Salt Lake Tribune | 1914-04-13 | Page 4 | The Clean-Up

I THE CLEAN-UP. Today begins "Clean-up. and paint-up" paint-up" week. Its activities Tvill be divided di-vided into various classes. Ono thing will be achieved each day, and if the people of the city display their usual loyally and energy Salt Lako should bo an even better, morp healthful and more beautiful place in which to live a wool: from now than it is today. Tbo Americau nation has won enduring endur-ing fame, for one important thing, which it has taught the world. Its achievements in cleaning up Cuba and Panama and making them as healthful as any of our own states were not only a surprise, but a lesson for all nations. Colonel Gorgas, tho chief, health officer at Panama, was lent by tho United States to the British government a few months ago for the purposo of doing in South Africa what ho had already done in Panama and Cuba. The people of this country havo a patriotic reason as well as a sanitary one for applying the principles of cleanliness in their communities. Cleanliness means a low death rate. Here in Salt Lake we already have the lowest death rate in th country. Wo should strive to keep that death rate down to its present level no matter how large the city grows. "Who knows but that "Clean-up and paint-up" week may even carry the death rate below its I present level. The battle against germs is always an important problem in "bigr cities, and Salt lake is growing big by leaps and bounds. Any neglect on the part of sanitary officers in a city like New York or Chicago for even as much as one week would cause an appalling number num-ber of deaths due to dirt and germs. Whether tho rubbish bo in the house, in tbo yard or in the street, these myriad infinitesimal pests become more deadly than the plague of locusts if thev are given their way to -work as they will. We must battle every day of our lives against them. This week we shall be on tho firing, lino, and it is imposBiblo to estimate tho billions of fatalities we shall cause in the armies of the enemy. We may be sure, however, how-ever, that wo shall have done much to make our city a healthier and a happier placo in which to live during the next year. Therefore, do your part.