The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-02
A CLASSIC ON
SWATT|NG FLIES
The Approach of Warm
Weather Inspires Has
kin to Write on World
Wide Subject
Nv j. HASKIN.

BY FREDERIC j. HASklN
A nationwide resumption of hostil
tiles against the house fly has started
with Swat the Fly" as it's slogan. An
all-summer campaign has begun which
will give the invading hosts a tug OF
war such as they nave never before
encountered. Last years campaign
was successful enough to demonstrate
just what may be expected when the
country becomes aroused, n If this
summers work does not awake the
ninety million people of the United
States. then all signs fail. hoo
churches. WOmen'S Clubs, CIVIC or
? CARNATIONS, health associations, pic
ture shows, boy scouts, municipalities,
NeWSplpers-a thousand gencle or
every ind and description will be en-
listed under the banner of the fly
fighting army, and from every house
top the tocsin of war will be sounded
calling all men to arms to resist the
invading host.
And we'll it may be. For gehera-
tons man has given the fly a home,
only shooing him away when he be-
came too pestiferous, and only using a
fly brush when he insisted on eating
at the first table. During all these
years the fly %requited the shelter of
by secretly dragging in all
name of filth and disease and plac-
ing it where his b~enefactors must eat
It. ne mas Deen the ADVANCE agent Oh
pestilence and the of dis
ease, and as one bright crusader re-
Gently put it: "He has six legs, and a
half dozen hairy grips on each leg in
which to carry samples. and these he
distributes with a lavish hand These
sample he gets from the stable, from
carrion-frOm any place where dis
gushing things and deadly disease
germs are to be found. In short, the
fly Is a professional poisoner. Instead
Of slipping a little arsenic int ones
food he secretes typhoid germs in
milk, consumption germs in butter, Or
other equally deadly though invisible
germs in the meat and vegetables.
Men hang the occasional human pois-
oner, but every day they let this insect
pOlsOner go scot free.
Science has at last succeeded in
exposing the fly and the mosquito in
their true colors, and has proved that
these two little pests have destroyed
more human lives through their arts
as prisoners than all Of the wars, fam
ines and wild animals Of history COM
bined. 1t has proved that the doc
trine of re-incarnation holds good in
the case Of the fly: it is filth come
back to life. to plague
With these facts before them the
crusaders are going into the campaign
In deadly earnest this spring. They
"iC SOllS u dIul1IldJC the ADVANCE
guard before the innumerable rein
forcements arrive, thereby hoping to
avoid unnecessary warfare. There will
be many new phases to IN campaign
this year. Newspapers everywhere,
daily and weekly, are joining in the
crusade, and all admit that they con-
stitute the artillery Of the c%rusading
army. The American Civic Association
and the Bureau of Entomology furnish
all the ammunition the press desires,
and this ammunition is of as fine a
quality as the art Of war Affords.
Then there will be one branch of the
army which will consist of young peo-
pie. Their lives are vet ahead of them.
and their chances to escape the fly
peril are fewer. The enthusiasm Of
h boy scouts of the unit will be
used as a sort of nucleus around which
to rally a band Of youthful crusad ers
who will contribute much time md
energy to- the movement. They can
keep a watch on the breeding places
in their neighborhoods. destroying
What they can and reporting to others
what they are not able to destroy
themselves.
The school children will also be
drafted into service in the fy-fghting
army. The teachers will tell them how
the fly is the buzzard of the insect
world, and will instruct them in the
manual of arm and otherwise fit them
to be fully equipped soldiers. In many
schools prizes will be offered for the
best ESSAYS on the house fly and it's
habits, on it's dangerouSness, n in
some cases moving picture shows will
give free exhibition Of the famous fly
film. Last years crusade was greatly
aided by the moving picture brigade,
which did such effective service in
the advance guard.
Every municipality in the country
Is asked to enact such a sanitary ordi-
nance as will enable the fly fighters to
force he non-participant to becomes at
least a passive supporter of the move
ment. 1t is not much use for John
Smith to light all summer long against
the fly if his neighhor, Sam Jones. al