Bow
Bellefonte, Pa., January 2, 1925.
SS
THE HOME OF THE
EUROPEAN BISON.
It is doomed—the home of the Eu-
ropean bison. The Bison bonasus,
which has existed there in numbers
since the mammoth and the rhinoceros
were common in Europe, until almost
the present year. And it has been
stated that a few, very few, are still
to be found in the depths of their an-
cestral breeding-grounds—the Forest
of Bialowieza. Soon; however, ‘the
_ axes of timber-fellers will be i
the silence resound in this, the oldest
and the greatest of forests in Europe.
Here in Lithuania is the last refuge
of the auroch, as some term the Bi-
son bonasus.
For centuries the forest of Bialow-
ieza was the private hunting domain
of the Polish kings, and then of the
zars of Russia. The Russians, since
the middle of the eighteenth century,
gave great attention to the raising
and preserving of the auroch, the true
strain of the European buffalo, and a
herd of between 700 and 800 head was
in existence at the outbreak of war in
1914. When, however, the German in-
vaders occupied Lithuania, though a
pretense was made of protecting the
bison, it amounted to no more than a
pretense. So many of the magnificent
animals went to form butcher’s meat
that in December, 1918, only some 140
survived.
What the invaders had commenced,
the peasantry finished. With the de-
parture of the troops, the peasants at
once started to slaughter the buffa-
loes. In many parts of the fringe of
the forest the animals were looked up-
on as an hereditary foe, owing to their
depredation of crops, which they pre-
ferred to their rough pasturage. It
has been stated that in September,
1919, the last of the mighty, wild bi-
son, so famous in history, story, and
legend, was killed to fill the family-
po It has also been reported that a
ew—a very few—still survive in the
fastnesses of Bialowieza.
Anyhow, the operations of the Lon-
. don corporation, that has obtained
concessions to fell and market the tim-
ber of this and other national forests,
will in time disclose if any of the au-
rochs do yet exist.
The Germans, however, have had al-
lies assisting in the work of killing off
the last herd of the Bison bonasus—
the congener of the North American
buffalo. Count Potocki possessed a
. famous ancestral herd of its species,
but the Bolshevists, not content with
the destruction of human institutions
and human individuals, deliberately
exterminated this historic and irre-
placeable remnant. The reason they
advance is characteristic. It is that,
because there was net enough of the
poison for all men, no man ought to
have any poison at all.
Luckily, the Bolshes cannot succeed
in wiping out the wild buffalo of the
Caucasus. These frequent the wood-
ed parts of the nigh inaccessible
mountaia-slopes, and also the in-
accessible valleys situated where rise
the head-waters of the Bjeleis, the
Kischa and other rivers. It is a wild
. country, some thirty miles long from’
- east to west, and about fifteen to six-
- teen miles in width from north to
south.
As quick in pace as any horse, and
outvying the chamois in climbing and
daring, the Caucasus bison, exceed-
ingly wary, with extraordinarily keen
senses of sight, smell, and hearing,
very seldom falls to the gun of even
the native hunters. Though it appears
identical with the auroch of Bialow-
ieza Forest, this buffalo remains to-
day, as three hundred years ago, much
of a mystery animal as to its habits
and particular characteristics. For-
tunately, its home no mercantile or
any other company can ever put to
destruction.
It is said that twenty millions of
fur-bearing animals each year are
caught and tortured to death in steel
traps. Many of the trappers visit
their traps only once in three or four
days, leaving the animals: there to
suffer and die of starvation or freez-
ing.
One trapper has said that about
one-third of the animals he catches
have but three legs, the other having
been gnawed off by the animal in or-
der to escape when caught in a trap
at some previous time. It is no worse
to kill an animal for its fur than it is
to kill it for food, but if the animals
. that are killed for food were caught
in traps and left there to suffer for
hours and days something would be
done about it and something ought to
be done about this cruel custom of
trapping. The snaring of wild ani-
mals and birds has been stopped by
legislation and trapping ought to be
stopped by the same means. Well,
some one may say, people will buy
and wear furs and you can’t stop it.
Then let the fur-bearing animals be
raised on farms as other domestic an-
imals are raised and put to death in a
more humane manner and there would
be no further need of traps.—G. B. F,,
in our Dumb Animals.
A New Herd Head at State College.
The dairy department of The Penn-
sylvania State College recently leased
from I.V. Otto, Carlisle, his Holstein
herd sire, Lothian DeKol Korndyke.
This bull is one of unusually good
type and comes from a high produc-
ing line of ancestry and his daughters
are making exceptionally good records
in the cow testing association.
Lothian DeKol Korndyke is sired by
K. P. B. A. Fedora King, one of whose
daughters produced 22,702 pounds of
milk and 1,091 pounds of butter in a
year as a four and one-half year old.
This was the eighth highest record in
that age class in the United States
when the record was made. The dam | $300
of Lothian DeKol Korndyke has a fine
Jeary record of 984 pounds of butter
n a year as a three and one-half year
old. At the time the record was made
it stood seventh in that age class. ‘She
produced 102 pounds of milk or 51
quarts, in one day. | Beualiaint
~—1It’s all here and it’s all true.
‘FOREIGN SHIPPING.
Detroit sent its first ship to a dis-
tant foreign port recently, when the
steamer Onodaga, of the Ford Motor
company’s fieet, sailed for Buenos
Aires. It carried a cargo of manufac-
tured automobile parts, the first of the
kind ever exported direct from any
Great Lakes port.
Departure of Onodaga created a fu-
rore in the offices of the customs offi-
cials at Detroit, where clearance pa-
pers were issued for the first time to
a ship sailing to a foreign port. Ap-
plication for the papers presented the
officials with something new so far as
the port of Detroit is concerned,
there was a hurried perusal of records
and rules governing the issuance of
such papers. - :
In starting the Onodaga on its voy-
age to South America, the Ford Mo-
tor company inaugurates its own ex-
port and Atlantic coast shipping. It
is a new and noteworthy development
in the automobile industry and one in
which the Ford company, with its own
ships, uses the Great Lakes as a gate-
way to bring it into closer relationship
with its foreign branches.
Due to the fourteen-foot draught of
the St. Lawrence river locks, the Ouo-
daga left Detroit with a cargo of
around 1800 tons. When the addition-
al cargo is loaded at Montreal, the
Onodaga will have on board manufac-
tured parts for 2100 Ford cars in ad-
dition to a shipment of service parts.
The cargo is consigned to the Ford
branch at Buenos Aires. ;
The steamships Onodaga and Onei-
da, which during the summer carried
coal north and lumber from the Ford
mills in northern Michigan to the Riv-
er Rouge plant, enter the coal serv-
ice, leaving the two larger ships, the
Henry Ford II and the Benson Ford,
on the Great Lakes for carrying iron
ore, lumber and coal. : 3
The Oneida began loading at the
River Rouge plant the day the Onoda-
ga sailed and will carry Ford car
parts in bulk for domestic use. After
taking on only sufficient cargo to per-
mit passage through the St. Law-
rence, the Oneida sails for Norfolk,
Va., where the remainder of the cargo
will be loaded. The Oneida will then
sail for Jacksonville, Fla., New Or-
leans, La., and Houston, Tex., deliver-
ing shipments to branch assembly
plants of the company in those cities.
Both the Onodaga and the Oneida
will during the winter season, make
their home port in Norfolk, Va., where
a Ford assembly branch was recentiy
completed.
BOULEVARD STOP LATEST.
Harrisburg, Dec. 11.—An amend-
ment to the Motor Vehicle act that
will go far toward reducing the aceci-
dent rate in cities will be supported
by the Pennsylvania Motor Federa-
tion at the coming session of the Leg-
islature. The Department of High-
ways, Motor Vehicle division, will ask
for th eamendment, which provides
for the amendment, which provides
“Boulevard Stop.”
Officials of the Highway Depart-
ment and of the motorist’s organiza-
tions who have observed the working
of the “Boulevard Stop” in Cleveland
and other cities believe that its adop-
tion will result in materially reducing
the number of accidents at intersec-
tions. Its adoption will necessitate a
modification of the present “right of
way” law where the latter would con-
flict but it is believed that the motor-
ing public would appreciate the
change and rapidly become accustom-
ed to it. It is understood that the law
would be mandatory upon the cities.
If adopted, the “Boulevard Stop”
would first require that cities name
certain main thoroughfares as “bou-
levards.” Then all motor vehicles ap-
proaching these boulevards on inter-
secting streets or highways would be
required to come to a full stop before
crossing or entering the boulevard,
regardless of direction or destination.
A white line with the word “Stop” is
painted across the intersecting street
at a point 12 or 15 feet back of the
curb line of the boulevard, thus af-
fording all drivers on either highway
ample time to see each other.
ns ——— A ———
Real Estate Transfers.
Anne T. H. Henszey, et bar, to Hel-
en Wood Morris, tract in State Col-
lege; $800.
Ellis L. Orvis, et ux, to Helen E.
Dale, tract in Bellefonte; $12,000.
Elias Confer to John W. Confer,
tract in Penn township; $150.
W. F. Wolf, et ux, to Shady Nook
Rod and Gun club, tract in Penn town-
ship; $100.
Centre County Commissioners to
Whitmer Steel Co., tract in Gregg
township; $31.
L. F. Mayes, treasurer, to S. D.
Gettig, tract in College township; $4.
L. F. Mayes, treasurer, to S. D. Get-
tig, tract in College township; $6.43.
L. F. Mayes, treasurer, to S. D. Get-
tig, tract in College township; $14.20.
D. M. Packer to Anne E. Gardner,
tract in Liberty township; $10.
Joseph M. Reifsnyder, et ux, to S.
G. Snook, tract in Millheim; $800.
Adam H. Krumrine to Anna H.
Foekenthal, tract in Ferguson town-
ship; $225.
James J. Markle, et al, to Irvin M.
Harvey, et al, tract in State College;
$5,000.
Samuel Klinefelter to Philip Storch,
et al, tract in Potter township; $550.
E. R. Taylor, sheriff, to Stover G.
Snook, tract in Millheim; $2,425.
Anne T. H. Henszey, et bar, to R.
te, tract in College township;
9 .
L. E. Kidder, et ux, to John E. Gra-
ham, et al, tract in State College; $1.
Charles H. Kephart, et ux, to Non-
za Kephart, tract in Rush township;
George B. Harshbarger, et ux, to
Harry F. Harshbarger, tract in Walk-
er township; $4,000. :
. =A drunken Congressman once
said to Abraham Lincoln: “I.am a
self-made man.” “Then, sir,” replied
Honest Abe, “that relieves the Lord
of an awful responsibility.”
NEGRO’S CHEMISTRY
ASTONISHES AUDIENCE.
Dr. George Carver, a negro profes-
sor of Tuskogee Institute, and son of
an ex-slave, in speaking before the
Women’s Board of Domestic Missions
of the Reformed church of America
held at the Marble Collegiate church,
New York city, astonished the large
assembly with his discoveries in agri-
cultural chemistry.
He brought exhibits of his discov-
eries from the Alabama school found-
ed by Booker T. Washington, show-
ing how he had produced 100 useful
products from the sweet potato, in-
cluding rubber, coffee, candy, dyes,
and | paste, paint, starch, vinegar, ink, shoe
biacking and molasses, and 165 pro-
ducts from the humble peanut. He
said ‘that his discoveries were a di-
rect revelation from God, that he had
no great mind, and that he never used
even a book in his laboratory. He
said the moment God revealed a dis-
covery to him the method came with
the idea. In half an hour after the
idea was revealed to him he produced
the yolk of an egg from a Porto Rican
sweet potato.
It was brought out at the meeting
that although Dr. Carver was poorly
paid he had refused the offer of a
princely salary from Thomas A. Ed-
ison, who wished to have the profes-
sor join his laboratory staff at Or-
ange, N. J. He also has refused of-
fers from others, preferring to re-
main with his own people and help
them solve economic conditions in the
south,
A large factory is now being erect-
ed outside Tuskogee, where paint is
to be produced from the sweet potato.
“I’ve never received any money for
my discoveries,” Dr. Carver said.
“Somebody who had benefited by one
of my products from the peanut sent
me $100 the other day, but I sent it
back to him.”
His most important and most re-
cent discovery in a peanut product is
a pulmonary remedy, which he re-
vealed at the service for the first
time. While Dr. Carver would not
admit that he was on the trail of a
discovery for the cure of tuberculosis,
he declared that his new product,
which he called a creosote solution,
was a step forward for the treatment
of all pulmonary troubles, and that it
was a food as well as a medicine. He
showed that it was perfectly easy to
emulsify creosote with the peanut
product. The whole difficulty in
chemistry up to now, he said, had
been to find something with which
creosote would mulsify.
Some in the audience tittered when
the professor began to talk about the
peanut. First he showed how, with
the arrival of the boll weevil evil, the
South was looking for some other
money crop than cotton; then the
sweet potato left the soil useless
while the peanut fertilized it. He
also recommended the peanut as a
muscle builder to those who wished
to avoid fattening products like the
sweet potato. i
“I reckon some of you folks don't.
think so much of the peanut,” he said. |
“Why, I've discovered 32 different
kinds of milk in the peanut and rich-
er than cow milk. !
He told how in the clay of the
country around Tuskogee he had dis- |
covered 300 different colored paints, |
one of them an Egyptian blue, of the |
ancient Egyptians, and the making of
which was a lost art. A plant is to
be built, he said, to produce paints
from this clay.
A year ago Dr. Carver won the
Spingarn medal, presented annually
for the most distinguished achieve-
ment by an American citizen of Afri-
can descent, It was from his discov-
eries that the government made
sweet potato flour during the war.
He is a member of the Royal Society
of Arts, London.—Ex.
Seventeen Million Spent on Road
Repairs.
Approximately $50,000,000 will have
been spent during 1924 by the State
Highway Department when the year
closes, Secretary of Highways Paul D.
Wright declared in a statement on the
department’s finances, made public.
More than half of this amount, or
approximately $26,500,000 represents
expeudiiures for road construction, he
said.
- The balance, $23,500,000 is the cost
of maintenance, grade crossing elim-
ination, culverts and bridges, admin-
istration and similar expenses of the
department. Of this sum, $19,750,000
will have been derived from various
license fees, fines and other sources,
and the remainder from revenue from
certificats of title issued after Novem-
ber 15th, this year, receipts from 1925
license fees, unexpended balances of
old general fund appropriations and
similar sources.
Classification of the expenditure of
the $23,500,000 was given as: Gen-
eral repairs, resurfacing, replacement,
ete, $17,612,704; grade crossing elim-
ination, culverts and bridges, $1,488,-
585; administrative expense of the
Bureau of Motor Vehicles and equip-
ping and operating of the highway
motor patrol, $1,700,000; purchase of
supplies, equipment, rentals, general
administrative and office expenses of
the department, $2,818,709.
The Art of Giving Information.
. When you are asked for informa-
tion, give it not only accurately but
pleasantly. All of us are familiar
with the grudging manner of the clerk
who looks in another direction and
mumbles so that his words can hardly
be understood, when we ask the way
to the glove counter. Some people
excel in the art of giving information,
for they give not only information,
but good cheer and kindliness along
with it. Their manner implies pleas-
ure in being able to do us so small a
favor. And when we encounter one
of this sort, we wonder why this gra-
cous kindly art has not become uni-
versal.
_ Difference.
Teacher— “What is_ the = difference
between ammonia and pneumonia?”
Bright Pupil—“One comes in bot-
tles and the other in chests.”
[SERGEANT HAS
ATTRACTIVE J03
Nothing at All to Do and
Has Private to Do It
for Him.
New London, Conn.—When {it comes
to sitting pretty on the top of the
world and letting your feet hang
down, Sergt. Joseph Eros, United
States army, stands in a class by
himself. He has nothing whatever to
do, and an enlisted man to do it for
him. That situation, as any buck pri-
vate would testify, is as close to
heaven as any sergeant has a right
to hope to get.
Sergeant Eros commands the gar-
rison of Fort Mansfield, a sea coast
fortification a dozen miles east of
here at Watch Hill, R. I. Further-
more, he and his lone private, Harry
Dell, constitute the whole garrison.
It is doubtful whether any other
sergeant anywhere is as well-found as
Sergeant Eros. To plant the soles of
his garrison shoes on he has 96 acres
of reservation—48 acres for each foot.
To shelter his head he has no less
than 29 buildings, including officers’
quarters, barracks and hospital. He
has an extensive system of water-
works and sewers, a network of
macadam roads and a good half mile
of granolithic walk along the ocean
front. lie has a large parade ground
to march on; an elaborate though dis-
mantled system of electric lights, and
a perfect maze of buried telephone
and telegraph cables.
Battery of Eight-Inch Guns,
To defend himself. his private and
his country, he has three batteries of
eight-inch guns, two emplacements of
rapid firers, a mine central station
and emplacements for mammoth
searchlights.
Of course, he also has certain re
spounsibilities. As sole fount of au-
thority in the fort he is not merely
commander, but also personnel officer
and material officer. He is perpetual
officer of the day and officer of the
guard. If he should find it necessary
to go into action, he would be fire
commander, support commander, mine
commander, communication officer,
range officer, emplacement officer,
mine field officer, battery commander,
signal officer, ordnance officer, observ-
er, plotter and gun pointer, unless he
let Harry Dell do the pointing. But
Harry himself would be fairly busy
as gun-pit detail, azimuth setter, eleva-
tion setter, powder-serving detail,
truck detail, sponge detail and range
and deflection recorder, besides serv-
ing as orderly, running the search-
lights and answering the telephone.
In these piping times of peace, of
course, Sergeant Eros’ duties are a
little less onerous, though at that he
naturally holds a long list of the spe-
cial ratings peculiar to his highly
technical branch of the service. He
is, for instance, the post sergeant
major of Fort Mansfield and its elec-
trician sergeant, ordnance and quar-
termaster and commissary sergeant,
signal sergeant, mine sergeant and
chief mine planter.
"Has Time for Family.
When he isn’t tinkering round with
one or another of these jobs or in-
specting Harry Dell, or drilling Harry
fn company formation, or making the
rounds of Harry when Harry is stand-
ing sentries, Sergeant Eros relaxes in
the bosom of his family. For he is a
married man, with his wife and little
boy installed in one of the residences
on officers’ row which suits their
fancy.
And he gets a fair amount of re
axation, for Fort Mansfield, a quar-
ter of a century ago an up-to-date
fortification defending the eastern en-
trance to Long Island sound, is now
practically abandoned, though a re-
cent survey has been carrled out by
engineers who suggested the reserva-
tion would make an ideal aviation
station.
It consists of a crescent-shaped
seninsula, some three miles long and
a few hundred feet wide, which juts
ut into the sea as a continuation of
the Watch Hill bathing beach. Be-
fore the fort was built the long sandy
strip was known as Napatree Point.
Skirted on the south by Fisher's Is-
land sound and on the north by Lit-
tle Narragansett bay, the peninsula
forms a natural breakwater. Its real-
ly beautiful harbor would form a safe
haven for flying boats, with full pro-
tection from the tempestuous seas
that sometimes roll in from the At-
lantic there. And the land strip is
wide enough and smooth enough to
accommodate planes with wheeled
landing gear. i
Like Deserted Village.
In its present condition Fort Mans
fAeld makes one think of Goldsmith's
deserted village. But the government
engineers had an enormous job on
their hands when they converted the
extensive stretch of ‘sand dunes into
what was at that time a modern forti-
fication. Work on it began about 1898
and a garrison first occupied the place
in 1901. When it was abandoned in
1911 three batteries of stone and ce
ment had been built and armed, the
largest with two eight-inch guns. The
lest company to occupy the post was
the KEighty-first artillery, with a
strength of 101 men and 20 officers.
On the land approach to Fort Mans
field thiove is. still a sign, somewhat
weantherheaten, warning visitors not
to enter the reservation without ob-
taining a pass or permit. - The im.
pression thus given that the fort is
still doing martial business at the old
stund Is quickly dissipated by a tout]
of the grounds. The masonry of the
emplacements is beginning to crumble.
The big guns have all been disman-
tled and shipped to other stations,
and the water hydrants are smoth-
ered in grass and brambles or half
buried by the march of shifting sagd.
A heavy breakwater of planks and
spiles has protected the ocean fron-
tage fairly well, but some of the big
seas have washed over it and under-
mined the buildings. The granolithie
walk has also come in for its share
of damage, having been so thoroughly
undermined that it suggd®ts a recent
earthquake.
No Use Longer as Fort.
The fort was abandoned because
there is no real need of big guns there
today. The long-range monsters
mounted at Fort Wright,
island and at Forts Michie and Terry,
on Gull and Plum islands, fully com-
mand the eastern and southern ap-
proaches from the Atlantic.
A few months ago the reservation
was offered for sale for $90,000. Citi-
zens of Westerly, R. I, were inter-
ested, and for a time it was thought
the peninsula would be converted into
a recreation park or a cluster of sum-
mer homes. But nothing definite was
done, and recently it was announced
the government will retain its whole
holding of 96 acres. :
Sergeant Eros was glad to hear that.
Even with the terrific load of mixed
responsibilities and duties under
which he staggers, he has become at-
tached to the fort, and would hate te
leave it.
Private Harry Dell reseryes his
opinion for home use. Naturally, as
a lone enlisted man exposed to the
full and undivided attention of a
whole sergeant, he is no chirping op- |
timist.
But even Harry has his brighter
days. Every now and then Com-
mander Eros writes a pass for Ser-
geant Eros, and the Robinson Crusoe
of Fort Mansfield takes the missus
and kid and goes to the mainland for
a day off, leaving Harry Dell in full
charge.
Weather Forecast Used
to Guide Churchgoers
Washington.— A minister using
weather forecasts to fit the attendance
to the capacity of his church and the
services to the mood of the congrega~
tion as affected by the weather, is the
latest way In utilizing the govern-
ment’s prognostications that has come
to the attention of the weather bureau
officials here.
The pastor of a large church in one
of the country’s large cities, whose |
edifice is unable to hold all that cone
in “good church weather,” but which
fs not filled in" inclement weather or
fine outdoor weather, telephones the
forecaster at the local weather bureau
office every week for Sunday's weath-
er prospects,
If the forecast Indicates weather
good enough for church, but not for
golf or motoring, publicity through
the newspapers is curtailed and no at-
tempt is made to Increase the attend-
ance, as the church will be crowded
to capacity without such efforts.
But if stormy or very fine weather
is in prospect, special announcements
of sermon and attractive musical pro-
grams are made in the newspapers
and every means is used to arouse in-
terest.
-
Chinese Magistrate
Sells Opium as Cure
Nanking, China.—The magistrate of
Chinyanghsien recently confiscated
large stores of oplum in his baillwick,
and his praises were sung far and
wide by the people of the province.
They had been compelled by force to
cultivate the poppy and subjected to
heavy fines and taxation, and they be-
lieved the magistrate was seeking
their welfare.
Subsequently the magistrate put on
the market some pills which he ad-
vertised as a sure cure for the opium
habit. For this he received renewed
plaudits and his pill business pros-
pered.
Then it was discovered that all the
fines collected for trafficking in opium
went into the maglistrate’s pocket and
that he used the confiscated drug to
make his “antiopium” pills. As pun-
{stment, when the authorities learned
of his double dealing, he was warned
to take his pills off the market.
Roosevelt Service
Flag Given Museum
Oyster Bay, N. Y.—The service flag
which hung from Sagamore Hill, home
of the late Theodore Roosevelt, during
the World war has been presented to
the memorial museum at Roosevelt
house, New York city.
The flag, measuring 8 by 4 feet, and
of the familiar red and white design,
has four blue stars worked in the cen-
ter. It fluttered from an upper win-
dow of the colonel’s Oyster Bay home.
It was placed there the day of enlist-
ment of the first member of the fam-
ily and not removed until the last of
the Roosevelts returned from overseas
service,
The four sons were all decorated
for bravery in action. Two of them
were wounded and one killed.
4,050 Japs Enter Hawaii
Honolulu.—Japanese last year again
greatly outnumbered other aliens in
seeking admission to the Hawalian
Jdslands. In the 12 months ending
{June 83, 5,134 allens were admitted
fto the islands, according to the an-
{nual report of A. Ii. Burnett, chief of
‘the immigration office. Of these 4,050
were Japanese, Including 501 “picture
brides.” Most of the rest were Chi
nese and Koreans,
RIA
Fisher's
: straight.
drone of the
' stillness.
| faithfully on in silence at the com-
WHERE ELEPHANTS
ARE LOGGERS.
It seems strange to most of us to
learn that in the same land where the
| ferocious elephants trumpet defiance
“in the jungle, supreme among the wild
: beasts, they have also been trained to
act in the same capacity as does the
, modern iron tractor in America. In-
‘stead’ of feeding a machine so many
gallons of gasoline a day, the animal
lumber lifters consume so many tons
of hay each day. But, since hay is
cheaper than gasoline in the land of
the elephant loggers, and since they
+ are able to toil each working day from
I sun up to sun set, sweating in the
heat of the long dry season and float-
{ing about in tae sticky mud of the wet
JONSSON Season, they perform a serv-
e which no machine coul
be. Sircamstantes, 3 go mader
nd the elephants are not only faith-
ful toilers, but they do an aim
oun of work in a day. For exam-
» & crew of seventy elephants -
ed twenty carloads of Bory logs Hh
miles in a dozen hours. This is more
work than several tractors, of the
most proved type could do.
: urma, India’s northern 'OV-
inces, the Dutch East Indies and Siam
where the major portion of the world’s.
valuable teakwood is harvested, are
found great herds of trained ele-
phants, doing all the logging, and per-
forming many tasks about the saw--
mills. Teak is one of the highest
quality timbers in the world. It is al--
most as pliable as cane, nearly as hard
and tough as metal and is the only
mod. which the white ants do not de--
When a great tree has been :
and cut into logs, the En Jelie
drivers come on the scene. Lines are.
put upon the logs, and the elephants
haul the logs to the river bank, to be:
floated down stream to the sawmill,
. One of the most picturesque sights
in the world is the elephant loggers.
found working about the great saw-
mills at Rangoon. Logs “arrive from
the upper reaches of the great Irra-
waddy River, chained together in
great booms. The great animals take
these logs out of the water and pile
them along the bank, or wrag them to.
the sawmill to be cut into lumber. In
; all, some 100 elephants are here busi-
ly engaged for eight hours every
| working: day in the year, under the
i leadership of Joe, the king elephant
logger, who though he does no actu-
al work, is in fact the foreman of the
herd, and sees to his job in an almost
human manner, making the elephants.
perform their work and do it in good
time. When the whistle blows at
starting time, Joe slips along the lines:
of elephants, to superintend the set-
ting out for the morning’s work, and
in less than three minutes the "hun--
dred or more animals are on their way
id the ‘inlet, where they toil in two.
. One line of elephants walks he-
inlet, the other from it, Et ae:
continuous movement exactly like an
endless chain. Each elephant picks
up in his trunk a selected log and car-
ries it to the pile his driver indicates.
There he deposits the log on the pile.
, He then walks to the end of the pile-
and sights along to see if the log is on
If it is not, he solemnly
. walks back and nudges it into posi-
. tion with his trunk and then goes back
and takes another squint to satisfy
himself that the log is on straight.
The elephants pile the logs according
; to size, without any suggestion from
the kesres, whose only task is to keep
the animals a certain dis
in the line. tahes aan
Unlike the American sawmills, the-
yards in India are quiet, save for the-
great saws breaking the
The giant beasts labor
mand of the mahout, or driver, who
sits upon the animal’s back, lookilg-
quite like a little boy perched on a
load of hay. He prods the animal in
the back with an iron rod or kicks it:
with his feet to make it understand
his command, the elephant making"
quick response by doing as told. Of
course, the animals do not instantly
turn about, for they are great lum-
bering beasts, and it takes time for-
them to comprehend an order and a.
little longer to get under motion, but.
it is interesting to note how respon-
sive they are to orders. :
i Big Joe, the boss elephant is also-
the trainer, and there are young ele--
phants being trained by him to per--
form their duties. He has been in this.
lumber yard for more than sixty
years, while many of the toilers who
labor under him have been faithfully
under his command for fifteen to-
twenty-five years.
When the noon hour whistle sounds:
shrilly through the yard for dinner,
the elephants are just as responsive
as to the mahout’s commands. They
, instantly leave whatever they are do-
ing, no matter where they may be,
and walk off to the feeding lot. If an
elephant is in the water carrying a.
great log in his trunk, he just drops:
it with a resulting splash; if he hap-
pens to be dragging a log to a pile,.
he quits right there, and if he is pil--
ing the log on the log heap, he refus-
es to even stop to straighten it. When
the afternoon whistle sounds the mes-
sage that it is time to get to work, the
elephants all go right back to where-
they left off and pick up the log or:
straighten it on the pile.
The elephants lift the great logs out
of the water with their tusks and drag"
them to the pile by winding their:
trunks about them, or placing them
underneath the log. The animals walk
on the uneven log roads as if they
were traveling on the finest pavement,
and manage their great bulky legs
and broad pads of feet with perfect
sureness.
It would be impossible to train the
; African elephants for such work, due:
to their ferocity and lack of intelli-
gence. But the elephants of India’s
jungles show intelligence in every
move and glance. These . animals
weigh about 8,000 pounds, or four tons
each, and are worth from $1,200 to
$1,500 untrained. After Joe has:
trained them to work in the logging
camp or lumber yard, they cannot be
bought at any price.
~The forthcoming incomeé tax blank
might be appropriately referred to as
the wealthy man’s cross ‘word puzzle:
of the greatest ingenuity.