The Washington herald., 1914-03-22
BY ANDREW II. o,C9NoR.

After the English fanciers had visited
the Boston, New York and Philadelphia
bench shows and noticed the great num-
ber Of Boston terriers shown and the en-
ormous prices paid for some Of them
they returned to England and at once
set about to devise ways and means to
dethrone the popular American canine
idol. which is the only breed that Is OF
purely American origin and the only one
which threatened to supplant the Eng
lish toy dog in the affections OF those
who are fond OF pets.
They found a willing ally in the 5. p.
e. A, which they reached through the
English Kennel Club. and which lodged
protest against showing any breed,
except the Great Dane. with cropped
ears Now the Boston terrier. in order
TO appear at his best, must have his
ears cropped, as does the great Dane,
but In view Of the fact that English
commercial dog breeders and dog huck-
sters have an excellent market IN
America for Great Danes. they ask ex-
emption for that breed. The blow is
aimed at the Boston terrier and none
other. and the English breeders nave
gone about eliminating the breed in the
same effective manner in which they have
kept a monopoly or the sale OF dogs,
and that is. through the rulings OF their
American annex, the A. X. c.
Attention was called last Sunday to
the Inconsistency of the English law
which prohibits cropping of dogs ears,
but which does not prohibit the cutting
of dogs tails, for the reason that sew
eral breeds OF terriers and spaniels. COM
prising about twenty-five per cent of the
canine populati of Great Britain. were
made more attractive by cutting of their
tails; thus the law protected one end of
the dog. while II neglected the other,
which is no more consistent than their
quarantine law.
The Englishman mot the English
sportsman is a hypocrite in everything
pertaining to brutality-fcr instance. he
will protest against the cropping OF al
dogs ears. but he will not object tol
cutting the dogs tail: he will ask for
a broiled live lobster: he will drive a
harbed hook into the back of live bait.
while deploring the brutality of every
thing in which he is not personally in
terested.
The English sportsman does not now.
nor has he ever. mutilated any dog used
for sporting purposes. 1t was the COM
mercial dog huckster who introduced ear
and tail cropping: it was the commercial
cog breeder and huckster who first broke
the nose of the bull dog in order to pro-
duce oppression it was the English
dog huckster who introduced the most
cruel system of spreading" the fore
quarters Of bull dogs: it was the English
dog huckster who has ruined every breed |
that he has taken up as a mode of
separating Yankee suckers from their
money
The following story is clipped from the
New York Herald of Sunday, March is. /
Cut it out and paste it in your hat:
TN the report of the annual meeting
Of the American Kennel Club. published
in the American Kennel Gazette Of March
appears the following:
II submit the request Of the Humane
Society to the American Kennel Club TO
PASS a rule preventing the showing cf
dogs whose ears have been cropped and
have not yet been registered.
ION motion OF Mr. Hooley, the matter
was laid on the table
THE medium through which the request
was made was A. P Nredemburgh, sec
retary of the American Kennel Club.
How long the brutal practice of CROP
ping will be countenanced by the lead
ing kennel body of this country depends
much on the activity or inactivity of the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. That the latter should have re-
mained silent so long is a grim tribute to-
the eficaciousness of its work Cropping
Is a barbarism reminiscent Of the days
when brutishness dominated mans in
rlinations TO a degree which would not
be tolerated today. In the days of dog
lighting and bull batting cropping served