Arizona republican., 1908-03-29

l 1t have q high standard of public
 health''
 1 That seemingly long-distanced ob- 1 servation on cause and effect was re-
 gently voiced by Dr. Allerton s. Cush-
 man, Assistant Director of the Office
 of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture, at a meet ! ing Of the American Public Health Association
 ! pr. Cushman was asked yesterday to justify the statement Tt is, think. ] justified by a day spent in an automo- i bile in any country section" said he.
 and. insisting as do on the condition. i l think it has n bearing on the ques- ton SO frequently asked by unthlnk- ! ing Americans: What possible relation can there be between the public road and -ublic health?'
 If the medical men of the world
 know what they are talking about the relation is intimate. Dirt and dust mean disease. Cleanliness and sani- tary surroundings work for a better citizenship. The relation of science to mundane things is evident, if one will use even percentage of the pow
 CTS of deduction which Conan Doyle gave to Sherlock Holmes. Science holds in her archives a delightful little story which well illustrates my pur-
 pose. It is related that at one time the flavor of the famous Stafford shire cheese had departed and a splen- did industry endangered. Sir John Lubbock. the great naturalist made a prolonged investigation and finally re- ported to the farmers that in his judg- ment the best restorative measure possible would be to import a great number of cats and set them free in Staffordshire.
 Naturally the unbelieving scoffed at the proposed antedote for they deemed the suggestion ridiculous. They asked a reason for so extraordinary a prescription.
 The peculiar flavor of the Staf- fordshire cheese comes from a hybrid clover which formerly grew here in great abundance said Lubbock. The bunblebee is the one means of cross fertilizing that clover. The field mice have increased very rapidly in num- bers of late and they are destroying the nests of the bumblebees. If you can destroy the mice the bees can work on that clover and StaffOrdshire cheese will soon be as good as ever Get cats therefore.
 T don't vouch for the story" con- tinued Dr. Cushman. but I endorse it for its power of illustrating the deli cate equilibrium which, under our complex civilization, exists between the public health and public utilities.
 Nobody will deny that the 2.150000 miles Of public roads of America con- stitute the national dust factory and furnish fully ninety per cent of the | dust We inhale. The delicate breath ing apparatus of the human body was | never meant to harbor such substances | as every passing breeze blows from | the thoroughfares and the percentage l of people dying from disease carried l by dust is higher than is generally be- | lieved.
 When the public will concede that ! to be a fact the Director of Public | Roads and the State and county road | builders and overseers will be given a | greater degree of popular support | than they now receive. Tell the or 1 dinary citizen, or the busy farmer that | the bad, dust-heavy roads are not | merely disagreeable but dangerous to | health as well. and he smiles sarcast- | ically and shifts the conversation.
 'The American becomes a sceptic | when you confront him with a propo- |