The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC +. HASKIN. Director.
THE BIoLoGIsTs AT WAR
Washington. D. c.

Washington, D. c., Oct 6.-At least
one high officer of the American
forces in France devotes all of his
time TO fighting, not Germans, but
rats. That officer is Maj. E. A. Gold
man of the sanitary corps. He was
formerly a member of the biological
survey here in Washington. which has
been doing a remarkable work in the
determination of vermin for several
years. Goldman therefore knew all
the most scientific methods of poison
ing rats and when he reached France
as member of the sanitary corps, he
found a wide and virgin field for his
abilities. From the warehouses pc
hind the lines to the scorched deserts
of No Mans land, rats existed in
swarms At the rear they devoured
tons of food intended for the soldiers.
and at the front they fattened on the
dead.
Just how the sanitary corps is meet
ing this scourge is not known, but 1t is
understood that Major Goldman and
his assistants are making good. prog
ress toward Kidding American ware
houses and trenches of the rats. If
so, the methods perfected by the bio
logical survey deserve a good deal of
the credit. for it is known that the
British have been trying to extermi-
nate the rats ever since the war be-
gan without success.
AT the same Tune InaI former
member of its force is directing the
campaign against the rats on the
western front. the biological survey is
making a war measure of their ex-
terminat ton here at home. 1t is taxi
ing every opportunity to point out
that rats and mice devour annually
$200,000,OO0 worth of food in this
country, so that the determination of
the pests would be a most direct and
su bsta ntial food conservation meas
ure. The rats and mice could be ex-
terminated, too, if the people every
where would simply recognize the
need for action. All that is necessary
is to rat-proof your barn. warehouse
or pantry, and poiso the rats on the
premises. The biological survey will
| tell you how to do both. One of its
most distinguished members, Mr.. Ver-
non Bailey, is now devotirg most of
| his time to study of rat bats and
rat poisons The great problem in
poisoning rats is to find a bait which
rats will take it even when there is
! other food to be had. MIR. Bailey is.
| therefore, making scientific study of
the tastes and preferences Of the rat.
The war department is helping in
| the war on rats in this country by
discriminating them in the camps and
| oantonm ents, and the Council of Ma
| tional Defense has also taken d hand
| in the campaign. 1t has sent instruc-
| tions for the determination of rats to
all of the state defense councils.
The biological survey. which was
| originally organized for the purpose of
studying the birds and animals of the
| various states, has almost entirely
| abandoned its purely scientific work
| in favor of activities which have a
| direct bearing upon wartime prob
lens. Its department of economic in
| vestigations under Dr. A. K. Fisher
| has come to be the most important
| of its branches. 1t no longer merely
| investigates economic problems within
/ its province, but takes an active part
| in solving them. Armed with an ap-
J preparation for the purpose, it has
| taken the field with a large force of
| trappers and hunters against the coy
otes and wolves of the west, and also
against ground squirrels, prairie dogs
and other rodents which destroy crops
of fruit and grain. During a few years
this work has advanced from the stage
of an experiment regarded by many
| as dubious to that of an acknowledged
| success. There is no better proof of
this than the fact that many of the
state legislatures are appropriating
money to cooperate with the federal
| officers in the work.
The determination of wolves and
coyotes is the best known and most
spectacular branch of this work, but
the less thrilling work of killing prai-
rie dogs and ground squirrels with
oats and strychnine has given wonder
full financial returns. In Montana,
alone, a conservative estimate places
the amount of grain saved by the ex-
termination of ground squirrels this
year at a value of s3,600,000, while in
North Dakota the saving was nearly
as great.
In regard to the predatory animals,
such as wolves and coyotes the SUR
vey has long since proved that every
dollar spent in the work saves good
many dollars worth of beef, mutton
and wool. For it has been shown that
, a coyote eats fifty dollars worth OF
mutton a year, and a wolf a thousand
dollars worth of beef. Even congress
has been sufficiently impressed by the
results obtained in this work to grant
the survey an additional quarter of q
million dollars this year wherewith to
carry it on.
The governmental force now en-
, gagged in this work consists of several
, hundred expert trappers. operating in
every stock-raising state in the west
Last year the sale of the peltries
taken from the trapped animals alone
| netted the survey about $4,000.
. The function of the biological sur
, vey is little understood. Its task i:
nothing less than to preserve proper
, balance of wild life in the whole
United States. There are predatory
species, like the wolves and the rats
that would destroy whole industries Il
: not curbed. There are others, sucf
as the insectivorous birds, which are
necessary to the economic life of the
: country.
The survey was originally created
like so many other federal bureaus
as a purely advisory organization.
t was to make studies of the wild lif,
of the various states. and upon thes,
state legislation was to be based. Th
3 was the chief work of the survey fo
2 many years. By its analysis of tn
contents of birds stomachs it proved
what birds were necessary to agri
culture and succeeded in having stat
i laws passed for their protection.