Valdez daily prospector., 1913-06-03
SANITATION 0F
 TOWN 0F VALDEZ
Kill the Flies and Spread Plenty of Disinfection is Advice of
 the Health Officer.

No public service can be main- tained tu marked degree of eff cheney without the co-operation of an intelligent public; no town could be made sanitary and clean unless the individual habitant or habitants under one household maintain sanitary conditions about their premises, therefore, 1 the sanitation of town, in fact, commences at the very door of each individual. In order to re- aliZe the importance of municipal sanitation and suggest ways and means to obtain it, it is essen 1 tial that we should know in un- mistakable terms the evil results of our neglect to clean up the home, the garden, the back yard and alley and ali surroundings, and to know the dire influences that such surroundings might 1 lead us to in case of any eDjde.tI- ic of infectious disease breaking out in our midst.
 With that point in view, ] en- deavOr to point out few facts and make few suggestions as to our present sanitary conditions l for the benefit of those who have ears to hear. Of recent years great importance is attached to the common house fly and it's tre- mendOuS influence upon the pulp lie health. From scientific Ob- servations and experiments the fact was deduced that this insig- niticant little insect is now known to be one of the most prolific car rierS of disease in numerous un- suspected ways. The agency of the house fly in the spreading of such diseases as typhoid, infant diarrhOea, tuberculosis, ophthal- mia, infantile paralysis and oth- CTS too lOathsome to mention, continually looms up in the more recent study of the problem of public sanitation. We are very
 fortunate that we have had nc serious epidemics in ihis town, but the patent fact can not be too Strongly emphasized namely, one ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Destroy the house fly in given community and inn
 mediately you reduce the death rate. Last year we Waged a war against the little fly; the war was directed against the enemy bodily and not less than 2O,0OO victims were purposely killed in the
 months of May and June of last year, which number. with their progeny, had they been allowed to live their normal life, would have
 reached in the millions. l hope that this year We are doing bet ter by attacking the food sup ply and the breeding places of this relentless enemy of the hu-
 man race. Whatever is said about
 the fly. whether it be h" house i fly or the stable fly, iS also true, to various degrees, of the mos
 quito, the spider. curkroacheS,
 mice. rats. gnats, cats and dogs, l for all such insects and animals
 that live in and about the habita- 1 ton of man are carriers of dis ease germs.
 The vast benefits derived by rV- cry community from sanitation
 through rational cleanliness, in clude an increase of efficiency of the citizens. Leaving ethics aside, the monetary outlay of such cam paign of scientific cleanliness, be what it may, is very trifling and insignificant compared to the economic gain of the community. Only during the last few years. we have been placed in posses sion of some of the most interest,"
 ing and startling facts on the house fly and fully confirming the researches by such men as Dr. Howard, chief of our National Bureau of Entomology in Wash ington; Prof. Nuttall, of Cam bridge, England, and Dr.. Jackson, director of the laboratories of the Water Board of New York. So for a certainty the present sanitarian accuses the house fly, and just ly so, of being the main cause of 1.-the high Residual Typhoid Rates in American cities and thus explain in large measure the IEyphoid death rate in cities, where B perfectly pure supply of drink ling water has been provided. It lis proven beyond possible doubt that infected flies will infect fluids such as milk and syrup on which and will do so many days after manner the infect our foodstuffs, and wounds and abrasions of the skin; they infect eyes, ears and noses, especially in the case of weak children. A very brief sum- mary of. biological facts about the house fly pertaining to it's dan gers and it's control will not be out of place in this connection. Indeed, any information of this kind will De useful to those who wish to act as sanitarians in their fight against ignorance and incompetency.
 Flies deposit their eggs upon garbage, manure, human excreta and similar materials; the mag gots hatch in less than 24 hours