Pure, clean, wholesome food is equally essential.  We need not dwell upon the importance of the right kinds of food and well-cooked food.  Much illness is caused by “spoiled” foods.  Disease germs may be carried by food as well as by water.  Tuberculosis may be carried by milk, either from diseased cattle, or from victims of the disease who handle the milk at some point in its progress from the dairy farm to the home.  The death rate among babies is appalling, especially in cities, because of the use of milk containing germs of intestinal diseases.  Typhoid fever may be contracted from milk, green vegetables, and oysters from beds contaminated with sewage.

The food supply of cities passes through many hands before it reaches the consumer.  At almost every point it is protected by regulations and inspection.  Most of it, however, comes originally from the farm which is beyond the control of the city authorities.  The producers and handlers of food products in rural districts therefore owe it not only to themselves but also to their city neighbors to exercise every possible precaution against the spread of disease.  Such precautions consist in cleanliness in handling and storing milk, butter, and meats; in the cleansing of milk receptacles with pure water; in the proper location and construction of wells; in protecting springs from surface drainage; in sanitary disposal of sewage and other wastes from the household; in protection of food against flies.

SANITATION IN CITIES

In cities a great deal of attention is given to sanitation.  Sewage is carried off by public sewers.  Householders are required to place garbage in sanitary cans, whence it is collected and disposed of in such a way as not to pollute the soil.  Ashes and refuse are carried away from homes and shops, and the streets are cleaned daily.  In rural communities such matters are left almost entirely to the householder.

FLIES AS DISEASE CARRIERS

Exposed garbage, improperly built outdoor toilets, and stable manure are breeding places of flies; and flies are notorious carriers of disease.  Yet, out of more than 3000 homes in one county in Indiana only 31 made provision to prevent stable manure from breeding flies, and the same was true of only 1 out of more than 2000 homes in a county in North Carolina, and only 86 out of nearly 5000 homes in an Alabama county.

DANGER FROM MOSQUITOES

Malaria is widespread in the United States and imposes a heavy toll upon the nation’s health.  It is carried from one victim to another by a certain kind of mosquito, of which it is comparatively easy to get rid by proper drainage of breeding places, by treating the surface of pools with kerosene, by screening, and by seeing to it that rain barrels are covered and that tin cans and other receptacles of water are not left lying around.  But flies and mosquitoes do not stop with fences, nor do they recognize city or county boundaries.  Hence, individual effort without community cooperation is likely to be useless.