The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-19

| sent on hard-hearted and hard-headed Pharaoh consisted of fi4ss. The Bible account briefly states that ''there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh. and into his serv- ants houses, and into all the land, Of Egypt; the land was corrupted by req | son of the swarm of fiies."
 That was fly time" sure enough, and 1t is not to be wondered at that the stubborn monarch gave In and begged of Moses and Aaron to help him out of his trouble. Of course we do not know for sure that they were of the house. fly breed. but incline to think they were, and when the good Lord remov- ed them so thoroughly that mot one was left" as the account says, we can we'll understand what a relief it was to the people of Egypt who had never had such a visitation before we dare say.
 But we may infer that those people who were thus afflicted many centuries ago had never heard of the germ the- | ory, so far as we are informed. The little insects filled their mouths and butter, and generally made themselves undesirable. but no Egyptian knew that each fly carried with him enough germs to stock a hospital. That's where they had the advantage of us; they suf- fered from physical discomfort but were not at the same time suffering time be innocuIated with several diff ferent kinds of disease all at once. There's where these ancient people were more fortunate than we. Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." we have been informed. and we may reasonably assume that the subjects of Pharaoh were ignorant of the danger, but we are wiser now. The germ the ory of disease Is an established fact, and 1t Is equally well established that the common house fly carries the BerHiS- 10 quoLe Ihc hHoANihe ooh- tinel: .... .+.r
 Spring is coming. Already in our midst the housefiy. the dirty fly, the typhoid and cholera infantum fly. will soon swarm in thousands and millions, unless precautions are taken. The housefiy, whom we were taught in our childhood to treat with kindness. has been exposed. Its habits are filthy. It breeds in stables and garbage pails and carries the filth it revels in and tracks 1t across the sugar. the butter and the beefsteak. It paddles its horrid feet, gummed with the vilest rotting matter. in the baby's milk. The doc tors have declared war on the housefiy. It probably disseminates every disease. It Is a nuisance. It must be exter- | minated It can be driven out of every | city. In an age of knowledge, screens and cheap disinfeetants there Is no ex- cuse for flies in any household. Clean up your premises and report to the health department your neighbor who does not. Get rid of breeding places of flies and you will get rid of flies. The battle is half won If begun early"
 That just about cover the subject. We know that flies are intolerab1e null sances, and what Is more important. we have learned that they are carriers of various diseases. Knowing these things it is a plain duty to destroy them, es- pecially in cities where their opportu- mites for disseminating diseases are al- most unlimited. Getting rid of them is duty developing on the medical men. on the civic authorities and on each citizen. War on the fly is soi- smn duty.