The Washington times., 1923-10-25
BAN On
.US||VBSTEEL
TRAPS
Historian Wants Law TO Com
pei Use Of Device That
Kills instantly.

Z & & Il
NEW YORK, Oct. 25.A mass
nartyrdom OF some 20.O0O,0oO dumb
animals every year In North
America alone is going on without
protest right under the eyes OF
he. pubic, ana more than z, 900 900
Rteel traps. which inflict agonizing
ortures on animals without killing
hem outright, are annually sold,
according to Commander Edward
Breck, former official naval his
forian, big game hunter and author
Of many books on nature studies
Commander Brock made this
statement at the American World
Humane Conference, while in ses-
sion at the Hotel Astor. Ia an
address on the cruelty Of trapping
he, as an expert professional trap
Der among his other vocal tons,
would kill wild animalss Outr1ght
"Furs are by no means nsces-
sity, except possibly in the Far
North, he said: I'm ninety.nine
cases out OF hundred they are
worn from choice and fashion. Is
Il mot at all difficult to imagine
the horrors Of the fOrturing steel
trap -horrors which make the
heart stand stilI
Calls MartyrdOm Needless.
Totally needless. then, ID the
mass n1artyfd0m Of some fifteen to
twenty million of dumb animals
every year iii North America alone
still going on right under your
ayes. sif we but open them And
soaring III mind this needlessness
of furs and Of the use Of the steel
trap, since there are good traps
which kill ct once, consider the
legal use Of the steel trap as the
most terrible scandal In history
not excluding the world war and
the Spanish lnauisition. Those
things came tO aia end. This thing
q as rampant today a. It ever
vas. and more sO.s
often the miserable victims are
eaten alive by other beasts Some
times they grlaw their own limbs
off in an effort 30 set free are
frozen to death. or Ia large
majority Of cases die IN the throes
81 torture. have used these steel
traps and ! assert, With no desire
to exaggerate. that very nearly hall
3f the animals ofund III the traps
have died lingering death Of tor
ture. What shall we do? NY own
idea Is to carry on an intensive
campaign Of educution: to get all
the societies of our kind together
and concentrate on this one thing:
and especially 70 get the legiHla. ". 81
Of all the States and Canadian Pro-
vinees. as well az Congress ITSELF,
to pass q blanket law against the
does not kill instantly
Rodeos Discussed.
a report OF COMMITTEES on the
need for organized action against
rodeos and Wild West shows says.
in part:
1T is folly to think that these
shows can be carried on without
some degree OF cruelty The public
does not understand the vicious
torment to which the animals In
these exhibitions are subjected. It
is not by any means unusual to
see steers dehorned. their legs and
necks broken end their bodies
otherwise mutiiated In steer-roping
and bu1ldogging stunts"
Guy Richardson, of Boston, sec.
rotary OF the Massachusetts s.. p.
G. a., declared that practically all
trained animal acts were made pos.
sible only by cruelty, and urged
laws to prevent them. He criticised
statements Of DIR. William T. Hor.
naday, director Of the New York
Geological Society. that 1t is no
more cruel for an ape or a dog to
work on Sthe stage than for an
acrobat, and that a sound whack
for an unrtily elephant, bear or
horse is just as helpful as for an
unruly boy who should be shown
that order is heavens first law.
THE drunken dogs, balloon
orchestras and singing pigs are
made to perform by brutality"
said Mr. Richardson.
Mrs. Mary Madden Fiske, the
actress, appearing before the con-
ference, spoke OF the horror ems
couraged by wearing furs. and said
she did not understand how kindly,
intelligent women continue to wear
them.