72 THE ORGANISED ANTI-FLY CAMPAIGN 



campaign has been instituted as described in Chapter 

 VI. and continued for some little time, the estimate of 

 the cost of the organised anti-fly campaign can easily be 

 obtained. The cost of daily wages of two labourers for 

 each fly-inspector, the buying and upkeep of hand-carts, 

 brooms, pitchforks, shovels these are small matters 

 when the health of the community is at stake. But if 

 the work has already given good results and is continu- 

 ing well, the request for funds for its expansion will not 

 be refused for long. If there is a refusal the plea will be 

 one of economy a plea that will soon be overcome if the 

 public has been taught to realise the importance of flies 

 as carriers of disease. But there is also an opportunity 

 of improving the general sanitation of the town by a 

 simple increase in the anti-fly organisation at a very 

 small cost ; and reasonable people will soon acquiesce 

 in the demand for a small annual outlay if they can be 

 made to see this side of the argument. Of course, if a 

 considerable sum of money is demanded for reducing 

 flies without an initial investigation or inquiry into the 

 prevalence of flies or fly-borne disease, the whole project 

 may be threatened with ridicule and doomed to failure. 

 If, however, the measures against flies are begun care- 

 fully and cautiously as described, and then, when 

 successful, they are extended and expanded, the 

 organisers will receive their meed of praise and the 

 credit due to them as pioneers of a reform instituted to 

 save human life. 



Should the local council or authority to whom the 

 demand has been made refuse the application finally, 

 recourse to public subscription is justifiable. But it 

 has been found by experience that the upkeep of per- 

 manent sanitary reforms requiring an annual outlay 

 by voluntary subscription is a most unsatisfactory 



