Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-11-04
DUST IN STREETS
GRAVE MENACE To
PUBLIC HEALTH
Other Cities Reduce Diseases to
Minimum by Keeping Thor
oughfares Neat.

That the dust I'D cllS slieets 10 d
menac to health, q puryeyor Of tuber-
culosis germs and the advance agent
of catarrhal. bronchial. Influenza,
rheumatic. cutaneous and
other diseases, is the opinion of medl-
cal men of reputation the world over,
and was made the subject of discus
sion in a recent issue of the Journal of
the American Medical Association by
DR.. H.. s. Anders, of Philadelphia.
That this IL preventable is also the
belief of physicians. and that there are
means at hand at the present tim to
! clean streets in a manner that will re-
duce to a minimum the chances of
contracting any of the dust dis
eases is clearly shown by the reports
of a number of cities on their method
of street cleaning.
The article by DR.. Anders. of which
an extract appears below, shows that
even in the days of Benjamin Frank
lin the dust evil was recognized and
that in 1870 Tichborne and Tyndall
showed that in the particles of dust
flying in the atmosphere of city streets
are found organic matter injurious to
the health of a community. The arti-
Gle also speaks of the household dust
and asserts that this would be greatly
diminished if the streets were cleaner
and greater precautions were taken in
street cleaning.
DR.. Anders declares that TO the aver
49, T. .A-NLa--
than an annoyance, n that 1t is
necessary to educate the public to the
dangers of dust.
The preventative methods, by scien-
tihc street cleaning, as practised by
the most up-to-date cities. in brief, are;
Street cleaning at night, thorough
sprinkling; flushing wagons in place OF
sprinklers, hand-sweeping in daytime
to be preceded by s%prinkling, the i'm
mediate removal of dirt, and the use
of automobile acuu street-cleaners
similar to those used in homes In
part DR.. Anders's article is as follows;
Irritating, injecting dust, contain
mating the city atmosphere is the most
prominent factor in the production of
city diseases. This lust menace and
nuisance is p~reventable. not only in the
| SITeetS, OUT HIKE WISE IL Jul iNii6 atiN
working places, in houses, cars, stores,
factories, shops, offices, stations, the
aires and churches. AT present there
is q vicious circle. Street dust is
blown, swept or tracked into habita-
tions, to be swept back into the streets
again. Much house-dust pollution woul1
be avoided if the original street dust
were removed or allayed.
---1 l.--A L. rfa
cipally of g%round-up rock II is 4
comparatively clean dirt. irritating but
relatively harmless. Municipal dust
represents the accumulation of debris
of various kinds, animal and vegetable,
such as dried sputum of human ORR
gin. horse and dog droppings and slob-
behring's, dead and disintegrated insects,
scattered garbage and house sweepings,
loaded vehicle losses, smoke and SCOT
in short. mainly an organic combina-
ton, which in warm, wet weather is
seething with rottenntss, and In dry
weather is mostly blown into our
houses, noses and clothing by gusty
winds. or sucked up as noxious. sitting
clouds by motor cars while they speed
and trolley cars while they are I'M
ming or braking for a stop.
IL the average PEDESTRIAN uuSl Is
hardly more than an annoyance. 1t is
necessary to educate the public to the
dangers of dust to show that 1t is not
simply an irritant TO the eyes, nose
and throat, but a serious carrier of in
fecffon by inhalation and swallowing.
THAT most of the communicable dis
eases of the tn 'oat and lungs are pro-
duced and transmitted by dust is
doubtless true. For years we have hal
before us the deadly relation of the
dust evil to tuberculosis. Were that
the only danger, surely the awful
prevalence and mortality-rate of the
great white plague would alone
justify the fight for street cleanliness
and a declaration of Independence
against dust distributors. But when
one adds to this the host of other dust
borne diseases, catarrhal, tonsillar,
bronchial, influential, pneumonia, rheu-
matte, c%utaneous, the need for efficient
public service In ~remedying and re-
moving the evil becomes intensely inn
perative and the demand inexorable
for right results.
1T is a hopeful sign of the awaken
ing of the public to demands for civic