Metropolis weekly gazette. (Metropolis, Ill.) 1???-19??, 1917-07-27
The Cleaner Your Neighborhood
Is the Fewer Flies You'll Have
and Less Sickness-Screening
Is Better Than Swatting, and
a Trap Win Catch the Most.

rATERE you ever in health de-
HMI partment's office on a busy
" day?
Did you hear some irate cit
izen come In and wave his fist at the
health chief and say something like
this:
Il tell you 1 won't clean up that
pile of cans on my vacant lot that
your inspector Is kicking about My
neighbor dumped them there, and ii
Is up to him. Besides, they don't do
anybody any harm"
All the time the chief has been scrfb-
bling on a pad of paper. Now he tears
off the top sheet and hands it to Mr.
Irate Citizen. 1t Is written notice
to clean up In short order or be liable
to arrest. And as he already has adj
mitted that he owns the lot and that
the cans are there 1t is likely that he
would have a mighty weak case when
hauled into court.
"Of course we don't want TO arrest
you," the chief suggests in mild tone.
"You bet you don't" snorts Mr.. Irate
Cit, Just to show how independent he
is. IF you want to arrest any one
why don't you go after that neighbor
of mine? His whole alley is blocked
with a manure pile behind the stable"
As Mr.. Irate Cit leaves another note
goes down. 1t tells the inspector TO
drop around and take look at that
alley.
The Relation of Flies 70 Disease.
A reporter who happened to be in
health office when one Of these cpl
sodes took place asked why the health
department was SO insistent upon
cleaning up tin cans and alleys.
"Flies,' was the answer. 1.-THE clean
er we keep the less flies there are. The
less flies the less sickness. Flies are
deadly, as you know. The only good
flies are the dead ones"
.Then the dirtiest part of the city
ought TO have the most sicknessY
cit will be more nearly correct If
you say it should have the most cases
of diseases that flies carry"
'What, for exampleY
.'The infantile disease that most peo-
pie call summer complaint
No one is likely to hear a health
chief say much about swatting the
flies this year. Swatting is too slow
a process.
The new fly fighting slogan Is some.
thing like this: Screen every door and
window In your house. One or two
won't do. Keep your garbage can COW
cred tight and keep yard, back yard
and your alley clean. See that your
neighbor does too. If he doesn't, tell
US and we'll make him"
Every home should have a fly trap"
said one health officer recently. every
home which has some one in it who
can use hammer and saw can have
one. One good trap is equal to 1000
swats a day.
One Fly Carries 100000 Germs.
"Whereyer there is filth there are
fiies,' a national health official tells
~r. "Flies are dangerous because they
live in filth and then walk over our
food and leave the germs for us TO
swallow They carry the germs Of
nearly all filth diseases, such as ty-
phoid. cholera. dysentery and con-
sumption. We have found as many
as 100000 bacteria on one fly
Flies are also sometimes held TO be
responsible for the spread of eye dis
eases among children.
1t has been found that the fly trap
will catch large numbers of the insects
every day. far greater numbers even
than small boy could swat if he kept
at II all day and was paid according
to the number he killed. For instance.
q trap was set down by dairy barn
for day and caught LOO flies. One
day behind the dining hall 1t caught
400 flies. one day the trap was left