CONSERVING THE NATION'S MAN POWER 



267 



formal request that the Surgeon General 

 of the U. S. Public Health Service estab- 

 lish administrative jurisdiction over all 

 the sanitary work in the extra-canton- 

 ment zone surrounding Camp Pike. The 

 Governor, the State health officer, the 

 mayor of Little Rock, the mayor of Ar- 

 genta, the county judge, and the Little 

 Rock Board of Commerce sent individual 

 requests for this service. 



patriotic state; officials 



It speaks well for the intelligence of 

 this community that in a time of national 

 stress it should so willingly and logically 

 lay aside all questions of State sover- 

 eignty and local control, and place the 

 burden of responsibility where it be- 

 longs — upon the shoulders of the general 

 government. 



That they were not actuated by an in- 

 ability or unwillingness to expend local 

 funds will be shown in a moment. The 

 city of Little Rock immediately pledged 

 $3,000 for beginning work within its 

 jurisdiction, and a few days later, feel- 

 ing that its contribution was insufficient, 

 raised the sum to $22,000. The Little 

 Rock Chamber of Commerce, actuated 

 by a fine sense of its responsibility to 

 the community, voted $50,000 for the 

 prosecution of sanitary work, and in an- 

 nouncing this allotment of funds stated: 

 "This organization wants to go on record 

 as being heartily in accord, and will lend 

 its financial support, in making this cam- 

 paign a success, and we hereby tender 

 our cooperation along these lines." 



The city of Argenta, a town of about 

 16,000 inhabitants, not to be outdone, ap- 

 propriated $3,000 for the first six months' 

 work. The way in which the officials of 

 the community recognized their duty is 

 reflected in a letter from the Hon. Lee 

 Miles, the county judge : "I am sorry that 

 I have been in no position to give you 

 some definite information. I have abso- 

 lutely no appropriation out of which this 

 money can be paid and have no money 

 at all; . . . but I am going to raise 

 the money some way to put up the coun- 

 ty's part." The county appropriated 

 $1,500. 



On July 29 the Public Health Service 

 assumed administrative charge of the 

 zone and immediately began active oper- 



ations. Cooperative arrangements were 

 made with the sanitary officer of the 

 cantonment proper, a large force of la- 

 borers was employed, a circular letter 

 was mailed to every physician in the 

 county requesting his cooperation, and in 

 a few days the work was in full swing. 



GETTING THE WORK UNDER FULL SWING 



It was realized that in order that it 

 might achieve the highest success, the 

 project required the hearty and intelli- 

 gent approval of the general public. The 

 newspapers of Little Rock were enlisted 

 in the cause ; public addresses were de- 

 livered to the Rotary Club, the Little 

 Rock City Council, the Argenta City 

 Council, the Lions' Club, the Negro Chau- 

 tauqua, and at the moving-picture houses 

 throughout both cities. An exhibit was 

 placed in a large department store on 

 the busiest corner, showing in large mod- 

 els the adult and the larval forms of the 

 mosquito. 



Twenty thousand circulars of sanitary 

 advice were printed, and one hung in 

 every house in Pulaski County. The 

 rental agents were asked to cooperate, 

 and 10,000 small circulars were printed 

 to be handed out with rent receipts and 

 sent as inclosures with the regular mail. 

 Free vaccination against smallpox, ty- 

 phoid, and paratyphoid fever was offered 

 to the general public. 



All milk producers living in the vicin- 

 ity of Little Rock were called to a meet- 

 ing of the Board of Commerce. They 

 were impressed with the urgent necessity 

 for the proper sanitation of their dairies 

 and the vaccination of their employees 

 against smallpox and typhoid fever. This 

 they agreed to do. It being discovered 

 that the area around Carlisle. Ark., was 

 shipping milk into the zone, a similar 

 meeting was held there, with similar re- 

 sults. 



A SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC STRANGLED 



The erection of the cantonment caused 

 large numbers of camps for laborers to 

 spring up in the zone. These were in- 

 spected at regular intervals and instruc- 

 tions given regarding the sanitary pre- 

 cautions to be observed. Many of the 

 laborers and camp followers were vacci- 



