The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-03-29
CHEAP OSTRICH PLUMES.
EUROPEAN CONFLICT RUINS
MANIFESTATIONS ARE
ALSO CHEAP.

Phoenix, AriZ., March 29.-Want
an ostrich, a full-grown ostrich,
feathers and all, for So? For the
price of a pair of shoes you can be-
come the owner of one in Arizona
today.
A bird that stands seven feet high,
strong enough to carry a man on his
back or pull a carriage with the fast
est horse, and with plumage to dec
crate several hats. Pretty cheap.
isn't il? But II is just another one
OF the freak conditions caused by the
war in Europe.
The largest ostrich farm in the
United States is in Arizona, fifteen
miles west of Phoenix, on the Yuma
road.
Before the war was declared In
Europe last August, a full-grown os-
trich i'm America was valued as high
as $3.50. Feathers from the birds
were worth SIS q pound, London be-
ing the great feather market OF the
world. There are many thousands
of ostriches on the farms OF Califor-
mia and Arizona. but the American
supply of ostrich feathers is so small
that il has little or no effect on the
worlds market. South Africa, the
home OF the ostrich. furnishes 95 per
cent of the plumes that find their
way to the millinery shops.
With the beginning of the Euro
pean war, the London market for os-
trich feathers closed down. English
women abandoned luxuries. field hos
pital funds claiming their money in
stead. What little demand for a time
there was for the plumes was amply
supplied from the stocks at the feath-
er shops.
The London market closed, South
Africa ostrich men turned at once to
New York seeking an outlet for their
plumes, and in a short time that mar
ket was glutted. Prices then took a
tumble, such as they never before
had Known. Feathers that formerly
sold at SIS a pound could be bought
for SIS, with little demand even at
that unheard of price.
THE popular belief" said a Phoe-
nix man, that nails, tin cans and
like junk Is the fayorite diet OF the
ostrich Is a mistake. The birds re-
auire the best of foods and lots OF
ii. Their pastures are the richest of
alfalfa fields, and the daily ration or
| the ostrich IL no small item.
The slump In the plume market
Immediately after the beginning OF
the war was Immediately felt in
South Africa" he explained. AL
though there was no market for the
feathers the birds had to be fed and
they were eating their heads on
They weren't worth their keep and
the owners began TO look around for
a way out from under this big ex-
pense which they had no idea how
long would last. So they began to
turn the ostriches loose on the plains
and desert, thousands and thousands
of them. If the war lasts a year
; there will be very few ostriches In
captivity in South Africa"
!, But one shouldn't purchase with
the Idea of making pets of the birds
> as witness the following from the
Phoenix Gazette:
AN exciting ten minutes was
spent at the Chandler ostrich farm
last Monday, when a big Nubian os
trich known as Scar Neck, first vi
~ciously attacked a team and after
= ward two men on horseback. One o
Z the employees of the Chandler I'm
provement company had just driver
: into the field with a load of posts
: when the big bird made for n o
the mules, kicking at him savagely
but fortunately striking the big neck
pad with the sharp horn toe of hi
foot instead of the unprotected skin
Is George Peabody then ran up to tn
s mules assistance when the bird turn
ed on him, threatening to rip tn
g. horse open with his vicious kicks
Peabody was unarmed with rope o
whip, and his horse vas rapidly be
ing forced into a corner when Lei
Ellsworth, armed with a RATA, cam
to his rescue. The two horseme
% finally subdued the bird. Scar Nee
is perhaps the most vicious ostric
h In the valley. and has more than ono
put a horse to flight"