countless thousands of rare game to add greatly to our national wealth, and furnish a reserve food supply.

Take, for example, the giraffe, which is a browsing animal, living almost exclusively on a thorny scrub, like the mesquite. Its flesh is very palatable and its hide extremely tough and serviceable, making the favorite lash of the Boer, and a shield for the Somali warrior that no spear can pierce. This picturesque and harmless animal would thrive from the borders of Nevada to Texas, and far into Mexico. No enemy save man would touch it. A full-grown animal weighs over a ton, and must stoop his towering head to feed from your hand at the second-story window of a good-sized house. In contrast, there is that little fairy antelope, called the dick-dick, with sharp hoofs the size of a dime, and jet black horns about an inch and a half long. It weighs about 15 pounds and stands a foot high. It is easily tamed, and its flesh is of delicate flavor. In South Africa it goes by the name of nosebuck, as its upper lip is prehensile, though it is a true antelope. It would thrive certainly on the cactus patches in our Southwest.

There is further the lordly eland, weighing from 800 to as high as 1,500 pounds. It can go great distances from water, and would help stock many an arid range if given the chance, On our cliffs and mountains the clipspringer would be perfectly at home, and think he was again in his own Rhodesia or Transvaal. Its peculiar hollowed hoofs enable it to cling to a pinnacle of rock that would baffle a wild cat or even a goat. It weighs about 40 pounds. Its hair is hollow and very springy, making excellent paddings for saddles, and its flesh is delicate meat. Like the gemsbok, it would be an excellent curative for weaklings if they hunted him in his natural surroundings. Mr. Warthog, big and ugly, would be quite happy and most useful in the everglades or swamps of the South. Many beautiful and harmless waders, flamingoes, plover, frankholins, cranes, herons, and certainly the royal bustard, could be introduced through all our southern lands very profitably. The ostrich would be quite at home in Arizona and New Mexico. It is already successfully introduced in California on fenced ranches.

In short, Africa is a wonderland of animal life to draw from. We can exclude its venomous reptiles and insects, and take the useful animals that have worked out from a hard environment a way to survive. By transportation to our land they would be delivered from their chief natural enemies. To this New World were brought the ass, the cow, the horse, sheep, goat, and hog. All of these ran wild at once and thrived, except the sheep, who is and always was a mollycoddle. Camels, valuable for both flesh, milk and hair, grew wild in Arizona from a government herd until an enterprising Yankee rounded up every female, old and young, shipped them East and sold them to a circus. Otherwise we should have had good-sized herds long ago, and made use of them, as the Australians have, if we were equally enterprising. The Cape buffalo would thrive also, but might be considered too fierce for the rising generation to play with. Anyone hunting him will not complain of a dull time. Its flesh is very good eating, and its hide much better than that of an ox. When a Boer wants a good pair of shoes he tries, if possible, to have

the soles of buffalo hide.

The zebra would dot our plains with color if we gave it the chance, though, from experience, I do not think it a valuable animal either to work or ride, and its hide does not make a leather of any value. Its flesh is good to eat, and it is one of the most beautiful of all the game animals.

These are only a few of the animals and birds that might be introduced into our own vast solitudes, where, for hundreds of miles, can only be seen a lonely raven or solitary coyote. But it can not be, although there should be nothing to prevent it. In Africa the game lives ever in dread of attack. It is haunted by lions, leopards, hyenas, chetahs, wild dogs more savage than lions, crocodiles in every stream, eagles and vultures that prey on the young, pythons beside the trails, poisonous snakes, and other foes too numerous to mention. Yet millions survive and endure further the scourge of droughts and the hardships of the desert. Why, then, should these hardy game animals not thrive and multiply in a country exempt from these perils, with a climate corresponding exactly in range to that of their native land? We ourselves are the only reason why none of this precious game can ever live in our wild plains. So intent are we on destruction that we have become the wonder of the world. We have dynamited our fish, killed all our buffalo, carried off even his bones in train loads, then came back with herds of cattle, tramped out and ate out the finest natural grass ever known. When it was eaten level with the ground, for fear it might, with its great recuperative powers, renew itself, we have put that curse of God, the sheep, to tear it up by the roots and gnaw to death every little shrub left by the cattle. I have seen forest fires 40 miles wide burning in the Sierras to make early grass for herds of sheep. If it were known that a herd of eland were on the Rio Grande, a thousand guns would be after them and their hides sold to the near

est tannery; even a rare bird would surely be slaughtered. Again and again I have known of individuals trying to introduce useful birds and animals; their fate is always the same. Only a national law and a changed public opinion can make it possible to ever either save what animal life we have or introduce new and valuable additions. The man with a natural and wholesome love for sport and all forms of sturdy life is confronted by the ruthless pot hunters, who gather the eggs and feathers of every bird that flies, and trap, poison and kill every animal within reach for the immediate gain. To this class must be added a small number of simply destructive men who kill and kill and let the game rot where it falls; men who use a stick of dynamite to get a mess of trout, killing one hundred and catching, maybe, three or four. All these men naturally hate game laws. Still another class looks upon all sport and pastime, especially hunting and fishing, as so much time wasted. I remember an old farmer in Iowa saying he would be glad when the last duck was shot and the last fish caught, as then, maybe, he could get his boys to attend to the plowing. Well, he has his wish. His house now stands where it did in my boyhood. Not a duck nor a goose nor a plover ever passes by. Scarcely a bird, save the ominous raven, ever breaks the silence. The prairie chicken and quail are all killed; they sometimes ate the corn. The once clear stream is now the wallow of his favorite breed of hogs. Everything is as he planned it. Hogs and corn, barbed wire, more hogs, more corn. His wife is dead, his boys long years ago left the farm. His one happiness is when he goes into the hog pasture and calls "Suke, Suke, Sook, Sook," in quavering voice, more dismal to hear than the caw of the crews. Naturally he is against any game laws, and will poison the first covey of quail that cross his cornfield. Another element that opposes every form of hunting and fishing is the supersensitive people who are teaching the rising generation that all life is sacred and that animals should not be sacrificed to the demands of man. These people would find in India this conceit of protection to life carried out to the full. Even the vermin that infest the natives may not be killed. When they become intolerable they are picked off and laid in the hot dust, their belief being that if God intended the pests to live He would cool the dust; otherwise they perish at His will, not theirs. In the animal world nature seems to work out the essential end by means apparently harsh. If it were not for the natural enemies of the great game herds, they would increase so fast that there would be no food supply, and starvation would be their end. The greater part of the grass-eating animals are not long-lived. With the heat of summer the old must die of thirst and weakness. But as it is now arranged, the lion and leopard and many other enemies kill in one instant, or, at most, in a short, sharp fight, in which the animal can feel no pain. Its not yet emaciated body gives food and life to others. Furthermore, it is among the sick and weak that disease is spread, and infection there may reach a point that endangers the whole healthy herd. Always when some unnatural increase occurs, some disease sweeps them off. So even the lions and tigers, vultures and eagles, serve a merciful and proper purpose. In the countries where they are found, any animal that is born deficient in its faculties, or becomes ill or aged or wounded, is at once usefully destroyed as a means of preserving the high average of the herd.

STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT F. BROUSSARD, REPRESENTATIVE FROM LOUISIANA.

Mr. BROUSSARD. Mr. Chairman, just one word. It is nearly 12 o'clock. This bill provides for an appropriation of money with the view of having the Secretary of Agriculture investigate the conditions of government reservations and unused lands in this country with the view of bringing to these lands animals coming from similar countries abroad, no matter where they may be found. It directs him to investigate the question as to the possibility of their thriving in this country, and their propagation, with a view to adding to the meat supply of the country. There is not any provision for bringing here any specific animal. But, as I understand the question, it is possible in almost every part of this country to get some kinds of animals to thrive that are useful to man in many ways and will add to the supply of meat for the country.

The Department of Agriculture shows that the population of this country is increasing at the rate of about 20 per cent annually, and the meat supply is decreasing in almost every line. That calls for some action with a view of supplying the deficiency. With the natural and proper encroachment upon the grounds formerly used for ranges by the farmer, who goes out and enters the land in order to till it, the question whether we can keep up the supply of meat so as to hold down the price to the consumer (an important factor in producing a sturdy, strong, hardy race of people) is, I think, one that is of the utmost importance for the consideration of the people of this country. It is particularly important to this committee, to which Congress has delegated the right to investigate this matter and find a solution for the conditions now existing.

The figures fixed in the bill are purely arbitrary. The committee probably would want better information than I have been able to furnish. I have merely set down these figures as a basis upon which the committee may act. I think, however, that it is very important and very essential that some action be taken at this time, with a view of starting this investigation, looking to the introduction of other animals besides the three or four kinds that we now use as a meat supply for the people of this country.

Of course the question of these same animals being used for beasts of burden is quite apart from the subject of the meat supply. At the same time, while one investigation is going on, it is possible without any additional expense for that matter to be looked into as well as the question of food.

I do not know how this matter will be received. It is a question of educating the people up to it. Very few people have given any thought to the subject until recently, when the price of meat has gotten so high that everyone is turning his attention to the reason for it.

My attention was directed to these investigations by men who started some years ago to give study to the situation. Doctor Irwin has done so; and my acquaintance with Captain Duquesne, and my recent acquaintance with Major Burnham, and conversations with them, suggested to me the possibility of using a lot of waste stuff in this country that is now producing nothing at all, but is rather an impediment to the development of the country. I refer to such vegetation as the lily in Florida and in Louisiana and in the southern part of California, which is impeding the streams, destroying the fish, and stopping the drainage.

The Government is spending a large sum of money annually to destroy this vegetation. In the present river and harbor bill there is an appropriation of forty or forty-five thousand dollars looking to the destruction of the lily. I have to contend with it all through my district. The engineers of the War Department are using their best efforts and their best men in seeking to destroy this water plant, which is of recent importation into the country, and has taken possession of all our streams. It covers them as a blanket. But they have only been partially successful. They clean a stream to-day, and in a month it is covered all over again with the same plant.

We have tried throwing oil on the plants. It destroys them. The oil does not penetrate below the surface of the water; the plant sinks to the bottom, and then it throws out another bulb and again rises

to the surface in full bloom. And very soon, before the boat has worked many miles from the place, the plant is there just as luxuriant as it was before the boat passed.

The effect of it is very serious in Bayou Teche. Some of you probably have been there. Most of you have read "Evangeline.' It is a show place in our State. It is a very productive country. Millions and millions of tons of freight go over that little stream. It is a beautiful little stream. The lilies have gotten in there recently and the waters have become polluted. For some time we have been trying to ascertain the reason that the fish in that stream are dying by the thousands and floating on top of the water, creating a stench all over the country, bringing sickness, and making the water unfit for use. The state board of health has undertaken an investigation of the matter. The United States engineer located in that section was added to the board, and men of different vocations with knowledge of these situations have looked into the matter. Recently they reported that the lily had as much to do with the destruction of fish in that stream as any other agency that they have been able to discover. So that we are losing the fish, we are polluting the water, and we are bringing about an unhealthy condition of things down there, all growing out of the fact that this lily is covering that stream and making it impossible for the fish to live.

I thought that if there was an animal which could destroy this lily, improving navigation, and saving money in the direction of having boats and men constantly at work cleaning this stream of these lilies, and which at the same time would furnish a meat that I am told is very good to eat, it would be a good thing to introduce it. At any rate, its meat produced in very, very large quantities, and is made into bacon out in Africa and used as bacon. I thought that in this way at one and the same time we might be able to do away with the lily, which is such a nuisance to us, and add to the meat supply. Doctor Irwin tells me that in Florida and Louisiana alone 100,000,000 pounds of meat can be produced in these streams, and at the same time the hippopotami will be destroying the lilies.

It is just so in the desert lands. I have hunted considerably in the West, in Mexico. I have not been abroad to hunt. But the wild animals thrive where domestic animals will not live. The deer and the various kinds of animals that we have in this country thrive in some portions of Texas, where there is no water. I have seen them there. They get out of range of water, and are able to subsist on smaller things, useless things in other respects as applied to domestic animals. I thought that if all of these animals could be utilized, at least the subject was worthy of investigation with a view of reaching some conclusion that would add to the possibilities of development in this country.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Broussard, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to the department if some one representing it could be present, and also that members of the committee might like to make inquiries of some such representative. I have therefore asked Doctor Farrington to be here this morning. If the committee will remain in session perhaps ten minutes longer, I should like to hear any statement that the doctor may have to make, and particularly to hear his answer to a few questions that the committee may wish to ask him.

Mr. BROUSSARD. Mr. Chairman, may I ask whether that article will be incorporated in the record?

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the article to which Mr. Broussard refers will be included as a part of the statement of Major Burnham.

(The paper referred to will be found at the end of Major Burnham's statement.)

STATEMENT OF DR. ARTHUR M. FARRINGTON, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

The CHAIRMAN. Doctor Farrington, you have been present and heard the statements which have been made by the gentlemen who have preceded you?

Doctor FARRINGTON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What I should like to ask you particularly is whether you, or, so far as you know, any other officials connected with the department, have ever given consideration to such a proposition as is contained in the bill, and whether you would regard it as practicable or advisable, and whether in case the bill should be passed the department is equipped with men to carry its provisions into effect?

Doctor FARRINGTON. Mr. Chairman, I have not had an opportunity to examine this particular bill. I am connected with the Bureau of Animal Industry. As you know, that bureau has been in existence for twenty-five years. It was brought into existence for the purpose of excluding disease from the United States. We had a disease in this country known as contagious pleuro-pneumonia, which was brought from foreign countries; and the first work of the bureau was to exterminate that disease. We have always been on the watch for disease from foreign countries ever since.

Of course I can not say very much with relation to the good to be accomplished by bringing in these animals; but I think there might be a good deal of harm done by bringing them in without proper precautions. For instance, we do not allow the water buffalo to be brought in from the Philippine Islands. They have rinderpest, and sura, and other diseases. No warm-blooded wild animal is allowed to be brought into the United States from the Philippine Islands or from other foreign countries.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that under the provisions of the law, or is it merely a regulation of the bureau?

Doctor FARRINGTON. That is under the provisions of the law, which prevent the importation of animals exposed to disease or infected with disease.

The CHAIRMAN. Would that law prohibit the importation of hippopotami?

Doctor FARRINGTON. The law as it reads at present applies to horses, cattle, sheep, and other ruminants, and swine.

The CHAIRMAN. That is pretty broad. That would cover every animal.

Doctor FARRINGTON. I do not know what race of animals the hippopotamus belongs to; but we have not, of course, had any opportunity to examine the diseases of those animals. They did bring in