The broad ax., 1917-02-03
THE WINTER FLY.

1t is time now to talk about the win
ter fly.
But there are no flies in winter time, |
the average person would say.
The Department of Health, however,
saws that there are winter time flies.
And these winter time flies are respon-
sible for the countless millions OF these
pestiferous little insects that we have
with us in the summer months. AS
matter of fact, there is scarcely an
Office building or hotel in the loop dis
trict, and especially the latter, that has
not harbored live flies all winter long
and in which they might be found right
now. Bakeries and bakery oven rooms
are places for the flies to survive the
cold season, and as already stated, the
flies that survive during the winter are
responsible for those that we have dur
ing the summer months.
Flies do not hibernate; they are not
long lived. When the chilling frosts of
! the autumn months come they disap-
pear by the millions. 1t is only the
few that manage to secure quarters
comfortable enough to enable them to
live and breed through the winter.
Therefore, it is important that right
now we should get after the winter fly.
If every hotel and restaurant keeper
in the City of Chicago and every
bakery and delicatessen store should
get busy now to exterminate the flies
that they may find on their premises, it
would be a most effective measure to-
wards the prevention of fly plague next
summer.
1t is possible, too, that in a few
places and comparatively few through
out the city, manure, in which flies
eggs have been deposited, has been
stored in quantities so large as to re-
tain heat sufficient to keep the eggs
from freezing; and these, when warm
weather comes and the manure is re-
moved, will no doubt emerge as flies.
The most prolific sources of supply,
however, are found in the places
named, where a summer temperature
has been maintained during the cold
weather and where the flies have had
plenty to eat and managed to get along
without discomfort or starvation.
Every housewife should also 60 care
fully over her house to see that there is
not fly now living in it. 1t is not an
uncommon sight in midwinter to see a
fly buzzingr on one of your window
panes. The important thing is, how
ever, to catch that winter fly. The De-
partment of Health believes that this
is an important matter, for the reason
that the flies now living are laying
eggs in favorable places for incubation
in early spring, and some of these eggs
are Matched out during the winter
months in places where the tempera-
ture is warm and even.
1t is hardly necessary at this time
to repeat what so often has, been said,
that flies carry the germs of disease;
, that they are a menace to the health
of any community in which they are
allowed to exist. They carry the germs
of such diseases as typhoid, dysentery
and tuberculosis, and many medical
men suspect them of playing part in
the spread of infantile paralysis. In
view of the fact that Chicago may have
an outbreak of this dread disease next
summer, this appeal to start the fly
killing campaign now should not go un
needed. Let every one get busy and
D swat the winter fly.
To overcome diphtheria and wipe il
gradually off the map, let all parents
, follow this advice:
!. Have your child's tonsils and ade
y noids properly removed by those
: who know how. These glands are
L favorite points for diphtheria to at
e tack. In case of even slight sore
throat, keep close watch, especially
in the cold, indoor season, and get {
doctor early. Insist that the child b,
given a prompt dose of antitoxin il
case of the slightest question of the
: disease. Antitoxin will do no harm, tn,
e poison of diphtheria will.