Show The Never-Ending Never War WarI I 1 f I 1 IN THE Missoula Mont Sentinel the o other her day there appeared a aT news item telling how v a huge tract of forest land in we western te n Montana nt a bearing several billion feet of lodgepole lodge lodge- po pole e pJ pine le had been abandoned to tie the mountain moun- moun fain tain Dine b Ol Our r d dwindling i g forest forest reserves reserves are highly valuable and aria SCH science nce has found some sonic ingenious ingen ingen- ious bus ways v ys of protecting prote them yet it in iii this thi in in- in instance stance the beetle has come out victorious S There has been unconditional surrender That particular Montana forest has been won won won-hi hi in open combat so t to speak speak speak-by by the inse insect t world Every so often something like Jike that happens happens hap hap- pens to rem remind nd one of the never ending war that the human race is compelled to wage with ins insects There have been indeed scientists who have predicted that insects may eventually win possession of the entire earth ousting earth ousting man luau and all other mammals ls and nd ruling supreme su su- su pr preme me ine fro from in pole to pole Probably that's an view But consider the great number of fronts on which the battle rages The boll wee weevil il has done untold damage to to the cotton growers rowers of the south It has literally caused a good many casualties poverty poverty pov pov- erty arty hunger and suffering have visited many homes because of this pests pest's activities In n the corn belt the villain has been the corti corn borer What the boll weevil has done in th the south the corn orn borer has done in the middle w west st st. The s suffering and hardship tha that this pest has caused have been beeri very real Now Florida is host to a a new one the one the Mediterranean fruit fly which is hitting hitting- the citrus citrus' fruit region a terrific blow Beyond doubt many Florida families that would have been een prosperous and comfort comfortable le this season will know want and actual distress because of ill this flik is overseas insect You could multiply su such h instances Before the Panama canal could be dug the mosquito had to be driven back Def Before re the rich interior of Africa can b be made to blossom as it should the tsetse n fly will have to be conquered Before the Amazon Ama AJla Amazon zon basin can can take its place as one of the rich garden spots of the earth the pium plum fly and the yellow fever ever mosquito will have to tobe tobe tobe be subdued So it goes We hold our places here only by dint of a constant struggle a a struggle that thatis thatis is so sq long drawn out and so much a part of everyday life that we take it as a matter of f fc c course urse Sometimes it seems seems as if we are here atall at atall t all only on sufferance rance Nature Nature is forever striking striking- with weapons we cannot bat floods bat floods hurricanes torn tornadoes does earthquakes earthquakes earth earth- quakes quakes' and the like Between times she sends the less spectacular but more deadly shock troops of the the- insect world against our position It If is a a long tong rind and nd rather desperate war when you stop to think about it A Arid And d victory victory victory vic vic- vic vic- tory wont won't even be in sight until we get sense enough to stop fighting among ourselves and andS S devote more of our energies to the conquest of nature j S |