The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1896-12-31
ABOUTCATSA ANDRATS
A TALE FROM IOWA, WHICH ls TO
HAVE A CAT FARM.

supply the Rest OF the Needed Food For
Both--A Project Whose End In Cstskins.
A cat factory Is the latest Iowa
scheme. Every little while strange ru-
mors come out Of the west. but of all
the wild border it's Iowa sends the best
The Sun has. had its eye ON Iowa for
long time. Even Y IN half an eye one
could see that stral lge things were hap
pening out there. In fact, four of these
strange things happened along this way
When New York saw the four Cherrys,
it decide that thero were stranger
things y aeaven and earth and Iowa
than We dreamed of in its philosophy.
The lactory scheme goes to confirm
thi .ef.
lion, according to report, is to be
& Aome Of the projected factory. The
J "a has not been entirely carried out,
but II is ripe for execution, and the
magnificent schemes Of Colonel Sellers
pale into insignificance beside the pos
sibilities of this prairie project.
Clinton is beautiful town in the ex-
treme eastern portion Of the state. As
far as can be learned, it has never borne
i'll will or malice against anybody, con-
sequently the cat factory cannot be of
the nature of a revenge. The Clinton
people do not understand it. They have
given bonuses to packing houses and
bonuses to wagon factories and build
ing site to the cracker man. who said
he'd let the poor have all his broken
crackers. But they never gave even en-
couragement to the cat factory.
The cat factory didn't ask for encour-
agement. All it wanted was chance,
and two enterprising men from Kansas
have promised that. The simplicity of
their scheme is in itself a stroke Of
genius. Here are the details:
In the first place, they are to have a
number Of acres on the outskirts Of the
town. This farm, if you choose to call
it that, is to be stocked with 1000 as
sorted cats. A separate portion Of the
place will be occupied by 5000 rats.
The 1000 rats are to be fed gradually
to the 900 cats. Meantime both cats
and rats will increase in numbers de-
rats. 1t is estimated that the number of
cats will increase to 10, 600 during the
first year and to 225, 600 during the Sec
ond year.
OF course. if the rats increased no
faster than the cats. the cats would soon
eat up all the rats, and there would be
trouble. But they don't give way to
these little difficulties out in Iowa The
cats are to be raised for the skins, which
are worth 81 each in the market. When
the cats are killed for their skins, their
bodies are fed to the rats, which will
fatten ON their adversaries' bones. Thus
fattened, they themselves will become
moro toothsome and nourishiDg for the
cats, when it is the turn of the rats TO
be eaten.
The beauty Of this plan must be ap-
parent. What are cats today become rats
tomorrow, and what are rats tomorrow
become cats next day, and SO ON round
the circle of rats and cats until dooms-
day-or the time when the Clinton peo-
ple shall turn out and exterminate the
whole institution.
But this isn't all. The cats become
rats and the rats become cats, as before
explained. Also, the cats become more
cats and the rats become more rats with
q persistent rapidity which makes ones
brain reel. If the 1000 cats became
225, 900 in two years, the question is,
how many rats will they have from a
beginning Of 5000. provided the rats
increase five times faster than the cats.
One must consider the fact, however,
that the cats will eat more rats than the
rats can eat cats. This is important.
Also, that many Of the rats, having been
eaten by the cats. will therefore be in
corporated in the cat population, and
will be assisting the cat total to the
detriment of the rats. OF course, at the
same time, some Of the oats will have
been eaten by the rats, and must there
fore be subtracted from the cat pro-
ducers and added to the rats.
Now, there is another problem. II the
oats ate nothing but rats, then the en-
tire 8, 600 rats would be eaten by the
1000 cats inside Of the first week, and
the story would be done more quickly
even than the famous tale Of Solomon
Grundy, which covered a period Of
seven days, not counting the obseQuies
which must have occurred the next
week. There must be way out Of this.
Naturally enough, it is milky way. A
third section of the farm will be devoted
to cows. The COWS, it is to be hoped for
the success of the scheme, will give
milk. Part Of this milk will be fed to
the cats. The rest will be made into
cheese for the rats. It is 30 easy to kill
two birds with one stone if you have
the right kind of birds and the right
kind Of stone.
Here, then, is the project complete
First, the farm, which is to be sur
rounded by 10 foot fence to prevent
the escape of the capitalized stock Of the
company; second, the COWS, which will
furnish milk for the cats and cheese for
the rats; third and fourth. for they are
inseparable, or will be in the course OF
year or two, the cats that are to eat