The National tribune., 1902-07-10
The Growing Interest in Musketo Extermi-
nation

| The Century for July contains an arti-
Gle entitled y Campaign Against the Mos
quito setting forth the details of the
| operations that have been under way near
| President RuOsevelt's Summer home at
Oyster Bay, l.. [. In Il PREDATORY note DIR.
| L .. Howard. Entoniologist of the De-
partment of Agriculture, says:
| 1t Is my firm opinion that, widespread
| as the interest in m0squito-exterminatiO
| seems to be at present, 1t is not q tenn
| porary interest. but the beginning of a
great and intelligent crusade. Ny own
| correspondence on the subject has been
| little less than enormous. | have received
during the past year many thousands of
letters about mosquitoes, most of them
.nquIrIng about methods for relieving in
dN1dual houses, neighb0rhoodS, and COM
munities from these annoying and danger
Gus creatures. New Jersey, State which
has suffered great economic loss from
the abundance of mosquitoes. is giving at
tentIon to the matter not only in isolated
communities as community work. but also
by State action. the Legislature having
passed bill to promote Investigations,
but, unfortunately, without an apprOpria-
ton. Last Summer the towns of Summit
and South Orange carried on community
work, which is to be continued this Sum
mer. The cities of Elizabeth, Newark, and
Jersey City are, l believe, to do some
drainage work with this end in view. The
work to which Mr.. WeekSs article refers
mas been large-Scale work carried on by an
association of private citizens. Earnest
efforts ere being made in Baltimore to
carry on similar work under city appro-
prIauon, and mosquito topographic survey
of the suburbs of the city has already been
made by DrS. HirShberg and DOhm. The
Board of Health of New Orleans has
taken up the matter. and is doing intelli-
gent and satisfactory work. Nashville
Tenn; Rome. Ga: Talladega. Ala; VIM
chester and Norfolk. Va. and Il number of
other places are looking into the matter
with a view to immediate effort, and
smaller communities all over the country,
North, South, East, and West. either have
the matter under consideration or are al
ready beginning work. The authorities of
the Michigan Agricultural College. near
Lansing, have authorized their entomOl-
ogiSt, Mr.. Petit, TO undertake mosquito
crusade the present Summer. DR.. Felt,
the New York State EntomolOgist at AL
bany, writes me that he will begin mos
quito work at once. while DR.. Davenport,
director of the Biological Laboratory of
the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sci
ences, tells me that efforts will be made to
determine some practical points of great
Importance at Cold Spring Harbor. Nor
riS Cove and Lawrence. l.. l.. are organiz-
ing for work, the latter with an appro-
priation of $1,000. DIR. Stiles is lecturing
on anti-mOsquito work before the Army
Medical School at Washington, and post
ing all the young army surgeons who have
been ordered in for instruction. The ad-
mirable results achieved under our army
administration of sanitary affairs in Cuba
have been an inspiration not only to COM
munities in the United States. but to for
eigners. Maj. Ronald Ross, of the Liver
pool School of Tropical Medicine, writes
me, under date of Feb. %: BY dint of
constant driving 1 think we are getting
this country to do something at last. 1t
is, however, doubtless the example of Ia-
yana that has chiefly set them going'''