The Jersey City news., 1906-06-11
Commission that is doing its duty so ably
and manfully. a

It is the day Of big. things, but big
gest is the discovery of Importance in the
little things, says the Brooklyn Eagle"
Some centurie, sago men made large ac-
count of visible danger, andlif they could
not see tigers they imagined dragons.
Now we know that it is neither the tiger
nor the dragon that works the most de-
struction, but the insect pest and the in
yisiyle germ it carries. The tiger is the
most dreaded of the cat tribe. We, we are
taught that the cat of ,tslr back fence,
which has been nosing among he germs
on the sidewalk where eeconsumptiyes or
other sick people have left the record of
their passing, may shay its dozens where
tn etiger may slay one We hunt the
| tiger with brass bands and self-applause.
posing before the camera when we have
slain him, with hand on chest and labeled
with heroism; but We are only half con-
scious of the great bravery and useful
ness of the men of science who track the
| microbe to its lair, defying death in sub
tie forms for the common good
Perhaps we are carrying our enmity
to the bacillus trife far when we for
bid our physicians to wear boards, lest
seeds of disease nestle among them,
since they are quite as apt to collect
and hold in the hair and clothing; and
certainly no cat or dog is so great
menace to the general health as the i'm
migrant from the Mediterranean who has
not bathed since childhood who lives in
quarters which we would not condemn
our dogs to occupy, yet who is allowed
to ride in our street cars, and to brush
his ill-smelling garments against these
of our wives and children in public
places.
But we are right in our measures to
suppress the activity and, so far as may
be, the existence of insects that are
known to be bearers of disease the flies,
mosquitoes, the bugs, feas, and other
unpleasant associates of our kind, for our
new relations with tropical lands have
increased our chances of pestilence and
7 OF communicable disorders, and We even
hear that leprosy is gaining in America.
Hence is is a duty of the American peo-
pie. several and corporate, to guard our
shores against the introduction of I'M
wholesome germs and to destroy the in
sects or other agents in their carriage.
Rats and mice are now believed to be
the commonest aggressors against health
in the East. They are said to be dis
seminating germs Of cholera and bubonic
plague beyond their breeding places in
unclean China and starving India, and
pessimistic prophets foretell the reap
pearance of these deadly diseases in Eu7
rope and America because no attempt is
| made to kill the rodents that travel by
| every ship which leaves the ports of
Asia for cleaner countries. The mos
quito carries yellow fever and malaria !;
suppress her and these diseases disap-
pear. The house fly carries measles,
smallpox, opthalmia, dysentery and such
| like; hence the house that. is properly
screened is less liable to an invasion Of
these disorders than is the house where
| flies come freely in at the doors and win
! dows. Pneumonia is no longer an exag-
gerated cold, but communicable dis
ease, the germs of which are transport
ed by mice, hence will not appear where
mouse traps are plenty and cats are ac-
tive unless one caresses the cats just
after they have fed on diseased mice.
| But we shall be subject to all manner
| of communicable diseases until the work
that the few do sporadically is done by
government with system and energy.
The cost of obiterating yellow fever
alone in a few districts has been i'm
mense.. but we are to think of the gain
that comes to the whole people in the