ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



53 



in a precarious 

 and a receiver 



S» 



stock issued. But hu- 

 man hopes cannot be 

 continued indefinitely 

 without some concrete 

 support, and finally 

 the uneasy stockhold- 

 ers demanded an ac- 

 count. It then devel- 

 oped that the affairs 

 of the Ostrich Farm 

 were 

 state 



was )> r o m ]> t 1 y ap- 

 pointed. 



Just what brought 

 about this unfortunate 

 condition is still a mys- 

 tery. It is possible 

 that the great drop in 

 the value of ostrich 

 plumes contributed to 

 the calamity. Appar- 

 ently, no plumes what- 

 ever were plucked from the birds on the farm, 

 although many were brought from other sources 

 and offered for sale there. The friends of 

 the promoter argued that he was a well-mean- 

 ing though visionary person, brought to mis- 

 fortune by injudicious divergings from the orig- 

 inal purpose of the enterprise. Others, not so 



Brins 



charitably disposed, 

 hinted darkly at less 

 innocent causes. This 

 faction, having consid- 

 erable strength, even 

 went so far as to hail 

 the fallen leader be- 

 fore a court of justice, 

 hut there found that 

 the careful wording of 

 prospectuses and oth- 

 er documents afforded 

 no hold whatever for 

 the hands of the law. 

 Bloomsburg, n o w 

 fully awake to the 

 bursting of its ostrich 

 bubble, relapsed into 

 indifference. As in all 

 such lamentable af- 

 fairs, many persons 

 lust their entire sav- 

 ings, but such calami- 

 ties are common enough in the history of invest- 

 ment. A receivers' sale was held, and there three 

 or four of the heaviest stockholders banded to- 

 gether to retrieve, if possible, a portion of their 

 losses. One of their number, appointed as 

 spokesman, bought the farm, expecting to be 

 reimbursed bv his fellows. 



IN THE INTERIOR OK AFRICA 



Hi,- -tart for the Pennsylvania Ostrich Far 



