Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 131, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1920 — Page 2

SAVE the AMERICAN BEAGLE!

AVE YOU ever seen na bald eagle —the j “American eagle," our Ji national emblem? " Yes? Then you don’t need to be told what a thing of beauty and power he is. No? Then take it on faith from those who have that there is no more impressive living thing than an eagle in the air. Well, there are not many American eagles left. Civilization has crowds out what it hasn’t killed off. lut a gun in the hands of the ordinary man and give him a chance at an eagle and 99 times out of a hundred the ordinary man will shoot. Why? Apparently just for the sake of killing. That's what a gun’s for and that's the way the ordinary man is made. The writer expects to have it brought up to his credit on the judgment day that he once had such a chance and didn’t shoot. Most of the American eagles that are left are tn Alaska. And now in Alaska the ordinary men are killing off the American eagle for the sake of a fifty-cent bounty. And the United States government which governs the Territory of Alaska, Is in effect paying this bounty. Naturally, there Is protest against this most surprising state of things. J. H. Davis, secretary of the publicity committee of the American Museum of Natural History. New York city, sends out a protest In which he says: “Much has been written in deprecation of the permitted extermination of the Wild pigeon. Formerly found in almost incredible numbers in some parts of the United States, the species was utterly wiped out by unrestricted shooting and the destruction of its nests. And so rapid was the process of Its extinction that the bird had vanished before the public realized its need of protection. “A similar fate now imminently threatens the ’American’ or bald eagle —our national emblem and one of the most beautiful and magnificent of our native birds. And by a curious irony, the destruction is being accomplished at public expense, as provided in the bounty law passed by th? territorial legislature of Alaska on April 30. 1917. “The bald never been an abundant species. Estimates of its numbers have generally been greatly exaggerated. It is tonly on the basis of the occupied neSts that its real numbers —or rather its real scarcity—can be estimated. Computations based on observations of the birds themselves are obviously unreliable. For. conspicuous by its size and habits, and by its preference for coast regions and large rivers over remote forests and mountains, it is very apt to attract considerable attention, arid the same Individuals are doubtless seen again and again. This will be real-

“Honor Among Thieves” Also

w Yoa have heard the expression, “honor among thieves.”' I hgve heard it many times, but I have never beard such a good illustration of the phrase as the one given ■ne the other day by Ueut, Commander Thomas Mott Osborne, warden of the Portsmouth naval prison.

ized In consideration of the bird's natural longevity and strong powers of flight, which make it possible for a single individual to be seen repeatedly over a period of many years and in widely separated places. .—_ “Up to the present time, the only region where the bald eagle has maintained encouraging numbers has been the coastal region and large river valleys of Alaska. Here it did breed in numbers surprisingly large for a, bird of its size. But the Alaskan bounty luw, which provides for the payment of 50 cents for each eagle destroyed, although it went into effect only on April 30, 1917, had already, by April 10, 1919. resulted in the killing of 5.G00 eagles. Moreover, the bounty seekers have undoubtedly not confined their depredations to Alaskan territory, but have extended them into the British provinces adjoining Tn order to swell their gains. It is possible that by this time more than one-half —perhaps more than three-quarters—of the entire species have already been sacrificed. “If action is to be taken. It must be at once. For protection, to be effective, must cort»e, not merely before the species has been annihilated, but before it has been so reduced as to suffer the weakening effect of Inbreeding or the failure of the scattered Individuals to find each other and raise young.

“In view of all that is known by naturalists of the habits of this inoffensive bird. the hostility to the eagle in Alaska is based rattier on misinformation and ignorant prejudice than on any real damage done by the birds. The tales, of its ferocity and destructiveness to game or domestic animals are for the greater part pure fiction, for the rest, usually gross exaggerations. Moreover, it is the demonstrated policy of the United States department of agriculture—wise from experience—to discountenance bounty laws for the extermination of birds of prey. Much money is spent each year in the control of harmful rodents whose increase is favored by the destruction of such birds. For our American eagle there is the added plea of its patriotic significance. And finally, as it is a migratory bird, the right Io destroy Itacannot be claimed by any state‘or territory. Like most of our other migratory birds, it should be protected by the federal government—particularly as the effect of the protective laws adopted for its preservation In most of our states is being annulled by the action of a single territory. I

“Since the commencement of our mntual welfare league among the prisoners.” said he, “we have find fewer escapes than ever before. althoug|> there is more opportunity to escape. Once, however, a fellow with a long term escaped. He was caught and brought back. I saw him and he asked me to give ’him another chance. *1 don’t know just what to do with you,' I said; *y<m*li only try to escape again.’ “ *Warden.’ said the prisoner, ’l’ll not try to escape again; you have my

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

"The general Indifference to the fate <>f the great bird of splendid tradition is due. beyond doubt, to the common hick of information regarding its threatened extinction. The situation calls for the widest publicity. The sheer vandalism of the destruction of the bird should he checked, and checked at once. The crusade for its protection should enlist the enthusiasm and sincere effort of bird lovers ami bird students throughout the country, of our scientific and patriotic societies. and of the public press. It is only by the prompt passage of a federal law protecting the American eagle that our national bird can be saved from total extinction." Let me renew the adjuration of Capmu. W. Shoemaker of Pennsylvania to do what you can to stop the slaughter of American eagles along the Alaska coast, a writer says in the Saturday Evening Post. By reason of the government bounty offer 5,100 eagles were killed in eighteen months. This Is an absolutely unnecessary waste of life.

Eagles have killed some of the young foxes on one or two fox preserves on Alaska islands, though they have never destroyed the wild foxes of Alaska In alt the centuries they have lived together. Eagles do kill a few salmon and eat a few that are found dead, but in no wise do they imperil any salmon fishery. They may kill rabbits now and again, but in no sense have they been destroyers of wild game. For the most part they hang along the eoast and live on fish life. A dead whale lasts them a long while. * There is no reason on earth why these bald eagles—of that species which we have been proud to call the bird of freedom, of that species which we have put on our coinage and our seal —should be destroyed under a bounty offered by any branch of the American government. It was Capt. Shoemaker, by the way, who so far as I know was the first man to put into print the belief that the best protection of game did not consist in any officious war upon the enemies of the game on the part of man himself. Capt. Shoemaker’s conclusions were that under the old laws of nature the strong specimens survived and that the best development of any species was in the midst of Its natural enemies. His theory, bolstered by observa t ion, is enti rely against the modern proposition that you can save quail or grouse by killing crows or hawks, or that you can save trout by killing pelicans. It is but a feeble defense that wild game can erect out of Its increasing knowledge of man and his deadliness. The mallard learns to dive tn three feet of water instead of six Inches and so uses more open water, but he is not safe. The covey of quail .earns to fly to the densest 1 swamp on the covey rise, but it is not safe. The sheep go to the highest mountains, the elk to the farthest fastnesses of the mounfaifiji; but they are not safe. Transportation and invention on the part of man have outrun all the resources of our wild game. So it comes simply to a question of whether we want It or don’t want it.

Helpfulness Its Own Reward.

Never ’et yourself worry as to whether those you help will \be sufficiently grateful. Think of helpfulness as Its own great reward.

word for it now. Will you shake on ttr \ - “We shook hands and I knew he would keep his word. He never tried to eScape.- for there is honor among thieves.” —Boston Post.

African Bird Sweet Singer.

The Cape canary Is the only native bird of Africa that is well known for his sweet and continuous song. He is to be found even, in the Orange River colony, which is otherwise devoid of song birds.

Mob gathered in Uyeno Park for a tremendous demons tration demanding absolutely free unlimited suffrage. It Is more than mere manhood suffrage that Japan is after n ow. Universal suffrage is the demand. Under the present regime the educational and property qualifications for voters reduce the number to less than 20 per cent of adult males.

GARDEN OF EDEN WANTS NURSES

American Church Crusaders Are Hampered by Lack of Medical Skill. CALL FROM “CRADLE OF RACE” Arabs Show Willingness to Accept What Formerly They Fought— Mesopotamia Is Completely I Changed by World War. New York. —Wanted: Doctors and nurses for the Garden of Eden. The call comes from the “cradle of the race” Itself, the land watered by the Tigris and the Euphrates—Mesopotamia. And the need stands between American crusaders and the answer to tiieir prayers for 30 years. For decades the Garden of Eden and all the vast expanse of desert, steppe and fertile coast land that is Arabia have flamed with the fanaticism of pagan and of Moslem tribes. For 30 years the mission workers among these Arabs, notably the Arabish mission of the Reformed Church of America, have prayed for a means to penetrate this barrier and reach these wild tribesmen. And they have prayed for a change in the spirit of the people. Prayers Are Answered. To both prayers have An economic, social and religious study of the cduntry now’ being conducted by the Interchurch World Movement as a means to. making practicable a closer co-operation of American Evangelical churches in their common tasks, shows that Mesopotamia has been completely changed by the world war and that all Arabia has been affected. The survey shows, too, that medical Vork is the best and in many cases the only possible method by which the initial contact may be established between the pagans and Moslems, on one side, and the cru•saders of the cross, on the other. And now, when the Arabs show a willingness to accept what formerly

Major Is Jailed for Gardening in Nightie

Los Angeles. Cal.—Because he persisted in attending to his garden clad only in his abbreviated night shirt, Maj. E. A. Weed. seVenty-nine, of Santa Monica,was arrested. Major Weed’s arrest came following a complaint made against him by Robert H. Green. The police say that Major Weed was seen in his garden by many of the neighbors, who had remonstrated with him in vain. During the war drives, Major Weed did some excellent work. He is a widower.

CHASTENED BY THE WAR

Old Travelers Find Port Said Much Changed City. i __ Gateway to East Has Been Cleaned Up and Is Now Safe and Nearly Respectable. Port Said.—Old travelers come ashore and smile sadly. New travelers plunge into the stronghold of curio merchants with surprise—and disappointment. Port Said, like the rest of the world, has been changed by the war. Port Said, to be quite frank, has been .cleaned up. Time was when a brief saunter through the ramshackle bazaar meant a terrific battle with touts. Shady gentlemen of all nationalities, most of them known to the police of two continents, plied their disreputable trades with impunity. An incredible amount of rubbish was carted away by tourists tn memory of a few hours' stay. Mur-

Demonstration for Suffrage in Japan

they sought —when unparalleled opportunities for service are offered the crusaders —they are helpless for lack of doctors and nurses. The finest hospital of the Reformed church mission is standing idle, reports the Interchurch World Movement survey. And the survey reveals more than the need of medical men and women. There is a shortage of workers, both foreign and native. Large Unexplored Territory. Arabia, the survey shows, contains the largest unexplored territory in Asia —possibly in the world. It has a total area of 1,230,276 square miles and it lies in the southeastern part of the great peninsula. The crusaders of the cross have been limited to the eastern coast and the vicinity of Eden. Hejaz, the Moslem “holy land” where Ue Mecca and Medina, has no missionaries. Hadramaut, with a population of 500,000, is untouched. There is not a single mission station far inland. At the hour of opportunity, created by the world war, the call comes from the crusaders, through the Interchurch

LONDON WOMEN DRINK

Common Sight to See Therp Imbibe Liquor in Public. ' Many Under 21, Without Any Escorts, Test Merits of Restaurant Wine Lists. London.-4-It is no unusual sight in London nowadays to see a young girl with her hair in a plait ordering wine in restaurants or in public houses, or venturing into a wine house for sherry or burgundy. London blames this condition on the war, when London women, deprived of male escorts, had to go on exploring trips alone and discover the merits of the wine lists. By this it should not be imagined that it is a usual, thing with all the young girls of London to drink wine with their meals or to drink it at all. However, it is only necessary to make a survey of the restaurants, the wine houses and public houses in the West End to discover many girls less than eighteen years of age there taking stout or wine. Many of these places discourage custom from girls who are unattended by men .or older •women, and this is sending them into the, restaurants. where they can obtain w in e with their meals. Indeed, in London today girls of eighteen may be seen drinking liquors which not very long ago one seldom saw a woman under thirty years of age drinking. A social worker discussing this situation in the Daily Chronicle declared that it should be made impossible for a woman under twenty-on? years old to buy liquor. “Probably the desire of young girls

der was a pastime after dark, and many sinister stories were told in the smoking rooms of departing liners of Port Said’s wicked Inhabitants. Now this gateway to the East is safe and nearly respectable. The hand of the A. P. M. has been laid in no uncertain manner on the underworld which was the real Port Said. Deportations eased the town of its international rogues and vagabonds. A passport control second to none in effectiveness keeps a tight grip on the polyglot population. Murder, even routine robbery, which was a staple industry on steamer days, is discouraged by the representatives of British rule. Gene, too, is the atmosphere of piracy and pillage maintained by brazen guides and qther varieties of profiteers. They were wont to seize on amiable and inquisitive tourists with the persistency of a leech. They would extract money by entreaties, argument, threats, even violence.

World Movement survey; first for more doctors and nurses for the Garden of Eden and the Arabian interior; and then for more On the bass of what the survey has revealed, the Interchurch World Movement is shaping a program for the cooperative effort of the Protestant churches in America to win the nomad tribes of Arabia, and the present dwellers in the garden, to the ideals of Christianity.

SCOTCH GO WILD ON U. S. RYE

Constable Says Late Booze Importations Are of the “Shock” Variety. Greenock, Scotland. —American rye whisky now being imported into this country is said to be of the “shock” variety by the chief constable here, who has filed a report on the subject. The effects of prewar whisky, he says, even when it has been bonded for three years before being sold at retail, was nothing in character to those of some of the present-day whiskies, which only recently made their appearance here. “Whatever their composition is," the officer declares, “their effects are terrible. They not only poison, but madden. and leave persons nervous and depressed after the intoxicating effects have passed away.” These whiskies are known locally as “snake-bite.”

for wine arises from bad feeding,” she said. “Many business girls arise so late in the morning that they have not time for a good breakfast before they start for work. At luncheon time they feel tired and out of sorts, and then they think that they need a stimulant. What they really need is better food, outdoor exercise and plenty of rest. Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I don’t like to see girls with their hair down ordering wine in restaurants.”

New Leg While You Wait.

Cincinnati. —While George Alexander, aged seventy, was watching a parade he slipped and fell, breaking his leg. The police patrol was called and he was removed, not to a hospital, but to an artificial limb factory, where a new leg was fitted.

Home in Chicken Coop O. K. After Life in Flat

Chicago.—Discovery of a family of nine persons living along with their fowls in a chicken coop—all that the tornado left of their home—was made In Bellewood. When Red Cross officials started to 4 move them to more habitable quarters, the family raised walls of protest, “We don’t mind living In our Jchicken coop,” explained Gustav Kraft, head of the family. “You see, we lived in a Chicago flat once.”

Now the touts and trinket sellers and ragged bootblacks approach their prey with marked diffidence. A single sharp refusal usually suffices to turn them off. They -drop the trail immediately they see that no business is to be done.

Food for the Judicial Intellect

London, Ky.—Should fathers of girls have their rocking chairs strong enough to hold two people? That was the question involved in a $6 suit here. A father sued a young man for that sum for wrecking a rocking chair when the girl sat on her beau’s lap. The father recovered damages in the magistrate’s office, but Judge Luker reversed the decision, holding the chair was not . as strong as it should have been.

Church Dodgers Take Notice.

Mount Vernon, Ky.—ls you want to dodge church, move to this town. For, unless you are vaccinated and can show your certificate or your scar, you Can’t get in. Furthermore, you can’t go to a picture show of to school. Smallpox is the cause.