The Republican journal., 1906-09-13
IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT CATS

Governments Pay for their Support, and a
French Judge Rules That the Law Fro
tects Them.
There are very many persons who
positively dislike cats, and there are
others who tolerate them as pretty
pets: but there are few who really con-
ider to what all extent this complex
sand clever creature is necessary to
the we'll being of the community.
l. ct me, therefore, take up the cud-
GELS for puss as a public benefactor,
and by few facts prove to my readers
that cats are not the useless animals
| that some would have us believe.
think it is only natural to suppose
that cats were specially created for the
purpose of suppressing rats and mice
and other vermin. There is a popular
notion that if ca t is we'll fed she will
be rendered useless as a mouser. This
is a fallacy, for the cats inclination Is
to hunt for prey, not only for food, but
/ for sport.
The LATEST and most luxurious of
| Persian pets is quickly transformed In
10 the keenest sportsman if opportun-
itv offers and mouse is heard scratch
ing in the wainscoting. Perhaps some
of the happiest cats are those hard
worked servants of the public who 90
not know their own value.
A recognition of the cats utility 10
given by our government, III that II
paws annual sums for providing anu
of N n
offices and dockyards of our land.
In the national printing office IN
France a large army of cats are en-
ployed in keeping the premises clear OF
rats and mice, which otherwise would
work havoc among the stock of papers
always stored i'll large quantities.
In Vienna there are official cats,
supported i'll at1iuence by the munich
pality. and | believe that there is
distinction drawn between the drones
and the BEES and those pussies who
have done their duty to their country
are placed on the retiring list and
honorably pensioned when too old for
active service.
The London dockyards would fare
badly without the necessary cat and
we might hear more often of dockyard
strikes if pussie did not work day and
night, with no Sundays out or Bank
HOLIDAYS off, all the year round.
In the livestock department OF the
army and navy stores an orange per-
sian cat may be seen strolllng about
among the cages of birds. Her services
are retained by the company to keep
down the mice that come after bird
seed, which, before pushes lnstalla-
ton, was demolished wholesale.
The cat is left alone with the tutter-
ing birds every night, and each morn
ing many lifeless bodies OF nice are
swept up. In our London theatres a
cat is always kept and turned loose IN
the building when it is unoccupled.
The cats in government service IN
America are very numerous. The army
has a regular corps of them kept at
} the cOmmissary depots of the great
cities. 1t is customary for the officer
in charge of each depot to submit to
the war department 4 request for an
allowance of meat and milk for the
cats.
1t is estimated that in New York city
alone 60, 900 cats depend for their daily
food on garbage and the rats and mice
they capture. Therefore, If each cat
catches three mice or rats week, the
sum total amounts to over 100000
year.
Cats play an important role in our
, great cold storage warehouses, and kit.
tens born in this icy temperature have
, special qualifications for enduring ex-
treme cold. They preserve their health
7 and develop extraordinary activity.
2 There are newspaper cats, police
court cats and fire station cats, and
last but not least, there are kitchen
cats, who play an important role IL our
| downstairs premises.
$ A story is told regarding an insertion
, in one of the census papers, which ran
y as follows:
/, Gan enumerator, in going over re-
. turn paper, found that the householder's
cat had been included as a member of
the family. 1t was described as "Jim,"
Il the relationship to the head of the fam
t ily being "lodger." The entry then
v stated that he was of the male sex,
! single. aged l last birthday. His occu-
- patton was also given ''mouse catcher,
worker on his own account
T In France JUICE de paix of Fontaine-
l. bleau decreed chat the domestic cat is
not thing of naught but the property
= of its master and, as such, entitled to
o the shelter of the law" Further, that
S the utility of the cat as destroyer of
s mischievous rodents being indisputa-
. BILE. equity demands the extension of in
= diligence to an animal which the law
J. tolerates and protects. queen, Lon
y don.
e Kodol Dyspepsia Cure
e Digests what yea eat.