The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-08-19
PIGEONS In POLITICS.
To Be Used as Messengers tn the
Presidential Campaign.
The Birds Are Being Trimmed on Traass
Atlantic Steamships for the Pur-
pose Of Conveying BaIletins
of the Election.


fer pigeon: Instead Of raising the birds
on shore, they are bred and trained on
:hipboard. and if kept on land when the
Eessel sails. will make Decline for her
the moment they are set free.
The presidential election this year Of
fers opportunity for the supreme test
Of the carriers ability to follow its own
particular ship for hundreds of miles
across the broad waters, through storm
and sunshine, to pick her out from
among the thousand crafts that throng
the ocean pathways and land it's mes
sage at the captains feet.
For months the men on board the
transatlantic steamships have been pre-
pairing for the trial of this novel plan
of election bulletins. There are cocps
with whole colonies of carriers. which
the ships crew have fed, petted and
coddled, and people who start for Eu-
rope in that rnomentous first week of
November may be tolerably certain of
having good bulletin system of the re.
turns.
While there are people to whom the
result of an election is a matter of busi.
ness life or death, there are those, Just
as there are on shore, who merely want
to know" On shore they get early
dinners, chaAe to tho nearest illu.
minated bulletin boards, and stay there
until the last returns are in, and cheer
themselves into voicelessness as the dis
patches tell good news Of their candi-
dates.
This Is precisely what is going to be
done on shipboard this year, and under
the gray-blue feathers of the carrier
pigeon the story Of The gold and sill
yer debate will travel over the Allan
tic
To receive the returns OF a national
election in such fashion is alone worth
the price Of the passage. and it viii Be
an event Of history, and there will be
gay old demonstrations on the decks Of
up-to-date ocean liners when every few
minutes q carrier comes from the far
horizon. where home lies. and the chalk
'artist letters the message he has
brought high on a big blackboard.
There will be cheers and jeers and pop
ping Of bottles.
In sending out returns the birds win
have to be liberated every five or ten
minutes, TO insure frequent bulletins on
shipbosrd, as well as to allow the few
flyers which fail, es pigeons will at IN
expected times, for some Of them at
times refuse to fly, as a sulky race horse
does to run.
In sending the carrier pigeons out
TO the vessel, a start Of ~ hours only
will be allowed the ships. The birds
will be detained at the docks and will
see their home disappear. 1t is said
carrier pigeons can see so miles at sea.
There are, the experts soy, only
few strains of pigeons which can find
their way over water readily. Most
birds require landmarks - steeples,
pigeons, which are German, Belgian
and English, have an infaIlibls instinct
which guides them across the sea.
This experimental bulletin will get.
lie great many questions about which
pigeon enthusiasts have long been In
doubt They do not know, for exam.
pie, Just the distance that q carrier pi.
geon will fly over water. A frst-class
bird can go mile minute for many
miles, but whether he can keep 1T up
for 1000 miles nobody has yet learned.
A record bird ought to cover 1000
mile. in "a hours, with some time to
SPARE for rest. It Is the resting, or
perchinr, that makes pigeon-wise peo-
pie doubt the perfect utility of the car-
rieTs as ocean messengers. They will
not fly at night. When darkness comes
they perch on this highest point they
can find, and rest until light comes
again. But the first faint tinge Of dawn
finds them on the wing again. Anc on
moonlight or starlight nights they
often fly continuously, stopping only to
rest at the dark hour just before tbs
dawn.
II bird happens TO perch on the
mast OF a returning ship. he loses dur
ing his resting hours just the distance
the vessel travels, in asdition to the los
his own delay causes.
But even with these drawbacks and
uncertainties, it Is long odds that the
carrier pigeons, with their bundles OF !
microscopically written election 70
turns, will bring relief 70 many anxious
people. and sport 20 great many more
mo are lot so anxio'n.-N. Y. Journal. |
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