The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-09-18
Rats Doomed
In New York

NEW YORK. Sept. iO.--An army
OF a million rots, driven from their
homes beneath the old wooden
wharves Of lower Manhattan by the
advent or the concrete pier. has
met its collective doom in the cold
waters OF the Hudson and East
rivers.
a rat will soon be a rarity along
Gotham's waterfront. ffordeB OF
hiEh and ~low-castc rodents from
every land on earth have infested
New York's seawHii for decades
With the advance Of modern con-
htructlon health officials foresce tho
passing Of the bubonic plague peril
and the elimination OF the most
iGnomonious Of disease carriers.
Pity thu New York Waterfront rat.
homeless and frindicss. Not that
we woulu suggest a drive 10 relieve
their increasing SORROWS. But n tlngc
OF pity would not be out Of place
In view OF the old residence that
tho rat has enjoyed beneath the
keyboard OF Maintains shore
line. Eventually what IL left Of
this breed VIII have lOH cocial
standing among tho punicr inland
hordes hat are satisfied TO ipfcat
stables, old tcncmcuta ana 10 frolic
beneath kitchen floors.
Rats From Everywhere
The New York rat is different
from his brethren. He In cosmo-
politau to begin with. They have
NJ Blue Blood among them, II a.
true, but had they one II ls certain
many famous rats would be enrolled
therein. Huge rodents h'om the
hromHIic whurvea or Sumatrs,
pirate giants from tho Chelsea piers.
quaint rats from San Frnncleco's
picturesque waterfront, 20 which
they came prch0ps from far Ceylon
or the dimly lighted wharyos OF
Shanghai. Rats from Java and
Edinburgh, rats from Calcutta.
Bombay and Colon, more rats from
PornambuCo and Stockholm-all
these grace. or disgrace, the thou
Hand alleys beneath the wooden
Battery whap3cs.
But only one army or an esti-
mated million rats has no far per-
m%anently dlsbandcd. Armies OF
moro millions of rodents remain TO
be ~vanqulshed by the the builders
of concrete piers. According ia
Health Commissioner Or. ROYAL
Copeland, the evacuation and eternal
retreat OF the waterfront rat rs n
necessity aud an end tG be brought
about at the earliest possible late.
For II is asSevorated that tho great
est potential peril TO the lives OF
New York's 1000, 900. and for that
matter. the lives Of all who dwell
within the bOardcrs OF the nation,
IL the peril ~ tho great white plague.
Tho germ Of this terrible disease
ia borne by tho rat flea.
Piers uarbOr Disease.
Inasmuoh as Manhattan Island
IA entirely surrounded by piers.
few OF which are rodent FREQ. DIR.
Copcland's admonition In considered
timely by many physicians.
The modern concrete pier, or
rather the method or constructing
the concrete piar, will be responsible
for the passing OF tho dread car-
riers, according TO Dock Commits
toner hurry Hubert. Rats reach
their prospective homos beneath
the floors OF old fashioned piers
by way OF N-sha ped supports nailed
10 the wooden piles to keep thom
in place. These X supporters are
the stairways or runways OF the
rats, which jump overheard from
the ship and swim a few feet under
the piers TO their future abodes
But "A rat cannot climb a concrete
pier, because X supports are moi
necessary between the concrete piles
Modern pier experts declare that
had tho builders OF wooden wharves
deliberately planned to provide
homes for the cosmopolitan rats
and their prolific broods they
couldn't have done better by the rats.