Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1915 — BIG FIRN LOSS LAID TO DOGS [ARTICLE]

BIG FIRN LOSS LAID TO DOGS

AGRICULTURAL DEPT BAYB IF MENACE WERE REMOVED FARMERS WOULD REGAIN THIS GUM. CAUSE OF DECREASE II HOCKS Raisers Do Not Like to Risk the Heavy Looses; Drastic Remedies Are Suggested. Washington.—The department of agriculture, in a statement, indicates that the sheep-killing dog is a greater menace now than ever before, and that If he could be destroyed ft would mean at least J 144,267,000 in the pockets of farmers of this country. It Is suggested by an expert of the department that the Increase would be nearer $500,000. “The number of sheep in 86 farm states, which do not Include any in the western division, could be Increased by 150 per cent, it is estimated, without displacing other live stock,” asserts the office of information of the department of agriculture. Some authorities believe that the increase could be even as much as 500 per cent without serious interference with the number of other animals. An increase of 150 per cent in these 86 states would mean in money $144,267,000. In a new publication of the department, Farmers’ Bulletin 652, the responsibility for this loss to the country is laid upon the sheep-killing dog. Sheep-killing dogs, it is said, are the principal cause of the marked decrease in the number of sheep on American farms. Favorable though the market conditions were, they were not a sufficient incentive to induce farmers to risk the heavy losses from stray dogs. If the dog question could be satisfactorily disposed of, there seems to be no reason why the number of sheep in the country could not be increased to the extent already Indicated. In Great Britain there is one sheep or lamb for each 2.5 acres of the total area. In the 36 farm states in this country there is one sheep or lamb for each 81.8 acres. The British farmer handles his land on an intensive basis and feeds his sheep on foragecrop pasture. Such pastures not only increase the fertility of the land but also free the sheep from many internal parasites contracted through grazing upon permanent pastures. In particular the use of the most prevalent and disastrous scourges of young stock, and will enable the farmer to market by the end of June or the first of July, when market prices are usually the highest, the lambs that were born In the late winter or early spring. Handled under such conditions and on high-priced farm land, the importance of a small flock of sheep cannot be overlooked. In addition to pointing out these facts, the bulletin discusses the possible means of preventing in the future the loss from dogs. At the present time the various state laws on this subject differ widely, some states using the money obtained from dog licenses to reimburse sheep owners, while others permit the sheepmen to recover damages from the dog owners, and two offer them no recourse whatsoever. Dogs, however, are very seldom caught in the act of killing sheep. It is always difficult to determine their owners, and where the damages are paid by the state directly from the dog-tax funds the money very frequently is far from sufficient to meet all the claims. A remedy that is suggested for this situation is a uniform state dog law embodying the principle of a tax upon dogs sufficiently heavy to discourage those who are not willing to take care of their pets from keeping them. Under this plan all dogs over six months of age must be licensed each year, the tax paid at the time of licensing and a metal tax bearing the license number attached to the dog's collar. Any dog found without this tag unattended and off its owner's premises, under this plan, may be killed. When found unattended on a form where sheep are kept the dog may be killed whether It has the tag or not, and under any circumstances a dog caught chasing or killing sheep may be killed. AR dogs which can be proved to be sheep killers, under the suggested plan, must be killed whether caught in the act or not, and a reward of 115 should be offered for anyone Identifying a sheep-killing dog. The money received from dog taxes should be devoted to reimbursing sheep owners for their loss of stock, and the county should In turn recover this money whenever possible from the dog's owners. A special license should be Issued for kennels where large numbers at dogs are maintained under such conditions that they cannot possibly do any harm to neighboring flocks.

There’s nothing beats the old fashioned tintype if you want a truthful picture of yourself. ' 4 A wise woman refuses to ask her husband to accompany her to church if ho talks In his sleep.

Th* Daring Divers of Thursday Island Diving for shell, and Incidentally for th* little treasure of pearl—it has been estimated that one shell in a thousand contains a pearl—is carried on in deeper water off Thursday Island than anywhere else. Other productive beds lie comparatively shallow —the Persian Gulf, the Sulu Seas, the Gulf of Mar naar. The greatest depth at which a diver in helmet and dress can perform any sort of useful labor is held to be one hundred and eighty-two feet At that depth a Spanish diver raised #,OOO pounds in stiver bars from a wreck off FinlSterre. At one hundred and fifty feet an English diver saved 60,000 from a wreck off Leuconna Reef of the Chinese coast The maximum depth to which the sponge-fishers of the Mediterranean successfully descend is one hundred and fifty feet. In the Torres Strait with the depletion of the beds, the divers have moved from the shallow water of from four to six fathoms to depths of one hundred and twenty feet where the operation is a distressful and perilous one. A paternal law prohibits diving beyond a specified depth of safety; but as the courts have held that a diver must be actually seen at that depth, if anybody is to be held amenable, and as the reefs are remote from any practical scheme of supervision, It is a law of small consequence after all, and the perilously deep diving goes on, no doubt much as before, with its occasional issue of sudden death. Subjected to a hazardous degree of atmospheric pressure—at one hundred feet It is sixty pounds to the square inch —the divers are attacked by various characteristic disturbances, pains In the muscles and joints for example (“the bends”), and deafness, spells of fainting, and paralysis, otherwise known as “diver’s palsy.” The effects appear when the diver ascends too rapidly from deep water and the pressure Is removed. It is then that the cases of sudden death occur —the diver found dead in his helmet or expiring on the deck when the helmet is removed. It is a short life (they say) and a bitter one, fit only for the yellow and brown men —the Japanese and Papuans and Manlla-ment and island boys; the Japanese, especially, who are tough fellows, sullenly reckless of their days, and thinking of life only In terms of hard labor and brief periods of violent pleasure. —Norman Duncan, in Harper’s Magazine.