20 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Jlaper Read at the Ward Six Merting of the 
Beverly Improvement Soriety 
First for cleaner conditions in the 
markets—asking that the full vege- 
table box should not stand on the 
floor, where animals come in close 
contact with it, but stand on an empty 
box, raised eighteen inches from the 
floor. ‘This is a law in Germany and 
most Western States. We ask that 
foods should be kept covered —if 
possible, in a glass case. The Bev- 
erly Board of Health have inserted a 
new clause in their rules stating what 
is required at the Beverly markets, 
and I would suggest that in doing 
this market work each member of 
the Ward Committee have one of 
these books to show that what we ask 
is a City Ordinance. 
It is not pleasant to think of the 
many hands that have passed over 
the uncooked meats and punched the 
chickens before they come to you. 
Just here I would like to add a 
word of warning to all on the sub- 
ject of the oyster this season. Do 
be very careful. All the oysters sold 
as Cotuits cannot possibly come from 
there. Ninety-nine oyster beds have 
been condemned in Rhode Island 
alone, and the conditions are very se- 
rious. Oysters are fattened on sewer 
pipes. It takes only twelve hours to 
make them ready for market. Oys- 
ters that are sold in bulk come from 
anywhere, and it is known that they 
have been sold to clubs and hotels 
and even private houses—sent with 
shells that are kept for the purpose 
and served:as oysters on the shell. 
Beware of any such trick, as the re- 
sults of this practice may prove fa- 
tal! The sale of oysters has fallen 
off in the past three years in New 
York and Boston seventy-five per 
cent. Mr. Eidward)i Hatch" Jr..7oi 
New York sent so many communica- 
tions to the press on the subject that 
the fish consumers threatened to sue 
him if he continued. He replied, “I 
wish you would, | would like to ex- 
pose you all on the witness stand.” 
In the market work we ask that a 
mosquito netting is thrown over the 
food to protect it from direct con- 
tact with flies, now recognized as 
such disease carriers, and spoken of 
by the physicians as the Typhoid Fly, 
as epidémics of that dread disease 
have been traced directly to the fly. 
The fly is our greatest enemy, and 
while the extermination of this pest 
seems hopeless it is not so visionary 
as it may seem. It was thought im- 
possible to control the mosquito nui- 
sance. Experiments have proved the 
contrary. Intestinal diseases are 
more abundant whenever and wher- 
ever you find flies, and the flies and 
not the summer heat are the active 
agents in the spread of such sickness 
and of infant summer complaints. 
We must realize the relation of in- 
sects to sanitation. 
The breeding places of the fly are 
the most filthy we can think of—the 
stable and the manure pit. Bacteria 
carried by one fly is from 500 to 
6,000,000. The average fly carries 
about 1,250,000. ‘This represents the 
number of bacteria that enters into 
a human system when one swallows 
a glass of liquid into which a fly has 
fallen. ‘Think of the poison carried 
by a fly from a sick room to the 
kitchen or the nursery and the baby’s 
bottle ! 
We ask that a disinfectant is used 
in the markets, bakeries, etc., that the 
meat block shall be sprayed before 
using, not leaving the collection of all 
sorts of refuse of days and weeks on 
the block. That is the market part 
of the sanitation work. 
Then comes the stable question and 
disposal of manure. Ninety-five per 
cent. of the flies are bred in stable 
manure. If the stable is sprinkled 
with a disinfectant, and the manure 
bin also, the maggots will not have 
a chance to develop. We hope all 
private stables will be interested to 
ike up this matter, and then we can 
ask livery stables to do the same. 
One circular says: “Clean up your 
own premises inside and out and then 
go for your neighbor.” 
Some sensitive persons are of- 
fended by plain talk regarding these 
subjects and say that such nauseous 
details should be left to the experts. 
Rather than warn people by plain 
. statements they would prefer that the 
fly be permitted to go on scattering 
filth and disease through the house. 
This curious ostrich-like attitude is 
thoughtless and absurd. ‘The — suc- 
cess of the modern campaign against 
fly-borne disease is entirely. depen- 
dent upon inspiring the general pub- 
lic with a wholesome fear of the fly 
and a horror of its filth-covered body 
and bacteria-laden legs. Plain speak- 
ing is a perquisite to such enlighten- 
ment, and no apologies need be made 
for calling a spade a spade. We lis- 
ten unblushingly to much more ob- 
jectionable language at jalmost any 
play at the theatre and read the mod- 
ern novel and discuss it, too, without 
a qualm. 
Scrupulous cleanliness about the 
house, premises, stables and highways 
will make existence precarious for the 
fly. The pest finds garbage and filth 
the mainstay of life. If people would 
exert themselves to keep houses and 
yards free and clear of these things 
they would not have to spend so much 
money for screens and they would be 
much better protected against germs. 
It is only within the last two years 
that the fly has been regarded as a 
menace to health, but the movement 
for its extermination is proceeding 
with great rapidity now all over the 
world. 
The fly is of no earthly use. 
This fly business is not the theory 
of some visionary or a one woman 
fad. It is the result of careful analy- 
ses made by competent bactereolo- 
gists who know a deadly germ when 
they see it, whether it is in a person’s 
throat, lung or intestine, or on the leg 
of a fly. 
There is need of a war on the 
house fly, and the only way in which 
that war can be made a success is 
for every person to volunteer. 
This is just the season to go to 
work, for, quoting from the auto- 
biography of Mr. A. Pesky Fty, he 
says: 
“Last fall most of my friends died, 
but I hid away in a warm nook in 
the kitchen, where I had plenty of 
dirt and filth to spend the winter in. 
My wife was swallowed by a little 
baby last August, but I shall get mar- 
ried again as soon as the season be- 
gins and bring up the number of my 
offspring into the — billions — without 
someone moves into this kitchen who 
will keep everything too clean to suit 
me... 
Cleanliness is next to flylessness. 
The number of eggs laid by one 
fly in twenty-four hours is one hun- 
dred and twenty. One pair of flies 
will produce 2,000,000 offspring in 
one summer. A single stable where 
one horse is kept will supply flies for 
an extended neighborhood. It takes 
ten days for the fly to mature from 
the egg, so if the manure is removed 
promptly and the disinfectant used, 
the breeding would be overcome and 
half the battle fought. Water or 
moisture is necessary to the breeding 
of the fly; therefore the manure bins 
should be rain proof. 
The garbage receptacle is another 
important part of the work, and we 
ask that all such receptacles be kept 
covered to prevent the dust and dirt, 
with all the germs, from flying about. 
The tidy backyard is something to 
work for in the country. 
