Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1922-08-17
WAR never ENDS
Mankind Dare~Not for a Moment
"Let Up" on Germs.
Sanitation Advances, but the Ingenious
Mcrobe Invariably Bobs Up
in Another Way

If you studied arithmetic from one
/ Of those oId-fashioned textbooks, you
{ will remember the famous hunter who
/ pursued the rabbit and gained during
+ successive equal periods of time one
half the distance that separated him
from the rabbit. If you later de-
velOped a taste for allegory, it prob
ably occurred to you that this unend-
ing pursuit was appropriately sym
boIic Of humanity, in pursuit of its
ideals. The goal is never reached.
even though constant progress is
recorded.
There is, for instance, mans
struggle to subdue his environment to
his own ends. The beasts Of the field
are no longer a general menace;
savage tribes are largely subdued;
men are endeavoring now to prevent
armed clashes between civilized ma
lions. But the enemies of mankind
are unwearying in their attacks upon
him. If the birds, for example, should
for some reason cease for a season to
perform their mission of destroying
insects, it is stated by some scientists,
man would give over the planet to the
thousand-and-One varieties of insects
that war against him.
There are some individuals in this
world who take this struggle seriously
some who take it more seriously
and some who take it most seriously.
You have met, perhaps, some of the
third class. These use their napkins
to wipe the silver at social dinner
table, spread newspapers over the
parlor car seats and hold their hand
keTchiefs over their noses when they
ride in the subway. They are those
who fear that some germ will get 'em
yet
The germ peril and its avoidance is
one of the triumphs of modern
thought 1T has developed into a
science. called sanitation. Through its
findings many old friends have met
disfavor. Yet, as we study its dicta,
many old and close friends seem
doomed TO destruction and the pursuit
of health and happiness, pestered al
ways by the wolf pack of germs, be-
comes longer and longer and more
and more perilOus.
The public drinking cup. the public
towel. the public brush and comb, dear
20 our grandparents, are doomed by
The sanitation expert. The individual
Numbered fowl, fresh from a cabinet,
seemed to answer his demand. But
Al ho1 in
only short time, when it was dis
covered that the ironing that was sup
posed to sterilize the towel did not
kill the germs that carry boiIs.
Paper towels were soon thereafter
introduced, and the public was once
more convinced that the last word in
sanitation had been said. But again
some inquisitive scientists made an
Investigation and found that the knobs
and handles which one had to touch
to obtain a paper towel were occupied
by millions of germs.
To cope with this situation cab
met holder was invented which made
It unnecessary for the user to touch
any sort of a knob or handle in order
to get his towel. Now. some one says
there is probably a germ in the wood
from which the cabinet is made.
There's no rest for the weary. So
far as any one knows, that hunter is
still pursuing that rabbit and still
gaining on him. He has all of hui
manity's irrepressible optimism. And
so far as any one knows it will prob
ably take the ingenious microbes only
year or two to hit upon some
method Of rendering any sanitary de-
vice archaic.