The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-05-26
DOUBTS VALUE Of
MOSQUITO CRUSADE
Commissioner mcfarland
Gives His Views.
EXPENDITURE TOO GREAT
Extension of Sewerage and Removal
of Stagnant Pools From Vacant
Lots More Permanently Effective.

Commissioner Macfarland. speaking of
the destruction of mosquitoes as
means of lessening the ravages of ma
larial and typhoid fevers. has declared he
would be slow, under the present state
of public sentiment on the subject, to
go to Congress with proposition to
establish mosquito inspection force
and equip it for waging war on the in
sects.
Commissioner Macfarland admitted
that the views of scientific men on TIE
subject were interesting, and lie thought
the time might come when practical
sanitation might include a crusade
against mosquitoes. There was no
doubt the insects carried the disease
from one patient TO another. Science
had taught that; but what might be
scientifically true was not always prac-
tieable from the standpoint of public
administration. So far as he knew,
there was no public sentiment on the
subject; at least none that had made
itself felt upon the District government
Theory and Practice.
Medical and scientific experts, Mr..
Mcfarland said. had made it apparent
that fevers could be lessened by de-
stroying the larvae of the mosquito and
the fly. but they had not gone into the
question of inspection and actual doing
of the thing they proposed as a NUM-
eipal project. The expense of such work
and its appreciably small results would
naturally deter those vitality interested
in municipal administration
The Commissioner suggested that If
the proposition were made directly by
the Health Office or by the Commits
sioners. the committees OF Congress
would not be likely to regard the ex-
penditure with favor They would al
most of necessity place it among those
items of expenditure which could easily
be dispensed with
Mr.. Macfarland spoke of the indirect
means usedeto rid the District OF NOS
quitoes by the removal of pools and the
draining of the marshes. He said these
means. while not so dramatic and senti-
mental. were in his mind hundred times
more practicable, because they removed
for all time the breeding grounds of the
Insects.
Recommendations Unheeded.
If Congress had granted all the legis-
1ation the Commissioners had recon-
nended by way Of completing the sew
erage system, of draining the Anacostia
Flats, and of giving the Commissioners
authority to proceed against the land of
property owners to enforce the draining
OF stagnant pools. the mosquito pest
would have been exterminated by this
time.
Progress was made slowly with the
sewerage system. Within five years
tkere would be such an extension of
sewers as to make the draining of every
1ow place in the thickly settled portions
Of the District possible. The pools then
would for the most part disappear, and
with them the mosquitoes II was bet
te- to spend money on permanent sew
sers than upon ephemeral onslaughts up
on the insect tribe by the use Of kero-
sere-
The draining of the Anacostia Flats,
the Commissioner thought of greatest
Importance, not only in the way of get
ting rio of the insect pests. but of re-
moving other causes Of ill-health. That
work has been started, and would now
probably proceed until the malarial
swamps in that section of the District
were placed in sanitary condition.
Pools on Vacant Lots.
OF more immediate Importance than
anything else. the Commissioner
thought. was the passage of legislation
by Congress giving the municipal au-
thorities power TO act in removing pools
property owners are residents OF the
District there is no trouble to have such
nuisances abated, but in cases where
the owners are nonresident the Com
missioners are powerless to act under
existing laws. What was needed was
law TO drain certain lots on the order of
the Commissioners, or the courts, and
the assessment of the costs on the prop
erty. Such a law would need to be care
fully drawn, and the authority granted
would need to be exercised with great
discretion. but sufficient proof existed
OF the need OF such legislation.
The Commissioner believed If these
improvements were carried out in the
spirit in which they had been suggested
by the District Board there would be no
need for a special crusade against the
tiny insect which carries malaria with
It's bite.