i v i I V V V V '. I I 1 i V TIIE MORNING OHEGONIAN, 3IOXDAY, JANUARY 2, 1923 1 7T7 T" "V T" rT--.irr ivr A rr"n t-T-'T T--TmT rTTi XVT A Ti "T T"TT7T" A nPTi".7 II -, - ,,, . ,,,,. , . ..num.. n i n hih' nn.' hi.ihttthtnu.'iiii m,rnrrgTr'TTTTrtli:'mMlif 'Ui'T" GOVERNMENT WAGES RELENTLESS WAR ON PREDATORY I ANIMALS AND DESTRUCTIVE RODENTS WITH GOOD EFFECT f E 3 S State Legislature Backs Up Work With Appropriation Fourteen Hunters on Payroll in Oregon Kill 1760 Coyotes, 302 Wildcats, 1 13 Bear, Two Cougars and Five Timber Wolves Pests Play Havoc With All Kinds of Livestock. f l-.. ... m..m...mHMm.u.m MMMm ,;,, .,,. i C V-4f''C-r 'I'lWWK W'MslfcnM,JIIMP' r .;$: I..;- JP' IM'WMW'MfilWrn ,v1 .-i : ; : J- :- v-v?; y: fr ' - ' "L- - j r , i f I ' I ' ' t.' t !" V I " 1 - W W I " - - - ' - - -- ' 1 1 1 - , . - - - -zJ H v . . . J, j :: i. 4 y- ''r" 1 .v - 71 k- rrv -,' . ! J ' Y , 4 , r Vt ' tiff. ' i " 9 I - - ' '41 - !, 1 - - 4 : . . '-V, - " " " r.',ki i - --i - ' " 4 6 .i5 I- a; ' v"h r x IDli . rT -?5$ y j y , T'"V 1 oV I, a- il l - - ' " "",' '' i $ " ' f "'j - "Ir'Trv4--' 4 s. : ' . - - , f - s ' - - " r-r: 4 i - ; 4 ' , - " - - ; - K ' - - ' ' . " t ' - ' y ---'-'1 -T -'- ' j WHILE every state In the union, through its game department and sportsmen's associations, is seeking to restore the wild game and bird life by propagation and intensi fied means of protection, the United States government is waging relent less warfare on predatory animals and destructive rodents. For the mod ern firearms which, have depleted game herds have only served to make the coyotes, wolves, wildcats, cougar and bear more wary and more de pendent upon domestic animals for their living. ' Oregon with her wooded Cascade and Coast range mountains extending parallel across the entire width of the state, and with the sparsely pop ulated eastern Oregon section, Is in a position to profit fcy the work of the government. Probably few citizens realize that the loss of livestock from wild animal depredations in the state is estimated at hundreds of thou sands of dollars yearly. To offset the loss, the government is expending J12.000 anrually in Oregon through a well organized bureau which super vises the work of trained hunters and trappers. The state legislature . is backing up the work with a biennial appropriation cf 7500 and the state game commission and various coun ties are paying sums ranging from $100 to $250 per month. All the funds are applied through Stanley G. Jew ctt, predatory animal Inspector In charge of the Oregon district. Fourteen government hunters are on the payroll In Oregon at the pres ent time and the number is increased or diminished as funds provide. All are maintained in sections where live stock protection is most needed, rath er than where animals are most nu merous. Their record for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, was 2187 animals. Of the number 1760 were coyotes; 02 wildcats; 13 stock-killing bear. 2 cougar and 5 timber wolves. Coyotes and wildcats, which form the chief catch of the department, are reckoned as the most destructive pre dstory animals In the state. The wild cats in eastern Oregon are particu larly bad on lambs, while In western Oregon they kill great numbers of game birds and young deer. Coyotes, always a menace to young stock and to f" ep, are chiefly feared for the frequent occurence of an outbreak of rabies among.them. During the year 1915-16 when Tables became the worst in Oregon it was estimated that $750, 000 damage was done to the livestock of the state. Thinning out of the coyotes Is taken to be the only effective means of combating rabies. The disease occurs in some sections every year, but during the past few years has not reached dangerous proportions. ,The destruction wrought by rabid animals In the west was the chief In fluence that Induced the government to establish Its predatory animal de partment In 1915. Timber wolves, although compara tively rare in Oregon, have been very destructive to cattle and game in the Santiam district. Bear are not mo lested by government hunters unless they become livestock killers. The hunters use dogs and traps for the wildcats and traps and poison bait for coyotes. Den hunting Is fol lowed out consistently In the coyote country In the spring. Large num bers of the animals, including moth ers and their litters, are killed. Poison accounts for by far the great est number of coyotes and In -rt use probably not more than 60 per cent of the animals killed are ever found. Pelts of all animals killed by govern ment trappers are sent to the central office in Portland and disposed of by the government. The proceeds are divided among the co-operating par ties, including the state and various counties. No bounty Is paid on the government-killed animals. Stockmen In every part of the state have demonstrated their friendliness toward the work of the predatory an imal department at all times, accord ing to Mr. Jewett. Hunters are wel- corned at the ranches and are eup plled with free board and hay and with animals to kill for poison bait. One sheepman in -eastern Oregon es timated last year that the govern ment work is Baving him $8000 a year in safeguarding his flocks. Stockmen and others In various dis tricts estimate that there is not. one coyote now to where there were ten when the government work was be gun six years ago. While the work In Oregon has dem onstrated results, the state has not encouraged it as strongly as many other western states. Utah has an annual appropriation of $100,000; Ari zona. California and Nevada, $25,000 each; Wyoming, $40,000, and New M ex too, $10,000, as compared with Oregon's $3750. Equally important in point of sav ing of property and touching a much larger number of people is the work of the biological survey in the de struction of rodents In Oregon. The rodent extermination Is carried out luiiiuiuiiiiiiiiuiiitiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiuiifNiiiriiiniiiiiuiiiiiiiiiHiiitiiimiiiini by the biological survey in co-opera t!on with the extension service of Oregon Agricultural college. Ira N. Gabrlelson, assistant biologist, is in charge of the Oregon district, with head offices in Portland. The efforts of the survey are toward educiftion of the farmers In best methods of poisoning or trapping Jackrabbits, destructive squirrels, go phers, moles, rats and mice. Three men, paid from state funds and op erating under the direction of the extension service of the college, poi soned 25.000 jackrabbits in demon strations' 1n different parts of the state during the year. Fderal, state, county and private funds were ap plied to the work In general. The government bureau distributed 3531 ounces of strychnine and 71,000 pounds of poisoned grain to farmers last year to aid in the campaign against ground squirrels. The strych nine and poisoned grain went to- al most 1000 farmers at a cost price of $14,000. The work led to the poison ing of over 200,000 acres of land and was credited with an estimated sav ing of $262,000. Experiments and actual application have demonstrated that poison will practically exterminate ground squir rels, according to Mr. Gabrlelson. The work is most effective in early spring and organization work Is in progress now to reach larger areas and more farmers than ever this year. Trapping and poisoning of moles, gophers, rats and mice also were car ried out In the educational work of the department. Exhibits were placed in leading fairs throughout the state and representatives worked in the field wherever possible. Co-operation of county agents and farmers' organizations had a large part in" the work of reaching the landowners and organizing them for a united effort along the line. The government work in Oregon is a part of a cam paign to reduce losses from rodent pests that cause an annual damage In the United States of i500.000.000 iiniiiiiiiHiiluiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiluiiiiiiiiiniiiiililimiHilmiiiiimiiiiiinimillimiiii ISTATE LIBRARY SYSTEM SERVICE EXTENSIVEl I Every Section of Oregon Calls Upon Headquarters at Salem for Supplies of Books; All Kinds I of Unusual Demands for Reading Matter Promptly Met; Lonely Homes Made Glad. nitiiiiiiinniiiHumMiiliuinlMiuiimiHiulHiuJuiiliimililimifl uiilliiaiiiiniHiuuiiuiiiiinuiiliiiuitliii nimiinuinii ASK each the state By Cornelia Marvin, .librarian SK each of ten Oregonians what e library means to them and from each there will be a different reply. From six counties will come the re ply: "The state library is the only library this county has and all our books come from Salem; sometimes they send a 70-pound mail sack of them and sometimes It is just a single book sent to a man who has heard about the library and needs a book badly." These six counties without any other library are Crook, Curry, Gilliam, Grant, Lincoln and Sherman. From 75 cities of various sizes will come the answer, "We go to our own public library for books, but our li brary la small and usually does not have what we want; our own libra rian sends that same night to the state library at Salem and In a few days we get our books." The man who uses one of the county libraries in Oregon says the same thing, and he knows that, even though he gets a book from his own local library, it is often because the state of Oregon has a central supply of books that he has been able to have what he needs. The seal of the state of Oregon on a bookplate In the front of a book tells each reader that the state is back of every effort to supply good books. It also makes It evident that the whole library sys tem of the state really is an organ ized system, working down from and up to the state library at Salem, as the center of a really great educa tional activity; educational because in these days the library Is "a school cut of school." Ambitious people turn to It for reading courses and courses of study; clubs depend uptfn it for books and outlines for the year's work; schools supplement their meager collections with books from Its shelves; families in Isolated locations, on . farms and homesteads, fill their reading tables with the choicest books that have been given to the world, and lonely people and those shut in by bad roads and distance from centers, turn to it for recreational reading for the long winter evenings. The library assist ants who gather up the books to send out in response to the day's mall, know what people are thinking about and planning, what are their needs and ambitions and Interests. They also personify the communities in the state, for every postofflce in Oregon is In the state library loan file. On November 1 of 1921 there were 10,369 readers' cards in the state li brary mail order file, representing people who have no personal access to books, but must depend upon the mail order system of th& state; these in addition to the borrowers. There is no red tape about getting books, and during the past year the number of volumes shipped in response to letters, without any taxpayers' signa tures, was 98,436, aain of nearly 15,000 over the preceding year. This does not mean the number of times the books have been read, but the number shipped out by mail and freight for individual reading or re loaning to groups of people or stu dents in schools. , The makers of the .latest census have tried to show where people live and they say that 42 per cent of them are on farms; 2 per cent in towns under 1000, and 6 per cent In towns of under 2500 population; 5 per cent is a floating population, which makes 54 per cent of the people In the average state living in places which cannot have and support ade quate libraries of their own. The only solution is through the state li brary system, supplemented by coun ty libraries. No one now thinks of leaving the matter of local book sup ply to each little town; no one now thinks that people who live In little towns should have -few books and poor ones at that and that people who live In cities should have every pos sible advantage and an opportunity to follow out cherished plans for mental activity. ' So the state library is a real and vital factor in the life of Oregon, and the "traveling library" and the trav eling librarian mean something to the people of Oregon. The great point is to bear the message to every per son in Oregon. The letters which come to the li brary telling of book needs make a tremendous appeal and the library staff puts forth more than the usual effort for the letters which read, "We are anxious to have the books at once as we are 50 miles from a railroad and do not get mail very often"; or "We live in a logging camp. There are several families here and we like to read, but we have no books"; again, "There are 50 people here in this camp and no reading at all. If I could get a library I would keep it in my home and take good care of it and see that others did the same"; again, "I am now living in eastern Oregon and a long way from any li brary. This is onljca logging camp and there is no form of amusement, and reading is the only way we have to pass the time"; or "Long evenings have come and we would like' to get some books to read In our family." The technical books of the library are constantly moving throughout the state. Book on electrical wiring, acoustic properties of buildings, stor age batteries, the design of barges and scows, circular sawmills, the tan ning of leather, refrigeration, the ac tion of nitrogen gas under different pressures and temperatures, pattern making, saw filing and a book for one ambitious youngster who wants to know, '"what makes the Zeppelin go." Children save their pennies and write for their own books, often club bing together. As one boy wrote "I am In 'pardners' with another boy." And so it goes and anybody who reads the state library mail knows the In teresting and often pVuhetic story of the aspirations of people who have few advantages. The library activities of the state of Oregon cover many fields besides those which have been enumerated as part of the daily work of the library in its mail order and traveling or commodity lib '.. business. There are about 3000 school libraries for which the state library selects the books bought each year. This means that someone in the state library must know something about books. The 12 county libraries of Oregon are mak ing library history and are establish ing new standards for county library work In the country. Oregon is prob ably second only to California in the development of centralized county systems. County library boards have been ap pointed in the following counties: Deschutes, Hood Itiver, Jackson, Jose phine, Klamath, Malheur, Multnomah, Umatilla, Wasco. The new counties this year are Polk and Union and the Curry county board has just been ap pointed. The news of municipal libra ries is rather limited as county libra ries are the order of the day, but It should be reported that Grants Pais has a new Carnegie building and that Roseburg and Corvallis, the only towns in Oregon that could support good libraries and have not done so in the past, have come into the library fold with tax supported libraries. A unique feature in library history during the past year was the inspiring book fair held by the women of Cor vallis for one week. The choicest books of the world were on display and 900 people in Benton county .saw these books and heard talks on them and visited over them and planned their reading and book buying. The state library branch in the Chautau qua at Gladstone has become such an attractive feature that a building was erected for It last summer. No large library gifts have been recorded during the year, but most libraries report gifts from some in terested person. The Oregon society of the Sons of the American Revolu tion has continued its gift of money to the state library for the purpose of putting In the hands of boys and girls choice collections of books on this heroic period of our history. mm K J J jt ' u-JrJ 1 ( W W S 9 I ) i . rjT n rt t . i , , i : j m ) : : f f l : M . ::iii!::iii:!i:u:iyii:ir;i(:L:-XTTi:i!.i;:::u::!:L;:7rT-TTnit Your Best New Year's Resolution No stops or delays with Mohawk Tires. Their sturdy build is insurance against tire, trouble. Absolutely the highest quality cord, fabric and pure rubber, scientifically constructed into Mohawk Tires, is the reason why every tire gives maximum mileage. Cords 10,000 miles 'Fabrics 7,000 miles Cassidy Tire Co. American Tire & Rubber Co. "Mohawk Corner" Broadway and Oak Broadway. 180 Broadway 2300 The Real Non-Skid Tire JSP? pi I mm Rju iaid . lifi &t - - Ttf? v Bs.!1; . jj-tii?,- -ii, We are now prepared to serve the trade with efficiency and dispatch in our new quarters. 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