The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991 Page: 50
692 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Hzstorical Quarterly
Those who were with the inspectors when specimens were taken in the fields
and who had promised to help in the eradication of the pest, went against us
and joined an organization of farmers in the southeastern section of the State
to fight the State and Federal officials who were trying to do the right thing for
the farmers within, as well as without, the infested territory. A number of dele-
gations of farmers of the infested section visited the Governor's office with the
view of preventing him from signing a quarantine proclamation."'
Several meetings were scheduled to explain the danger that officials
believed cotton farmers faced. The Progresszve Farmer magazine for
January 12, 1918, reported that one such pink bollworm conference
was held in Houston City Auditorium on January 2, 1918, and was
attended by nearly 2,000 men. The federal and state governments
wheeled up their big guns to explain the danger to worried farmers.
Speakers included Clarence Ousley, assistant U.S. secretary of agri-
culture; W. D. Hunter and W. W. Evans of the U.S. Bureau of Ento-
mology; Dr. J. O. Morgan of the Agricultural and Mechanical College;
Fritz Engelhardt, president of the Texas Farmers' Congress; and Com-
missioner Davis. Davis bluntly told the farmers he would quarantine
the areas around Anahuac (Trinity Bay) and Beaumont and that it was
better to stop growing cotton for three years and then grow it profita-
bly thereafter than it was to let the pink bollworm spread and make
cotton growing unprofitable for all. Farmers were allotted ten minutes
each if they wanted to speak, and those who did said that quarantines
would hurt them but that they were patriotic and would not complain if
quarantines were absolutely necessary.''
Governor Hobby called a hearing for January 17, 1918, in the Rice
Hotel in Houston to hear all sides of the mushrooming controversy.
One planter from Galveston County showed wild daisy galls to the gov-
ernor, saying that inspectors were calling them pink bollworms. Scholl
countered by showing the governor specimens of the real pink boll-
worms. At the hearing farmers finally agreed to accept the quarantine
zone.50
About the same time another group, the Southern States Entomolo-
gists, was also meeting in Houston, and the pink bollworm infestation
in Texas was their primary topic. Other states had considered a quaran-
tine of Texas cotton products at an earlier meeting in New Orleans but
had decided against that drastic step when they received a report of the
cleanup work at Hearne. At the Houston meeting, they strongly urged
48Ibid., 1 12, 13 (quotation).
4'"The Pink Bollworm Conference at Houston," Piogrewzve Farmer, XXXIII (Jan. 12,
1918), 32.
S Scholl, "Report," 113- 114.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991, periodical, 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101214/m1/74/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.