The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-09
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'.That Birminghams downtown streets could be cleaner is self evident fact, and with the fly swatting season now ap preaching this truism is one that should be reversed as nearly as possible for the benefit of the public health campaign against typhoid fever" said Dr. R. H. Coston yesterday afternoon, in discuss ing the question of unclean streets in this city.
 "It is a matter of common knowledge among people in general that filth and dirt of any kind breed disease germs, and especially is this true of the dreaded tu- berculosis and typhoid bacilli. The busi- ness streets of municipality are usually the one center that is reached by all the residents sooner or later during the day, and in this throng come all types, from ths robust to the very weakest man in the last stages of consumption. For this reason the highways and byways of the commercial and trade heart of this city should be kept clean. It can be done, and if it be necessary to disburse still more from the treasury of the city 1t would only be money well spent. in my oDlHlOll, III dSdlllSl tht breeding of flies and attendant evils with the opening of the warm weather.
 "The water supply of Birmingham is very plentiful, if I am correctly informed, and I cannot see why four inch hose pipes, could not be attached to the fire plugs downtown and the streets given a good bath in the wee sma' hours of each night. This would be done after paper, fruit peellngs and other trash had been swept ward starting each day with freshly cleaned streets. The real virtue of this remedy would be more clearly demonstrat- ed during the long drouths of the sum mer and even at this season, for as a matter of course disease germs are more widely scattered in the inhalation of dust than a prevalence of mud. I understand there are street gangs delegated to clean the business boulevards, and these same men could do the work of flushing the streets with water. The amount of run ming water necessary might also mean the expenditure of more money but as a pGrlfication method and destructive agent of accumulated dirt 1t would return 1G0 per cent interest on every cent invested.
 The first sign of long warm days will be signal for the city health department to inaugurate its planned fight against typhoid and a very ef- fective starter would be d vigorous policy in regard to keeping the streets of the city free from all kinds Of oc- cayed food and loose trash. Vegetables will be plentiful in the market dis tricts before long and 1t will be no tn al it,1it, to to pile the undesirables where flies will be attracted, and thus scatter the typhoid germ in manner that will make the combat twice as hard to con duct.
 Another feature that will count as a decided handicap in the efforts of the health department to decrease the death rate from typhoid fever is the number of standing pools of water that have noticed about the city where the drainage is poor. In the summer time l have known the mosquitoes to be so active and numerous along cer- tain motor roads extensively travelled by the people of this city that one could not ride along there in any com fort. These stagnant ponds are worse than the streets as the breeding places of flies and mosquitoes. One of the first laws of health, whether univer- sal or individual, is cleanliness to ward off infection and it is a certainty that laying aside any regard for civic inn provement or the appearance of the city, the cleaner the streets of town the healthier the citizens. There are fundamental precautionary measures to be taken by a city in the care of it's public health and among these tidy streets stand prominent. for this is one part of the physical structure of the city that is used in common by aIi those who live within its borders"