230 THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF ANIMALS 



" The hookworm is not a bit spectacular : it doesn't get itself dis- 

 cussed in legislative halls or furiously debated in political campaigns. 

 Modest and unassuming, it does not aspire to such dignity. It is satis- 

 fied simply with (1) lowering the working efficiency and the pleasure of 

 living in something like two hundred thousand persons in Georgia and 

 all other Southern states in proportion ; with (2) amassing a death rate 

 higher than tuberculosis, pneumonia, or typhoid fev^er; with (3) stub- 

 bornly and quite effectually retarding the agricultural and industrial de- 

 velopment of the section ; with (4) nullifying the benefit of thousands of 

 dollars spent upon education ; with (5) costing the South, in the course of 

 a few decades, several hundred millions of dollars. More serious and 

 closer at hand than the tariff; more costly, threatening, and tangible 

 than the Negro problem ; making the menace of the boll weevil laughable 

 in comparison it is preeminently the problem of the South." Atlanta 

 Constitution. 



Animals that prey upon Man. The toll of death from animals 

 which prey upon-or harm man directly is relatively small. Snakes 

 in tropical countries kill many cattle and not a few people. 



The bite of the rattlesnake of our own country, although dangerous, 

 seldom kills. The dreaded cobra of India has a record of over two hundred 



and fifty thousand persons 

 killed in the last thirty- 

 five years. The Indian 

 government yearly pays 

 out large sums for the ex- 

 termination of venomous 

 snakes, over two' hundred 

 thousand of which have 

 been killed during a single 

 year. 



Alligators and Croco- 

 diles. These feed on 



fishes, but often attack large animals, as horses, cows, and even man. 

 They seek their prey chiefly at night, and spend the day basking in the 

 sun. The crocodiles of the Ganges River in India levy a yearly tribute 

 of many hundred lives from the natives. 



Carnivorous animals such as lions and tigers still inflict damage 

 in certain parts of the world, but as the tide of civilization ad- 



A flesh-eating reptile, the alligator. 



