ftpd.conf and motd not consulted by ftpd

My ftp server ignores the /usr/local/etc/ftpd.conf.

I installed the tnftpd server in my FreeBSD 13.0 system with

   pkg add tnftpd

uncommented the ftp line in inetd.conf and specified inetd_enable="YES" in 
rc.conf. The system now serves files, but doesn't seem to consult the 
optional ftpd.conf or motd files in /usr/local/etc. I also tried putting 
those files in /etc and specifying the location in inetd.conf with the -c 
option. No effect. The files are world readable. I don't see an error 
message in messages or xferlog - is there another location to look for 
messages? It seems like there would be someplace for ftpd to complain 
about the configuration files. Note that the problem probably isn't an 
error in ftpd.conf itself, since motd is also ignored.

I do notice that inetd.conf specifies /usr/libexec/ftpd while there is 
another executable /usr/libexec/tftpd and the manpage claims the 
executable is named tnftpd. See

    https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tnftpd&sektion=8&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+13.0-RELEASE+and+Ports


Any help much appreciated.

Daniel Feenberg
NBER