South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-06-18
Still Too Much Malaria
BY Woods Hutchinson. VI. d.

We are really making some little
progress in wiping out diseases.
Some great plaques are already
practically extinct in civilized lands,
the black death. leprosy yellow
fever. smallpox. so far as any no
ticeable effect upon the death rate
is concerned. old diseases are dy-
ing out, while the new ones which
seem 10 be taking their places are
only old ones which has Just been
found out.
Other diseases ought TO be ex-
tinct-but aren't, and among these
malaria IS easily one Of the chief
Malaria ." We say. oh. that's the
disease that can be wiped out in
the tropics" And then proceed 70
fight il in our own homes by slap
ping at the mosquitoes that carry
it-after they have bitten Us
Because malaria does not flourish
in cities and large towns, on account
OF lack OF pools Of surface water for
its insect-carriers 20 breed i'm. and
ntAet AAEE -A4F fAA1NDf 81 that the tNtfA-
toms OF ponds and sloughs when
drained make the richest cornfields.
has made the disease less common
in country districts, We are in
clined 10 think that we can treat
fever-and-ague as "a thing Of the
past a closed chapter.
But the plain unvarnished fact is
that the whole Of this great country
OF ours is still peppered and
springfield all over with malaria
pockets from the Rio Grande and
the gulf 10 the international bound
airy. Most thickIy of course in the
south and southwest more sparsely
in the north and northeast. but the
disease is far from uncommon as
far north as southern New England
and hundreds Of cases still occur
every year within 30 miles Of all OF
our great seaboard cities from New
York downward. So that though
we do not meet the Anopheles mos
quito upon our streets. we easily
may on our trips to the country or
our summer vacations
Although We ourselves may not
shake with chills and fever. or
carry quinine in our pockets. or
hear talk of chill days" yet the
disease is still abroad in the land.
How widely and severely may he
gathered from the fact that the
economic damage done by il every
year from loss of time. loss Of
working power and decreased eff
cheney is estimated upon good au-
thority at the startling total of no
less than $4,000. 900, To say moth
ing of course Of the suffering of the
patients and Of the grief. anxiety
and distress inflicted upon their
families.
Now this is not complimentary to
our national intelligence. We clean
up the disease brilliantly and tri-
umphantly in the Panama canal
zone and leave il to run almost un-
checked in our own home county.
The question of cost need not fright
Ell US, because as may be readily
figured out the stopping OF an eco
nomic loss of $15O,0OO.0 900 a year
would give each state in the Union
nearly 100000 a year to spend i'm
cleaning up malaria and splendid
start could be made for one-ffth of
that sum.
To say nothing of the fact that
most OF the drainage schemes in
volved would result i'm the recovery
of valuable land for farm or build
ing purposes. Besides. nothing de
presses the value of real estate more
than the presence OF mosquitoes.
and the mere clearing away of these
little pests alone. regardless of the
malaria that they may carry. will
raise the value of all the land i'm
the surrounding neighborhood.