PREVENTIVE MEASURES 227 



It follows that in "organizing community work, not 

 only against mosquitoes but against flies as well, the 

 school children must be counted upon as a most im- 

 portant factor. Almost all children are born naturalists, 

 and interest in such things comes to them more readily 

 than anything else outside of the necessities of life. 

 They are quick-witted, wonderfully quick-sighted, and 

 as finders out of breeding places they cannot be ap- 

 proached except by adults with the most especial train- 

 ing. 



The specific question of interesting school children 

 in the house-fly campaign was brought up at the De- 

 cember meeting of the American Civic Association. 

 It was introduced by the writer and had also been 

 previously considered by the Fly Committee of the as- 

 sociation, of which, as previously stated, Mr. Hatch 

 is the chairman. The association plans to offer prizes 

 for school children in certain selected cities, prizes ag- 

 gregating for the ordinary town say from thirty to 

 fifty dollars. These are to be competed for by chil- 

 dren of the public schools, and in two classes: first, 

 young children between the ages of nine and eleven; 

 and, second, children from twelve to fifteen; so that 

 the younger children will not come into competi- 

 tion with the older and presumably better prepared 

 ones. 



It will be necessary in order to do this, in some cases, 

 to do a little work with school boards, so that they 

 may be willing to admit into the schools the literature 

 which will be the basis of the essays. Health boards 



