The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-12-06
WORLD WAR ON RATS.
zusehlas's Lifetime Campaign Against
the Pest

A society in Copenhagen, aided and
abetted by the Danish government and
legislature, is perfecting the machin-
cry for war which will ultimately
embroil the whole civilized world. IL
viii end only with the utter extermin
alton OF the enemy. II will be fought
with all the aids that the ingenuity Of
man can supply; the enemy will be
shot, trapped, poisoned. and price
will be set on his head.
That, at any rate, is the ayowed OBJ
ject of the society engineering this
war Its title is "L'Association Inter
rationale pour la Destruction Ration
ellie des Rats" Though it has only
been in existence a few years IL has
already exercised great influence not
only in Denmark, but also in other
countries.
IL is not so very long ago that even
in Copenhagen the seriousness Of the
problem was far from being under
stood by the man in the street. But
one man did understand the rat and
all its evil ways, and worked the bet
ter part Of lifetime 20 make them un-
derstood by others. He was a civil
engineer, called Zuschlag, whose hob
by was the study of economic zoology,
in particular the life history of mans
enemies in the animal world. He not.
ed that while other pests special
lied, as it were, confining their unso-
licited attention to certain circum.
sCribed spheres, the rat was ubiqui.
tous. Agriculture and shipping, in
dustries and trades, country mansions
and farm cottages, palaces and slums
all 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 de-
stroy everything, excepting stone
and iron His information told of
whole acres of corn laid low, of raids
made upon poultry farms, Of nightly
deyastations in groccrs', bakers, and
butchers shops Of water pipes gnaw-
ed through, and places in consequence
flooded, causing hundreds of pounds
OF damage. He was enabled to state
that the rats cost his country every
year at least 6 100000 in preyentable
damage
The last count in Zuschlags indict-
ment against the rat is the terrible
part played by 1t in the dissemination
Of bubOnic plague. He published his
views in 1903 in book which may be
regarded as the standard work on the
subject and the official declaration of
the international war against the rat.
A few weeks ago he had the great
satisfaction Of seeing this theory ac-
Cepted in the report issued by the
plague committee appointed by the
Secretary of State for India.
To provide an object lesson for the
people at home and abroad in the ra
tional destruction of rats the commit
tee selected Copenhagen and the
neighboring Fredericksburg. The to-
tai bag" obtained in eighteen weeks
amounted to 100000 rats, at cost of
1926 kroner (about E736), paid for
premiums and cremating, or l 1-2d Il
rat. Now" said Zuschlag and his
committee, you will all agree that
each rat eats and destroys each day at
least one farthing's worth of food and
material. One hundred and three
thousand rats would have cost you
about $4,000. Having spent G736
on killing them, we have saved you
E3S,000 odd"
This way of reasoning appealed to
the economical Dane. Campaigns
were undertaken in other places with
similar satisfactory results, and so
much had Zuschlag's scheme impress
ed the public mind with its practical
bility that in the following year first
the Farmers Union, then the Property
Owners Society, and then all the bor-
Ough councils presented petitions 10
the government and Riksdag asking
that Zuschlag's proposals should be
embodied in a law without delay Sew
eral bills were subsequently brought
in and dropped, but last year the
home secretary introduced a measure
which was passed unanimously by
both Houses of Parliament and be
came law last March
This rat law is now in full swing
Under the act the state undertakes To
spend 6 800 annually for three years
and compels teh county and borough
councils TO spend SIS. 3D. 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 this expenditure
the society is intrusted with the en-
tire working of the act.-London Daily
Mail