The Washington times., 1918-12-29
Military Plans and
Scientists Were
Ordered to Study
Them; !; but While
We Gould Beat
the German Army

What could be done and has been scien-
tiically undertaken was the protection Of
stored supplies. These, Of all kinds, we're
originally collected and assembled by the
quartermaster's department at railway
junction centres (Chicago, for example,
being the principal one for meat products)
in ratproofed warehouses. Thence they
were transferred to ratproofed freight
sheds and loaded aboard ratproofed cars.
Every car, before being allowed to start,
was inspected, to make sure that there
we're no rats In Il. Then It was sealed
With lead seal bearing the Government
mark, and label was tackled on the door.
reading:
Inspected and passed. Certified rat.
free, provided that this seal remains un-
broken"
Suppose the rail shipment TO be des-
tined for New York. We may as we'll use
the present tense, for the methods de-
scribed are those now employed. Let us
say that II is a consignment Of breadstufis.
On arrival It is dumped on q ratproofed
wharf, and. further to insure its safety,
the barrels and boxes are placed inside
of a huge cage Of heavy wire net with
mesh small enough to exclude even q
mouse.
Next day, perhaps. they are loaded
aboard q ship bound for Europe. Ships
are notoriously favorite breeding places
for rats. But this cargo vessel offers no
hospitality to them II has been freshly
fumigated with a deadly gas, carbon
monoxide being forced into 1t with all
matches and other openings closed) by a
little steamer that comes alongside with
special apparatus and big rubber tube.
II one pair OF rats we're left alive on
board, that ship would soon swarm with
the Vermin, for Of all mammals these ro-
dents are most prolific. lady rat is
ready to breed when four months old. and
at that age and thereafter she produces
from six to ten litters a year, with an aver
age OF ten to litter. At the six litter rate
pair breeding uninterruptedly and with
out deaths, would at the end Of three years
have 359,7094S2 descendants, according
to Prof. Bicknell's computations. II all sur
vived. Prof. Langdon's study Of the Sub
ject, however. disagrees with this estimate
But there can be no question OF leaving
one pair alive, for, after the poison gas
treatment no creature that breathes on
board the ship can possibly survive And
before she starts on her next voyage
across the ocean she gets another dose OF
the same. Rats may get aboard on the
other side, but their chance to remain
alive more than a few days or to propa-
gate Is small
When the cargo vessel reaches the Eu-
ropean port its load is discharged upon a
concrete, ratproof dOcK. built by Ameri.
can engineers. The stun is presently
loaded into American-built railway cars
ratproofed. OF course-and proceeds on its
way to the place where It Is wanted. The
station platform on which Il Is finally de.
liVered is Of concrete, and there is, per-
haps, wire cage to receive it-at all
events, ratproof arrangements OF one kind
or another, probably including ratproOf
warehouses nearby.
These anti-rat arrangements are among
the American ideas that have most as
tonished the natives of European coun-
tries, especially in France. From their
point Of view they represent an entirely
novel conception. In truth, they are very
novel, and the lessons they teach are those
which we ourselves have learned rather
recently as a result OF experience in the
ratproofng Of cities-particularly San
Francisco and New Orleans-as a defense
against invasion by plague.