The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-12
FLIES AND MOSQUITOES Entire South to Wage
 War. OPENING EARLY CAMPAIGN Set ofLaws and Precantions Have
 Been Devised. rs A.tAsrities Have Het gsrss<sss the Issse. r.ssAt TAen h
 1908, wAea Yellow Fs- yer Prsvsiie1.

New Orleans, La. April fi.-The cn. tire South has notified the festive mos quito and the ubiquitous house ny fhsf they are undesirable citizens and that under no circumstances will they be permitted to reside in, or frequent, the inhabited communities.
 But the authorities have not bean satisfied with declarations. Not muoh- They have not forgotten the lcspon taught them in 1905 when the yellow fever came. , * . So. aii over the South, in the smal1er villages aa we'll as in the bigger cifies. the health authorities are opening an early campaign against the dissemina- tors of all the deadly diseases--ths mesquite and the house fiy. rt has been demonstrated that the mosQuito is not the only disease spreader. Ha-- or she. rather--does spread yellow fe- yer. But the house ny has been tried and convicted of the crime of dissen1i- hating malaria, typhoid fever and Bev~ eral other dfseases no less deadly.
 Under the direction of pr. T &. White, the famous marine hospital sur- geon, who fought and whipped the yel~ low fever in 1905. regular set cf laws and precautions have been de- vised. These are practically the same in all the Southern cities and states
 To begin with. ail tanks of waters cisterns or vessels which hold watsrs or which might be filled with water af~ ter a rain. must be covered and screen- ed with a screen of at least eighteen meshes of wire to the fnch. Standing water on lots or commons is not per- mitted. All shallow ;, lots must be drained and kept dry. or the owner i4 subject to 6 severe penalty. All sta- bies must have air-tight receptAcles for refuse. and this refuse must be re- moved each week. Where there arc largo natural bodies of water. which 1t is impossible to drain. then the sur- face must be disinfected and oiled ek frequent and regular intervals. Even the water used in the sprinkling carts Is heavily charged with the strongest disinfectanta
 But the authorities do not step even here. They so into the restaurants. cafes. butcher shops, dairy depots and bakeries. They force the proprietcrH to screen tneir premlnes with copper screens an& to screen the receptaeiea in which food Is kept and prepared.
 In the public and parochiai schools. the teachers regularly and fnsistentIy impress upon the children the danger of contamination and the necessity of obeying tho rules laid down by the health authorities. This not only in- sures care on the part of the next gem eration. but the children are gradually instructing and converting their par ents to q belief in the great doctrine of sanitation.
 Of course in the cities a regularly organized force of sanitary police ems force the laws.
 In connection with this campaign. is is interesting to note that those years in which vigorous and careful cam- paigu was waged against these winged pests. showed greatly decreased death rate and a most comforting and enc couraging decrease in the number of deadly diseases. Several of the larger cities have stronger anti-weed ordi- nances, which make 1t crime to per- init the growth of weeds under penalty of hne and Imprisonment. In some places, the weeds must be cut when i've inches tall. in others greater iatf- tuds Is permitted.
 The boards of health In one city exc change Ideas with others and thus a uniform system of defense against dis- ease Is being gradually worked out.