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Show I THE BIRD AND THE POCKET- J" " BOOK. Vork of the Audubon Society. Do you know how much the farmers farm-ers of the United States lose every 9 year in dollars and cents through the destructive habits of insects? If not, here are some figures by the Audubon Audu-bon Society which are absolutely trustworthy, and will amply repay your careful study: Amount Product of loss Cereals j $200,000,000 Hay 53,000,000 u Cotton 60,000,000 Tobacco - 5,300,000 Truck crops 53,000,000 Sugars - 5,000,000 Fruits 27,000,000 Farm forests 11,000,000 Miscellaneous crops 5,800,000 Animal products ... 175,000,000 Total $595,100,000 Natural forests and forest products $100,000,000 Products in storage 100,000,000 Grand total $795,100,000 You have never before had the matter mat-ter of bird protection placed before you in so simple and so practical a light, I am sure; mayhap you are one of those who have dismissed the subject sub-ject as. the worthy but sentimental effort of idealists. And there are a great many like you unfortunately; a very great many who nod a good natured approval, but who do nothing to help because they have no realization realiza-tion of the utilitarian aspect of the work, and a great many more who give the subject no though at all, for the fancied reason that it docs not perconally concern them or their welfaredocs wel-faredocs not, in a word, touch their pocket. Horrid thought that, and yet based on fact even more repulsive. How to Save Millions. Now, when the loss to farrm crops .from insects amounts to nearly six hundred million dollars annually, the subject of protecting the birds that feed on the destroying insects can scarcely be classed as among the endeavors en-deavors of impractical sentimentalists. sentimental-ists. The truth is, there is nothing before the American people to-day of a more thoroughly practical nature than this self same subject of bird protection. To protect the birds means to destroy the insects; and to destroy the insects means to save the farming interests of this country mil- lions of dollars. Does that sound like the thesis of a sentimentalist, or does it read like the hard, common or garden gar-den sense of the practical man? And if you think that it does not touch your pocket, ask the first schoolboy you meet what proportion of the in dustrial wealth of this land of ours is agricultural, and to what extent the condition of crops annually influences the money market and thereby affects to some extent all trade, whether it be in manufacturing boots and shoes, or in selling cheese-cloth over the counter, or in keeping accounts at the bank. Don't you make the mistake of thinking the agricultural situation of no concern to you because you happen to earn your livelihood by adding columns of figures instead of hoeing rows of potatoes. On the farm hangs the industrial thermometer, thermom-eter, and do not you of the town employed em-ployed forget it. If crops are good, times are good; if crops are bad, times are bad and money is tight. As there is no question of your concern in the general agricultural condition of the country year by year, so there is no disputing that your material ma-terial welfare is also to one degree or another affected by bird protection; an, incontrovertible conclusion of logic, log-ic, for if crops dominate in a measure the country's prosperity, then every man and woman is interested in helping help-ing to maks crops good and lending a hand to protect the birds that kill the insects that destroy the crops, is helping tojnake crops good; is helping help-ing in a broad, in an American sense to increase your own immediate business, busi-ness, whatever it may be. Not Bird Protection, but Self Protection. Pro-tection. The average man and woman is Upt to look upon all protective work of this character as the effort of "bird lovers" or "animal lovers;" and the well meaning societies and associations associa-tions organized for this protective work add to the confusion, and handicap handi-cap their own splendid endeavors, by using those very terms ibird lovers and animal loven in meir appeals to the public for support. It is not a question of loving cither the birds or the animals whoever wants pets can get them and keep them it is a question ques-tion of conserving the life which is a potent factor in freeing our land of some of its destructive forces. It is not love of the birds, but love of self; not bird protection, but self protection. protec-tion. That is the mental slant for this subject, and it is the literally true one; we need to get together in the protection of the birds because they serve their use in our fields and in our orchards, just as the horse serves its use on the road. If your boy robbed the hen-roost or filled the cow with shot in his excessof the "sportful" spirit, it would not be necessary to urge you to catch that boy and lay before him an argument against that form of hunting such as he would be likely to remember and respect. But what are you doing about his bird killing and nest robbing? You do not warm the seat of his trousers for knocking over a robin with his slingshot; sling-shot; and yet the robin is one of the most active of that decreasing army of birds that is fighting the increasing insects which are the ememies of your fruits and plants and crops. Docs it not appeal to your self-preservative, not to say common sense, as being well worth while 'to help protect pro-tect the birds which are the most effective ef-fective mans of killing the insects which last year levied a toll of six hundred million dollars upon the farmers? To deny yourself to bird protection is a form of ignorance almost al-most as dense as to deny your children chil-dren the advantages of schooling. Spare the Birds and Spoil the Cats. The first thing for you to do is to join the Audubon Society. At the same time you must not let this be the end of your effort. Every intel- ligent resident of town or country H can constitute himself and herself an Bfl emissary of this good and entirely practical work. Spare the birdst Bfl Don't rob their nests, boys; it isn't H nearly so much fun as to protect B them against the storms and the B neighborhood cats, of which latter, H no doubt, a judicious weeding will be HB of advantage to both the birds and the BJ cats. Besides, worm hunting in the B trees is a bigger and a harder game BJ than egg hunting. If the many thou- Bfl sand bright boys all over the country BJ will also use their influence among Bfl their playmates they alone will form H a considerable army for the defense BJ of birds and the farming interests. B But I do not mean to imply that B the boys arc the dcspoilcrs of bird Bfl life; not at all; ignorant and vicious H men throughout the country are the BJ real vandals,' and I feel that the class BJ equally culpable is that large one BJ which stands idly and indifferently BJ by, doing no wrong act itcself and BJ raising no protest against the overt BJ offenses committed under its very BJ nose. Bird protection needs converts BJ to its cause, but it wants more of Bfl those who not only unfurl the ban- BJ ncr, but who fight under it; the in- BJ active good arc of no greater value BJ in this cause than they arc in any BJ other. Local branches of the Audu- Bfl bon Society may be formed where- BJ ever sufficient people get together, Bfl and groups of such people moved by Bfl a common interest can very soon B make their work apparent and their Bfl influence wide. And bear in mind all Bfl the time that the protection of bird Bfl life is, perhaps, next to preservation Bfl of the forests, one of the most im- BH portant questions before industrial BH America to-day. Bfl Saturday Evening Post. IB |