The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-08-02
Dogs That Serve No Useful Purpose
ShouId Re Eliminated.

Dogs That Serve No Useful Purpose
Should Be Eliminated.
Take, for instance, that dog, silver
collared, silver leashed, pampered,
petted, and persiflaged with q pet
name. Or maybe he isn't collared
or leashed or named. Maybe he is
just a plain dog that runs where he
pleases, even though he may not
please where he runs. But one way
or the other he is your dog, and un-
doubtedly means a great deal to you.
Now, think it over. A dog eats as
much as man-more, if he gets a
chance Every dog absorbs a ration
that would feed a soldier. Either
you feed it to him, or he goes out
somewhere and finds it for himself.
Also, a dog demands-and takes
more of meat diet than a man. A
man may get along very comfortably
and cheerfully on cabbage and corn
cake, parsnips and prunes, tomatoes
and tobasco, but a dog has got to
have his meat. 1t may be beef and
bacon from your table, or it may be
live sheep from your neighbo1 s
pasture. If you feed him his meat,
ne probably consumes about what a
man would require. If he goes and
takes it himself, he destroys pretty
nearly enough to feed regiment of
men. One dog in single night has
been known to destroy $1,000 worth
of sheep.
More sheep is one of the greatest
needs toward increasing the Nations
meat supply, and there is only one
sound reason why the farmers Of the
United States do not raise more
sheep. That one reason is the dog.
1t may not always be the actual
physical dog, but it is the ghost of
the dog, the fear of the thing that
bides always in the heart of the
farmer. He knows that one dog,
absolutely worthless, incapable of
producing single dollar of wealth
for the country, can and very likely
will, in the dark hours of one night,
destroy the accumulations OF years
and the profits of untiring industry.
If that fear could be removed from
the farmers heart, if he could know
that sheep could browse safely in his
grass that goes to waste, the number
of sheep in the United States would
increase many fold in little while.
That is one big phase Of the dog
question-this fact that the presence
of too many dogs prevents the gen.
eral raising of animals whose flesh
and wool are both seriously needed
for our armies overseas. But it is a
phase of it that does not necessarily
come into consideration at all. OF
course, your dog is not a sheep-kill-
ing dog. Nobody's dog ever was a
Gheep-killing dog-until, suddenly,
some mans sheep were slaughtered
and that dog was found to have
blood on his chops and wool in his
teeth. OF course, your dog is not
a sheep-killing dog, but, just as
surely your dog is a food-consum-
ing dog, dog that takes meat out
of the mouths of those who stand on
the frazzled fringe of frightfulness,
defending the worlds liberties.
The United States Department of
Agriculture is not an enemy to the
dog-it recognizes certain definite
uses for that animal, but it realizes
that the country could get on mighty
we'll with much fewer dogs than it
has, and that both the actual and
potential meat supply of the country
would be greatly increased thereby.
1t has recently sent out several ap-
peals on that point. If you have a
dog that serves a genuinely useful
purpose. keep him. He is a good
citizen. But to help in the worlds
salvation, get rid of the useless dog!