The Syracuse Journal, Volume 4, Number 4, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 25 May 1911 — Page 6

Syracuse Journal W. G. CONNOLLY, Publisher. SYRACUSE, - • * INDIANA. )WHY THE TURKEY IS BALD (Lost Feathers in Saving the Last Spark of Fire, Is the Indian Legend. i The Indians of our country have many legends connected with certain peculiar habits or customs prevalent among them. If one should chance to visit the home of an old Indian he would perhaps notice a turkey wing hanging near the fire. This the Indian uses to fan his fire 'into a flame and make it burn brightly, or perhaps in the sultry days of ° 'summer to fan himself. If asked why ihe uses the turkey wing Instead of the iwing of any other bird he would no doubt relate the following story: | Many years ago the fire of the world was nearly extinguished; this happened just at the beginning of the winter season. The birds of the air were filled with anxiety, for their in' tuition told them they would need heat. A bird council was held and it was decided that birds which could fly the highest should soar into' the air and see if they could find a spark of fire anywhere. The efforts of the eagle, ! lark and raven were in vain. The honor was left to the little brown sparrow, who spied a spark of fire in -the hollow of an old stump in the iheart of a deep forest. i The birds flocked around the stump and tried to decide who should pick the spark out. But all their efforts were in vain; to their dismay they Jg'vw ge spark growing smaller and fainter. J'hg ttrkey then volunteered to try to keep the tiny coal alive by fanning It with his wings. Day after day the turkey kept fanning, the heat became greater each day, until the feathers were singed off the turkey’s head. If one notices carefully he will see lumps on the head of a turkey that appear as blisters. It is believed that the turkey was so badly burned that all turkeys since have had bald heads and wear the blisters as a memento of the bravery of the turkey. The faithful turkey lost his beautiful feathers, but he gave back fire to the world; so in his honor and as a memorial to his faithfulness the Indian uses the turkey wing to make his fire burn. —The Red Man. Problem of the Planets. ; "The amount of ignorance not yet removed concerning the planets is very great,” vfrites Mr. E. E. Grew. 4 ‘We do not know, for example, whether the planet Venus rotates. If it does, it may possibly have a life, and ‘ a vegetation like our own, though ,we suspect that it is clothed in eternal cloud. Os Saturn’s rings w r e cannot say whether they consist of millions of tiny moons like brickbats or whether they may be even smaller still —a veil of shining dust. Os Jupiter we can only say that it is covered with clouds, though of their substance we know nothing, and according to Professor Lowell and Sir William Huggins some of the bands we see on it may be rifts in the clouds revealing the body of the planet. Little lines criss-cross these bands. Photographs of Jupiter taken at Flagstaff Observatory, Arizona, seem to indicate that these lines too are the upper clouds of Jupiter. But w-henever we see a planet we see it badly; Even Mars, the most clearly revealed of them all, is constantly obscured by a refracting haze, so that eVen of the famous “canals,” though nearly five hundred in number, only a few are perceptible at a time, and an unskilled observer would probably not make them out at all. Sandstorms, sometimes snowstorms, sweep the surface of the planet, and because the winds bf Mars are very gentle and slow moving these occurrences take a long time to pass by. Those Veil Effects. It Is somewhat startling to be pursuing your way along -the sunfly spring streets —Thirty-fourth street, say, where more fashionably-gowned women are to be seen than in any other spot in town —it is somewhat startling to be confronted with a handsomely Idrpssed woman without a nose. You turn away, considerately, only to meet a lady with a badly-burned cheek, while in the middle distance a girl is approaching whose eye is blackened over an area of two square Inches or so. You turn a corner in your agitation and run into a plump lady with most Incongruously hollowed cheeks ' and a smear of dirt transversely placed across her chin. You blink. Nor can you be blamed. But take heart, for the pretty lady’s' cheek is not seared, nor has the lovely girl a blackened eye. The matron with the helffiet hat is also the possessor of a nose in truth. The grewsome effect is produced by the veils — filmy, silky veils they are, with closely woven designs in a heavier mesh.; It is Paris. It is the mode, that is all. —New York Sun. Treaty With Havana. "You are very foolish, George. That Is your third cigar, and you know the doctor limited you to one a day.” “Yes, dear; but I’ve consulted two other doctors, and eafh has allowed me one cigar, so that makes three!” Anticipated. Gerald—l want to ask you one question. Geraldine—lt’s none of your busi< ness how old I am. j

iThe nouse Fly - K - V Man Killer 7A jfld FRED A| J M - Hj 1 copvrioht OY /z"?x\ Illi I litoW i .i: Un "wße PEARSON PUB CO I Tv pj |IUrS| |||||lll IB .flt i 4 • * w It . II . M h ram I

HE fly, projecting his impertinent personality into the national ointment, has started a fine scurrying for spoons, screens, air-slaked lime, lassoes, and whatever other weapons are likely to prove effectual in his discouragement.

r Thhi ll Tt

There is no malice in the uprising. It is simply the manifestation of a scientific yearning to hand him his dues, full-measure and brimming over, for a past chockful of all manner of criminality and a desire to chop short a future hopeless of reform. “His tricks and his manners,” long regarded at the worst as petty annoyances for the discipline of our souls, have in recent years assumed an aspect so menacing that we are more and more deter-, mined to do without the chastening qualtles of his presence altogether. Dr. Daniel D. Jackson, formally denouncing this enemy before a joint convention of the American Civic Association and the National Municipal League, put the case in unequivocal terms?' “Regarded, rn the light of recent knowTeSge, the’fly is more dangerous than the tiger or the cobra. Worse than that, he is, at least in our climate, much more to be feared than the mosquito, and may easily be classed the world over as the most dangerous animal on earth.” Z When Dr. Jackson thus arraigns the fly the last word has been said. The details can only bolster up the generalization —provided the details are true. Are they true? They have at least one point in their favor which is characteristic perhaps of no set of facts ever predicated of anything out side of an exact science,

and that is that they have never been disputed. There is a unanimity of sentiment surrounding the onslaught on - the house fly which ought either to receive our highest indorsement or arouse our darkest suspicion, just as the spirit is apt to incline us. The house fly proper, Musca domestics, of the order of the Diptera, is a grayish fly with a mouth formed for sucking up liquid substances. It has a proboscis something like the trunk of an elephant in miniature, and its feet are terminated each by a pair of claws, between which are more or less membranous arolia or plantulae which climb polished surfaces, and also a pulvillus or cushion. It does not bite, for that function is reserved for a stable fly which resembles it so closely as to deceive anybody but an entomologist Neither does it die upon the window pane surrounded by the fungous efflorescence so familiar to the disgusted housewife. That is the habit of the cluster fly, which is somewhat larger than the house fly, with a dark-colored, smooth abdomen, and a sluggish disposition. Several other species bear a superficial likeness to the true house fly and are more or less mistaken for it. All are so inconsiderate in number in comparison to the common pest, however, that they may safely be disregarded in the discussion. The great breeding place of the house fly is horse manure. It will, it is true, thrive to some extent in other sorts of decaying animal and vegetable matter, but its partiality for the stable refuse is so great that the vast proportion of its offspring may be considered as originating in that substance. The fly lays its eggs upon the manure, which Is its favorite larval flood, and a generation may be bred in from ten to fourteen days, according to the climate. There may be a dozen generations in a summer. An individual fly will average 120 eggs, and when the prevalence of horse manure is taken into consideration, its widespread application to farm lands in the way of a fertilizer, Its presence in piles in or near city stables, its use upon lawns and suburban gardens, the possibilities in the propagation of the fly w’ill be readily seen to be past computation. It is even calculated that a single fly, laying 120 eggs, will produce a progeny amounting to sextillions In one season. This probably does not take into consideration accidents which operate greatly to reduce the supply. Some experiments have been made with a view to calculating the number in which house-fly larvae occur in manure, but no gbneral average can be struck. Twelve hundred house flies to the pound of manure is the result of one observation. Another showed 200 puparia in less than one cubic inch. Yet perhaps no larvae can be found in the greater part of manure piles. Because of his habits the house fly is a walking arsenal of bacilli. The old notion that he was valuable as a scavenger is untrue. He will prey on garbage and carry it away as part and parcel of his tissue, but he does not kill the germ he absorbes. It has been proved that the bacteria are not only taken into the fly and pass through its body without any loss of their active properties but also that in all probability they multiply during their sojourn there. These germs are deposited upon foodstuffs, and eating utensils, pass into the human economy in spite of ordinary care, and if they are of a malevolent type and the system which takes them in is not strong enough to resist their action, distress, disease and death are apt to follow in their wake. In addition, the fly also disseminates germs by carrying them upon his body, the cushions of his feet and his wings. Through the researches of W. M. Eaton and C. J. Mason it has been found that “the numbers of bacteria on a single fly may range all the way from 550 to 6,600,000.” No general average can be struck. A few million more or less will make difference in the general result. Because of its prevalence and its familiar association with man, Musca domestica has exceptional opportunities to distribute disease-breeding bacteria where they will do the most harm. A certain genus of mosquito disseminates malaria, but the mosquito thrives only in localities especially favorable to his propagation. There is good rea-

owl" i ■•• * I will I ! Ji \ J k MO3Cfl DOMESTICS T qF MMJJOMs'

I 1181 c . b 'J a —Head. B—Tongue*.B—Tongue*. C—Foot. E —Egg.

son to suppose that the germs of the bubonic plague may be transferred tyy fleas, and of typhus fever by the body louse, but the discouragement of the flea and the louse is by no means difficult. Only the fly, because we treat him as a friend and brother, is in a position to reward us at his will by the presentation of a package of destruction makes Pandora’s box look like a collection of assorted chocolates and bonbons. He will transmit in virulent form typhoid fever, Asiatic cholera, summer dysentery and other intestinal diseases, and even tuberculosis, all by the ingestion of' fly-specks on food. Therein lies almost all the danger. It w’ill also transmit, it is true, such diseases as small-pox, scarlet-fever, measles, chicken-pox, erysipelas, and even carbuncles, but practically only by inoculation, that is, by depositing the germs on a sore surface or on mucous membrane. But it is not from contact with horse manure or ordinary refuse that the fly becomes so dangerous to the health of man. By far the greater peril ‘ lies in the fact that it will breed in human excreta. Because of this habit it carries the living germs of typhoid, cholera and other intestinal diseases to exposed food supplies, and thousands of unfortunates, partaking of these, are laid low to suffer incalculable anguish of mind and body until natural resistance enables them to overcome the poison or death intervenes. When the sum total of misery and loss which mpst be laid in this connection at the door of the house fly is taken into account, it will readily be believed that no remedy, however drastic, to remove the cause, can justly be regarded as superfluous. Dr. G. N. Kober, at the governors’ conference at the White House in 1908, presented figures showing that the decrease in the vital assets of the country through typhoid fever alone in a single year Is more than $350,000,000. The house fly, while not the sole carrier of the typhoid germ, takes such an unenviable part in its distribution that he may rightfully be charged with a very considerable part of the loss. Add to this the dreadful toll exacted by intestinal disorders, and the tiny agent, like the Djinn of the fisherman’s jar, set free through man’s indiscretion, looms more and more menacingly until his terrifying shadow fills and darkens the heavens. These are the popular charges against the fly. In principle they are true, and the violent enthusiasm which greets the proposal for his extermination must be viewed with an approving eye. The ’ smoke and the effervescence will Inevitably pass, ; but the solid Impetus whicl},distinguished the move- - ment will remain. At the same time it is well to : remember that a clear, calm understanding of the actual truth, shorn of decorative hyperbole, is more essential to the success of the crusade than all the unreasoning zeal which distinguishes the first rush upon the breastworks. How easily the inquirer may be led astray from the scientific aspect of the affair is readily illustrated. Several years ago a writer in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal declared that certain experiments seemed to offer an explanation of the sporadic cases of cholera occurring in New York city in 1892, in spite of the most careful quarantine. Maddox and Simmonds fed flies with cholera spirilla an< obtained cultures Os the bacterium from the insects so fed. We have seen before that bacteria suffer no diminution of their virulence in passing through the fly. In 1892 11 cases of cholera developed in New York, the disease being first brought in by steamship. The patients lived in widely-separated parts of the city and had no personal association with each other. The only striking fact common to all the cases was that the victims were engaged in some form of the food trade. The bacillus, when examined, proved to be identical with that discovered on shipboard. The physicians investigating the method of infection were forced to exclude the water supply. They also declared, after much experimentation and thought, that it was incredible that the wind had carried the germs over so great an area in so short a time. By a careful process of elimination the guilt was brought down to the fly, which by excreting cholera bacilli upon food exposed in various localities, was thought to have spread the dreaded disease. Now mark the scientific caution of the physi-

cians, who, though certain almost beyond the shadow of a doubt of the truth of their conclusions, felt it only fair to say: “Many links in the chain of absolute proof are wanting.” They condemned the fly, but the verdict specifically declared it was largely on circumstantial evidence. As a cold matter of fact, very little is known as to how far flies travel or how much they move from place to place. Professor Packard says their rate of speed is 5.35 meters a second, which means a mile in five or six minutes, or ten miles an hour. He says further that they could scent food or decaying bodies for several miles and might fly over 20 or-30 miles a day, especially if aided by a wind. All this, it is to be observed, is carefully qualified. Like the other investigators, he is by no means certain of his ground, and in this manner aids in setting that example of scientific caution which must reap the best result in the long battle only just begun. The first and greatest step against the fly is to do away with the exposed manure pile, and this is feasible through intelligent co-operation and . . « X Xvill

police supervision. • Some trouble and expense will be involved, It is true, but not to a prohibitory degree. All manure «in stables or barns should be deposited at frequent intervals either in a pit or vault or screened Inclosure. Each layer should be sprinkled with chloride of lime. This js the cheapest and most efficacious discourager of the fly, gives > it almost no chance to breed, and thins its numbers almost to the vanishing point. Other disinfectants may also be used, such as kerosene, or a solution of paris green or arsenate of lead. The bin or pit should be kept covered carefully and not allowed to overflow. The manure may be kept tightly rammed in barrels for purposes of removal. Its transportation and deposit should also be under the strictest regulation. Always it should be borne in mind that an ounce of prevention in destroying the chief breeding place of the insect is far less expensive than the pound of cure when the mischief has been done. The next precaution to be taken is the abolition, or at least the strictest regulation, of outhouses, in which files are disposed to breed. In the great cities this care is lessened by the perfection of sewerage systems, but in the suburbs and country the danger is always present. The chief peril here lies in the absorption by the fly of typhoid and intestinal bacilli and their subsequent deposit upon food. In this way pronounced epidemics are spread. The remedy consists in doing away altogether with the old-fashioned outhouse and the substitution, of some form of earth closet, the use of lime and decent precautions consistently and persistently observed even at considerable expense and care. Equally important is the screening of food supplies, whether displayed in the open market or in the private larder, the disinfection and screening of refuse in hospitals, the regulation of abattoirs, garbage deposits and ashpits and all accumulations of fermenting and decaying matter. Lastly, the close screening of all dwellings, to the absolute exclusion of our ancient and pestiferous friend, will greatly circumscribe his ability to work harm. The fly is also only a minor factor in the spread of tuberculosis. The bedbug, the flea and other household pests must also be charged with some measure of guilt tn conveying noxious bacilli. Again, while it has been proposed by Dr. Howard that the house fly be known henceforward as the “typhoid” fly, he himself says that, “strictly speaking, the term is open to some objection, as convey- * ing the erroneous idea that this fly is solely res sponsible for the spread of typhoid.” “Perhaps” - (continues the same authority) “even under city i conditions it (the fly) must assume third rank—next to water and milk.” Even human beings have been found to be perSbnal carriers of the disease, infecting whole families with whom they are brought in contact Without desiring for an instant to minimize the pernicious activity of the fly in the great conspiracy of natural forces against the continuation of the human species, one need only walk at random through the streets of New York, or. any other city, large or small,. to realize that it is not alone by the extinction of one particular species of Insect that man’s health is to be conserved. East side or West side, in thousands of stores that cater to the well-to-do or in noisome shops where the impoverished many buy their supplies, the same careless and unsanitary customs-prevail in varying degrees. The dust that blows in clouds through every unsprinkled thoroughfare deposits germs upon the food of rich and poor alike. The wares exposed upon the counter in the elegant bakery at which madam orders her rolls and macaroons are as open to contamination as the soggy pies and sinkers in the cheapest restaurant or bake-shop of the Ghetto. The fruit lying unscreened upon the tastily decorated stand of Upper Broadway is as dangerous to health as that pushed about in the handcart of the intinerant peddler. In expensive groceries, meat-shops, and confectionery stores the same lax methods prevail. A .scientific warfare against disease-bearing insects is not sufficient to enable us to win the contest for health, happiness and increased length of days. We must fight equally against our own indifference to civic regulation, which seems to be the abiding sin of a people who love individual liberty very much to the exclusion of the collective good.

HENHNWORK Rear Admiral Leutze Is Strong on Discipline. Amusing Experience With Loitering Workmen in Washington Navy Yard—Victor Berger a Political Party All by Himself. Washington.—Admiral Eugene HJ C. Leutze, present commandant of the Brooklyn navy yard, New York, has long been recognized as one of the strictest disciplinarians In the naval service. Before going to New York he was in command of the Washington navy yard, where practically every man on the pay roll has a senator or congressman behind him who can be reached by telephone. It was a difficult matter to enforce discipline under these circumstances, for if a man was discharged for inefficiency it .was usually followed instanter by a congressional' appeal to the navy department which brought forth an order to restore the man to his old standing. Admiral Leutze, however, got more work out of his men In Washington than any other man who has had charge of the yard. He was usually the first to report for duty th the morning and had a habit of appearing at unexpected times and places, much to the discomfiture of the loafers in the yard. One day Admiral Leutze entered a side door at one of the shops and found five or six men loitering in conversation. All of them fled as fpst as their legs would carry them except one man, who had his back to the door and did not know what had happened. As soon as this workman saw Admiral Leutze he stooped down and picked 4 up a bolt of steel weighing about 150 pounds,, shouldered it and started through the shop with it, looking neither to the right nor the left. The admiral said nothing. Half way down the shop, which was a large one, the man looked over his shoulder and saw the admiral a few feet behind him, walking along in the most casual manner. The man continued to carry the bolt the full length of the shop, across a roadway and into another shop, where, almost in a stage of collapse from his heavy load, he dropped it and looked around again. There was the admiral right at his heels. “Very good, very good,” said the admiral. “Now, you pick that up and carry it back where you found it and then get to work,” was the added comment as the admiral turned on his heel and went on another sleuthing expedition. By the end of the return trip tfie culprit had made up his mind that the next time he tried to get away from Admiral Leutze he would carry on impedimenta. IS A PARTY BY HIMSELF. Victor L. Berger, the lone Soclialist member of congress, who represents the Milwaukee district, is a political party all by himself when it comes to questions of policy. The Democrats have refused to recognize him as one of themselves, although he was elected upon the Socialist ticket as a direct opponent of the Republican candidate. And to make it worse, the Democrats have loaded him upon the Republicans in the assignment of committee places. Berger having whipped a good Republican at the last election, he is about as welcome in the Republican fold as a child with whooping cough at Sunday school. But it was recognized that he was a duly elected member of congress at any rate, and so he landed a place on the committee on the District of Columbia, and he has already started at work investigating the slums of Washington. . Berger is a smart fellow and he doesn’t propose to remain in the background just because he is the only member of his party in congress. In fact, he is the only party in the house who can hold a perfectly unanimous caucus, and there is some doubt about that, in view of the fact that Mrs. Bferger is here with him and is a woman of ideas, so that she might vote against him and cause a deadlock. Already Berger has introduced a resolution making it easy to amend the constitution of the United States, which he says is an obsolete document and should not stand in the way of modern ideas. When it came to voting for speaker of the house Berger merely voted present, declining to stand for either the Democratic or Republican nominee. In this manner he preserved his autonomy as a political party and his independence as a member. CORRESPONDENT TOO QUICK. Letters written on moving events sometimes have a curious meaning when received after something has happened which has completely changed the circumstances upon which the letter was based. For instance, a Washington correspondent recently received a letter from his home office which , if instructions were followed out to the letter, would further debar him from making any i mention in the future of Curtis Guild of Massachusetts, who has just been i appointed ambassador to Russia. ; The correspondent in question had 1 sent his paper an exclusive story a ] day ahead of the official announce- < men/ by the state department that i former Gov. Guild was to be the Unit- i ed States ambassador at St. Peters- 1 burg, Curiously enough, Mr. Guild saw < the article and calling up the editor of 1 the paper in Boston, expressed the < wish that he would see to it that his 1

Washington i correspondent should hereafter refrain from sending out such irresponsible stories as the one which mentioned Mr. Guild as an embryo diplomat. The editor, of course, wrote his correspondent asking that he refrain, in the future, from mentictilng Mr. Gtiild in a diplomatic capacity. Before the letter reached Washington, Mr. Guild's appointment was officially announced. The correspondent replied to his editor that he would be pleased to follow his instructions to the letter. Consequently, unless the order is rescinded, Mr. Guild will get no advertising from Washington in one of his home papers which has always been very friendly to him. HINDS HAS TROUBLES. Asher C. Hln'L. •■ ■■ ■ < c . ■ r f the hou!-<- fror.-.' !=. a hard time getting position. For years, he stood left hand Zag the iwWfiiiiWißl'ary expert of the bo'.K-, fc.-■: y.:- him in his rulings In »Lis ma-.’jtr he became used to waurn.g every ptahe of the proceed!rgss v. *-a part in them, so that *'ben he became a member the situation was novel. He missed' probably the first dozen roll calls because he forgot to answer when his name was called. After some experience members learn 'when to look sharp for the calling of their names and thus not be overlooked in the confusion, but Hinds ha? only now gotten used to answering. At first he sat in his seat, his mind preoccupied, and the clerk had gone on to the next' name before Hinds remembered that Asher C. Hinds. he was a member and entitled to vote. His colleagues have joked him so much about’ it that now he watches carefully for his name. Mr. Hinds proved the other day that not only is he the leading parliamentarian of the country, but he also is a good speaker. He made a speech upon the floor which attracted more than ordinary attention and won him much flattering commendation. At first he had an attack of stage fright; which is’ not unnatural for a new member. Though he has been accustomed for years to stand at the speaker’s desk in times of turmoil and confusion and keep his heacj under the most trying yet when he came to address the house it was another matter, and Mr. Hinds was visibly nervous. But he soon had control of himself and delivered a strong argument in a very effective manner. • A HERO’S JOB. Sewing torn mail bags is not ex-. actly the occupation one would suspect due to a hero, but it is the job James Merrill has in the postoffice department Mr. Merrill has a medal and has had it for 17 years, but no one knew it until a few days ago. Then Mr. Merrill told' the story. He w’as presented with a gold medal by King Ferdinand of Norway and Sweden for saving the life of a Swedish countess. Merrill was an American sailor and his ship was in the port at Christiania. While walking along the banks of the Glommen river he saw a young woman struggling in the water. The dive into the water was from a great height, but Merrill made it successfully and fished the woman out. She proved to be a countess. The next day Merrill was commanded to appear before the king. In the throne room he was presented with a medal by the king and from, the young countess he got a kiss. He has received a number of letters from her in the last 17 years,, but he is still sewing mail bags. CLARK STRONG FOR ORDER. Speaker Champ Clark is going to maintain order in the house of representatives if he has to keep congress in session until a year from next July. Probably twenty times a day he brings (Jpwn his gavel five or six times and declaims: “The house will be in order. Gentlemen in the aisles will take the*r seats.” The words “house” and “order” ate especially emphasized. Such interruptions will frequently occur in the midst of a speech and alwayse. precede the reading of a resolution for the taking of a vote. To a person a thousand miles from Washington a reading of the proceedings of the house in a congressional record might well convey the impression that the Democratic house of representatives is a scene of bedlam, confusion and chaos. As a matter of fact, Mr. C|ark is preserv-j ing the most perfect order seen in, the house in many a day and is being obeyed by the members with alacrity.' He merely gets wrought up by slights er provocations than disturbed tha late Speaker Cannon. /