Rock Island Argus., 1915-03-01
.OSTRICHES SELL
FOR SMALL sum
BIG BIRDS. WORTH $50, TO BE
HAD FOR S. SINCE THE WAR
RUINED BUSINESS.


you can become the owner of one in
Arizona today. A bird that stands
seven feet high, strong enough to carry
man on his back or pull a carriage
with the fastest horse, and with plu-
mage to decorate several hats. Pretty
| cheap. isn't it, for the king of birds?
| But it is just another one of the freak
conditions caused by the war in Eur
/ ope.
| When a northerner or easterner
I thinks OF ostriches, somehow he gem
orally associates California as the
| home of that strange bird. The os-
trich men of the Golden state have
been good press agents and have ex-
plotted that industry we'll but the
| fact remains that the largest ostrich
! farm in the United States is in Ari-
zona, / miles west of Phoenix, on
/ the Yuma road II is known as the
Pan-American ostrich farm and has,
or did have until recently. FIVE times
as many. ostriches as the largest farm
of the kind In California
Before war was declared in Europe
last August a fuil-grown ostrich in
America was valued as high as $3.50.
| Feathers from the bird were worth
| S75 a pound, London being the great
| feather market OF the world. There
are many thousands of ostriches on
the farms of California 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 90 per cent of the plumes
that find their way TO the millinery
shops.
| With the beginning of the European
war. the London market for ostrich
! feathers closed down. English women
abandoned luxuries. field hospital funds
claiming their money instead. What
little demand for a time there was for
! the plumes wss amply supplied from
| the stocks at the feather shops.
The London market closed. South
Africa ostrich men turned at once 10
| New York. seeking an outlet for their
plumes, and in a short time that mar
ket was glutted. Prices then took
/ tumble, such as they never before had
! known. Feathers that formerly sold
at SIS pound could be bought for
/ SIS. with little demand even at that
unheard of price
nix ostrich man. that nails, tin cans
and like junk is the favorite diet OF
the ostrich is a mistake. The birds
require the best of food and lots of it..
Their pastures are the richest alfalfa
fields and the daily ration of the os-
trich is no small item.
The slump in the plume market
after the beginning of the war was
J.,
explained Although there was no
market for the feathers, the birds had
( to be fed, and they were eating their
heads off. They weren't worth their
keep, and the owners began looking
around for a way out from under this
| big expense which they had no idea
! how long would last SO they began
/ to turn the ostriches loose on the
! plains and desert, thousands and thous-
ands of them If the war lasts year
there viii be very few ostriches in
captivity in South Africa.
''Of course, the effect was the same
/ in the United States. although in less
degree said the ostrich man. The
{ birds. big and fine and imposing as
they are. have become almost, if not
entirely worthless, and the men with
/ thousands of them on their hands
faced the proposition of feeding them
at a dead loss for an indefinite period,
\ turning them loose or selling them
| for what they could get"
| They chose the latter plan. From
| $3.50 to So is quite a drop in ostriches.
| but the Pan-American company placed
their 5000 birds on the market at the
| latter figure II was so cheap and at
/ tractive that dozens OF farmers in the
valley took a chance and invested in
ostriches, from one TO fifty.
With the birds so cheap. hotel and
| restaurant men served ostrich TO their
patrons and guests in all sorts of styles
! to see If 1t would take the place of the
old reliable turkey. Roast young os-
| trich" frequently is an entree on q
Phoenix menu.
Recently 40 ostriches, young chicks,
were sold in Phoenix to a big hotel TO
| be served to its patrons. What the
verdict was from the experiment hasn't
been made public.
1T will be a long time before the
ostrich feather market becomes nor
NAL again. added the bird man.
These farmers who are buying os-
triches at SIS head will make money
II the war ends in a few months. If
il doesn't, the birds won't be worth
anything"
Already the Pan-American company
has sold 1000 or more ostriches at s5
head They have over 1000 more
at the same price. It's the chance of
lifetime to buy an ostrich. but one
shouldn't purchase with the idea of
making pets OF the birds, as witness |
the following from the Phoenix Ga !
zette:
"An exciting 10 minutes was spent |
at the Chandler ostrich farm last Mon !
day when a big Nubian ostrich, known |
as Scar Neck, first viciousiy attacked |
a team and afterwards two men on |
horseback One OF the employees of /