The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-01

From iAs LoRasM nsffs Mod.
a0cietY ln Copenhaaen, AIDED and abeaesd
~ the Danish Government aud Leelnlature,
h perfectina tke machinery Cor q war which
viii ultimately smbroiI the Whols civtllHsd
world. ~ VIII end only with me utter snter-
al the aida that Tho Ingenuity a. man eau
supply: ths enemy viii bs shot. tFApped.
poisoned and q pncs will be set m his head.
That. 10 any rate. n Tire av0we 0biect o.
che society enekneertns this var. sts tttle 10
-BAsnociation internaiiOnale DouF h De-
struction RatiOpelle dea Rats" Though q has
only besn IN existence q few years u has
already exercised great influence not only IN
DenmGrh sdt also In other countries.
10 10 not 90 very long ago that even IN
Copenhagen the seriousness of tho problem
was FAR from being understood BY Inc man IN
the street. But one man did understand tAe
rat and all its evil ways and worked che better
part of a lifeline TO make them understood
by others. Hs was a civil engineer. called
Suschlag. whose hobby was the study Of
economic zoology. In particular the life his
tory Of mans enemies In the animal world.
He noted that while other pests -sDeciallned.'
~ Il were. combining their unsolicited atten-
ton 20 certain circumscribed spheres. the
rat was ubiquitous Agriculture and snip
ping. industries and trades. country manstcna
and farm cottages. palaces and slums-aB
suffered from the depredAtions Of the rat.
He began to gather statistics and found that
the rat appeared to be everywhere. to eat
everything. To destroy everything. excepting
alone stone and Iron. His Information told
OF whole acres OF corn laid low. Of raids o
upon poultry farms. Of nightly devastations
In grocers'. bakers and butchers shops: OF
water r'pes gnawed through and places In
c~onsegHs9ce Hooded causing hundreds Of
that the rats cost his country every year at
least e4O0,OOo in preventahle. damage.
The last count in Zuschlag's Indictment
against the rat IL the terrible cart played by
IL in the dissemination OF bubonic plague. He
published mis- views In 1908 in a book which
the subject and the Official declaration Of the
international war against the rat. A few
seeing this theory accepted in the report issued
by the plague committee appointed by the
Secretary o. State for India.
at home and abroad in the rational destruction
OF rata the committee selected Copenhagen
s0sal the hSaE Psis oSsSinsS Il ETed .i1s:s.% w. res
EToner lsbout Gfss5, paid FOR premiums and
zusc6iaS and his committee. YOU vow; viii all
agree That each rat eats and destroys each
material. One hundred and three thousand
rats would have cost you about RS1, 600. Hav-
ing spent G73o OF. killing them. we have saved
This way Of reasoning appealed to the
economical Dane. Campaigns were under
taken In other places with similar satisfactory
results. and so much had Zuschlag's scheme
Impressed the public mind with It's practtca-
hility that In the following year FIRST the
Farmers Union. then the Property Owners
Society and then all the borough councils
presented petitions TO the Government and
RiksdaR asking that ZuschlaR's proposals.
should be embodied IN a law without delay.
Several bills were, subsequently, brought In
and dropped, but last year the Home Score
Cary introduced a measure which was passed
unanimously by both Houses OF Parliament
and became law last March.
This rat law Is now in full swing. Under
the act the state undertakes to spend 81 900
annually for three years and compels the
county and borough councils to spend ~. ID.
a year for each 100 inhabitants, on the society
having given the undertaking that they will
spend at least $500 each year. In return for
TINS expenditure the society Is intrusCed with
the entire working OF the act.