Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-02-15
LEADS
THE SIMPLE LIFE
High Cost Of Living the Reason
Monkeys Have Supply of
Eggs Gut Of.

New York. Feb. 13.--They're leading IN.
| simple life In the Central Park menarerio
the hipp0s, lions, monkeys and all tha
other exhibits that are the property of
the city's institution in the park. There's
| a reason, only one reason. 1t Is the hyh
| cost OF living The monkeys haven't seen
| an egg In two months. They used TO get
one apiece every day before hreakfast
| according to Patrick Keenan, who is tho
| Overseer of that collection Of sirnlans
which so often is In the public eve. II
would be like offering them pearls now Ia
feed them eggs, said Keenan,. The only
luxury they have is milk, and that with
plenty of water in It. for the supply ls
but five quarts a day, and there are G.
monkeys to drink It, But there are hy.
drants on the menagerie premises.
| "Bill Snyder, the headkeeper. and
Keenan, were discussing the high cost oi
| living yesterday. They both said that
sooner or later the Jungle folk would take
| 10 the tall timbers unless the chickens
| did their duty and the middlemen reduce
| the prices.
What are the monkeys getting now"
said Snyder repeating a question he had
been asked. "Well we're feeding them
| onions. potatoes. bananas, bread and a
little milk. 1t used to cost about seven
cents a day to keep monkey but now II
costs 10 to u cents That's easy. lust
think how much more it costs now to
feed a hippo than it used to.
why. 10 years ago you could board a
hippo for N cents a day. II costs 81 day
now. and sometimes more. Then there
are the elephants II costs near s2.75 a
day to board Hattie and Jewel, the two
elephants In the menagerie. Fifteen years
ago you could feed an elephant for 20
cents day. Those were the happy days.
That included some luxuries. The only
thing the elephants get to excite their
tastes now Is n package of peanuts or
popcorn and piece of chewing gum
now and then.
ELEPHANTS IN GOOD HEALTH.
There's thing the matter with the
appetites of the two elephants TIE
| trouble Is In the cost of living Hay cost
800 ton now. and 1t used to to sl5 ton
! An elephant can get away with half
bale Of hay day besides the trimmings
| that generally are fed to him. once II
! week we give bran to Hattie and Jewel
| They think every Saturday is holi-
day. because they got the bran then. The
|
| a sack Of oats and consumed nearly three
| quarters Of it. didn't blame the elephant
| But 1t cost about 81 that day to pay the
elephants board"
The meat question. however. is the one
big item in the mena gerie bill. according
to Bill" The heaviest meat eater il
Dich. the Siberian tiger and the next
| heaviest, Leo. one Of the lions
{ol oJa
| day." said Snyder. LEO runs a close
second. with 16 pounds. You have to be
millionaire to keep a lion or tiger under
| present conditions. The price of meat
bought at a contract rate Is eight cents
and more a pound II costs about $40 a
day to board Dick and s1.2o a day 10
| board Leo.
Every day except Sunday 225 pounds Of
meat are distributed among the animals
in the lion house. There are II lions, two
pumas four leopards and two tigers ir
| that structure.
| FREAKS DEMAND MORE PAY.
Even the circus men are complaining
about the cost OF living" said Snyder
There was one circus fellow here vester-
| day scouting around New York for freaks
| for his side show. He said that the
bearded lady and the missing links were
holding out for higher salaries this year,
| because they said they couldn't live on
| their present scale of wages.
THE only thing In the circus 1t doesn't
cost more to feed is a snake, and that's
so about this menagerie We've got 4
couple of pythons here that have been
asleep all winter. Maybe when they wake
up the price Of guinea pigs will have gone
down and We can give them a square
neal"
OF all the hoofed stock in the menagerie
the sacred cows are the biggest eaters,
| Snyder said
There are now eight animals OF that
| breed In the citys collection. and they
average about 20 cents a day for board.
| It used to cost 20 cents to feed them, and
| the stork in former years had not been
so assiduous In his attention to that part
| Of the collection. In the last year three
| sacred calves have been born. They eat
as much, however, as the older animals.