Evening star., 1939-07-23
bv Arthur Bartlett

- cage. But the young farmer neeOeQ some
thing to tell him which hens were laying
generously and which were falling down on
the job. With whole flock of hens all looking
alike and all using the same nests, there was
no way of knowing That was why he had
built trap nest, which held the hen in the
nest until he was ready to release it.
1t was crude and he never even patented
it; but it was the forerunner of the modern
trap nests which have made scientific breed
ing of hens possible And scientific breeding
has made mass production Of eggs possible.
And mass production, in turn is what makes
it possible for housewife today to say casu-
ally to her grocer, and dozen eggs.
\pease." without any rapid calculations to
see if the family budget will stand the strain.
The millions OF Americans who had eggs
for breakfast this morning owe vote OF
thanks to that erstwhile young farmer. James
Edward Rice. If the poultry business were
still the picayune side line for farmers wives
that.it was when he got into it, eggs today
would be in the luxury class. scarce and ex-
pensive.
. You may never have heard of him, but to
thousands Of poultrymen he is the Grand Old
Man, the Daddy of the Industry. Trap nest
ing was only one of the important forward
lssteps that he instituted. Working at first
VIRTUALLY single handed. as farmer and then
as college professor. he laid the foundation
! for the poultry industry to move ahead faster
than any other branch Of agriculture. and to
1beoome the second most important. topped
only by dairying.
This summer, from July % to August 7,
1.-THE greatest poultry show ever staged is going
i ito be held in Cleveland. Ohio - the Seventh
I,World's Poultry Congress and Exposition.
~. will be the first time the affair ever came
ito the United States and Cleveland doesn't
expect to bow the knee to either New York or
RSan Francisco. with their competing Worlds
|fFairs. This will be the Worlds Fair Of Poul-
ftry. The men who worked out the plans to
Pmake it such caCkefest as has never before
f.been seen - or heard - had many knotty
[,problems to decide: but one problem didn't
1give them any trouble at all. The choosing
kof a chairman for the Congress was virtually
Pautomatic: any other choice than jimmy klce
would have been unthnkable.
Imagine poultry show that will practically
| stop great city like Cleveland in its tracks.
f. Cleveland has had lot of conventions - two
|, National Republican Conventions, Legion
Convention, and hundreds OF Others - but,
! believe it or not the hens and roOsters and
their masters are going to take over Cleve-
: land as it has never been taken over before.
More than half million people will descend
on the city, from all the states IN the Unlon
and more than sixty foreign countries. The
hotels will overflow with chicken men, and
the spare rooms of 1900 private homes
throughout the city will be pressed into serv-
ice. Excursion boats on Lake Erie will provide
temporary homes for still more poultry
minded visitors The baseball park will hum
with as much talk about scratch feed as about
scratch hits, and the bathing beaches will
resound with admiring words about chickens
that really are chickens.
The exposition itself, on the grounds of the
Great Lakes Exposition, will cover more than
twenty acres of floor space. with exhibits
hsponsored by the Federal Government, most
Fof the states, at least twenty-five foreign
countries and hundreds of commercial organl-
| cations. The thousands of birds on display
! will include specimens of every known class.
breed and variety of poultry. some of them OF
such rare and strange beauty that you would
] have to see them to believe them. The exhibits
! will show how the lowly hen fits into our whole
fabric of civilization. and scientists Will talk