WHAT DISPOSITION is made of shipments found moving in violation of Federal domestic plant quarantines? They are inspected in transit when practicable. If they are free from pests, they are certified and allowed to proceed. They are returned to the shipper when pest risk is involved. In serious cases, they are confiscated and destroyed.

The first procedure in no way weakens the enforcement structure, for in each instance the shipper and carrier, as in all other cases, are notified of the violation committed. Additional infractions from the same shipper are handled differently. If the restricted material is of such nature that a thorough examination cannot be made to establish its freedom from insects or diseases, the shipment is usually returned to the point of origin. Prohibited material in most instances is returned to the sender. When articles are found infested or infected with insects or diseases of importance, more drastic action is taken treatment to render the articles innocuous, a closely supervised return to infested territory, or confiscation.

As a rule, prosecutions are limited to willful violations or to cases of gross negligence. A better policy is to inform the shippers and carriers about the regulations and the need for them.

In the absence of statutory authority, transit inspectors do not return the shipments that are reported as violations of State regulations. When inspectors have been deputized to act for a State, other action may be taken.

The effectiveness of transit inspection depends largely on the cooperation received from postal clerks and employees of common carriers. Upon request, those workers set aside or direct to the inspector's attention the shipments that may be affected by quarantine regulations. Many of the violations reported by transit inspectors have actually been stopped by the able force of cooperating postal, express, and freight employees. Transit inspection is law enforcement, and enlisting the aid of such employees increases our surveillance a hundredfold. It is the inspector's job to keep the transportation employees aware of quarantine regulations and the type of material desired for examination.

Several States in which transfer points are located participate in transit inspection work by assigning State inspectors to the activity. They are appointed Federal collaborators, and at some stations the work is conducted entirely by them.

Each infraction of a Federal regulation is investigated in order to apprise the shipper and carrier of the quarantine requirements and of the hazards involved. Consequently commercial shippers take greater precautions in order to avoid the interception and return of future shipments. Postal clerks and carriers' agents become more cautious in accepting shipments, usually making thorough inquiry as to the contents of packages. Thus are forestalled untold numbers of potentially dangerous shipments which never appear on the record.

Considerably fewer violations of the older quarantines are now being intercepted evidence, to me, of the effectiveness of the work. When new areas are quarantined and new articles restricted, interceptions are numerous, but a gradual decrease follows. Transit inspection has made many shippers and transportation employees aware of quarantine regulations and the hazards of pest distribution. Many potential infestations and the consequent probable spread of such insects and diseases have been prevented through timely interceptions by transit inspectors.

Transit inspection is a protective service, protecting the country against the dissemination of insects and plant diseases through the ordinary trade channels. It is a necessary supplement to pest-control programs. It is necessary in order to cope with the uninformed and the unscrupulous. It is the best means of assuring compliance with Federal domestic plant quarantines where mail, express, and freight shipments are concerned. Stopping shipments of uncertified host material is tantamount in many cases to stopping the pests themselves. There are vast areas in this country not yet infested or infected with destructive insects and diseases which have only a limited foothold, and such areas are entitled to the best possible protection we can give them. Transit inspection at gateways which control most of the traffic from infested areas or the movement to pest-free zones is an economical and effective way of protecting the billions of dollars already invested in pest control.

E. A. BURNS is principal assistant at the Hoboken, N. J., inspection house, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. He was formerly in charge of transit inspection in the Northern States Region. He was graduated from Tufts College in 1933 and joined the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine in 1935. After several details on control projects, he was assigned to the transit inspection unit and has performed transit inspection at many of the country's major transportation gateways.