Middletown transcript., 1910-05-07
DlsAsRs cApRIED BY FLIES

IL the people could be lnduceo
to spend upon the prevention OF
disease but q small per cent. OF
the time, labor and money they
expend in its curing and removal,
very many of the doctors would
have to go out of business. And
BY prevention We do not mean
those scientific campaigns against
dangerous epidemics in city,
state or nation by regular physl-
clans with all the elaborate ma
chinery Of a Health Department
at their command-such compre-
hensive prophylactic measures
as rid Cuba and the Canal Zone
of yellow fever, stamped out the
bubonic plague in San Francisco
and which keep Asiatic cholera
and other imported scourges
from entering our ports. But we
mean that simple, practical sort
of prevention that can be put IN
operation in our town by every
body at small cost and trouble
but which would yield results
large and far reaching. To give
one instance-the fly plague de-
scribed on our local page. The
costly, deadly annoyance OF the
house.fy pest, can be largely
prevented by q simple measure,
viz (: putting all manure and other
filth piles under cover so as to
keep the fly from placing her
eggs therein. The fly is now
proven to be the greatest source
of disease known. The germ
origin of nearly all the severe dis
eases that scourge the race from
cradle to old age, is now no longer
questioned, and the common fly
is the principal agent that
spreads abroad these invisible
microbes that kill millions in
such diseases as scarlet and
typhoid fevers, diphtheria, small
pox, tuberculosis, etc.
One.half the typhoid and three,
tourths Of the deadly summer
diseases that slsy little children
in New York City-caused by the
flies they breed by the millions.
This is true of towns and villages
also-true of Middletown. Let
all good citizens read the Health
Talk on our local page and think
soberly over its amazing revela.
tions; then will they favor the
cheap and practicable remedy
that will at once reduce the num-
Der Of flies by one.half and in two
or three seasons destroy them
quite. Decency should prompt
such action; certainly, self-pres'
ervation from disease and death
should do so.
At least IS per cent. of all flies
are bred in manure. For a few
dollars erystable owner in town
could dig pit or make a cement
or corrugated iron pen a boVe
ground, in every case with a fly
tight cover, which would prevent
from 80 to 80 per cent. of the fly
breeding. Government reports
show that go per cent. Of manure
values are lost in teaching from
rains--thus the housing would
more than pay for itself the first
season.
THE TRANSCRIPT desires to
submit this highly important
matter to the Town Board with q
view to the passage of an ordi-
nance requiring the secure cover
ing of all manure and other filth.
No one disputes these alarming
facts, and surely our Town Board
will not for the matter of a few
dollars cost to stable keepers,
suffer them to create o nuisance
at once q disgust and menace to
the health of every citizen. zig.
norance is the curse Of God, ="
says the great Poet. We are
ignorant no longer Of the great
peril of the house-fy. If We fail
to use the simple remedy, then
do we ourselves invite the curse
we might avert.