“Asking your kind indulgence, I want to tell you that I thank God for having placed your noble husband at the head of our government…I realize the great problems he has before him, and therefore hesitate to write to him regarding the one which I’m about to present to you, although I cannot believe that others must’ve brought the same subject to his attention. While chemists the world over are feverishly working to concoct poisonous gases for the wholesale destruction of their fellow-men—which all right minded people condemn, our farmers and horticulturalists are poisoning our own people with deadly insecticides. Compounds of arsenic are in common use, and one of these—lead arsenite[sic]—is sold in enormous quantities…It seems to me the chemists of the country should be set to work to discover an effective insecticide that would be harmless to humanity. And law should be made putting a stop to the use of these poisonous applications…And surely something should be done to stop the use of these poisons on our fruits and vegetables, from the effects of which many people have lost their lives.”