Science: The Termites Are Winning

U.S. scientists last week admitted that one war is being lost-this year the 58 U.S. varieties of termites, frail, pale, ¼-inch-long insects, will destroy some $50,000,000 worth of property (by boring into and eating the wooden framework of buildings), and almost nothing can stop them.

This equals the annual damage done by rats, mice or weevils, and exceeds that of tornadoes, earthquakes or arsonists.

It is also another way of saying that the power of the termite attack is greater than the power of the human defense. No important new anti-termite measures (present...