The Washington herald., 1911-04-30
Hon This Insect Pest, Once Thought a
Benefactor, Does His Baleful Germ
carrying Stunt and Works
Terrific Damage.

The fly Is an insiduous menace. He
turks in every household along every
street. Go miles into the country and
sit down at a dinner table in a farm
house and the fly is there. He swarms in
gauzy winged millions along alleyways
and side streets. He rises in clouds from
the dusty. dirty streets when passing We
hicles disturb him on warm summer
afternoons. Wherever the fly is found
there is filth not far off, In filth he
lives. breathes, and has his being, and
without filth he perishes in a generation,
or at the most, in two generations. We
used to look upon him as being a neces-
sary EVIL. Now he l. looked upon as an
evil that Is no longer necessary.
The butter that you eat may have had
his gauzy, germ-reeking wings trailed
across 1t. The vegetables that look so
fine and fresh on the market stalls are
oftentimes exposed to the wayward wan
derings Of his bacilli-laden feet. The
bread that is exposed for a few minutes
on the stands, in the bakers wagon, or
in the kitchen. is liable to be infected
by his infested feet and loaded wings
that are crawling with clinging germs.
The baby's milk bottle. the family steak.
and the restaurant pie counter all have
to be guarded from his devoted atten-
tions. 1t seems almost hopeless to at
tempt to fight this myriad winged plague
in the hot season. The only hope is to
begin fighting him when the first OF the
winged pests emerge from their loath-
some breeding grounds and begin to buzz
monotonously at the windows and the
unscreened doors.
Typhoid fever costs the United States
over $3.50. 100000 a year. This cost Is fig-
ured from the loss in lives and earning
power of the folk who fll the graves OF
the typhoid victims. Most OF the typhoid
fever In this country IL carried by flies.
Experiment after experiment has demon
strated that beyond question. Kill the
flies. screen the sick rooms. and guard
against Musca Domestica and the typhoid
epidemic In any neighborhood begins to
vanish.
Leave him to breed unhampered, allow
him to fly in and out OF the sick room,
buzz over the milk supply and the family
vegetables. and in little while a dozen
munity must fight the dangerous fever
until the frosts Of autumn slay the flies
or drive them into winter quarters. When
II is all over and the last Of the cases
are convalescent there are a number OF
new and unsodded graves In the ceme-
teries. It's all a part of seasons work
of this little. insignificant household pest
that was loOked upon Ior years aS Que OF
natures scavangers.
City Garbage and Flies.
It seems almost impossible for any city
to collect its garbage and nlth fast enough
to keep the ny from making II Q real
danger to the community. On most any
warm morning, morning when the ther-
mometer climbs into the ninetiss. the al
leys, are filed with thousands Of nies.
a-swarm over the refuse and NTH that
has been thrown out overnight Thirty or
forty feet from the winged swarms are
open windows. and beyond the1e windows
are the kitchens and dining-rooms' of the
inhabitants. Less than second need
elapse between the hy's leaving the NTH
In the alley and his alighting In the butt
tsr, In the cream Jar. or On the freshly
baksd broad IN the poorer disrictA