Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-10-09
Fighting Rats
To Whip Huns
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

forces IN France dcvotes all of his time 70
| lighting. not Germans, but rats
/ That officer liz Major T.. A. Goldman, OF
| the SANITARY Corps. lie was formerly "A
! member Of The Biological Survey here III
| Washington, which has been doing re-
| markable work in the determination of
| vermin for several years. Major Goldman
| therefore knew all the most scientific
methods of poisoning rats, and when he
/ reached France as "a member of the SAM
| tary corps, he found wide and virgin
| field for his abilities. From the warehouses
behind the lines 10 the scorched deserts OI
no mans land rats existed in ewarns.
AZ the rear they devoured tons Of food in
tended for the soldiers, and at the front
| they battened ON the dead
just how the sanitary corps is meeting
this scourgc Is not known, but II is under
stood that Major Goldman and ms assist
ants are making good progress toward
Kidding American warehouses and trenches
Of the rats II so. the methods perfected
by the Biological Survey deserve good
deal of the credit for it is known that the
British have been irving 10 cxtcrIninate
the rats ever since the war began without
success.
AND AT HOME roo.
At the same time that a former member
OF its force is directing the campaign
against the rats on the western front, tho
Biological Survey Is making war measure
OF their determination here At home II is
taking every opportunity 10 point out
that rats and mice devour annually
100000 worth Of food IN this coun-
Try, 80 that the determination Of the pests
would he q most direct and substantial
food conservation measure. The rats and
mice could be cxtermlnated, too, u the
people everywhere would simply rccog-
nize the need for action All that is neces-
sary is 70 rat-prooi your barn, warehouse
or pantry, and poison the rats on the
premises
The Biological Survey will tell you how
10 do both One Of its most distinguished
members, Vernon Bailey, is now devOting
most Of his time 10 n study Of rat bats
and rat poisons The great problem IN
poisoning rats is To find bait which will
be attractive enough so that the rats will
take il even when there If other food n be
had Mr. Bailey is. therefore, making
scientific study Of the tastes and prefer
cnces of the rat
The War Department IS helping in the
war on rats in this country by exterfninat-
ing them IN the camps and environments,
and the Council ri National Defense has
also taken a hand in the campaign. II has
sent instructions for the determination Of
rats 10 all Of the State defense councils.
orr oF PEACE INTO WAR.
The biological Survey. which was
originally organizrd for the purpose If
studying the birds and animals Of the
various States. has almost entirely aban-
tloned its purely scientific work IN favor Of
activities which have direct bearing
f4r ar4r,n
~ Economic Investigations under DIR A.
X Fisher has come 70 be the most i'm
portnnt Of it's branches II M longer
merely investigates economic problems
within ite province but takes an act,v
part IN solving them.
Armed with an appropriation for the
PURPOSE. II has taken the field with
large force Of trappers and hunter
against the coyotes 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 a. dubious to that of an ac-
knowledged success. There Is no better
proof of this than the fact that many
of the state legislatures are appropri-
ating money to cooperate with the ted
eraI 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 prairie dogs
and ground squirrels with oats and strych-
nine has gwen wonderful financial re-
turns In Montana, alone. a conserva-
tive estimate places the amount Of grain
saved by the determination Of ground
squirrels this year at a value OF s., 800 900
while In North Dakota the saving was
nearly as great.
In regard TO the predatory animals
such as wolves and coyotes. the Survey
has long since proved that every dollar
spent in the work saves = good many
dollars worth Of beef mutton and wool
For il has been shown that coyote eats
fifty dollars worth Of mutton wear
and wolf thousand dollars Of beef
Even Congress has been sufficiently
impressed by the results obtained in this
work TO grant the Survey an sd iitiOnl
quarter Of a million dollars this year
wherewlth to carry It on.
EXPERT TRAPFERs BUSY.
The governmental force now engaged
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 trap
ped animals alone Melted the Survey
about $4,000
The function of the Biological Survey
is little understood Its task is nothing
less than to preserve a 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, such rs the ln>ectivorous birds
which are necessary to the economic
life Of the country
The Survey was originally created,
like SO many other federal bureaus, as
purely advisory organization It was
10 make studies Of the wild life of The
various states, and upon these state
legislation was to be based This was
the chief work Of the Survey for many
Years BY its ana lysis 81 the contents
of birds stomachs it proved what birds
were necessary 70 agriculture and sue
Ceeded in having state laws passed for
their protection.
But the intelligent control OF the wild
life of the country is essentially federal
problem This first became evident in
the case of the migratory birds. which
pass through many states in their annual
flights and cannot be adequately pro
tected without uniform legislation This