The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1886-10-23
PlGEON.ELYINe.


The Objects for Which the Birds are
Trained by European Governments.
Modern pigeon-hying may be said to
have received its greatest impulse from
the Franco-German war, when the only
messengers that could pass from with.
out the iron girdle that surrounded i'm.
prisoned Paris were the intelligent high
flying pigeons. As soon as the war was
over the military authorities of the con-
tinent seriously took in hand the appl.
cation of pigeon-hying to military pur-
poses In several instances there was
the familiar difficulty to be overcome OF
driving new ideas into old heads. Ig-
norance OF the subject had to be con-
tended against, but this did not prevent
the expression of opinions, and now
there are some fifty military pigeon sta
tlons on the continent of Europe, and
fully half million of trained pigeons
available. At the present moment Eng
land stands alone among the leading
European nations in having no military
pigeon system.
In Germany, Austria, France, Italy,
Russia and Portugal such regular pig
con systems exist, and every encourage
ment is given to private breeders by Sc
curing reduction in railway rates and in
Offering prizes for the races, the socie-
ties that avail themselves of these adj
vantages, however, being required to
train their birds in such directions as
may be fixed by the Minister Of War
directions being selected solely upon
strategetical considerations.
Germany, France and Italy are some
what in advance of other nations in
these matters. Under the fostering
care of the respective War Ministers
private flying clubs here have during
the past few years enormously increased
in number. In Germany alone there
are said to be $50 such clubs, while the
birds belonging to the Department
number about 6,000 In France the
number of clubs is reckoned at 800, and
census of all trained pigeons is made
annually.
At Lille there are 5000 trained pig.
cons, which has enabled the War Depart
ment to dispense with the military loft
which was formerly established there,
and to rely entirely upon privately
trained birds.
The primary object of having these
enormous flights of pigeons is to secure
means of communication with invested
fortresses in the event of siege, This
=. - tb,t,
fitness, They are intended to be used
as secret messengers, to be surrepti-
tiously liberated by agents or spies who
may be in the midst of any enemy
either in an occupied district or in the
enemy's country That it is the in
tenron OF European powers to make use
of these birds for such purpose
does not admit of doubt. Ac
cordng to a paragraph which APP
pearcd in most of the French
newspapers a few weeks ago, pigeon
bearing a message inserted in a quill
was recently shot on French soil, anC
from an examination of the messag,
and of marks found on the wings of tn,
bird, it is reported that the War Minis
Ter satisfied himself that the German
have established secret agencies in thei
neighbours territory to enable them t.
carry out this scheme. 1t is alleged
that between these agents and tn
headquarter staff at Berlin correspon
dence takes place daily by those winget
messengers, and that Germany has or
gained system of international com
munication which, in case ofwar, woul
render her very valuable service" Tn
incident created great interest anon!
the French military authorities, and It'll
now stated that the French Minister G
War is directing his attention to Tn
liberation of foreign pigeons on Frenc
soil If such an agency could be estat
lshed by Germany in France, it woul
be still easier for foreign power to d
the same in England, where the countr
more so than any nation among tn
western powers, abounds in foreigners
and where the military authorities hav
little or no knowledge of pigeon-hyng
London Ne1OS.