simmons bill, so as to throw around the Hawaiian Islands every precaution against the infested

areas.

Mr. KAHN. Of course, they have the pest there now.

Mr. LEVER. That is very true now, but my idea was that you may stamp them out to-day and to-morrow you may get them back again. Mr. KAHN. I think both propositions ought to be enacted, but I think the all-important one, so far as the interests of the United States proper are concerned, is to stamp out the pest that exists there now for fear that it will come over to the mainland; and then

the Simmons bill will take care of any future situation. But I think it is all important that at the beginning the pest should be stamped out in Hawaii.

Mr.

tinue?

LEVER. How long do you expect this appropriation to conMr. KAHN. Dr. Howard and the Secretary of Agriculture, when I discussed the matter with them, thought that they would be able to send some of their experts down to Australia to see whether they could no find an insect down there that would be a natural enemy to this pest.

The CHAIRMAN. Then you would like a small amount of it to be immediately available?

Mr. KAHN. Yes; I think so. Our Pacific Coast States are agricultural States: they are not manufacturing States. They depend almost entirely on their fruit crops. The amount of money that is invested there has grown to be very large, and a pest of this kind, if it once should get a foothold, would immediately cause every State in the Union to quarantine against our fruits. They would have to do it in self-defense, because the ravages of this insect are rapid and considerable, and every 28 days there is a new generation of the fly.

Mr. HANNA. In the areas of the wild guava can you burn them by setting fire to them or by getting them out and burning them?

Mr. KAHN. Oh, yes; you can burn them by setting fire to them. Mr. HANNA. Can you burn them without burning other stuff that is valuable?

Mr. KAHN. Oh, yes. These great areas of wild guava exist all over the islands, and the guava runs up on the sides of the mountains. There is nothing that is valuable in and around these areas.

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. Don't they grow in the forests?
Mr. KAHN. They have attacked the mango in Hawaii.
Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. Wouldn't it also destroy the forests?

Mr. KAHN. No, sir. The guava grows on a bush. The bushes extend for miles.

Mr. HAWLEY. Are there any fruits imported from the islands to the United States?

Mr. KAHN. Yes; but since we quarantined against all fruits except pineapples and bananas the shipments have fallen off. Any fruit that might come from Australia to the Pacific coast would have to be landed in Vancouver, British Columbia, because there is no direct line from Australia to the United States, although the Union Steamship Co., an Australian line that now runs between Sydney and Vancouver, contemplates running a line between Sydney and San Francisco, and San Francisco would be the last port of call on that particular line. There might be some danger from that source, but our entomologists would examine everything that comes in the shape of fruit on these vessels. I want to say in closing that the American vessel and even the foreign vessel that comes to the port of San Francisco is exceedingly kind in helping along the matter of inspection. They have allowed our horticultural quarantine officers to go aboard their vessels and throw the fruit they bring into the Bay of San Francisco.

Mr. RUBEY. Is there any way to protect the Fruit Growers' Association but in the matter of competition?

Mr. KAHN. There is no such thing in California as a fruit trust or fruit trusts. My colleague, Mr. Hayes, knows that. Fruit growing in California is done on a very large scale, and every man who grows his crop sells his crop.

Mr. HAWLEY. Is there an association that is furnished with cars more promptly than others that own and operate cars?

Mr. KAHN. The Earle Fruit Co., in southern California, sends out oranges, and I believe they have a patented car; but the ordinary car for shipping fruit across the continent is available to all growers. Mr. HAWLEY. Any time one is furnished as promptly as the other? Mr. KAHN. Yes, sir; that is my information, at any rate. There is no trouble about that, unless there is an exceptionally large crop and the railroads have not enough cars on hand. The rate for the use of the cars is the same to everyone.

Mr. HAYES. In regard to the necessity for speedy action, I hope the committee will not defer action or defer making an adequate appropriation. Our State thought is sufficiently important to call the legislature in special session with the sole purpose of passing a stricter quarantine bill in order to quarantine against this pest. I hope that the appropriation may be made adequate, so that this pest that threatens not only California but the entire country and the fruit crops may in the end be entirely exterminated.

The CHAIRMAN. You can rest assured that we will consider the matter very seriously.

STANDARD GRADES OF COTTON.

JANUARY 22, 1912-Continued.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, gentlemen, Mr. Neville, president of the New York Cotton Exchange, wishes to be heard upon the establishment of standard grades for cotton by the United States Department of Agriculture.

STATEMENT OF MR. GEORGE W. NEVILLE, PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK COTTON EXCHANGE.

Mr. NEVILLE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, the other day while I was in Washington I happened to learn that at a meeting of this committee, in the testimony of Dr. Galloway on the question of appropriations, in response to questions asked him, he replied regarding the adoption of the standard classification (made by a committee of experts in pursuance of the resolution passed by Congress in February, 1909) that the New York Cotton Exchange had not adopted those standards, but that they had been adopted by the New Orleans Exchange and other exchanges. I wish to state that the standards have not been adopted by any cotton exchanges in the Atlantic States, and under existing conditions these exchanges can not adopt those standards. We want uniformity in grades or standards, as they are sometimes called, but the standards as made by this committee of experts were made up of cotton from Memphis, Tenn., New Orleans, La., and Houston, Tex.; no cotton grown in the Atlantic States was used in making these standards, and each of those groups is subdivided as to staple qualifications and grades. All quotations for cotton the world over are based on upland cotton for all grades.

The other growths have better staple, which command a premium above those quotations for the upland cotton. The New York Cotton Exchange has always stood for uniformity in grades and adhere to the standards made in September, 1874, in pursuance of a resolution passed by the cotton exchange in existence at that time. These cotton exchanges met in Augusta, Ga., June 10, 1874, and the meeting was at the instance of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. There were delegates to this convention from the following cities: Athens, Ga.; Atlanta, Ga.; Augusta, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; Boston, Mass.; Charleston, S. C.; Charlotte, N. C.; Galveston, Tex.; Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; Mobile, Ala.; Montgomery, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans, La.; New York, N. Y.; Norfolk, Va.; Opelika, Ala.; Savannah, Ga.; St. Louis, Mo.; and Wilmington, N. C. These cotton exchanges formed what was then known as the National Cotton Exchange.