The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-05-08
AFLYLESSCTYCAMPAIGN
BY F. o. Van Gander. Editor Modern woodman"

| An open garbage can In the alley,
sleeping babe in the home on the
boulevard; door left ajar; fly buzz
zing in from the garbage can lights
for just a moment on the little face.
! This is an every-da scene happen
| ing somewhere.
The result: The disease germ
breeding in the eye Of the decaying
| fish 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
tfollows
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 dis
ease germ taken into the body of a
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
"speck" every, four minutes. If this
speck happened to be a poisonous
diphtheria germ when eaten by the
fly, it will still be just as poisonous
and just as dangerous a diphtheTia
germ when deposited on baby's face.
The fly breeds in filth, feeds upon
Not alone in the open garbage can
do flies breed and from it convey di-
sease. They swarm about open sew
ers, drains, and outhouses, which re-
have passed through the bodies of sick
people. Not all the disease germs
carried pass through the body of the
fly, for it picks up and carried on its
head and legs the germs of typhoid
fever. cholera infantum, tuberculosis,
n fVhf y G,~So NrH inf
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 ratt1esnake.
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 boulevard home
may not have in it a dozen flies. while
the cottage nearer the alley may have
a dozen dozen; butt if only one of the
first dozen be the fly loaded with dead
ly germs it may prove as deadly as
all the other dozen dozen.
Not alone is the sleeping babe en-
dangered.
The fly that creeps over the face of
tubercular patient in the palatial
home, in the cottage, or hospital, may
deposit a deadly bacillus on the lips
of a healthy person in the house next
door, marking another victim for the.
great white plague.
The great preventive is to be found
in the elimination of the fly so there
will be no need for screen at door and
window.
Can the fly be exterminated? Is it
possible to make city, or even a dis
triCt f1yless?
The answer can be in the affirma-
tive if the breeding places of the fly
are first eliminated. Filth and flies
are almost synonymous. Each stands
for the other. Perhaps to put it more
accurately it should 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 practic-
able thing to do is first to clean up
the filth. For just in proportion as
filth is eliminated the fly will he eradi-
Gated. Many flies have been and may
be exterminated by a swat the fly
campaign, but this is not enough In
stead of swatting the fly the better
way is to starVe the fly. To starTe
the fly leads back again 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 upon which they can
feed.
Question: What is the practical so
luton?
The answer: A campaign to clean
up and to eradicate.
To make such campaign effective 1t
must be systematic and wide spread.
To make a campaign systematic and