Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-04

%tireless little protectors Of the human
race. Scientists are beginning to take
up the matter for serious consideration,
for it is in evidence that the slaughter of
birds for the purposes of the millinery
business is having a serious, effect upon
agriculture in some sections of the coun-
try. if not in Butte.
The unutterable vanity that leads a
woman to try to draw attention away
from her own pretty face to the beautiful
stuffed bird on her hat, will in time Sc
riously affect the stomach-not her stom-
ach, perhaps, but the many millions who
are dependent upon eating garden sass
and things which have been destroyed by
the insects, because that bird wasn't on
duty at the head of a cabbage instead
of at the head of a divine enchantress
called woman. OF late there has been
no ADLER presentation of the cause Of the
oppressed and down-trodden bird than
an article from the pen of Mr.. William
butcher, treasurer of the American Or
astrological Union, from which the fol-
lowing excerpt is made:
According to the census of 1890 there
We're in the United States 4, 1854, Gal farms,
with a total acreage of 623, 21S, 619. The
valuation of these farm lands is placed
at $13, 279, 252. $40. The labor Of the farmer
and fruit grower is repaid by products
to the value of 2.46o, 1O7, asa per year. but
it is said that insects and rodents de-
stroy products annually to the astonish-
ing money value Of 5000, 900, 900, even with
the birds as protectors. Just imagine
what the additional loss would be were
all the birds destroyed. They are fast
being eXterminated. and unless that large
class Of the population, the a~griculturists,
awaken to the gravity of the situation
and absolutely demand that no more
birds be killed for any purpose whatever,
they will soon feel the short-sightednesS
in actual dollars and cents. A difference
of l per cent in the value of the farm
PRODUCTS amounts to the enormous sum
of $24, 601, 074. The birds are now killed
for two purposes only for food and MILL
merry ornaments. For food, only a very
few are shot, i. e., the game birds, and
those only during restricted portions OF
the year. so they do not materially affect
the result. There is no excuse for shoot
ing the second class of birds, as their
value as millinery ornaments is far less
' ~ oS 4AoSSN 1
Besides this, contrast the difference in
the money value Of the two interests
that are opposed to each other. BY the
census Of 1890 we find that the total cap
ital invested in the millinery and lace
trade is So, 939, 430. and the cost of the
materials used that year was $27, 345, lis.
Place the two interests side by side,
thirteen billions as against $23, 900, 900.
Again, an annual product Of So 12, 900, 900
as against 1000, 900. I ask, and 1 wish
I could shout my question in a voice so
loud and clear that every man, woman
and child in this broad land of ours
could hear it. Have the milliners, with
their paltry interests, any right to jeop-
ardize the safety of the agricultural in
terests" Ponder! A difference of only
l per centum in the annual product of
our farms and gardens amounts to more
than the entire millinery and lace inter-
ests in the United States. Will the farm
ers and fruit growers remain silent much
longer and permit the birds, their best
friends. to be killed that a trifing inter-
est like the millinery trade may make
a few more dollars at the sacrifice of SO
much that is beautiful, as well as of
economic value?