The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-04-26
for the purpose of presentin to the base
ball nine that shall show the highest
death-rate at the close of the season.

for the purpose of presentiny to the base
ball nine that shall show the highest
death-rate at the close of the season.
A statement Is, going the rounds of the
press to the effect that there are 4,0O0,-
600 cats in Great Britain, that each kills
twenty rats and mice in year, that
each rat or mouse would in its life
time do five dollars worth of damage,
and SO that the cats of that country save
it $4oo, 600, 900 year-a sum, as Is added,
that can pay off the national debt in a
few years. The national debt, however,
is not paid nor diminishing, and the
reckless story is only another illustra-
tion of Mr.. Milyerton's declaration that
the greatest nonsense OF the world has
been written upon political economy.
The hope suggested by it that by stimu-
lation, if possible, still further the in
crease of the domestic cat, a nation
could be freed from debt is too danger
GUS and ill-tounded to pass Without re-
the cats OF civilization have each in
creased enormously. during the past
quarter century, and the parallelism 10
so evident that, to the sober inyestiga-
tor, the inquiry is rather whether the
creatures are not among the WorsJ enc
mics of the race. Taken even upon their
published circular of merit, they can
not stand the test of close analysis. 1t
is announced that a cat eats twenty rats
and mice in year. BY careful manage
ment these might pc made TO support its
life, say fifteen days, and then there re-
main 350X days in q year when it must
eat some .ning else, and the natural his
tory gives the animals diet as 'tany-
thing that is eaten by mankind" That
Is, in Great Britain the iOnr million cats
tor all but fifteen days OF the year come
into competition with man in the food
demand and eat up precisely what he
wants AL together they require pro-
badly as much as would support 100000
people, aud the difference between them
and men is that they steal all they haYe
and SO are sure of it, while man has to
| work for his and is dependent on q
| whole chain of circumstances thai the
cat knows nothing Of. BUT this Is only
part OF the case. Mr.. Darwin says cats
use their voices much as a means OF ex-
preston, and utter at least SIX or seven
sounds. Nobody doubts this, and yet
the arithmetic of it means that Great
Britain has at least 2S,O0O, 900 cat cries.
1 These, according to the universal GUS
tom of, the creature, are reserved 1or
nocturnal utterance, and their influence
on tne strength of nation has never
been promptly weighed. The average
caterWaul will awaken hfty people, ana
as sleep is absolutely necessary as a
preparation OF next days work, SO these
sudden and trighttul awakenings unit
man for the coming labor. The reserve
power Of the British cat in this Light be-
comes terrible. At tiity each, 2S,0O0, 600
cries could destroy the sleep OF l, 4Oo, ,0uO,
00O persons. 1t so happens that there
are not SO many people in the World,and
therefore the lull force Of this evil can
not be felt, but it is evident that il exert
ed in only a mipor degreei it can seriously
weaken the working power of nation.
And it is remarkable that the English
social philosophers shouid be yainly
searching for u cause Of the decline in
the producing power of the country
Whine tnat very cause is ringing in thelr
ears. Ii is only to be explained by the
tact that the whole land IS already un-
der it's debilitatfng influence, and that
the cat is conquering the country. Nor
would it be the first AZ has conquered.