OCR Text |
Show A MILLION FOR MOSQUITOES The sugesllon that through the expenditure ex-penditure of a capital -stun of ?1,000,-000 ?1,000,-000 and a comparatively small sum yearly thereafter for maintenance of works New York might be Treed and kept free from mosquitoes is not lo be lightly dismissed as visionary or fantastic, or as indicating something which indeed might he accomplished, but which would not bo worth while. Of the practically of exterminating tho insects there can be no Hcrlous , question. The thing has been done elsewhere, under circumstances much less favorable than those which prevail pre-vail heie. Cuba, Suez. Panama and oven parts of our own Borough of Richmond, attest to it How much It would cost may bo problematic, but to judge roughly from the cost In other places tho estimate which is credited to Dr. Doty seems not unreasonable. un-reasonable. But would It pay? That character-Istlcallj character-Istlcallj Yankee question might be answered in the affirmative with little hesitation if the result to be attained were nierly ono of comforL It would mean much for physical enjoyment of life and freedom from annoyance and actual suffering to have no more mosquitoes. Indoors or out. But it would moan much more than that. It would denote the disappearance of all the multiform "malarial" diseases, fevers, chills, agues and what r.ot, which are now conspicuous among the destioyers of health and of life Itself. Scarcely a more forbidding and ruinous epithet can be applied to a region than that it is "malarious." Conversely, It would be a most enviable envi-able recommendation that It was entirely en-tirely free from all sorts of "malarial' disorders. As for the ljves saved, tho health preserved and the Industrial Indus-trial efficiency thus enhanced, thoy would be above comnulatlon in value The logic of the proposal Is or should be lrresistable. Science has demonstrated that the diseases In question are Imparted to man only by mosquitoes. It has also demonstrated demon-strated the practibility of extemlnat-ing extemlnat-ing these Insects. It remains, therefore, there-fore, for human onergy and enterprise to take advantage of thse achievements achieve-ments of science for tho good of the race. Some pcrsohs may regard It as a thing which may perhaps be realized re-alized in some far distant age, but which is too ideal for our time; yet hereafter many will wonder why It was delayed so long, and why tho community and the world neglected it for the sake of other far less important im-portant things. New York Tribune. |