Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-18
NEAR TO 100000
Flies Killed During the Month
Total $4,000.
GET INTO LAST STRETCH
Expect Four Million More Insects
Will Be Slaughtered.
HOT FIGHT BETWEEN LEADERS
Fitzgerald Has Lead Of BOG, 400 Over
Burdette-Supply Of "Swat-.
tiers" Exhausted.

Another heavy delivery of flies in The
Stars July campaign against the insects
yesterday brought the slaughter for the
month to within striking distance of the
seven-million mark. the exact number be
ing $4,000
Contestants now are rounding into the
stretch of the race and before they have
crossed under the wire probably 100000
more flies will have been added to the
present total, making the result Of the
months activities against the insect horde
the greatest on record.
Lawrence Fitzgerald Is putting forth the
effort Of his life to finish first. Because
Layton H. Burdette won last summer s
contest and again was awarded first hon
ors in the May and June campaigns. the
impression developed with number OF
the contenders that this active fly swat
ter was unbeatable. Fitzgerald held q
different opinion. He now has a lead of
3O6 400 points over Burdette and it is GER
tain that, il he fails to finish first, 1t will
not be until he has given Eurdette the
closest race that contestant has expert
enced.
Scores Of the Leaders.
Fitzgerald delivered $4,000 files yes
terday, making his score for the month
1,947, 400. Burdettes total score. SO far,
is 1874. OOO William Steiner, who is in
third place, has 1,OO1 200 to his credit.
The scores Of J. Mark Trice, Walter
Thought and Lillian Portion. who are in
fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respec-
lively, are 543, 200 437. 900 and 372, 200.
In addition to Fitzgerald, Frank Funk
yesterday turned in $500 flies: Lee Kent,
$500: J. Mark Trice, $1,000. and Waiter
Thought, $1,000
DR.. Murray, supervisor of the CAM
paign, today announced that the supply
of 1000 lily swatters" donated by the
Fidelity Storage Company has been ex-
hausted. The demand for these insect
destroying devices has been great, he
said. It is the opinion Of DR.. Murray
that the educational value Of the cam
paign is resulting in the destruction of
thousands of flies daily by persons not
entered In the contest, and who, other
wise, would not have been aroused to
the importance Of exterminatlng the dis
ease spreaders.
Housekeepers at Work.
Killing flies in the homes has been an
important part Of the duties Of house
keepers in Washington in summer for
many years, but no attempt was made to
estimate the number Of the pests killed.
Since the campaign managed by The Star
has created so much interest in the an
initiation many persons from curiosity
have counted the insects killed after a
few minutes work. They have been
surprised at the large number slaugh-
tered.
DR.. Murray Of the District health de-
partment and supervisor of The Star
campaign not only is studying the fly
cults Of the boys and girls In the cam
paign, but also is interested in the work
against the germ carriers in the private
houses. 1t is hard to estimate the num-
Der of flies that are caught on sticky
paper, but it is known that millions are
killed by this method. Many storekeep-
ers. who do not attempt to keep track of
the numbers killed, poison the insects and
the dead bodies are swept out.
Since The Star offered cash prize OF
S. In each of the eight districts of the
etty. besides the nine general prizes, there
% hardly section of the District of Co
umbia where boys and girls are not
working hard to exterminate flies.
Because of the rapid breeding Of flies
the numbers increase with leaps and
bounds as the summer advances, and i,
is thought that this year, the continual
fight on them by the children is holding
the numbers far down. In the city
squares where the various fighters live
1t Is particularly noticeable that the
pests are less this summer than ever be-
fore. If left alone the flies probably
would be more troublesome than usual
this year because of the unusual amount
of rain.