The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-05-14
In New York
BYPAUL HARRISON

New York-New Tory city is full of aelurophiliacs.
 Aelurophiliacs are people who like cats. Consequently New York city also is full of felines. All this adds up to quite a problem for the health authorities, the ASPCA, and the amateur cat-haters whose feel ing is describle as aelurophobia.
 The ASPCA people are not, of course, opposed to cats as pets, but they have discovered that unceas- ing warfare must be carried on against the strays. They estimate that there are at least 250,000 homeless cats in Manhattan right now, By tomorrow morning. un. less the society's cat-catchers are especially vigilant, there probably will be 255,000. In the last decade, no progress at all has been made in reducing the back-fence popu- lation.
 A Mir Sydney Coleman, the ASP CA executive ice-president, ex- plains that the problem is a pecu- liar one not only because of the amorousness and fecundity of cats, but because so many people are su- perstitious about them. They think it means bad luck to have litter of kittens painlessly destroyed by a whiff of lethal gas. So they just turn them out to shift for them selves. This Is not Mir Coleman's idea of humane treatment, espe- cially since 1929, when the sal No sx0x x.1 AA dwindle in nourishment.
 Catch Up!
 All cats, whether born and bred in the gutter or brought up on caviar in penthouse apartmenth. are aloof and elegant and inde- pendent. But slum cats are ex- tra smart, carrying on their scan dalous affairs and rearing their families fin places inaccessible to men with nets. New York's back yards, criss-crossed with high wooden fences, or cat-walks, pro- vide exceptional sanctuary. Be- sides, the cats seem to sense the fact tht ACPCA representatives are not allowed to invade any back yard without the owners consent. AhCeO AttOiis tAy " 0t very careful not to molest any sleek animal which might be any body's pet.
 On South street, among the fish markets, a great many strays are tolerated because the keep down the hordes of rats which other wise would be running off with the shad roe and filets of sole. The cats, however, seen contented with fish heads and certain other spare parts. At least they are very fat and sassy.
 The west side poultry market has it's share of cats, too. that earn their keep. They'll fight their weight in dynamite, and usually look as though they had just tang led with case of 1t.
 Harboring Cats
 But the boss felines of all New York are the ones that patrol the steamship piers. They're clannish lot, though and stevedores, and proud of their jobs. The huge building provide just the sort of shelter and hunting they like, and their diets are diversified from the workmen's own dinner paiis. So they have grown old and large and very wise, being probably the only cats in town that appreciate the value of teamwork in routing wis. iting dogs, or gangster cats trying to muscle in.
 The scared toms of the Chelsea piers are the only ones I'm per- nsn rr&k 1z..A derstand they're all about alike. They'll have no truck with the pampered pests of ships. The Ma jestic's cat strolled down the gang plank one day with the idea of giving the landlubbers few les- sons. They chased him back, clear down into third class, and he hasn't set foot on shore since. Supernuinaries
 There are 15 cats in the squad occupying Pier b9. and their best friend and greatest admirer is tho watchman, called Pussycat Kelly On his nights off from watching he comes to the pier anyway; bringing food for the felines, II has been suggested that Kelly knows that if he doesn'e deliver the food the cats win go to his house and take tt away frem him.
 ltseems that cats haven't much to do on shipboard any mere. I'd always imagined that all ships, particularly freighters, had rats in thelr holds and cats to catch the rodents. That isn't the ease ct all. The International ahipbuilding code provides specifications fer oonstruc- ton that mako nhipa fRt~pro0t Ana aa ann .eolna nnla are Onlp