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- 



