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of the matter is the fact that spectacular destructive news gets 

 more attention than the constructive matters, the matters which 

 benefit mankind the most. 



We find the same proposition appHes to the work in which 

 we are engaged, the business of getting rid of mosquitoes. We 

 have difficulty in getting any attention paid to the important 

 work for the benefit of the people at large which concerns us. 

 It may be, it is true, that the scientists who were to meet in New 

 York City were not particularly concerned with having their 

 work known to the world, as the attitude of many men in 

 scientific research is to live in a little world apart, and not to 

 care particularly for popularizing the k^QOwledge of their work, 

 but the fact holds good, nevertheless, that in the anti-mosquito 

 work we do need publicity, and there are certain obstacles that 

 we must overcome. 



When the mosquito work was first undertaken many years 

 ago, it was easy to command a hearing in the newspapers. The 

 subject of the New Jersey Mosquito was a perennial theme for 

 cartoonists, self-appointed humorists, and piaragraph writers of 

 many sorts. We all remember the pictures that appeared of 

 gigantic mosquitoes shown stabbing the helpless sleeper with his 

 beak, or carrying off the South Jersey seashore vacationist 

 bodily. 



That was the first stage of publicity, but we must go beyond 

 that. The time has come when it is necessary to have the people 

 at large think of the mosquito as an unnecessary nuisance, and it 

 is the business of the Mosquito Extermination Commission in 

 any county, through its publicity work, to present other features 

 of the mosquito besides its humorous aspect. 



The County Mosquito Extermination Commission is a public 

 servant, and needs publicity for two reasons : 



(i) If it is going to render the best measure of service, it is 

 necessary that it obtain the fullest co-operation on the part of 

 the people living in the county. There is, therefore, the need of 

 publicity for education to obtain direct help from people in keep- 

 ing their own premises free of mosquito-breeding places. 



