The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1917-05-22
Mr.. FOLEY'S PATRIOTIC APPEAL


General Manager T. J. Foley, of the l. c. and
The Y. &. M. v. Railway system, a few days ago
issued the following pertinent and very patriotic
appeal to the public in urging cooperation on the
part of the people with the railroads in their eff
forts to prevent the killing of livestock on railroad
tracks:
"In his proclamation of April 18th, President
Wilson warned the nation that food supplies in
this country are running low. He impressed upon
he minds of the people the imperative necessity of
the conservation of food of all kinds. 1t is feared
by next fall the scarcity of food will become acute.
Some of the foreign countries are now threatened
with famine. The government is considering the
advisability of inauguarating meatless days on
account of the scarcity of meat. Under such con-
iitions, it is not too much to say that the wastage
Of food is unpatriotic.
During the past five years there has been kill
I'd upon the waylands of the Illinois Central sys-
tenn, 5,122 head of horses and mules, 1921 head
of cattle and 1885 head of hogs, a total loss and
absolute waste. We have done everything we can
10 to prevent killing this stock, having spent large
sums in building and repairing fences and hav-
ing tried, and, we think, having succeeded, in edu-
eating our employees to do their utmost, at all times
and under all circumstances, to prevent the kill
ing of stock, but in spite of these efforts, the kill
ing wastage continues. The only thing which can
and will stop it is the full and hearty cooperation
of the public and of owners of stock. Much of
the stock is killed inside station limits. Citizens
Of the various towns can do a great deal toward
keeping this stock off the railroad tracks. Hun
dreds of head of stock are killed by reason of
gates being negligently left open. l appeal to the
farmers to cooperate with the Railroad Company
IN keeping gates closed. The danger of derail-
ment of trains by reason Of striking live stock is
now second in Importance to the wastage of food.
One who will leave a gate open and expose live
stock to the danger of being killed by trains at
the present time is guilty of an unpatriotic act.
"The average number of head Of stock killed
per year on w~aylands of the Illinois Central sys-
tenn during the last five years, was 1924. As
Stunning that the average weight of these animals
was 800 pounds, the loss in dressed beef was 4,098
pounds per day, because the average animal will
net So percent in dressed beef. The offal Of AZ
per cent is also of great value. The hides, heads,
horns, blood and hair are all used. Theaverage
of hogs killed every year was 2,305. Fig
uring the average weight per hog at 100 pounds,
the loss was 473 pounds of pork per day, as hogs
net rs per cent in dressed meat. This loss in
cattle and hogs combined constitutes a waste to
the nation of 4,571 pounds of meat per day, which
is sufficient to sustain approximately 5000 people.
II appeal to every man, woman and child living
along the Illinois Central lines, employee and nom
employee alike, to cooperate with the Railroad
Company in wiping out this wastage. Every per-
son who fails to do his or her part in the saving
of a single animal will be guilty Of helping the
c%ountry's enemies reduce the food supply to that
extent, and reducing the food supply is the thing
relied upon to defeat our country in the war"