The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-05-21
A FLYLEss CITY CAMPAIGN.
How Our Societies Can Promote
Same.
(By r. O. VanGalder. J

DuZZlnS Ill lIOm luS SdIDdSc Cdu
|Hents for just moment on the little
face.
ing somewhere.
The result: The disease germ
breeding in the eye Of the decaytng
Ash head in the open garbage can in
the alley is deposited on the face Of
the sleeping babe in the home on
the boulevard. And sickness and
death follows.
Then the query: How in the world
did baby contract the disease when
it had not been out of the house nor
near a sick person in weeks?
The answer: The fly did it. A
disease germ taken into the body of
fly is deposited without chemical
change when digested by the fly.
A fly, during the day, will eat
three times it's own weight, and it
deposits a "speck' every four min
utes. If this speck happened to be
poisonous diphtheria germ when
eaten by the fly, it will still be just
as poisonous and just as dangerous
a diphtheria germ when deposited
on baby's face.
/ uG ny DlccuS al Illu. lcSuS upon
filth. and carries filth wherever it
goes.
NJ. >'ctt alone III tie 0pell garbage can
do flies breed and from it convey d1-
sease. They swarm about open sew
ers, drains and outhouses, which re-
ceive countless disease germs which
have passed through the bodies of
sick persons. Not all the disease
germs carried pass through the body
of the fly, for it picks up and carries
on it's head and legs the germs of ty-
phoid fever, cholera infantum, tuber-
culosis, diphtheria and many other
infectious or contagious diseases.
These germs are too small to be seen
by the naked eye, but are large
enough to be as deadly as the bite of
a rattlesnake.
We have used the helpless babe in
the home on the boulevard simply to
illustrate the fact that with flies
about no home is safe. The boule-
ward home may not have in it doz-
en- flies, while the cottage nearer the
alley may have a dozen dozen; but
if only one of the first dozen be the
fly loaded with deadly germs it may
prove as deadly as all the other doz-
en- dozen.
Not alone is the sleeping babe en-
dangered.
The fly that creeps over the face
of tubercular patient in the pala-
tial home, in the cottage, or hospital,
may deposit deadly bacillus on the
lips of healthy person in the house
next door, marking another victim
for the great white plague.
The great preventative is to be
found in the elimination of the fly
so there will be no need for screen
at door or window.
Can the fly be exterminated? Is
lit possible to make city, or even
district, fyless?
The answer can be in the affirma
tive if the breeding places of the fly
are first eliminated Filth and flies
are almost anonymous. Each
stands for the other Perhaps to put
it more accurately it could be said
that if there were no filth there
would be no flies.
Since it is known that filth, like
the poor is always with us, the prac-
ticable thing to do is first to clean up
the filth. For just in proportion as
filth is eliminated the fly will be
eradicated. Many flies have been
and may be eXterminated by a ''swat
the fly" campaign, but this is not
enough Instead of swatting the fly
the better way is to starve the fly.
To starve the fly leads back to the
main question of getting rid of the
filth. Since flies feed upon filth, it
naturally follows they will starve to
death if there is no filth left upon
which they can feed.
Question: What is the practical
solution?
The answer: A campaign to clean
ZIP and to eradicate.
To make such campaign effective
it must be systematic and wide
spread To make a campaign sys-
tematic and widespread there must
first be intelligent organization.
A nucleus for for such a campaign
in community could be found in an
organization by the local lodges of
our fraternal beneficiary societies.
Every member should be vitality
and selfishly interested.
A fyless city means g city that has
been freed of filth. A city free from
flies and filth means a city with a
lower death rate.
Here is brief outline for a plan
of organizations:
/. Have every fraternal benefici-
airy society in city or town appoint
a committee. Have these several
committees meet and perfect cen
trail organization in which every So
ciety in the city shall be represented.
2. Have this central committee or
organization appoint publicity COM
mittee to prepare articles for the
local press. Through these articles
have arouse the sanitary conscience
of the community. Have informed
persons lecture upon the fly, illus
trating the address by projecting
moving picture ely Pest" films up
on a canvas. Have articles publish
ed in the local papers telling what
other cities have accomplished. Cite
them to Cleveland, Ohio, now prac-
tically flyless, and made so by clean
ing up the breeding places. Advise
them that one pair of flies, if given
filth in which to breed, will produce
~, oro thop million Ajoe in a coooop