Deming graphic. (Deming, N.M.) 1903-1948, 1914-07-17

~ W. ss' ss"ses uoteu army rus
geon, who for years was connected
with the sanitary work at Panama
arrived in the city Sunday from the
East ON his way to Silver City and
Fort Bayard.
~ have been coming to this Sec
ton every year for the last ten
years." said DIR. Hale, land | have
been all over the world and ! most
cheerfully say that the climate Of the
Mimbres Valley is the finest in the
world, taking everything into con-
sideration. While the people Of the
South and East are sweltering in the
heat and unable to sleep nights the
people here ARE enjoying cool nights
and fine. clear air. came from Pan
anna by the way Of New Orleans and
that city is engaged in the biggest rat
hunt ever conducted in America. The
whole population is busy with traps,
guns. clubs, poison and fire. Tens
of thousands have been killed and
the war is far from ended. The ex-
termination Of the rodents is cOnsid-
cred of such Importance that the sur
geon- general Of the United States
navy is in charge Of the campaign.
IAN sewers, drain pipes and rat
runs are being wired to stop egress.
Buildings and Easements are being
rat -proofed, bakeries and restaurants
are being screened, quick garbage
disposal in enforced. New Orleans
will hereafter be a mighty uncomfort-
able place for rats.
"Why all this hubbub, with Uncle
Sam serving as scientific Pied Pr
peri Because devastating disease,
like many others Of less virulence, is
spread by rats.
"The rats carry fleas, which in
turn carry the fatal bubo germs. A
flea bites victim Of the disease and
then. comfortably housed in rats
fur. travels to another house or an
other neighborhood and bites a well
person. Thus the plague spreads
city by n perfectly applicable proc
es.
"There is one link in the chain of
infection, however, that is being Civ
en- small attention in New Orleans.
Certain medical pioneers, particular
" DR.. Caroline A. Osborne OF Wor-
cester, Mass. declare that our family
friend the eat, playing with our chill
dren and sleeping beside our hearths'
is likewise deadly enemy.
"Medical records tell Of battling
epidemic of diphtheria in Connec-
ticut town the cause OF which was
long mystery. Finally the doctors
found that sewage from the hospital
was injecting rats, which were in
fecting eats. which in turn were IN
feciing human beings.
"In New Orleans or elsewhere the
plague might similarly spread from a
single case. The traditional virtue Of
Gather rat-killing proclivity-
constitutes her chief menace. For she
may acquire the infected fleas from
the rat she catches, and then distrib'
ute them throughout an entire neigh
borhood. An outbreak OF buboni'
plague ON II British steamship wa,
traced to a eat which had boarded
the vessel ut Alexandria, Egypt. II
the New Orleans crusaders want t.
do u thorough job they will kill oil thu
eats, too. however unpleasant sncl
sacrifice would be.
ut is hard to persuade people o
the genuine peril of indiscriminai'
association with eats, and yet Their
are well authenticated cases of eat
having spread scarlet fever, diph
iberia. whooping cough, tuberculosis
plague, smallpox, ringworm, trichin
/. and many other ailments. The fac
that the cat has been unsuspecte
has made her unconscious sins oil th
greater. for she has passed nnhinder
ed from sick room to playing chIl
dren. bearing and distributing tn
germs of malignant diseases b
means of mouth, paws and fur.
"The eat who walks by herself
the worst offender. The nocturni
prowler and alley bowler is likely t
pick up whatever fatal germs ther
NAV be in the cat or rat commnnit,
Such animals, usually recognizable
as 'strays, should not be received IN
to home, doctors say without care
full washing and disinfection and
preliminary period of observation.
"The ordinary house eat that stay