The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-07-20

Corporations and individuals pay taxes to do business in Birmingham, even the COW has to have a license to transact business in the city, but of all animals only the dog has to have license to live. There are about 5000 dogs in the city and under the law 4,652 of them have no right to live.
 Owners are frequently taxed for the work their horses are able to accomplish. No such reasons are given when the city treasurer requires you to come and de- posit s1 to prevent your pet canine from being taken to the city pound and there sent to dogs heaven, where small boys do not tie tin cans to their tails. The city must be paid s1 for the small tag which denotes that a dog has a right 10 life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- ness.
 Of the vast number of canines in Birm- ingham only a small percentage have masters who think enough of them to pay this small price. although the dog is said to be the mans best friend. Of the superabundance of dogs in the city only B4S are entitled to wear the badge of safety, that being the number of dog tags issued by the city. The dog catcher is after the remaining hundreds and slow 1y but surely he Is catching them and sending them to the happy bone grounds" The manner of death Is the easiest which can be found, but still 1t causes some suffering and the stuffed yelps of a drowning pup reach the ear of the dog catcher occasionally.
 For several weeks he has been busy, not only chasing dogs and carting them to his domicile near Third avenue and Four teenth street, but making then shake off his mortal coil'' by drowning. All in all 1855 have been dipped below the sur face, never to see daylight again. The system is simple one. The dog is plac- ed in wooden box and 1t is lowered in the water. Death is almost instantane ous and the suffering is small in com parison with that when a pistol bullet missed a vital spot, or the dog dies after several hours of suffering from a dose of poison.
 As many as forty have been drowned in one day by the dog catcher. he keeps them until he has a sufficient number. then all are drowned together. It saves expenses and misery loves company.
 The dog catcher is generally assisted by two or three little negro boys, city prisoners if they are any too young to work on the streets. The dogs are caught with a wire hook fastened to the end of a long handle. The person operating the hook slips as close on a dog as pos sible and hooks him around the neck, and then drags him in. The dog is choked badly and when he arrives in the hands of the catcher is unable to make any resistence, although occasional ly one will fight and growl for some time.
 The larger percentage of the dogs are caught in alleys in the negro quarters. Here they are thicker than in any other portion of the city and fewer tags are bought. These sections of the city are the most popular with the catcher, and he frequeDts them most of the time. occas- ior.ally paying visit to other sections
 Any dog on the streets without a tag is liable 10 be taken in. It is carried to the city pound and kept there for three days, when 1t is drowned. The owner can pay s1 for tag and get his dog out be- fore it is killed. Ten dogs is considered a good days work by the catcher. He gees