Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1875-03-04
CHRISTOPHER PLAGUE.
HOW it Might Haze Been Arerted-Spar
N.

HoW i Might Haze Been Arefted-Spare
tae Birds.
To the Editor of the Hartford Courant:
And no wonder. The marvel is that
it does not sweep over that whole region,
when we read of the wanton destruction
of its birds. An item in a Chicago paper,
not long since, stated that 10000 quail
and prairie chickens were fed to swine in
single day, in that city. 1t goes on to
say that in the country west of Chicago,
quail, ruffed grouse, and prairie chick
ems are destroyed by the million, IRE
spective of law or season. Tons of birds
shared and shot out of season are boiled
down and fed to swine. On one day
there stood wagon on the corner of two
streets containing $50 dozen of prairie
chickens, while ON the near sidewalk
were piled thirty seven boxes, containing
$50 dozen of quail, corrupt, decompos-
ing, and condemned by the health officers
as only fit for swine. They are trapped,
shot, and shared and sent to the market,
where they find ready sale up to the
middle of March, and yet the indiscrim-
mate slaughter continues. The young
birds and setting hens all alike are cap
tured and sent to Chicago and other cities
on commission, and destined to be fed
to swine. The birds, the editor says,
must soon disappear before such reck-
lessness and vice. Yes, the birds have
disappeared, almost entirely, from many
Western localities, and grasshoppers and
other noxious insects have multiplied and
swarmed forth, to spread famine and des-
olation. The divinely arranged balance
between birds and insects has been
destroyed by ruthless bird-killers, and
the cry of famine rings out over the
land. Such is the retribution for the
violation of the equipoise of nature and
the making of discord in the divine har-
mony of natures works.
This harmony runs through the whole
creation, and its disturbance always pro-
duces suffering The innumerable rivers
which roll into the sea are freighted with
all the impurities of the land which, if
not abated in some way, would turn the
ocean into vast cesspool. But these
impurities and foreign ingredients are alb
sorbed, or worked up into islands for the
future occupancy of man, by millions and
millions of animalcules, and other marine
scavengers. To them is given task, in
finitely greater and more laborious than
the building of the pyramids, or the tun-
neling of granite mountains, which all
the mighty men of the earth could not
perform.
So the birds have task, which various
governments have tried In vain to get
done, by offering bounties as induce
ments to their citizens to destroy the
insect pests. But it has been found that
the birds are the only exterminators of
the enemy, without whose divinely APP
pointed labors, in keeping the insect
"oiiu III CuCCh, TIC I'LL NOtuu SOOll
be made void as at the beginning, and
gaunt famine would reign over all its
realms.
Some predict that the winged scourge
is outward bound This is not i'm
probable ard whence Will come our de-
hverance Our natural helpers hang up
in our meat-markets by millions, sacri-
feed to the qualification of epicurean
appetites. Not only the largest varie-
ties, but the little tiny birds with their
crops full of insects, are brought to the
New York markets in barrels and sold for
few cents dozen.
The older civilizations of the East are
more appreciative and protective of birds
han our own. In Japan they are held
sacred and never destroyed. On the oc-
casion of the visit to that country in
1854, of the squadron commanded by
Commodore Perry, who opened it to the
commerce of the United States, several
of his officers, one day, went out to
shoot birds for their amusements. The
natives were horror-stricken when seeing
the destruction of their favorite birds,
and ran to the Commodore to remon-
strate against the cruel conduct of his
subordinates. This soon put an end to
the sport of American bird-kill in
Japan and when the treaty between
the two countries was negotiated, the
japanese authorities were careful to
have inserted an article protective of the
birds of that country from American
fowlers.
EFFECT OF EXERCISE.
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