The Mena weekly star., 1917-12-20
|AN AMAZING LOSS NOT NECESSARY
..Lonsas in One Year Four Rail-
 'ds killed Enough Stock to Feed an Army of One-Half Million Men for Week.

,ane Rock, Dec. i8-In the yea
 ,o,e four of the principal railroad
 lines of Arkansas killed enough cat-
 ,le hogs and sheep, to feed an army
 holf a million men for one week.
 This is the startling conclusion
 coached by the claims agent attorney
 os inc Missouri Pacific, in present.
 ing statistics to the State Council oi Defense yesterday.
 Railroad representatives of lines onerating ill the state were invited ,d come before the Council to pre- sent facts and figures concerning tbis great waste of food animals, and to suggest means of overcoming fl In response to the invitation, E. D Kelley. of Ei Reno, Ok, general agent of the Rock Island; S. G, Sea- brook. of Cotton Belt, General Claim Agent of the Cotton Belt; and A. H. Mansfield, of St. Louis, Claims At torney of the Missouri Pacific, were present at the meeting yesterday, to give the required information.
 Mir. Mansfield said that the rail- roads are taking up this important question with the state councils of various states, and will go before the Oklahoma and Louisiana Coun- cils after Arkansas.
 In five years, there have been i50,000 head of stock killed on the lines of the Missouri Pacific in the states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana, of which 50 per cent or more were killed in Arkansas, and 75 per cent in Arkansas and Louisi- ana. Twenty-three per cent of the mileage is in Arkansas. The excess mortality of stock on it's tracks in this state is accounted for by the greater number permitted to run at large, and the fact that there are fewer local stock laws in the state.
 MT. Mansfield declared that with the assistance of the State Councils of Defense, acting thru it's County Councils, this immense number should be reduced at t'feast 90 per cent. The greater number of anil mals is killed on public crossings and in switching limits where the roads cannot fence against the in-s trusion of st0cksr Rsw ,s..E-.ss es
 During 1916, the Missouri Pacific, the Frisco, the Rock Island and the M. D. X G., the onlyyEnes of which Mir. Mansfield had the records yes- terday, killed aStotal of 7,496 head of stock, of which 636 were horses and mules. The food animals aggregat- ed 2,450,330 pounds gross, or 490,O66 pounds each week.
 In three years, the three roads killed 3,5l000G pounds of cattle, 95,- OPS pounds of sheep and goats, and i,625,850 pounds of hogs.
 The Missouri Pacific alone pays annually from S250,O00 to S500,000 for stock killed on it's line. This an an economic waste, as the stock killed is buried or burned on the right-of-way, altho of late an effort IS being made to save as many of the hides as possible.
 The Council went on record as be- ing anxious to do everything within its power to stop this waste, thru local or state legislation. State Health officer c. w. Garrison and Troy Pace were appointed a sub committee to determine what steps can be taken to overcome the evil. MT Mansfield was invited to appear before the State Wide War Confer ence Thursday and submit a more comprehensive statement, and of fer suggestions of what remedies may be possible.