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ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



EDITED BY THE DIRECTOK 



Elwin R. Sanborn, Asst. Editor 



Published Quarterly at the Office of the Society, 



11 Wall St., Sexo York City. 

 Copyright, 190S, by the New York Zoological Society. 



No. 31 OCTOBER, 1908 



Subscription price, 50 cents for four numbers. 



Single numbers, 15 cents. 



WAILED EIIEE TO MEMBER.S. 



(SSittrs of tti? ^orirtg. 



Hon. Levi P. Morton. 



^xpnitiar (Sommittr 



Prof. Hen 

 John S. Barnes 

 PERCr R. Pyne, 

 Samuel Thorne 



FIELD OsBORN, Chairman, 

 Madison Grant, 

 William White Niles, 



(&rnrral QEIfficrrB : 



Secretary, Madison Grant, II Wall Street. 



Treasurer, Percy R. Pyne, 30 Pine Street. 



Director, William T. Hornaday, Zoological Park. 



Director of the Aquarium, Charles H. Townsend, Battery Park. 



Saarii of managrra : 



EX -OFFICIO, 

 The Mayor of Ike City of New York, Hon. George B. McClellan. 

 The President of the Dep't of Parks, Hon. Henry Smith. 



(SliBS of 1909. 

 Levi P. Morton, 

 Andrew Carnegie, 

 John L. Cadwalader. 

 John S. Barnes, 

 Madison Grant, 

 William White Niles, 

 Samuel Thorne. 

 Henry A. C. Taylor, 

 Hugh J.Chisholm. 

 Wm. D. Sloane, 

 Winthrop Rutherfurd, 

 Frank K. Sturgis, 



(Slaaa of 1910. 

 F. Augustus Schermert 

 Percy R. Pyne, 

 George B. Grinnell, 

 Jacob H. Schift, 

 Edward J. Berwind, 

 George C. Clark. 

 Cleveland H. Dodge. 

 C. Ledyard Blair, 

 Cornelius Vanderbilt, 

 Nelson Robinson, 

 Frederick G. Bourne, 

 W. Austin Wadsworth. 



OIlaBeaf 1911. 



, Henry F. Osborn, 

 James W.Barney, 

 William C. Church, 

 Lispenard Stewart, 

 H. CasimirDe Rham, 

 George Crocker, 

 Hugh D. Auchincloss, 

 Charles F. Dieterich, 

 James J. Hill, 

 George F. Baker, 

 Grant B. Schley, 

 Payne Whitney, 



THE RUBBISH WAR. 



During the past three years, the rubbisli 

 wilfully and inexcusably thrown upon the walks 

 and lawns of tlie Zoological Park had become 

 more and more irritating to tlie nerves of those 

 responsible for cleanliness and good order. 

 During that period, however, we were so busy 

 with the annual rush of construction work that 

 we had no time in which to make a determined 

 campaign against it. 



Last spring, however, the auspicious period 

 arrived, and the war that so long had been in- 

 tended was forniall}' declared. To-day we are 

 prepared to write the first chapter of its liistory. 



The making of wholesale arrests in the Zoo- 

 logical Park, and the haling of a large number 

 of pleasure-seekers before the night court, was 

 painful to contemplate, and would have been 

 still more painful to carry into effect. We de- 

 cided to avoid those measures, as far as might be 

 possible, by a preliminary campaign of educa- 

 tion. To this end we carried out the follow- 

 ing program: 



In 1907, we finished the placing of about 100 

 well-appointed rubbish baskets. If the whole 

 truth must be told, the "Bronx Park Basket," 

 an imitation tree-stump in metal, with a movable 

 basket inside, was invented by the Director, with 

 special reference to its use in public parks. 



Over each basket was placed a sign, saying 

 "Deposit Here All Refuse." Manj' other signs 

 had been posted, previous to 1907, forbidding 

 the tlirowing of rubbish on the walks. 



On jSlay 25tli, 150 special cloth signs, printed 

 in English, Yiddish, Italian and German, for- 

 bidding the scattering of rubbish, and direct- 

 ing that it be placed in the baskets, under pain 

 of i)unishinent for neglect, were jiosted so con- 

 spicuously tliat it was impossible for a visitor 

 to enter tlie Park witliout seeing at least one. 



On j\laj' :^yth, a manifesto by the Director 

 appeared in several of the newspapers of New 

 York City, formally declaring war on the rub- 

 bish-throwing habit, and warning all possible 

 oii'enders to obey the law of the City, or suffer 

 arrest and launishment. For the publication of 

 our communication, and editorial articles there- 

 on, we are indebted to tlie following newspapers: 



The Times, 

 The Tribune, 

 Staats Zeitung, 

 North Side News, 

 Bronx Sentinel, 

 The Herald, 

 Standard-Union, 

 Jewish Daily News, 

 Jewish JSIorning Journal, 



Public Opinion, 



Morning Telegraph, 



Vogue, 



The Independent, 



Columbia (S. C.) States 



Colorado Springs 



Gazette, 

 Providence (R. I.) 



Tribune, 



L'Araldo Italiani, Plainfield (N. J.) 



Courrier des Etats-Unis, Courier. 



The support received from the Tribune and 

 Times was exceedinglj' valuable and helpful, 

 and is most gratefully acknowledged. 



On Sunday, May 30th. hostilities began in the 

 Park. Ten men of our force were specially de- 

 tailed to do patrol duty, and instructed to ad- 

 monish all throwers of rubbish, and compel them 

 instantly to pick up whatever they threw down. 

 It was ordered that the campaign for the educa- 

 tion of the public should be carried on without 

 making arrests, so long as substantial progress 

 ii'as perceptible. At the same time, however, 

 officers were in readiness to act, and had the law 

 been resisted, arrests would have swiftly fol- 

 lowed. The Commissioner of Police granted 

 us two extra policemen, and Captain George C. 

 IJebers, of the 68th Precinct, entered heartily 

 into the campaign with all the extra men that 

 he could spare. The Society and the general 

 public are greatly indebted to Mr. Hermann W. 

 Merkel, an officer of the Park staff, and also a 

 special police officer, for the vigor with which 



