The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-03-12
RATS COST AMERICA
.SGO,000,OOO A YEAR
FIGURES OF DANISH CRUSADER
AGAINST RODENTS APPLIED TO
UNITED STATES.


li6ved rat-ridden communities of their
scourge through the pleasing agency
OF music, which has charms for the
rodent as well as the human ear, they
managed things better and certainly
more picturesquely, but for present
day conditions little Denmark is &C.
quitting itself with honor and eff
cheney in the campaign against rats,
by which the kingdom where once
there was something foul" has been
convulsed for the last four or Ave
years.
1t was Mr.. Zuschlag, a distinguish
ed civil engineer of Copenhagen, who
| first described the rat peril and in
eloquent accents warned his fellow
countrymen against the danger to
their pockets and their persons of
longer supinely submitting to pay the
onerous rat tribute. He pointed out
that the rat kingdom yearly raised a
tax of two million dollars upon the in
dustries Of the country, while the in
direct losses, the exact figures of
which cannot be ascertained are, as
he demonstrated, clearly enormous.
In the beginning Mr.. Zuschlag's
campaign was not hailed with enthu-
siasm upon every side. Indeed, few
men have survived such a torrent Of
ridicule and obloquy as was poured
upon his devoted head, not by the
friends of the rats, for no one took
up the cudgels in their behalf, but by
the business and commercial classes
. l.f Ahn
good name of the most famous ex-
ports of the country, such as pork and
cheese, would suffer as the first re-
suit of the attention which he was
attracting to a rat-ridden land.
Happily for Mr.. Zuschlag and for
his country, this first period of mill
tant and an almost criminal skepti-
cism is over-the rat catchers are in
stalled in every community; they wear
the royal uniforms, and their efforts
are supplemented by the whole popu-
lace, who are participating in the anti
rat crusade by means of trap and gun,
poison, ferret, dog and cat and an
occasional well-directed brick.
A State grant for a large sum was
voted last July, out of which two
cents Is paid for every rat tail pro-
duced. An extra levy Of about a dol
laI upon every community of 100 in
. habitants has also been ordered tt
enrich the crusade, and this they will
, each and every one have to pay unit
. the head inspector of the rat con
: tract service declares the neighbor
i hood free of rodents.
e Today the rat catcher cruises
= about through the land armed will
= his weapons and pushing little car
t with several air-tight compartment
\ of glass, in which he exhibits the
proofs of his cunning and industry
To prevent alien rats from being i'm
ported for the bounty stringent mea
sures have been adopted at all tn
custom houses and frontier stations
and so hot is the pursuit of the penn!
in this thrifty land that several ira
velers have been detected bringing
personal luggage.
RATS COST AMERICA 100000
Mr.. Zuschlag made no attempt t
estimate the damage to the fell
crops, but merely sought to find GU
the damage done to the grain afte
it is housed in the granaries and mai
calls it his own.
If the same conditions of rat depre
dations obtain in America and MI
zuchslag thinks they do, the Amer
can rat is not eating us out of tn
house and home, but he is costing u
S60,000,000 year.
For instance, If the rats were SUI
pressed and the tribute allowed
accumulate for four years we coul
build the Panama Canal without asl
ing the taxpayer cent, and every l
months we could construct IL battle
ships for the new Atlantic feet will
out having to obtain a congressiont
appropriation.
Fifteen years ago in Korea whe
both the black death and the choleT
were raging in adjacent lands an
rumored to be approaching the col
fines of the then Hermit Kingdom
every householder had pointed upo
the doors of his abode the picture {
! a ferocious and predatory cat in tn
act of devouring rat.
IF we can only keep the raj
away" said the Korean peasant
when called upon to explain, eth
plague can not reach us" There we
much merriment in the foreign colon
over these pictorial precautions, bU
today the legendary belief of mos
r Asiatics is confirmed by the receI
* discoveries of modern science.
er SPREAD DEADLY DISEASE.
Mr. Zuschlag shows conclusivel
eF that the rat is the principal agent
,s spreading trichinosis, a fearful di
a ease, very common and nearly alway
=, fatal in those countries where fres
pork Is eaten.
Further, the Danish rat extermina
80 or pointed out In the course of b
10 propaganda, which has recently eros
X ed the North Sea and is raging
It. England, that law granting a pr
IN MUM of one penny to every one wi
mt brings in a dead rat would save CO
-. IaofiUalV aaVAn EhiIlinRS and fil