The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1918-09-03
ANIMALS USED BY ALL THE
ARMIES AS AIDS IN THE WAR
DESPITE POPULAR BELIEF 1T is
SOLELY A MACHINE-MADE
WAR. RANGES ALL THE WAY
FROM TINY WHITE MICE TO
BIGGEST BEASTS OF BURDEN.

From Tiny WHITE MICE 10
BIGGEST BEASTS OF BURDEN.
The brilliantly swooping airplane,
the numbering but efficient tank, the
bitter rushes of infantry and the
roaring of giant guns are all more
or less frequently mentioned in the
daily news reports of the great war,
but we do not hear much of the horse,
the dog, or other animals in the war,
the overwhelming impression in con-
sequence seeming to be that this war
is one of mechanics and machines.
But to believe that this is solely the
case is a great mistake. In fact, de-
spite the many new investions and
changes in methods this war has
brought forth no way has yet been
found to dispense with the services
Of the horse and the army mule, while
other animals, such as the dog, have
been more frequently and efficiently
employed in this conflict than any
other which have preceded it.
AS a matter of fact the great
worlds war has enlisted the services
of so many animals that almost all
the inhabitants of Noah's Ark may be
said to have been modified. In the
victorious British campaign in Pales-
tine. Tor instances, camels have been
extensively employed to not only car
ry the troops, but also to transport
their supplies, and these patient
beasts being much better able to
stand the climate conditions than
horses brought out from England
have proved most valuable aids to the
army on the move Both the Italian
and the French extensively use pack
burros to carry ammunition and sup
plies into the trenches. Besides act
ing most efficiently as pack animals
up the steep mountain passes of the
Italian Alps, where even the burros
cannot go, dogs have been found to
make excellent scouts and dispatch
bearers and most helpful assistants
to the Red Cross workers on the bat
tleield.
Even with the telephone, telegraph
and wireless in full operation on all
fronts the French forces, in fact all
armies in the field including our own,
make more or less extensive use of
carrier pigeons as messengers, and so
useful and reliable have they been
found that to afford them proper
protection from Hun frightfulness
they have been provided with gas
proof cages.
Even White Mice Do Their Bit.
White mice, those tiny little pets
of our boyhood, have also been doing
their bit, being used very successfully
in submarines. The little fellows
have frequently been called upon to
give up their lives in this dangerous
work, but in so doing they have saw
ed many human lives. Even the mon
goose, whose ability as a rat catch
er is we'll known, has been extensively
employed in this capacity in the
trenches, where rats in some cases
are more dangerous than the boches
and much more plentiful.
Germany long before starting this
war realized that neither Zeppelins,
nor submarines, nor tractors, nor
men would enable them to fight long
without horses and mules. They es-
tablished thousands of breeding
farms, sent their agents to search the
world for the finest equine stock
yes, even from unsuspecting England
they purchased at huge prices aris-
tocrats of the horse world from which
to produce the animals that were to
help them, they believed, to conquer
Europe. And horse conservation is a
part of the doctrine of Hun efficiency
now
When war was declared England's
stables sent their finest along with
plebian horses to the front, but that
wasn't enough, and England, France
and Italy turned to America. From
the western plains and from the cities
of the east they bought them, hurry
ing them in close-packed transports
across the ocean, patient horses bred