Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 270, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1918 — Gas Gets the Rata. [ARTICLE]

Gas Gets the Rata.

An enemy whose activities do not figure In the official reports but against which allied soldiers wage daily warfare in the rat. Tens of thousands of rats, huge, sharp-fanged fighters, have dug themselves in among the billets and trenches in France and Flanders and they are a constant torment Thanks to modern medical science there has been little- or no disease communicated by the rodents. Rats multiply rapidly in the trenches and thrive well. They steal the soldier’s rations, disturb his rest and spitefully bite him when he offers resistance. The pest is Ipmted with ferrets, terriers, poison and traps and when particularly numerous given a gas attack. After the trenches are drenched with gas they are generally clear of rats for a long period.