CHAPTER XVII 



CONCERNING GENERAL TREATMENT OF CATS 



SOMETHING should be done by our legisla- 

 tures to protect the cat, and also to dispose of 

 the superfluous ones. It is a law of average human 

 nature to value most those things which cost most. 

 If our municipalities would make a cat license obliga- 

 tory, just as most of them have ordained a dog law, 

 placing even a small yearly tax on every cat, and pro- 

 viding for the merciful disposition of all vagrant, 

 homeless ones, not only would there be fewer gaunt, 

 half-starved prowlers to steal chickens and pigeons, 

 but the common house cat would rise in value and 

 receive better care. In New York, cat taxation has 

 become a law. 



The United States government, even now, recog- 

 nizes the cat as a public servant. A prominent post- 

 office official tells me that a large number of felines 

 are regularly in the employ of the United States gov- 

 ernment. These pussies are more than three hundred 

 in number, and the cost of their support is carried as 

 an item on the accounts of the Post-office Department. 

 They are distributed among about fifty of the princi- 

 pal post-offices in various parts of the country, and 



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