The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-26
CONDITIONS NOW AND THEN.

l not believe in germs and microbes to fortify their unbelief by referring to our ancestors who lived here two or three centuries ago. Those pioneers. we are told, lived on any kind of food that they could get. drank the water from the springs and streams which abounded everywhere. and never gave a thought to any danger that might be lurking in the milk they drank. These early settlers, we will be assured, didn't they never saw one, had no idea of their existence. so far as they knew. never had one of the things on or in them.
 All this might be strictly true as a matter of fact and still fan to sustain the position of those who try Ao laugh the microbe out of existence. To be- gin with. the germs were not here in any appreciable or hurtfui numbers partly because they had not been brought here, and partly because there was no cause for their existence. The earth, the air and the water were pure. The former had not been contaminated by man and the air which traversed the green forests was without the germs of disease except in rare instances where malaria in some form might have lurked and generated disease germs of which man knew but little.
 And the water that these early set tiers on the continent drank was free l from disease as an almost universal thing. It had not been poisoned and loaded down with the germs of waste and sewage and drainage soaking down through the earth or draining into the springs and streams and carrying with it disease germs innumerable aud | of every variety. Instead of tine pure fluid furnished by Natures own dis tiIlation we too often drink the refuso of mans carelessness or design. When we think of the conditions attending much of the water people are forced 10 urlnh we nave uo cAuse lo Wonuer that disease in some form so often lies in wait for the drinker. There Is nothing to wonder at in the fact that impure water produces disease, neither is it surprising that much of the water is impure. Considering all the condi- tions 1t would be nothing short of a l 4f Ek rkh
 And when we come to the milk sup ply of the country there, should be still less occasion for wonder that it is so often impure and unwholesome. Some people seem No think that no matter what COW eats or drinks the milk will be pure. Few greater errors exist. Animals have wonderful powers of as- similation and appropriation. but there is limit. That foul water and im- pure food fed to a COW will injuriousIy affect the milk Is g fact too well estab- lIshed to need argument. It is proven beyond possibility of doubt that when the COW eats or drinks something in fested with germs some of the same germs will be found in her milk. She swallows them alive and those who drink her milk follow her example.
 And when we read about the quality of the water that cows in and about the large cities are forced to drink we cannot wonder at the great discussion about the dangerous quality of the milk. and the efforts that are going on to correct the evil. They are forced to drink water from the rivers and other streams which are fairly loaded every form of pollution from the cities and of such fluid their milk must be formed. Is 1t any wonder that disease and death turk in the milk bowl? Ard is 1t any wonder that scientists ard humanitarians generally are seeking for some sure method of ob viating and preventing this ever present menace to human life?
 And tone of the pitiful features of this condition of affairs lies in rhe fact that so much of the penalty falls on the helpless little ones of the coun- try. The milk is fed to the babies and death goes with it. The literal slaugh- ter of the innocents goes on a. such rate that popular indignation is be- ing aroused in most of the large cities where the milk is known to be impure, and attempts are going forward to find some sure and practical method of depriving water and milk of the germs of disease.
 Perhaps we have gone somewhat a. field in discussing this subject, but we are trying to show how little ground there is for arguing against the existence of disease germs by re- ferring to our ancestors and their habits and conditions. There can be little comparison of present health and sanitary conditions with those of two or three centuries ago.
 
 STIRRING IT UP AGAIN.
 That Brownsville episode is as hard