Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-01-14
AB0UTCATS ANDRATS
4 TALE FROM IOWA, WHICH IS TO
 HAVE 4 CAT FARM.


 Cats to Fatten tine Rats and Cows to
 Supply the Rezt or tho Needed Food For
 Both-A Project Whose End Is eatskins.
 4 cat factory is tho latest Iowa scheme. Every little while strange ru- mQrs come cut Of the west. but of all the wild border it's Iowa sends the best The Sun has had it's eye on Iowa for q long time. Even with half an eye one could see that strange things were hap pening out there. In fact, four of these strange things happened along this way When New York saw the four Cherrvs. 1t decided that there were stranger things in heaven and earth and Iowa than were dreamed of in ifs philosophy. The cat factory scheme gees to confirm this belief.
 Clinton, according to report, is to be the home Of the projected factory. The idea has not been entirely carried out, but il is ripe for execution, and the magnificent schemes of Colonel Sellers pale into insignifeanee beside the pos- 1 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 i'll will or malice against anybody, con sequently the cat factory cannot be of the nature of q revenge. The Clinton people do not understand 1t. They have 1 given bonuses to packing houses and bonuses to wagon factories and q 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 enceur- agement. All it wanted WAS q chance, and two enterprising men from Kansas have promised that The simplicity of their scheme is in itself a stroke of genius Here are tho details;
 In the first place, they are to have a number of acres on tho outskirts Of the town This farm, if you choose to call it that, is to be stocked with 1000 as- sorted cats. 4 separate portion of the place will he occupied by }. .000 rats. The 5000 ts are to be fed gradually to tho ,00t oats Meantime both cats and rats will increase in numbers de- spite the fact that the cats are eating the rats. It is estimated that the number of cats will increase to 1000 during the first year and to 225, GOO during the sec ond year.
 Of course, if the rats increased no faster than the cats, the eats 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 s1 each in the market. When the cats arc killed for their skins. their bodies arc fed to the rats, which will fatten on their adversaries' bones. Thus rarrenvs', tAay. themselves will become more toothsome and Ho0rIsnfug 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 eats todavbecome 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 whOa tlse Et:Gton pee- pie shall turn out and eXtelminate the whole institution.
 But this isn't all. The cats become rats and the lafs become cats, as before explained AisJ, the cats become more cats and the rats become more rats with a persistent rapidity which makes one $ brain reel. If the 1,000 cats became 1 225. .000 in two years, the question is, how many rats will they have from 8 beginning of 5000. provided the rats 1 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 tho cats, will therefore be i'll. corporated in the cat population, and will be assisting the eat total to the detriment of the rats. Of course, at the same time, some of the cats will have been eaten ny the rats, and must there fore be subtracted from the cat pro | ducers aGd added to tic rats.
 Now, there is another problem. If the cats ate nothing but rats, then the ell tire }, GOO rats would be eaten by th' LOGO cats inside of the first week, anf the story would be done more quickly even than the famous tale of Solomon Grundy, which covered period O seven days, not counting the obsequie which must have occurred the nex week. There must be a way ont of this Naturally enough, it is q milky way. I third section of the farm will be devoted to COWS. The COWS. 1t is to be hoped fo the sueeess of tho scheme, will givt milk. Part of this milk will be fed t the cats. The rest will be made int cheese for the rats. It is so easy to xii two birds with one stone if you hav the right kind of birds and the righ kind of stone.
 Here, then, is the project complete First, tho farm, which is to be sur rounded by 10 foot fence to proven the escape of the capitalized stock of tn company; second, the COWS, which vii furnish milk for to cats and cheese fo tho rats; third and foarth. for they ar inseparable. or will be in tho course c