Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-05
MORE THAN FLIES AWAIT
THE HAND OF THE SWATTER
10 Apply the Rules Of Sanitation
in Public Affairs

This is excellent advice. 1t cannot be
questioned on any ground. Flies ought 10
be swatted. A worse thing ought to be done
10 them If it were possible. Yet the chal-
lcnse that issues regularly IN the first days
of every spring from the Department Of
Health will on this occasion be in odd ways
saddening It will call back to memory the
golden vanished days when flies actually
were the greatest Of our troubles. II will
cause a great many people suddenly to won.
der whether, after all, the bright millen
mum is in the past rather than in the future
OF course We shall swat the fy--when We
have time. But we shall need most Of our
energy TO deal with other dreadful and ma
lignant things that grew and 6ourishcd un
disturbed in wears when the mind Of the
world was turned the other way. The flies
may cKpect--if flies are capable Of eIpcc
tancy--to get of rather easily for a few
years People everywhere are engaged with
other worries. Their hands are full They
are trying desperately to deal with other
nuisances that ought 10 have been swatted
when the swattins was. as they say, good.
There has been q lot of jubilant bussing
at Harrisburg. No doctor with voice of
authority has called out with a demand that
you swat the Ware or swat the Cunningham.
Yet one heeler Of the sort that Is being re-
established in power can spread more unhap-
pness and i'll health in the crowded areas
Of any city--the areas about which DIR. Fur
bush is concerued-than all the flies of
summer.
We in this city have not been alone in alb.
straction. From coast TO coast. from Harris.
burg 10 Budapest, the dire results of years
OF negligent thinking are becoming awtully
apparent.
There. for example. is Jersey. Folk who
are only now drifting back from Faster va
cations in the shore regions bring strange
news. They have observed really startling
reversal OF sentiment with regard TO the
Volstead act.
The people who used to be tho btterest
opponents Of the dry law have suddenly be-
come its most ardent and determined sup
porters. They are the venders of strong
waters in many of the seaside towns. They
regard talk of revised dry law as an inv-
tation to black disaster. Such a revision
would mean a swift decline in the price of
cocktails and. what would be TO them far
more terrible. tremendous decrease in rev.
euues now gained from what might be called
the Sabbath trade II would mean state
license fees, supervision and Sunday closing
for people who, in many instances, know
none OF the old fashioned restraints and re-
strictions Strange as it may seem, some OF
the stifest opposition 10 any proposed
change in the prohibition law will come from
the elect among bootleggers.
Meanwhile. speeding toward the west coast
is trainload Of crusaders sent forth to begin
the long talked OF drive against tobacco.
u is NOT easy to view the thickening con
fusion created by the impact of national
dry law on incorrigible liquor men through
the efforts OF people who seem unable to
finish what they started 10 do. without feel
ing dm'v that a lot OF swattiug ought 70
have been done long ago in a good many diff.
ferent quarters.
We have nothing TO say in defense of fight
ing water. II is bad stuff at best And
while there are people who believe that to-
bacco is not only harmless but wholesome.
We shall for the moment, leave tobacco TO
fight its own fight.
But il is idle to assume. as a great many
people do, that all reformers are fanatics
v no must agitatc or die. The simple fact
IS that even the misguided uplifters are
usually sincere. There are very few Of them
whO do not believe that they are doing
service for mankind. They get themselves
and other people in trouble because, as
rule. they know moro about alroho. and
the like than they know about human nature
The work Of cleaning up civilization
would go more smoothly II those who under
TAX. il could realize thar there is in every
man a devil Of perversty which commands
him to do anything that ia formally forbid
den BY persons who frankly assume TO be his
moral supprtors.
The instinct OF resistance manifested under
such cirCumStanceS - nor unrelated 70 the
tradition Of free vii, and self determination
IL. nod thpnuoh of nd
and war and peace By tho white races. 1t
Is dangerous 70 tell reasoning man that bN
must not do anything which he considers
right Tell him that he is violating the
Jules Of health or good taste or honor and ne
will Hston Issue orders and you will have
6gh, on your hands. Th" rights and
wrongs Of liquor and tobacco may bc left
for tho moment aside. This. however. ia
plain II tho anti. tobacco drive is not
conducted With more tact and patience and
tolerance rhsn the nnti.lquor CRmpaign rc-
vealcd. children will be ficking cigarette
sSncs secretly about the nurseries before
many years and there may be a nice little
iewcled pine 10 the handbag Of almost every
! sub deb
Swat the Hy DO. II carries germs. It is
one of the diruest things alive, But ism t
! II sbout time thar We learned that swattinc
|
700 casual and far 100 limited in scope:
The human race is painfully slow to learn
aew things. Hungary. for instance, wa.
! fattPued out by the war. II was srOurgPd
and denuded under the Hapsburgs It suf.
fered every imaginable affection because OF
the stupidity Of it's kings, One might have
! supposed that when It's runaway emperor re
turned thare would have been wild denan nd
from the housetops TO swat tho Carl R.t
there was nothing Of tb" sort Hungsr7
strpws flowers and leading citizens rsioic.
and plot to restore al he old afhctions
Hungary, in tine hnai analysis is MOI
greatly different from PENNSYLVANIA
Flies carry disease and they cause SICK
ness and death. They poison food and they
kill ltte children, But while we are pwar
ting them, shall we leave unSwatted thc
things and people who spread misery anf
ronfnsion sickness and unrest throuEho1r
all tho political and economic life Of thc
country:
The peons of tho United States izht loot
! twice Al Britain 10 see whether il is safe tc