Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1917 — DIRTY STREETS AND GERMS [ARTICLE]

DIRTY STREETS AND GERMS

<• Diseases of the Respiratory Organs Are Directly Attributable to UnWashed Pavements. Read any metropolitan paper on Sunday and note the tabulated causes of deaths during the preceding week. Diseases of the respiratory organs lead all the rest. To a city engineer the significance of this fact should be apparent, Grip, colds in general, pneumonia, tuberculosis and all the respiratory diseases have their origin in germs. These germs, for the most part, come from expectorated matter that falls upon streets, there to dry and be blown about with the dust that every gust of wind or motorcar sends upon its deadly journey, says a writer in Engineering and Contracting. To apply water effectively in cleaning pavements, It is essential that the surface be smooth well crowned. This condition is not perfectly fulfilled in 10 per cent of the streets in America, at a safe guess, and it is not even approximately fulfilled in 30 per cent of the streets. In brief, more than two-thirds of the streets in American cities need resurfacing if a marked reduction In respiratory diseases is to be effected. This does not mean, of course, that every city is in need of any suchi overhauling, but it does mean that the average city needs it, and it needs it badly.