The Press., 1907-06-12
TRAINED BY CRUELTY
Animals, as a Rule, Taught Tricks
 Through Torture.
KINDNESS IS NOT A FACTOR.
The Result of the Methods Employed, Says an English Writer, Is the Tri- umph of a Brute Over a Brute by Patient and Persistent Cruelty.

U US nSSNie OI SHS SUSSuOOS GU1PIOyeop
 Says an English Writer, Is the Tri-
 umph of a Brute Over Brute by
 Patient and Persistent Cruelty.
 q have. an old fashioned belief that one should never make a damning statement unless he Is prepared to prove it up to the hilt. And so I am confronted at the outset with an al- most insurmountable- difficulty-to the layman who would accurately inform himself of the methods of animal train ing there is opposed bulwark of con- cealment grim and silent as the great wall of China" writes w. Rainten Clarke in the Manchester Chronicle.
 "The glib assurance that 1t is all done by kindness has become a by word. No true lover of an animal be- lieves it, nor could any reasoning crea- ture, lacking that particular affection, if he will carefully examine such facts as are obvious.
 Granted there are animals of ex- treme intelligence and ductability. Granted there are men and women of extraordinary influence over birds and beasts. The best these twain can achieve in combination does not pro- duce an effective stage show, nor can one-hundredth part of the entertain ment' provided by the trainer be ascribed to his abnormal ability or to the especially acute intelligence of his pupil. It is more probably the tri- umph of a brute over a brute by pa- tient and persistent cruelty.
 "The public judges by what it sees on the stage and remarks in admira- tion and approval that there was no sign of whip An animal exhibitor who was avowedly cruel would be pretty low down in the ranks of show men, own a particularly ferocious looking bulldog who goes crazy with delight at the sight of whip. It has been his pet toy for years and means the beginning of romp. On the other hand, movement of the trainers fin ger almost imperceptible to the audi dence may suggest to the powerful imagination of the animal fiendish tor ture. It may recall the hot irons, the agonizing utilization of nerve.
 "Such appeals to the memory are, in | truth, the stock in trade of the animal trainer. What the wretched creature has gone through during months of daily preparation can never be known for the work is carried out in secrecy and seclusion. There is rarely second person present, and the brute cannot speak. That is the most hideOus factor of the case.
 "There is no concealment of the fact that the training is apt to be hard anC painful, and blow is not uncommon from the most humane and patient trainer angered, it may be, by stupidi ty and lnsubordination. If 1t Is SC with the boy, what must 1t be witt the brute?
 'There is no possession so hideoui as that of the triumph, even momen tarily, of cruelty. Touch a child,
 horse or a dog with whip and ther' Is a hideous sense of satisfaction, ever
 when the cause is righteous. The Jo!
 of inflicting pain Is possible to the bes of us and grows by what it feeds on.
 "Imagine the situation between
 coarse vulgarian and helpless brut'
 and you get the process of anima
 training.
 q have never known disintereste'
 member of the circus community pre-
 tend that the education of any anima
 was pleasant to the animal, and hay
 known them to speak with horror o
 the methods of some trainers. l Ut is not very long since an athlet snatched the whip from well knowl
 dog trainer on the stage of a Londol variety theater and soundly thrashe' him amid the plaudits of the company Another distinguished professor
 blacklisted by one of the largest syn
 dicates for undisguised cruelty (of tn
 stage) to his large and various family
 Two of our best known managers at solutely refuse to deal with anima turns and make no concealment o their reasons. And the editor, now dc ceased, of an important professions
 paper, for years refused to attend an place of entertainment where dogs c birds, or indeed any dumb creatur save conventional circus horses, az peared.
 "All these men knew what they wer about. Most of the other performer
 in music hall fight keep shy of tn animal trainers. The stage hands spea
 with horror of what they see.
 '"The mortality among performin animals is perfectly awful. Ever S
 many are hopelessly injured in th
 process of education, and ever so man Isuccumb to the dreadful life of nightl
 performances.
 "Whenever a case of cruelty by
 performer comes before the courts on is amazed by the ineptitude and futi ity of the evidence.
 ''The public is of course the mai agers provide them, though they muI ? be conscious of the truth of all hay . | written. They even assist in the Ill kindness, for the stabling and mena erie accommodations of some of ol
 largest esta blishments are insan1taI
 and inadequate in the extreme.
 q finish as I begin. The cruelty
 animal training is almost impossible (
 proof. Much of it should be obviou
 and so much of my indictment as , not to be proved by the obvious is nc | solemnly affirm, based on desire , be sensational or on idle gossip, but ( the dependable assurances of men ar , women who dare nAt submit 70 publ - citation"
 The Aesthete.