The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-21
RAISING ELEPHANTS.

The New York Commercial has this about a new industry which it is pro- posed to start in Texas:
 Very few Americans are aware that the proposed raising of elephants in this country Is. in a way, revival Of a very ancient condition of things. The elephant, as is shown by the evidences ot our rocks and of fossil remains was once widely distributed in this hemi- sphere, especially In North America. There seems to be no reason. so far as temperature and climate arc con- cerned why the new industry involved in the Texas elephant ranch should not achieve measure or success While the elephant as burden bearer and traction beast might not prove profit al ble property against the competition of lighter and more agile animals, the and hides may amply justify our Texas friends in their novel enterprise. It is not to be forgotten that from like warm habitats were successfully intro; duced into California. Arizona and Florida the ostriches. whose breeding has resulted in a permanent industry or apparent profit. and caused the es- tablishment of later ostrich-fa farms in Texas itself and one or two other States.
 There are two common expressions which may have to be changed some udN. oHe IS when W" SDedk or IOluHH bus discovering America. There seems no reasonable room for doubt now that the feat of Columbus was only a re- discovery. That the North American continent. at least. was visited by tho Norsemen six or more centuries before Columbus landed is settled beyond req sonable dispute. If these first visitors ho,p folo
 permanent settlements, the whole com plrxion of history might have been diff ferent so far as North America is con- | cerned. That Columbus was not the first European to visit America does not in any degree detract from the glory of his achievement, and he cer- tanly opened tho way for colonization and occupancy and for the great coun- try that we now have. All the same, he was not the discoverer of Amer ioa.
 Another common expression which may some day have to be changed Is that of speaking of America as The New World" For number of years eXplorat tion and nvestiga tions in Cen tIal America have been pointing to a civilization which may inte-date any
 thing in what we now speak 0t a the Old World In fact, one enthus!astic scientist. whose name Is not now re- lnembered. goes so far as t. assert that the civilization of Egypt, one of the most ancient known to history hud i > origin in Central America. He claims to have found ruins, tablets and other evidences of civilization so remote that 1t goes beyond any that Is record ed in the Eastern hemisphere He may be over-coniident and over-enth thusias- tic, but some wonderful discoveries have been made down there and no one may tell what will yet follow the ef forts of the archaeologists
 And then We come to the elephans. To most people this animal is never thought of except as native and an tnhahftan; of Asia nd Africa, Ind yet as The Commercial remarks, the pre- historic evidences of the rocks and the fossil remains To be found in many portions of America prove beyond doubt that elephants were once natives ui this continent Whether they were just the same aA those now fouaE In t'YrIGn lands. We do not know, but they were real elcphans. IL might he interesting for tho scholars to investigate the ouestton of descent and distribution
 Were the first ones natives of this con tinent? If so how were they con- vayed. planted and natSralized in Asia and Afrtcao It. on the other hand, the frsr ones were natives of those countries. how did they get here"
 These may he merely academic ques- ttons and which may or may not ever he solved Raising elephants is a nractical affair which must be settled