Proce^kdings 01^ Fii^TH Annual Mke:ting 71 



a special commission to report upon the best possible methods 

 and means of control, but it is obviously our own duty to safe- 

 guard the interests of our troops in this country and to prevent 

 as far as practicable the sailing of infected men in numbers 

 sufficiently large to impair the fighting qualities of our forces 

 abroad. 



Equally imperative is the duty of safeguarding northern com- 

 munities now free from malaria or but slightly infected, and 

 reasonable assurances to this effect have been forthcoming from 

 both the Surgeon-General of the Army and the Surgeon-General 

 of the United States Public Health Service, which are cooperat- 

 ing with southern communities to reduce the local degree of 

 malaria frequency to the lowest attainable minimum. But the 

 task is a prodigious one, and unless based upon sound conceptions 

 of mosquito extermination, minor and major drainage opera- 

 tions, screening, and even possibly quinine immunization, the 

 results are quite likely to be very disappointing. 



Those who are experts in these matters cannot render the 

 Government and the cause we are fighting for a greater service 

 than by keeping the real facts before the public. An educational 

 mosquito and makuia propaganda has far-reaching value, and 

 in many other directions than merely mosquito and malaria con- 

 trol. It is your duty to keep the facts as you understand them 

 before the public and to' bring the lesson home to every element 

 of the population, including the school children, who can be pro- 

 foundly interested in the essentials of medical entomology, if 

 intelligently instructed, in simple language, such as has been made 

 use of in the educational leaflets by Dr. H, R. Carter, of the 

 United States Public Health Service, and the Department of 

 Conservation and Development of New Jersey. To the extent 

 that you disseminate this information you will gain the active 

 support of the people in the furtherance of your admirable plans 

 and lofty purposes, which are not only a credit but an enormous 

 benefit to the people of this state, the nation and the world at 

 large. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen, 

 for your very patient and considerate attention. 



