The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-17
SHERMAN SAID IT
He Did il Plans of Hutchinson
Man Are Carried Out.
s'KOOn" Beck Wants Nation To
Eat Jack Rabbits.
TO WIN WAR and SAVE MEAT
He Has Already Sold Supply
to LeavenwOrth Prison.
It's No Joke Either; Half Mil
lion Crop the Forecast.


to win the war by eating jack rabbits.
He came to Topeka today to urge
Governor Capper and state officials
to declare for a Jack rabbit day IN
the campaign to conserve the meat
supply. Beck says Kansas can sup
ply five million lop cared rabbits this
winter without missing them. Ar
rangements have already been made
by the Hutchinson man to supply
eastern firms a half million rabbits
this winter.
Not only does Beck propose to con-
serve the meat supply by eating rab-
bits each week, but he believes Kan
sas farmers will be saved millions OF
dollars thru a crusade against tne
pest, which Beck now offers as SUP :
stitute for beef steak. Thousands or
rabbits are being neatly dressed,
wrapped in paraffin paper, Grated ana
sent to cold storage before shipment
by Beck to eastern market centers.
He declares the rabbit will not only
solve the meat shortage problem,
but will enter materially into a re-
duction of the high cost of living.
State May Use Them.
State institutions may use thou
sands of rabbits as a substitute Tor
beef and pork this winter, II the
state adopts the Beck plan. Already
trial order of two tons of Kansas
jack rabbits at the federal prison at
Leavenworth. The PRISONS meat
order is 1900 pounds day. A sim
liar amount of meat is consumed at
the federal military prison and rab-
bits may be on the menu at that
prison one day each week.
Just because we have scoffed at
the jack rabbit because it has become
a menace to farmers and fruit grow
ers, does not lessen its value as an eX-
cellent substitute for high priced
meats" said Beck. why do you
know that some very fashionable Kan
Sas City hotels actually carefully pre-
pare jack rabbits and serve them as
Venison to their high brow society
patrons? Well, it's true, just the
same.
kansas can provide the rabbits in
sufficient numbers to help reduce the
meat shortage. The average jack rab-
bit weighs three and a half pounds.
Kansas can furnish five million of
these rabbits this winter and won't
miss them. These rabbits. when prop
erlY dressed. will sell readily on the
market at 121z cents a pound. What
sort OF meat can you buy at this
price? And a properly prepared rab-
bit makes an excellent meal, too"
Weather conditions have been I'M
favorable for heavy rabbit harvest
this fall. Too many warm days, an
absence of snow and proper hunt
ing conditions have held back the big
drives in the jack rabbit counties.
Supply Is BOuntiful.
Some of the western counties might
easily furnish several hundred thou
sand rabbits, Beck believes. Several
years ago a drive in Sheridan county
Melted carloads of rabbits. According
to the county commissioners, bounties
were paid on 10000 rabbits as a re-
= sult of the one day drive. And the
next III
slump in the supply.
"A mum her of counties in New Mex
leo will stage rabbit drives Thanks
giving day Beck is arranging to buy
the product of the entire slaughter
More than 100 contracts have been
made by the Hutchinson man-for rab-
Ut supplies by Kansas produce deal
ers. All of which takes the idea of
Be"k's plan entirely out of the joke
column.
'Cne Indiana town will use 10000
rabbits in the first shipment" said
Beck. Just now 1 am trying to in
duce the government to provide US
with federal inspector to put an
OFFICIAL q. X. on our meat before it
leaves for the eastern markets. DIR.
Waters, state food administrator, has
taken the matter up with DR.. Hoover
and is seeking action thru the federal
DEPARTMENT"
Two cars of frozen jack rabbit meat
is now in storage at Hutchinson, Beck
said. Shipments will begin as soon as
the first cold snap arrives.
\ Half Million Crop"
1T won't be bit of trouble handl-
ing a half million rabbits this year,
said Beck "and the state could supply
ten times that number if proper ar
engagements could be made for dis
tributing them. That is the reason l
want the state institutions to adopt
the plan. IT is a sort of home en-
dorsement of a program which 1 be-
IeVe will both reduce the cost of liv-
ing and conserve the meat supply"
Recently Beck has negotiated with
the war department to provide rabbits
for the army cantonments No con-
tract has been made, but Beck is con-
fident Kansas jack rabbit meat will be
on the menu of the men in the army
camps this winter. just as it will find
a place in the fashionable hotels back
east.