The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-23
Cruelty TO AnimaIs-Address of Henry
Bergh,

Last night the annual meeting of the Phila-
delphIa society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to animals was held at the Academy of Music.
Henry Bergh, E.q., President of the New York
society, made au address, in which he expressed
profound qualification at the spectacle before
him. He had been invited to visit the City OF
Brotherly Love, and to see the condition in II OF
those creatures which an eminent French divine
had described brothers deprived of speech.
Civilization has been llkened TO rare diamond,
polished by each succeeding generation, and
this social gem OF ours can never be perfect
until the angle representing humanity TO the
orUte creation is as perfect as the rest.
(Applause For what are we not indebted 10
tue horse? Without him our commerce could
not be carried on; yet from the age in which he
is broken to harness. he Is doomed to torment
in some degree or other. There are men, and
women too, who would not soil their con
sciences with sin, who yet part i'll old age with
faithful animals which have long served them,
or see them consigned 10 a destiny of anguish.
What would be the feelings of such person,
seeing their dOcile and submissive animal in his
decreptitude drawing the dirt cart or the ped
diers wagon? What would be the ultimate fate
OF Dexter, the noblesterace horse in the world,
were he in less considerate hands than those OF
his present owner? The pagauS OF old not only
projected their favorite horses in old age, but
reared monuments TO them alter they were
dead. The object OF the speaker however, was
TO speak practically upon I the operations Of the
sought the powerful aid of the press, and next
the efficient goodwill and cooperation of the
police. At first the work of the society was
merely tolerated, but ultimately legislation Was
had that proved effectual ana redounded to the
benefit of the cause. From being nine days.
wonder, the institution is now looked upon by
just and generous public, which has rendered
permanent its establishment. Tue speaker
thought that the slaughter house presented the
most formidable obstacles TO the success of the
society. The occupants OF these places, he
feared, were too familiar with cruelty ever to
change their ways. Time was that the blow
upon the head of the animal destroyed his
seHslbillty TO the subsequent cutting; but now
the butchers tie up the OK by one leg and slo Tly
bleed him to death. This process dlslocates the
joints, and inflicls upon the poor beast unutter-
able toItuIe. This practice was that OF the
lsIaelite butchers, and when the Rabbi WAS
appealed to to prevent it, he refused to interfere
The Mosaic law, he said, enJoined it, and there
was Lo inordinate suffering involved in it.
Science was also responsible for atrocous
crueltes. Under pretense of ascertaining the
susceptlbilites of different sets of tissues yiyi.
| section was largely practised, and always upon
the horse or the dog. THE interests of science"
| was the plea Tor the practice or this cruelty,
| The speaker referred to one scientific monster
| in Europe, who acknowledged, when dying,
| that he had cut up alive four thousand
dogs, and was obliged to admit that
yiyiseCtlon was a failure, The speaker dwelt
| at length upon the lnhumanlty inflicted upon
| cattle in the course OF transportation upon
| railroads, making demonstrations of his own
| observation that almost made to run cold the
| blood OF the listener. His next topic was cock
| and deg fighting; and next he passed TO the
railroad depots OF the passenger travel in New
| York. The agents of the society now have q
care Tor the slghtless, overstrained, and crippled
| animals, and oftentimes compel the drivers 10
| stop and discharge the undue proportion OF
| their load. The progress is slow, but it is sure.
| The speaker went on to enumerate the mutila.
| tlons 10 which the horse is subiected-the
docking OF his tail the unnatural elevation OIL
his head, the binding of his eyes. All these
| things the society in New York hoped yet to be
able 10 prevent. The speaker concluded by
urging that Philadelphia should persevere as il
bas begun, and predicted that at no distant day
the practice OF cruelty TO mans faithful servi
tors, as well as to those that yield him food, viii
become at least opprobrous, if not penal. il
Boston the society has achieved an immens'
| success. That in the City OF Brotherly Love th'
same benevolent cause would prosper he wa
| very celt tain.