86 



little cost. Municipal employees have been required to hunt 

 rats. Organized work in European cities has given excellent 

 results. 



In England a national society for the destruction of vermin 

 has been incorporated, and a great international society for the 

 destruction of rats has been organized in Denmark, which has 

 had good influence there and in other countries, but so far as 

 I know nothing of the kind has been attempted in America. 



These societies have secured the destruction of enormous 

 numbers of rats. In Denmark a government appropriation has 

 been granted for the payment of bounties. 



Side hunting, a relic of barbarism, which still persists in some 

 parts of the United States, might be directed against rats 

 rather than against useful song and game birds. A party of 

 hunters choosing sides might hunt rats and thus benefit them- 

 selves and the community at large and at the same time enjoy 

 the sport of hunting. Let rats be the only animals that count 

 in the contest. This has been tried in some localities with 

 excellent results (see page 15). May 2, 1909, was set aside in 

 one of the counties of Kentucky as a day for killing rats, and 

 was quite generally observed.^ 



A great national organization, with State branches, should 

 have been formed long ago in this country to encourage the 

 destruction of rats, to disseminate reliable information regarding 

 rat riddance and to organize continuous systematic warfare 

 against the pernicious rodents. Such an organization would 

 have generous support if rightly launched, and might establish 

 a deratization propaganda that would save millions of dollars 

 and many valuable lives. Assistance might be secured from 

 State and national governments, and the organization might 

 become important and useful in our national life. The mayor 

 of Boston now advocates requiring the rat-proofing of buildings. 

 Dr. J. R. Hurty, State Health Commissioner of Indiana, pro- 

 poses to the business men of Lafayette, Indiana, that all rat- 

 producing conditions be abolished in that city, and that a city 

 ordinance be passed declaring the rat a nuisance, and assessing, 

 after a given period, a fine of $5 per rat against property 

 owners on whose premises rats are found. The public is be- 

 ginning to awaken to the rat danger. 



» Lantz, David E., U. S. Dept. Agr., Biol. Surv. Bull. 33, 1909, pp. 51-53. 



