Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-17
EXPERIMENTING THE RATS,

Rats!
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheese out of the watts.
And licked the soup from the cook
own ladies',
Split open the kegs of saltde sprats.
Made nests inside mems Sunday hats,
Ana even spoiled the women's chats,
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking,
IN nifty different sharps and flats"
Such was the condition of things a,
Hameiin Town in Brunswick 500 year.
6 but this plague, great as it was, was
notnlng as to hat from which
the citizens of Copenhagen have just
been rescued. For years they have beer
suffering from a pets Of rodents, a pest
Sc great that they would not have hest.
tated to pay any sum of money if some
Pied Piper" had appeared upon the
scene to rid them of their rats, but in
the absence of such a benefactor they
We're compelled to resort to a more com
monplace means of redress.
AS the rats could not be lured from the
city the city declared war upon the ro-
dents with such success that in a little
more than a year nearly every rat in the
was no simple task.
town has been exterminated. To do this
TO accomplish it the city has spent
over 500. OoO in %bOunties, but now that the
work Is done no one regrets the labor or
the expenditure of money, and a fete of
rejoicing and thanksgiving at the relief
spring.
10 fully appreciate what a plague of
rats Is hk it is necessary for one to ca
to Europe. especially to the northern part
OF Europe, where he will fine the Nor
way rat at home and in his glory.
1t is true that this Objectionable rodent
mas penetrated to this country. He has
taken his passage in ships and, fnding
the American docks n sewers pleasant.
mas decided to remain. Here he may be
seen almost any city by the sea, but while
he is here in thousands it is ONLY nv
tens Of thousands that his family can be
enumerated in Norway, Denmark, SWed-
en- andVhe other northern countries.
IN Copenhagen, for instance, nearly a
million rats have been killed within a
year. sGThey know that there have been
that l01any because the city officials have
that number OF rat tails on file, but there
Is no way for them to tell how manvo of
the rodents We're put out of the way by
private individuals who made no claim
xfhe city for the promised reward.
FromF"the almost total absence of rats
from the city, however, it is estimated
that the humble of those that We're ex-
terminated in that way must have been
fully as great.
PLANS OF RELIEF.
There have always been rats in Copen-
hagen, but during the past few years the
number has been steadily increasing.
with the result tina ia year or two ago
it was estimated hat there We're more
rats in that city than in any place of it's
size on earth. 1t was at this time that
the city officials began to think up some
plan for relief.
During the next few months many
suggestions We're made, and finally it
was decided to offer a reward for every
rat tail that should be delivered to the
government. At the same time every
citizen was urged to use every effort to
help the work of determination and all,
men, women and children. entered upon
the work with such good will tina the
city has now been practically freed Of the
pest.
OF course this feat was not accomplish.
ed by d few individuals, and yet more
half of the n paid out by the
city was collected by less than a score Of
men. They were professional rat CATCH
ers, and they came from all parts of Eu-
rope to help along the good work and
in the spoils.
While rat catching is a profession that
Is well known in many parts of Europe.
1t is seldom ollowed as an occupation in