AMERICAN HUSTLING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12285, 6 April 1918, Page 10

AMERICAN HUSTLING.

TOWNS BUILT IN WEEKS, A Battle With Dis^e. (Now York Correspondent " Daily Chronicle.”)

t: America has some special war pre- £ problems of her own. One of mm is the conservation of the health of the huge embryo army put under training at different points throughout ■a continent. Some facts recently made public by Dr Rupert Blue, Surgeouuenoral, United States Public Health ■ Service, makes plain the task. He gives an example of the kind of conditions which had to be combated. He •ays: In one of the northern cantonment Areas, located in one of the richest and ; Host thickly populated States in tho • Union, tho report of the preliminary survey showed that tho city was absoiutelv unprepared to house the increase In lab aunng population during the conitruotion period of tho cantonment. The city had no building code. When the; hordes of workmen began coming Into the town many of tho people began taking roomers, and trie poorer portion of tho city beenmo overcrowdmen were quartered in lofts; in ( «ome instances there were two or threo ■ * men in a bod, and several beds in a J'ooxn; bathing - facilities were entirely or inadequate; ventilation was 1 notably absent. The gaol was so overcrowded that frequently lour men were placed in ,a single cell. ' Hero is another picture from a Southern city which had to be dealt .frith in connection with a canton- • Iment: Only 47_ per pent of the population ■; was supplied with city water. Tho / milk supply was obtained from ten ' small, grossly insanitary dairies, locnt- ;. «d in the city itself or in its immediate Jmtskirts. All tho ice cream was mnmiaotured under dangerously insanitary , conditions. There was no inspection, supervision, or regulation of the city's jingle abattoir. Stables were conduct- ■ led in the heart of the city without restriction. Mosquito-breeding flourished. ‘ iMalaria, typhoid and dysentery were of 1 common occurrence. RAPID IMPROVEMENT. In both of these cases vast improvements in tho conditions have already been made, and, many of thb objections • to tho localities have been obliterated ’ by prompt action. Dr Blue states: The _ first step was to make rapid ‘ ireliminary surveys in each area to deexisting conditions, the additmeasures, and organisation which would bo required to exercise adequate 1 sanitary control, and tho extent; to , > which State and local resources were available to accomplish this. For this ‘ purpose _ survey parties, consisting of 'commissioned medical officers, sanitary engineers, epidemiologists, and scientific assistants, were hastily thrown into “ ’ the field. The magnitude of this single , operation may be sensed when it is realised ithat for the army alone there , are sixteen national army cantonments and sixteen national guard camps, in addition to many military zones in which smaller bodies of troops are to be collected, and that in each instance these surveys, of necessity, covered sev- ' cral hundred square miles. ' Practically all the cities and districts - concerned entered enthusiastically into the, work of this health conservation, and it was not an easy task, for there Were financial difficulties to overcome, ‘ as well as the obstacles in the actual Vwork of organisation. The scope cf the ’’ operations can bo gathered from the fact that cities having a military popu-lation-of from 40,000 to 80,000 Lave ; been created in a few weeks; that tr,o , ' Inhabitants of these new-raised cities ' , have'been brought fronvevery corner of the Union, and that many of, ‘hem, in spite of tho utmost precautions, carry in . thair bodies the casual agents of disease; and that existing tov ns near ; ; cantonments _ suddenly receive a large - families, and those who inevitably fellow in the train of armies. Each of ‘he cantonment zones presents an individ- ’ ual problem. FIGHTING THE MOSQUITO. 1 Here is a sample, The cantonment at Little Rock, Arkansas, comprised first of all of a tract of some three thousand acres, and secondly an area of ten thousand acres for training ground. One of the special problems was the

eradication of malaria, requiring the extermination of Anopheles mosquitoes over an area o p seventy square miles, in all of which were enormous and prolific breeding places for the mosquito. With America’s characteristic swiftness and thoroughness, tho task was undertaken. There was an exhaustive survey of practically every square yard of that seventy miles. Dr Blue states: — It was necessary to drain mosquitobreeding pools, channel watercourses, aud eliminate, by filling or otherwise, many places not capable of such treatment, or, if this was not possible, to destroy the larvrc by careful oiling at least once in everv seven days during the mosquito-breeding season. Every, case of malarial fever had to be recognised promptly'and reported, screened, and treated; and the general public, by educational measures, had to be induced to screen their houses and porches, and, where necessary, to take quinine in small doses at regular intervals. Public co-qpcration was enlisted. Addresses wore made in the various clubs, in the City Council and at the moving picture theatres. • In the busiest corner of the city there was an exhibtion in large model of the mosquito in its various forms of development. Twenty thousand circulars of advice were printed, and one hung in every house in the country. Ten thousand small circulars were handed out with rent receints, and these circulars dealt not only with mosanito danger, but also with other matters. All milk producers -in the vicinity of Little Bock were called to a meeting by the Board of Commerce. and were impressed with tbe precautions they must take. Practically the whole community united with the authorities, local and Federal, in stamping out dinners which might imperil the health of the soldiers. DAILY HEALTH REPORTS. That is the kind of thing which is going on all over the United States. One of tho functions of the Public Health Service is to collect data referring to tho prevalence of communicable disease, and these reports are received daily at headquarters from all parts of the country. Registration areas have been established in order that steps may be taken in stamping out disease among the civilian population before it has opportunity to spread to the troops or gagin foothold in tho cantonment community. •Dr Blue says:—“ With this organisation wo are laying the foundation for permanent improvement of publichealth. In each of the places where the public health service is now conducting its operations a. strong and endnrine health machine is being built up. If out of this awful labour of war a- strong public health sentiment for the entire nation can he born, then will our sacrifices not have been in vain.”