The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-08-08
WAR ON RATS.
The Rs:ssts Are the Medium by Which
.5s'a Peat }lamCa Il 1nrnnA

The Hs:ss to Are the Medium by Which
Pest ilencs 10 Spread.
There can be no doubt that the plague
rat is danger to the world at large. Il
Is more than probable that 1t is respon.
sible for the wide distribution of the
pestilence and its appearance in I'm
probable and isolated places. Indian
coolies, who now go out to work on In
denture in distant and tropical British
possessions, may have taken 1t to Cape
Town. But the outbreak in an island
like Mauritius, surrounded by the In.
dian ocean, looks very much like cass
OF rat-carried plague, and the sickening
OF Lascar sailors on board ship, and
pther instances, like that lately record.
ed as Spontaneous in one of the In.
land Cape Colony towns, are probably
due to the same cause. The year 1895
was a noted rat year. In 1898 and 1899
there was plague Of the creatures In
the open and cultivated parts of Nor
folk. They are supposed to have come
up from the fen when flooded in the
winter and spread over the hedges,
banks and covers Of the noted game
estates of the northwest corner Of the
county. On one estate, the keepers
were reluctant to go down to particu-
larly rat-haunted wood by night, dis
liking the numbers and proximity Of
the vermin in the dark, when most bold
and active.
In London they are only found a
great numbers in the docks and lower
down the river at Deptfod, where the
foreign cattle are slaughtered on dis
embarkation. Elsewhere the London
cats. and especially those prime enemies
of rats, the homeless" classes of Lon.
don cats, keep up such vigorous and
successful war upon them that the trade
Of rat-catcher has become instinct IN
the metropolis, though it is not long
since when the "rat-catcher to the Prin-
cess Amelia advertised his business,
and took precedence in the trade as one
Of the humble but necessary ministers
OF royal comfort. Even the riverside
rats are decreasing, owing to the clean
Hness of the river.
Formerly the amount of unchecked
and uncleansed sewage poured into the
Thames was incredible, and with 1t an
equally incredible proportion of foul
food for vermin (mainly rats) to de-
your. in which they did service by pre-
venting the dirty and disgusting indif-
ference of the community at large from:
making the river absolutely putrid. Thc
mouths of the London sewer outfa!ls
were haunted by the thousands Of the
vermin, whose appearance at low tiie
was awaited as one of the curiosities OF
riverside scenery.
II anyone doubts the encouragement
which indifference to sanitary waste
gives to all parasitic animals, he might
do worse than pay visit on winters
day to one Of the pumping stations
by the London river whence cleanse1
sewage effluent is still poured into the
stream. The stuff from the drains.
greatly diluted and mixed with chem
/ icals, is passed at considerable speed
through three or four tanks before SCI.
Ting. Over these tanks the gulls, ve'y
harmless scavengers compared with
rats, collect in dense flights necessarily
i dipping into and settling on the foul
water, many hundreds on each small
tank, feeding on the floating refuge and
lighting and struggling to find place.
Mutatis mutandis, reading rats" for
"gulls,' and taking the sewage refuse
Of a population of 2.0Oo,00O as the total
the rats had to deal WITH. some idea
may be formed of their functions fifty
years ago.
This country at least might rid itsei!
of the rat. 1t has no useful place In
nature as nature is understood hera.
Nothing would suffer by its absence. l:
has not even the partial merits Of the
sparrow to Compensate for its destruc.
| tiveness. Sentiment, which says soma-
thing in favor of nearly every othe.
living creature, has not regret left for
the gray rat. It excites more just re-
pulsion than any other creature In
Europe. All domestic animals loathe It
Horses will not sleep in rat-haunted
stables, but kick and fidget all nigh.
Dogs of every class detest it. It Is the
enemy of all birds. 1t drove away the
last of the black terms from the marsh
In which they nested in Norfolk, and
sucked the eggs of the finches and wa
blers in our gardens. 1t spoils and
fouls grain in the stack, destroys pota-
toes and mangolds in the earth clamps
where they are stored for the winter
robs the nests of all wild fowl or orna-
mental waters, drives away rabbits and
game, and causes more damage to the
butbuildings Of farms and large country
houses than damp and rain combined
Il Is an economic loss in every sens,
and now that 1t has proved to be pos.
tive menace to human health as we'll
Il should, II possible, be improved Oh
the face Of Great Britain.-London
News.
Great suns
The French are credited with hayina