The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-04-09
The MeddLer
II tie coat fits you. put It on"

A local physician with a large general
practice spoke recently of the healthful
conditions which had prevailed in town
the past two winters and expressed the
opinion that the showing was not due to
exceptional circumstances, climatical or
otherwise, but to the fact that people are
learning to live better. The physicians
themselves, he said, are working more and
more along the lines of preventive medicine
and he believed the articles so widely
published in magazines and newspapers on
right methods of living were helpful in
producing an improvement. Formerly in
the winter, he said, people lived in super
heated, poorly ventilated quarters, and the
person who slept near an open window |
was regarded as a freak Now houses are
IN well-aired rooms is a general one. Peo |
pie keep their bodies clean through fire. |
quent baths and use some Judgment in
eating things that are seasonable. The |
doctors talk ended quickly, as he turned |
into a doorway to make a professional call, |
but he could undoubtedly have continued
| at much greater length on health-promot-
i ing habits The safeguarding of public
/ health through the strict enforcement of
quarantine and the medical examination of
school children are likewise factors in
bringing about healthier conditions.
| BY learning to take care of themselves
people not only avoid suffering and keep
efficiency at a high mark, but they length
en- the span of human life. In Sweden
human life is the longest recorded in civil
ization. There is no reason why our lives
should not be as long as those across the
sea. There are two chief ways of length
ening life, only one of which has thus far
been exploited, VIZ: public hygiene. Great
as are the possibilities of public hygiene,
those of individual hygiene are greater,
and are as vet almost untouched. Public
hygiene is effective chiefly again<t acute
and infectious diseases individual hygiene
is effective chiefly against chronic and de
generative diseases
The time for the annual spring cleaning
is close at hand. Streets and yards Just
now are more than usually Uttered by
waste paper leaves and other rubbish left
by the winds Of the past month. We as
town are justly proud of our well-kept
front lawns, but how about the rubbish
heaps III our back yards, which are often
more dangerous from sanitary point of
view than we realize? We teach the child
to wash behind his ears, but does Brattle-
boro practice this preachment? The an
swer may be found by looking behind
some of the best business blocks on Main
street, in the rear % the watercure build
ing on Elliot street; in fact, in scores of
: spots throughout the village Representa-
tives of the board of trade, the Civic Inn
provement league, the boy scouts and other
local organizations might well unite in
putting this cleanup idea into operation,
: thus helping to make Brattleboro a model
of an attractive New England town.
In the opinion of The Meddler the en-
actment of the anglers license law fur
nishes a fine opportunity for the improve
ment of fishing in the lakes and streams
, of the state, but since this improvement
! depends in great measure on keeping the
license law in effect for a considerable
term of years it is highly important for
believers in the idea to do everything pos
slble to make its operation popular. This
means cooperation between the sports
men of the cities and large towns on one
side and the residents of the rural COM
munities on the other. The former should
have due consideration for the property
rights Of the latter and should try in every
way to demonstrate that the interests of
both mutual. BTattleboro trout fisher
men, for example, should make it apparent
that they are Just as willing to help stock
the streams in the smaller county towns
as they are to fish in them If this get
together spirit is fostered there is no rea-
son why there should not be fishing
enough for everybody who is willing to
contribute his 60 cents toward the sup
port Of the state fish and game depart
mcnt
Under the law which gives him author
ity to exterminate Objectionable fish State
| Commissioner Titcomh intends IA remove