The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-18
M OSQUITO PEST
 RUNS RAMPANT IN CITY THIS SEASON
Johnson BIameS Citizens For Failure To Take Health
 Precautions Asked

FNSNNN
 Birmingham has enjoyed another summer with swarms of mosquitoes due to failure to get together and conduct a business-lil1e campaign against the insects, E. B. Johnson, director of malaria control Nadminis- tration of the state board of health. points out. Memphis, Savannah many other cities with no greater mosquito nuisance than Birmingham have eliminated the pest, but BIr- mingham people continue to itch, scratch, and use wild language be- gether' and destroy the pests" said MT. Johnson.
 These other cities have learned that mosquitoes can be eliminated at a moderate cost" he continued, but that it cannot be done without the citizens, nor unless the campaign is under the direction of an engineer ] trained in mosquito control work. l "Birmingham's mosquitoes are bad; there Is no question about that. Ma laria, which is carried solely by mos quitoes, is all too prevalent here, and moreover there has been many more cases of the disease reported this year than in previous years. Citt- zens of this city have not forgot the disastrous epidemic of dengue or 1 breakbone fever that swept over the the city last fall, closing down many of the industries; they are only hop ing that it will not return this year | for the mosquitoes which carry 1t are here in abundance and 1t needs but a single case to start 1t off, like Q match in barrel of gunpowder.
 A ~
 May Have Learned Lesson.
 | Tt is to be hoped that the people | of Birmingham have learned the les son from the failure this year. FIX pecting the individual citizen to con- 1 trol mosquitGes is much like expect | ing your chauffeur to build you a magnificent mansion; he just doesn' Ilxnow how to do it. Mosquito coQ$rol work is very technical work, and only an engineer who has had special training in such work is able to do | it successfully.
 'In company with MT. Kibbey of the Tennessee Coal and Iron com pany health department and MT. | Hardenbergh of the county healtn department, 1 made a very careful | study of the situation in Birmlng- | ham last spring. Although these linen all have years of successful ex- | perience in mosquito control Work' they consulted freely with the hlgh- est authorities in this country. AS result, a plan was devised whereDy mosquitoes could be effectively con itrolled here at a moderate cost. The estimate made was $40.OOO for the first year, and S10,000 year there after. This ~would mean only ~ cents per capita the first year, ana cents thereafter.
 | "The people of this city are rais- ing millions of mosquitoes In ana l off ] they know nothing about. A corps of trained inspectors to visit each | home requently, to find all such b1 eeding places and to see that the breeding is effectively prevented, IS an absolute essential.
 Breed In Many Places.
 'In many parts of Birmin gham, as in East Birmingham, in East | Thomas, and in Pratt City and near Elmwood cemetery, there are numer- ous small swampy areas, excellent humber of hese in the city, partic- ularly near Village and Valley
 creeks, Is amazing and woulo
 scarcely be credited by one not ia miliar with the conditions. There are many steams in Biz mingham, both large and small. in | which mosquito breeding takes place l Village and Valley creeks and their 1 tributaries are as a rule sluggish, or | deeply pot-holed, and mosquitoes | breed in them freely. In 1921 MT. l Johnson made a trip to Valley creek Just below the state fair grounds. For several hundred feet here the sur | face of the stream was covered with a grayish scum, resembling a sewage fungus or plaint growth. But il | wasn't; examination proved the de- posit to be composed of millions upon millions of mosquito wigglers, there was enough mosquitoes being raised in this one place to infest that whole
 end of the city.
 "Such places as these must be oiled, and contrary to the belief of some people, they must be oiled reg ularly once every seven days.
 ''The plan, which was proposed in Birmingham last spring, took account of all these factors. It provided for house-to house inspectors, who were
 under the direction of MT. Kibbey, | whom the Tennessee Coal and Iron
 company donated part time to the i project. It provided for drainage gangs to do the necessary drainage and filling. It provided for oilers and for their supplies and for oiling | inspectors, this work to be under the direction of Mir. Joffison. And 1t provided for a business-like man in charge. trained in such work, and | with a record of success in such work. in the person of MT. Harden bergh If the county health depart ment. The organization and the estimate of funds necessary for It's | operation were cut to the bone be- II cause these men did not believe they | were justified in spnding ono dollar Il unnecessarily. But they did know
 what was necessary to accomplish results, and planned their organiza-
 tion to get results at the lowest pos
 sible cost.
 Complaints Numerous.
 life at the office of the county
 health department this year has been
 one long round of complaints about
 mosquitoes, about the city doins
 nothing, about the health department
 doing nothing, about individuals
 raising mosquitoes, of being eaten alive by the Insects, of being kept
 from sleeping by mosquitoes, oi
 babies made sick by mosquitoes, oi malaria, of fear of dengue. And the Ihealth department has been helpless bcause the people of the city did no' give funds for an organization aoe, quate to control the situation.
 Acceptance of the plan outlin eC above would have removed tht
 trouble, and will remove it next year The "every man take care of his owl mosquitoes' plan has failed ant
 failed miserably. The question of to
 day is, have the people of Birming
 ham learned the lesson from this fail
 ure, and will they control mosquitoe
 hereafter on the business-like plan
 The whole state of New Jersey is do
 ing 1t, many other cities of the soutl
 are doing 1t, and Birmingham cal
 not afford to be behind the othe
 cities of the south in protecting her