66 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



rubbish-throwers and the lawless at 25 per cent., and another 

 at not less than 50 per cent, of the whole population. 



We reluctantly confess our belief that 10 per cent, ivas too 

 low an estimate for the grand army of rubbish throwers, spit- 

 ters, thieves and assassins of New York ! 



Another curious feature of our campaign was the very sym- 

 pathetic interest that it aroused in other cities, in the eastern 

 area bounded by New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit and Boston. 

 So far from being satisfied that conditions elsewhere are better 

 than in New York, all outside newspaper comment deplored the 

 existence of similar conditions at home. One newspaper pub- 

 lished a considerable distance from us, declared that it is not to 

 be lightly conceded that lawlessness in New York is any worse 

 than it is in a certain other American city. 



Judging from wide newspaper comment, it seems to be a 

 fact that many other cities which strive to be clean and beautiful 

 are cursed by the same devilish spirit of "personal liberty" to 

 be dirty and make dirt that we complain of in Greater New 

 York. It is an incontestable fact that the ridiculous excess of 

 personal freedom and immunity from regulation that this repub- 

 lic has most mistakenly bestowed upon its own people, and equal- 

 ly so upon a vast horde of unappreciative and ungrateful low- 

 class aliens, has now become a curse to this country. What is 

 even worse, the evil effects of this mistake are multiplying at 

 a frightful rate. We are sowing dragons teeth that presently 

 may tear our vitals asunder. 



One of the encouraging incidents of our campaign for clean- 

 liness concerned a disorderly feature that by many persons once 

 was regarded as impossible to correct. I refer to the curse of 

 peanut shells that up to May 1, 1915, fearfully disfigured miles 

 of walks and lawn borders in the Zoological Park. When our 

 effort against this evil was in contemplation, there were many 

 persons who warned us not to attempt to reform the status of 

 the peanut. It was feared that any serious effort in that direc- 

 tion would arouse an amount of ridicule that would be fatal. 



But the evil was intolerable, and it had to be corrected. 

 Strange to say, in the face of rules, arrests, summonses and 

 fines in court, the peanut shells disappeared as if by magic! 

 During 191G, they were, in effect, totally absent! And not a 

 word of ridicule was bestowed upon our effort. 



