225 



the population of these cities at 308,000 and 554,000, respectively. 

 If the estimates of damage were correct, the average loss for each 

 person is $1.27 a year; and, on the same basis, the 28,000,000 of urban 

 population in the United States (census of 1900) sustains an annual 

 direct injury of $35,000,000 from rats. This is considerably lower 

 than on the English assumption, which would make the losses in our 

 cities over $50,000,000. 



Denmark (population 2,500,000) has an estimated rat bill of about 

 $3,000,000 a year, or $1.20 a person. Germany (population 

 56,000,000) is said to sustain a loss from rats of 200,000,000 marks 

 ($47,640,000) a year, or about 85 cents for each person. The per 

 capita estimate for the United Kingdom is about double that made for 

 Germany. In France the loss from rats and mice for a single year 

 (1904) was placed at $38,500,000, or a little over a dollar for each of 

 its 38,000,000 inhabitants. These estimates are supposed to include 

 only direct losses, but they vary enough to show that no common 

 basis can be assumed for all countries. With present information, 

 therefore, any attempt to state the amount of loss from rats in the 

 United States would be largely guesswork. Considering the popula- 

 tion and wealth of the country, however, and the vast area over which 

 rats are abundant, it is not unreasonable to conclude that in the 

 United States the losses from rats amount to much more than in any 

 of the other countries named. 



INDIRECT LOSSES. 



To the direct losses caused by rats must be added the cost of fighting 

 the animals and of protecting property from them. In our larger 

 cities a number of so-called expert rat-catchers are to be found, who 

 operate with dogs, ferrets, traps, poisons, or other means, and who 

 have an extensive clientage among merchants, hotel managers, and 

 others. These pay the rat-catcher a yearly or monthly stipend to 

 keep their premises free of rats and mice. Some of the large estab- 

 lishments pay $200 to $600 yearly for such service. While the agree- 

 ments are seldom kept in full, the clients are usually satisfied that 

 results warrant the expense. Even when no contractor is employed, 

 merchants are at expense for traps, poisons, the keep of cats or dogs, 

 and other means of fighting rats. The same is true in less degree of 

 nearly every householder. 



The cost of protecting property from rats is no small item. It 

 increases the expense of nearly all building, but it greatly reduces 

 direct losses from the animals. The economy of rat-proof construc- 

 tion is everywhere manifest, in city or country, and the necessity for 

 it can not be too strongly emphasized. 



