The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-06-27
bert n. casson.)

Eqyssx SdeSers was "a tim e whenM the
jlS5E people were not compelled to
against enemies of some kind,
but their first enemy was that prehis-
toric monster-the Irish elk.
The Irish elk roamed up and down
the green fields of Ireland thousands
of years ago, and there were none that
$.,sred to stand in his path.
#ss lis great horns weighed seventy
+. pounds or more, and they were often
eight feet apart from tip to tip He
& had three ways of destroying bis enc
!. n1ies--he could kick them or bite
them or stab them. Any one OF these
ways was generally enough.
s58 The Irish elk was as heavy as
small elephant, and yet he could run
with the swifrness of a deer. There
were few animals in the world that
co:Ild either vanquish him in battle
or run fast enough TO escape him.
If is the strongest and the ierc-
est that always win in the battle of
u life why then are there any human
4 beings in Ireland? Why is not Ire
land land of elks and nothing but
elks?
s Here are few of the reasons
You can easily think out others for
yourself:
Nj The elk was all horns and no brains.
While his horns weighed seventy
pounds his skull only weighed five
or six; pounds. He was stupid and
= easily led into trap.
The elks did not know enough to
cooperate with one another. Their
motto was: Every elk for himself"
# The result was that the elks' enemies
picked the elks of one at time.
Every elk wanted to be the only
g elk in Ireland. That was the real
reason why the elks died out. They
would not live and let live, SO they
Ssquarreled along for a few thousand
years and then became extinct. 1t
was a clear case of race suicide.
s#$s The Irish people We're small, weak,
a#littIe insects compared with these
giant ellls. Even John L, Sullivan
would have to run for q tree if one
of them raced in his direction.
ss Yet the Irish people have survived,
I and there is nothing left of the big
horned elks except here and there
skeleton in a museum. It is plain to
Ssse,, that strength and herceness are
not all that is necessary to protect us
in this world % conflict.
All the monstrous ANIMALS that used
to live on the earth have died out,
but there are about a billion and
half of tiny human beings who are
alive and fairly prosperous.
- There was the enormous chthyo-
saurus, for instance, that was 1000
times bigger than a Florida crocodile.
He is gone, in spite OF his mighty
jaws and jagged teeth
z here was the towering atlanta
saurus, that was eighty feet long and
Z thirty feet hiSn- He had eyes as big
as soup plates. and tie footprints he
left in the rocks are big enough to
carpet a fiarIern pa:lor, at least. On
his sides he had great plates of bone
aranor. three feet wide; yet he is gone
and millions OF harmless little rab
\ bits survive,
L seems as If nature takes 4 no
ton, now and then, to make few
monstrous freaks, just 10 show
what she can do N the line of big
ness. And so we have Irish elks.
: ichthysaurians- atIantosaurians, alb
4 seatea landlords, gas trusts, STANDARD
Oil Companies, and so forth.
But it is the common, ordinary ami
mails, and the conlrnoa, ordinary peo-
pie who live the longest in the aver
age world