58 WAYS AND MEANS 



live in it are always ill there is nothing doing, and 

 its population will not increase, no matter what its 

 position or its natural advantages may be. Nobody 

 will invest money there for building or trading, for 

 tramways or amusements ; and the place will soon 

 be at a standstill. It commands no credit, and it has 

 no asset it is unhealthy. But if the town is made 

 healthy, then money will soon flow in, and its credit 

 will advance and become cheaper as progress replaces 

 the condition of standstill. Then the expenditure 

 will be justified, and the sunken capital will not be 

 grudged or cavilled at. These truisms must be em- 

 phasised ; the results obtained at Havana, Rio, and 

 New Orleans can be quoted with assurance. 



But should it be found impossible to obtain funds 

 from the State, a public subscription must be raised. 

 Then, if the work is successful, the State can again be 

 approached to take up its share of the burden. How- 

 ever, as mentioned before, public subscripton is not 

 very satisfactory. Public-spirited persons will sub y 

 scribe for a time. They may find mosquitos a terrible 

 pest in their houses, or they may find their children 

 constantly ill, or their occupations suffering through 

 their ill-health, or the constant sickness of their em- 

 ployees may be costing them money or hurting trade ; 

 then they will subscribe. But a time will come, after 

 the mosquitos have disappeared, and are forgotten, 

 when the subscribers will fail in their support of the 

 cause, or a new generation will grow up that knew 

 not mosquitos, and it will not pay. At first they will 

 forget to subscribe, then they will grumble, and at 



