Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-04-27

somewhat humorous riddle. like
Where do all the pins go?" About
the beginning Of the twentieth CEN
fury scientists began to ask the
question seriously.
What the enquirers found startled
the public. Early Investigations
under the direction of Edward
Hatch, jr., then connected with the
Merchants association of New York,
proved that one OF the fly's fayorite
breeding places was in the sewage
and filth deposited along the river
front by the tide. DR.. ID. ID. Jack
son found the germs of typhoid and
other diseases on the feet and bodies
Of practically every fly trapped on
the recreation piers. DR.. l.. o. How
ard. chief of the bureau of entomol-
ogy of the United States department
of agriculture, directed investiga-
tons which proved the affinity OF the
fly with filth-that it prefers as it
habitat and the nursery for its
young the filthy stable or clubhouse,
the garbage can, or the dirty cor
ner under the kitchen sink. DR..
Howard proposed the name typhoid
fly''-a suggestion that caught the
popular fancy and aided in fixing the
insects proper status. Then DR.. 5.
j. Crumbine, secretary of the Kansas
state board of health, came along
with his epigrammatic injunction,
Swat the fly." and the campaign
was on.
One OF the most successful anti-fly
campaigns of 1911 was that conduc-
ted in Washington, d. c., under the
! direction of a leading newspaper,
the Evening Star. and with the CO.
operation of the local health depart
ment, the associated charities, and a
few public-spirited business men.
More than five thousand boys and
girls took part in a two weeks fly
catching campaign which resulted
| n the destruction of more than seven
million flies and in developing many
valuable methods and devices for
their determination. The immediate
stimulus was the prize money offered
by the Star-$l00 in all, ranging
from a first prize Of S25 down to
twenty prizes of 81 each.
Various forms of bait were tested.
The agricultural department recon-
mended bread saturated with milk.
Doctor Murray suggested sweetened
water instead Of milk and this was
demonstrated to be more efficient.
An ordinary flour and water paste
was used with success by many OF
the contestants, and one small col
ored boy found a dead crab to be
ESPECIALLY attractive to the flies. The
best place to set a trap was found
to be neither in the sunshine nor
in a deep shadow, but in a shady
place close to bright sunshine. One
boy invented an elaborate trap that
electrocuted every fly approaching
the bait.
Besides Kidding the city Of some
7,000,0 600 flies, he contest gave the
city health department a valuable
key to the sections which required
special attention from a sanitary
viewpoint. Records Of contestants
were kept on cards. which were
classified by districts, those in which
the most flies were caught being the
neighborhoods where filth was most
likely 10 be found-for the house fly
breeds only in filth and unless driv-
en- by the wind, seldom travels more
than 1900 fee from the place where
it was Matched.
This year the Star opened its cam
paign in February with $50 children
enlisted. The necessity for making
the campaign complete TO the point
OF utter determination was impress
ed on Washingtonians by statistics
published during the contest by Doc
tor Howard of the bureau of entom-
ology. He pointed out that in The
climate Of Washington twelve gen
Grafton of flies are produced in a sim
gle summer, AS one fly will lay l20
eggs, the result. if all of these should
hatch and reproduce their kind in
like ratio, would be appalling. The
progression carried IA by raising
100 to the twelfth power gives a
total possible progeny from a single
lily Of .0s6,1S1,249.310.7 20. 000,-
600, 0O0,O
Some Of the most effective cam
paigns against the fly have been con-
Quoted by women's organizations.
The women's municipal league OF
Boston started in 1911 a campaign,
largely educational. which gives