PREVENTIVE MEASURES 
229 
will have the contrary effect upon the minds of con¬ 
servative people, and upon medical men who stand 
for absolute exactness of statement. Moreover, there 
are in every large community scientific men trained in 
laboratory methods, who believe that exact truth can 
be obtained only by laboratory methods and who hold 
the verdict of “not proven” against certain things which 
on the strongest circumstantial evidence have been 
claimed against the fly. It is best to carry this con¬ 
servative class with you if you can, and this can be 
done by a certain moderation in statement and by the 
avoidance of methods which may be termed ultra-yel¬ 
low-journalistic. 
And there is the quandary: how to frighten the ig¬ 
norant and slothful and educate them on the fly ques¬ 
tion without creating a distaste for your methods and 
a consequent lack of helpful interest on the part of 
some who could be of the most valuable assistance. The 
writer, although he was trained to scientific methods 
and has followed them for many years, is inclined to 
think that over-statement to bring about a great san¬ 
itary reform may be justified so long as this over¬ 
statement is based upon sound circumstantial evidence. 
He is thoroughly optimistic as to the progress, in 
the immediate future, of the campaign of education 
against the typhoid fly, and he is certain in his own 
mind that, take the country by and large, and includ¬ 
ing all classes of citizens, whether living in cities, towns, 
villages, or on farms, there is no single way in which 
the mortality rate of the country can be so rapidly de- 
