The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-09-08
PREVENTION VS.. SUPPRESSION
Board of Health Bulletin.)

Board of Health Bulletin.)
Why do we harbor poison-bearing
insects in our bosoms, even to our
own undoing, when we know bet
ter?
A serpent we would run from. II
il repulsive, it is a tangible instru-
ment of harm, but all the snakes
in Florida and in the United States
of America have never done one
hundredth nor one-thousandth of
the harm to mankind that flies have
wrought.
Flies, mosquitoes and other small
vermin used to be regarded mainly
as nuisances but the scientists have
shown and proved to us that they
come bringing disease and death. In
spite Of this warning: we do little
to discourage these pests, and what
we undertake is their suppression
instead of attacking them at home,
in the places where they breed, and
by humiliation, end them, or lessen
their numbers.
The common house fly, beside
which the, buzzard is model of
cleanliness, does not scatter disease
through its bite, but it carries ty-
phoid germs and leaves them on the
food we eat. 1t revels in the filthiest
of filth and brings its poisons, not
to our doors, but into our kitchens
and to the dining table, and we per-
NIT this invasion of our rights with
out murmur.
The stable fly, although he looks
to our unframed eyes. very much
like his dirty cousin, is altogether
another proposition. He, or rather
she-!for the female of the species
is more deadly than the maleMand
causes the real troubles blamed
by the doctors for carrying another
set of troubles. She has beak that
penetrates the thick hides of horses,
mules cows, sheep and swine. She
| ouNho bhNii. bioOu anu. III sc
hers, causes their disabling and even
their death from exhaustion of the
vital fluid. Less frequently she is
charged with the crime of infant
paralysis and perhaps some other
troubles.
The specialists of the United
l n atsfv 90
and other scientific men have spent
a good deal of study on this insect,
and the Department has published
quite recently The Stable Fly, Docu-
ment $40, and two monographs on
the destruction of fly larvae, Docu-
ments 11S and PAS. Ask your Con
gresham to send them. They are
interesting to those who would be
really intelligent on the subject.
The most effective method of rid
ding ourselves of this particular
pest seems to be to prevent his cx-
istence by attacking him in the
breeding stages and by destroying
the conditions that favor such breed
ing.
, Wet and rotting straw, in which
the heat caused by decay, favors the
Matching of the larvae, is the source
o" thee 9icr In the great grain
growing sections Of the West and
. Southwest. But in every section
and in every temperature above
, about forty degrees. Fair, stable
manure heaps are the favorite breed
mfg places. The fluids of manure
. particularly of horses and mules
!. ! mingling with stable bedding in
crease the danger from this source
The possible peril from this caus,
is no less in Florida than in Texas
:, and the mild climate of this stat
makes the danger an all-year-roun,
one.
Screening the manure pill il tn
safest and surest protection. Bu
the regulation of stables is mum
cipal problem. 1t ia not within tn
jurisdiction of the state. If on
: asks for concrete example of thi
u proposition and of its possibilitie:
: there is one ready at hand. TIL
progressive city of Miami, thre
hundred miles and more south O
Jacksonville, has one-thousandth o
Is less of the number of stable file
e that afflict her northern neighbor,
l. Miami has had the sense to accep
and act on good, advice by regulat
= ing her livery and other stables, an
: she Is reaping the reward. Will
IS reckless neighbors to the north c
her and of larger population, reflls
+ 10 meet the situation and are gettin
1t what is coming to them. and ther
ID are plenty of other Florida cities i
|. the same class.
1t Love of the almighty dollar hi
ar been the sentence to perdition
is many soul, which otherwise migl
have had some hope of heaven. III