58 N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 



Of the thousands of negroes from the malarial districts of the 

 South, the hundreds of Mexicans from the equally malarial country 

 below the Rio Grande, the other thousands of workers gathered 

 from the four corners of the world, many carried in their blood 

 the Plasmodia of malaria and presented the human factor in the 

 equation of disease and death. The insect carrier was already 

 present. A situation arose that was fraught with the gravest danger. 



However, the gravity of the situation was recognized and early 

 in 1918 preliminary surveys and estimates were prepared to meet 

 it. A series of conferences between federal, state and city depart- 

 ments and private corporations and eminent specialists, including 

 Dr. Thomas J. Headlee and Mr. H. I. Eaton, of the State of New 

 Jersey, resulted in the adoption of plans for a cooperative project. 

 The various interested parties agreed to provide funds, furnish 

 materials and perform work to the extent of approximately $275,- 

 000 for the purpose of making possible the speeding up of a hun- 

 dred thousand workers in vital war industries and removing the 

 constantly increasing danger of a serious epidemic of malaria. 



In the apportionment of the cost of the work, the city of Phila- 

 delphia contributed all told and expended under their own super- 

 vision and through their own forces about $70,000, the Emergency 

 Fleet Corporation about $78,000, and there is a continuing charge 

 and a continuing amount of work going on in each instance. The 

 oil refineries of Philadelphia contributed oil at cost, with free de- 

 livery to distribution points throughout the territory. The West- 

 inghouse Company contributed $10,000, the State contributed $25,000 

 from funds available in the State Department of Health, and 

 $75,000 from a special war fund available to the special committee 

 of the Council of Defense, which made recommendations. 



The work was to be performed by the Federal Government, 

 represented by the American International Shipbuilding Corpora- 

 tion, by the State of Pennsylvania, represented by the Pennsylvania 

 Department of Health, and the City of Philadelphia, represented 

 by the Department of Public Works and the Department of Chari- 

 ties and Public Health. Accordingly, there was assigned to each 

 of these three agencies a definite area in which to do the necessary 

 work and for the effectiveness of which each was responsible. The 

 entire project was under the general direction and supervision of 

 the Pennsylvania Department of Health. 



