66 EARLY FLY-REDUCTION 



Fly-reduction entails a careful, weekly, sanitary 

 inspection at a very small cost and in a very good 

 cause. The result will be the saving of life. What 

 better aim can there be than this ? The existence of 

 healthy child-life is the very backbone of the State. 

 A well-known lady, a prominent suffragist, recently 

 asked, " Why are you so desirous of saving these 

 children's lives? Surely there are already too many 

 people in the world." But her contention is wrong. 

 As I have stated elsewhere, each healthy child is a 

 financial asset to the State. The question of public 

 health is one of finance. The credit which a State can 

 command varies directly with the amount of work 

 done in it, that is, it is dependent upon its industrial 

 output. But the industrial output varies directly with 

 the numbers of the inhabitants and their ability to 

 work ; and the numbers and ability to work vary 

 directly with their health. Therefore the credit of the 

 State varies with the health of its inhabitants, and it is 

 the health and numbers of the coming generations 

 which will affect the progress of the community. 

 Child-life, public health these are matters of high 

 finance, 



It is the duty of every citizen to save life. In 

 civilised countries the birth-rate is falling l that is one 

 of the penalties of civilisation. It can be counteracted 

 in some degree by reducing the death-rate. One of the 

 ways in which this can be done is to reduce the causes 

 of diseases. Fly-reduction will do this, and fly-reduc- 

 tion requires efficient sanitation. 



1 It has been reported that in France during the first half of the year 

 1911 the total number of deaths exceeded the total number of births by 

 18,000. This is a very serious state of affairs. England, America, Germany, 

 are beginning to tell the same story. 



