The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-09
SHOULD TAKE MORE
 CARE WITH BREAD

| To the Editor of the Age-Herald:
 | The subject uppermost in the minds ] of the citizens of Birmingham today not even excepting news from tht l 'front''-is typhoid fever" And, really when our daily papers tell US that within seven days there have developed 1S3 new cases, we realize that there is no time for arguing, or for conjecturing the prob
 able cause or causes. Water, milk fresf
 vegetables, meats, ice cream, soft drinks i these and other things have been made | to bear the brunt of the blame and right ! fully so each in part. The greatest cart should be exercised to see that danger | from these sources is reduced to a mini
 mum.
 But what about our bread, than whict
 there is not a greater necessity? Go tc l the bakers shop and ask for loaf O. l bread. The man behind the counter open:
 a sliding door and takes out loaf, wraps | 1t, and hands it to you. But did you no. tice that the flies had beaten him to it.
 in the cabinet or the showcase?
 | Take for granted that those engaged 1 in making and selling bread are trying
 to be careful: Isn't fly the waryest ot | creatures? Follow loaf from the mo
 ment it leaves the ovens (for not many ] of us have access to the place of manu- | facture) until it is handed to you across | the counter, and what do you see? It is carefully placed in tray and carried-ir | the open-to the delivery wagon, anC l probably the solid doors of the wagon are shut. Arrived at the bakers retail shop l the doors are opened and the tray is carried-again in the open-on the up turned palm of the driver and deposited on top of the showcase. The salesman | Cor possibly the driver) picks it up and places it, along with several dozen o1 it's companions, in the cabinet behind the counter, or possibly in the counter-ol showcase-itself, and the sliding door is closed. When you are to be served, the loaf is taken out, wrapped in d fresh piece of wrapping paper, or slipped into a new paper bag, and handed over the counter to you, and you pass out with it under your arm, and soon deposit 1t on your kitchen table, where it is sliced and served on your table.
 If you noticed, even with mere glance
 you probably saw one or more flies alight on your prospective loaf as it was removed from the oven-or as soon there after as it's thermal condition permitted hover around the vicinity of that loaf in
 its travels from oven to retail shop, los
 ing no opportunity to rest it's weary
 limbs on the beautifully Drowned surface on tray, in wagon, in the open, or in it's final resting place, the cabinet; and if you had examined the surface of youi loaf with microscope on arriving al
 your home, you would have been aware that for your nickel you had been given
 more than mere loaf or bread.
 But passing up his flyship; when the loaf is taken from oven to tray, it is done so by hand. When taken from tray to
 cabinet or showcase. it is again done by
 hand. When from cabinet to wrapper or bag, the hand of the salesman is again brought in direct contact with the loaf.
 Count 3. Supposlng that your loaf has escaped the contamination of the fly, ant that the hands of the driver and the salesman are perfectly clean, and have remained so during the entire day; has il entirely escaped the germ laden particles