Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-23


be the last season in which she Is to
have that privilege. The special session
of Congress will be shown the dire con-
sequences of the course matters are tax
ing and will be asked to take a hand in
the hat question. Chapeau legislation
seems almost sure.
Unless this course is taken score OF
the most beautiful things that the world
has ever possessed will be destroyed for
ever These are the birds Of brilliant
plumage that flash in the woods from
pole 10 pole The magnificent bird OF
paradise cannot survive the blow guns OF
the natives of New Guinea another f1ye
years unless the use of its feathers III
millinery is stopped The Tyre bird of
Australia. greatest of mimics, is almost
gone. The snowy egret is being wiped
from the jungIes of tropic America. The
great condor of the Andes is fast be-
coming but memory because milady
likes its feathers. There is but one pas
senger pigeon in the world, and 1t has no
mate The terms of the Atlantic coast
have been kept alive only through the
agency of bird preserves. RUNNING
birds are killed by the millions and their
skins are sold for 2 cents each. Ever
the stork is threatened with extinction.
s.
And now appears the friend of bird
life, who, by the scratch OF pen, would
stop the unthinking. barharity OF the
women who wear bird-trimmed hats the
world around by making 1t impossible
for them 10 do SO. Thus would the
slaughter lose the cause of its existence.
The simple expedient is to prohibit the
Introduction into any country, beg1nnhs
with the United States, of any Wild oiro
plumage. :,
The world campaign against all these
creatures of the air has developed oniy
in the last two decades. and II Is oniy
Just now that the public is awakening to
the fact that the birds OF the world VIII
be exterminated unless prompt actioh Is
taken Women have worn feafhers 1or
more than twenty years, but the great
world demand and world attempt 10 sup
ply that demand has reached q DANGER
ously effective state only OF late Inc
Paris Berlin ard London. The command
of those centers to put feathers on the
hat has travelled the world around. Faris.
Berlin and London have then SET aDout
supplying the demand. They have sent
forth the word wherever their traders go
that there is a market Tor the leatneIs
of brilliant birds. The traders have OF
fered attractive prices to hunters every
where and the hunters have enlisted the
aid of the natives OF all lands.
The trogen. that resIlendent green pro
which is the national emblem OF Guate-
maIa, has been hunted so nearly to ex-
tinction that the New York Zoo Is unable
to secure a live specimen. The COCK OF
the rock. which finds its home In the
high mountains Of Peru, Is being mucn
worn OH women's hats. Silver pheasants
are being killed in Burmah and shIppeo
iIlicitly to London by way of Rangoon.
The natives high up on the Amazon are
Strengthening humnling birds In untold
millions. The isolated islands OF the
Pacific are being visited by poachers and
the bird life upon them exterminated. All
this is happening on the basis OF great
industry that is quite naturally created
By a demand for plumage on the part OF
the wearers OF feminine headgear.
In this demand for feathers the highest
prices are always paid for the most beau
tiful birds. Quite naturally in accordance
with the law of demand and supply the
birds that are most priced for their
beauty will be the first to disappear.
When the most beautiful species are
gone. the plumage of less attractive birds
is substituted and those species are like
wise exterminated. In this way first one
of these magnificent creatures Of nature
is wiped OF the face of the earth for all
time and then its successor is forced to