Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-15
male BIRD DEFENDED
LEAGUE Formed to Prevent
Official Discrimination.
ROOSTER LAW DENOUNCED
Citizens Indignant Because of Dis
trict Regulation.
MAY MAKE TEST CASE IN COURT
Meeting to Be Held Friday Evening,
When Ways and Means Will
Be Discussed.
MAY MAKE TEST CASE IN COURT

| The slumbers of four specked hens
were rudely disturbed last night by a
! whole lot of converSat ton. used up in
| forming the Poultry Protective Associa-
| ton. Nevertheless and notwithstanding,
! the association was formed. Whether it
| will stay formed depends upon many
| things. Anyhow, there will be another
meeting Friday night.
The meeting last night was held in
hen delicatessen shop on 9th street be-
| tween H and l streets. where everything
| that hens are supposed to like is kept.
| Occupying the window space were the
| four speckled hens. They were the quiet
est individuals present.
Everybody else talked-in unison most
| of the time-about the wrongs of the
| rooster. But right here Is where the low
| browed public must be set right. Once
| and for all talk of boosters" and hens"
| must cease In the parlance of the
and female BIRDS Strange to say,
| the sympathies of those present at last
nights meeting ran toward the male
| bird" 1t was what you might call
| poultry anti-suffragette meeting.
| Under the recent ruling of the Commits
| sioners hens-that is to say, female
| than the male birds. One may keep hens
upon ores private land, provided the
| coop the hens roost in is twenty-five
| yards distant from the nearest house.
| But tOskeep male bird one must get the
| permission Of everybody in the block. 1t
| is much easier nowadays to obtain sign
| ers for a barroom licerse than to obtain
signers for male bird petition.
William Geddes Presides.
When William Geddes had been elected
president of the association he took his
cfo h.
diately he was overwhelmed with a show
er Of rpotions. Everything was suggested,
short Of a lynching bee, in which the
District Commissioners and the health Of
ncer should participate as victims, to
'ibust up the present scheme OF things
as applied to poultry keeping in the Dis
trict.
Finally it was decided to consult an at
torney and find out how much it would
cost to make a test case. Somebody
wanted to know what was meant by "at
large as applied to the manner in which
chickens should not be allowed to run.
Somebody cited the case of that eminent
authority on magnificent distances, DR..
Dorsey Foultz. Mr.. Geddes defined the
term as 'off your premises.
well, that is just what l want to talk
about. said middle-aged gold-specta-
cled feminine male and female bird fan
cier. They make me keep my chickens
in my back yard and all my neighbors'
chickens go where they please Do you
call that justice?''
Here there were loud cries of No No"
1t was P. F. Suter. however, who threw
the bomb. He got up on both feet and
declared that the so-called sanitary rules
| governing the condition of poultry houses
were jokes. In fact, he intimated that
the whole blooming health department
reeked. teemed and overlooked with I'M
| conscious humor
why, / know undertakers that have
| shipped dead bodies out of the District
| without permits. Maybe oughtn't to say
| this, because the man that told me would
| probably lie down on me If it came to a
| show down, but / know it is true"
Endorsed by Others.
| Mr.. Suffers statements were received
with approval. Several members of the
| association said they knew of cases where
unclean poultry houses were left unmo-
| Tested by the health office inspectors,
| while the owners of the most sanitary
coops In Washington had been perse-
| cuted.
| With lot of undigested motions before
| him and the whole crowd talking at once
Mr.. Geddes brought the meeting to a
| close and set Friday as the next meeting
| day. Before adjournment a dollar each
| was collected from several persons. Not
| all present were disposed to put up. The
ma jOrity, in fact went shy, but fund
| that is enough for running expenses was
garnered. committee was appointed to
see the editors of the local papers and en-
list them in the poultry-keepers cause