98 



health authorities. Strong objections to them come, however, 

 from many people. 



1. !Many cat keepers object on account of the tax. The strong- 

 est objections come from those who keep the largest number of 

 cats. No one likes to be taxed. The cost of living in this coun- 

 try is high, and most farmers, many of whom believe that they 

 pay more than their share of taxes, because their property is all 

 visible and cannot be concealed, oppose the tax strenuously. 

 Nevertheless, it would benefit the farmers more than any other 

 class, as the destruction of stray and unlicensed cats would save 

 birds and chickens enough to far more than pay the tax. Friends 

 of this legislation argue that a male cat which is not worth at 

 least one dollar to the owner as a rat and mouse killer, or as a pet 

 and companion, ought to be humanely executed, and the female 

 cat, which usually is a better ratter than the male, will, if worth 

 keeping at all, easily save the farmer far more than her license 

 fee by destroying rats and mice. If only the useful and valuable 

 cats could be kept, and the worthless ones destroyed, the aggre- 

 gate saving of birds w^ould be enormous. 



2. Most farmers object to being obliged to keep their cats 

 at home, because it is diflficult, if not impossible, to do so and at 

 the same time give them such freedom as they need in catching 

 rats and mice on the farm. The advocates of these regulations 

 say that this difficulty may be met by keeping cats in the build- 

 ings as much as possible, feeding them well and breeding from 

 those that manifest little desire to roam. Enforcement of the 

 law would tend gradually to eliminate the wandering and stray 

 cats, and leave only the stay-at-homes, which in most cases 

 are most desirable. 



3. Only lawbreakers will object to the fine for harboring and 

 keeping an unlicensed cat. 



4. Many people object to putting a collar on a cat because of 

 the belief that the animal may be hung by it, while climbing 

 trees, and cite cases where cats have been so hung, and many 

 cases where collars have been put on loosely and have come off. 

 But the proponents of the legislation reply that while there may 

 be danger of cats becoming entangled and strangled by the wear- 

 ing of loose collars, which may be caught in the branches of trees, 

 there is practically no danger if the collar is fitted snugly to the 

 neck of the animal, and they point to the many cat owners who 

 keep such collars on their cats, and to cats that have worn such 

 collars for years without accident. Mr. Wilfrid Wheeler, secre- 

 tary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, asserts 

 that he kept a collar on a cat seven years, until it came apart 



