MSPCA-Angell History: Jack London Club, 1919

(The following article was originally published in MSPCA’s Our Dumb Animals, April 1919)

Jack London says, in “Michael Brother of Jerry,” we shall never stop the evil of the performing animal trick in our theaters till people get up and go out of places of amusement during the time these “stunts” are given.

To agree to do this is all you have to do to join the Club. We should like to have you send us your name and as many other names as you can.

Read Jack London’s “Michael Brother of Jerry”

The book is published by the Macmillan Co. at $1.50. We will send the “Foreword” free to any asking for it. A copy of the book free as a prize for the three one-dollar subscriptions to Our Dumb Animals, also for one hundred new names to the Club. Twenty-five copies of the book have already been given as prizes: several of these to schools.

The Club continues to grow. More than 5,000 new members were added since the last issue of Our Dumb Animals. This agitation must tell. Every one of these nearly 30,000 people has a tongue. For every tongue there are many ears. Wherever a pebble is dropped into a pool the circle starts. One of these circles has reached the end of the Malay Peninsula, and a letter from Singapore asks for literature and information.

The Dramatic Mirror of New York City says:

A bill is before the Massachusetts Legislature to “make it unlawful to cause any dumb animal to perform any trick or feat as part of the performance at any theater or other place of public amusement or entertainment.” The bill is backed by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Theater and vaudeville house managers expect a lively fight to prevent the bill’s passage. A hearing was given this week before the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Legislature.

Dr. Francis H. Rowley, president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was the principal speaker. He gave numerous specifications of extreme cruelty practiced upon animals by their trainers in preparation for public performances, and said that the public is greatly mislead [sic].

“Makin’ ‘em dance” The elephants’ expression of fear, menacing attitude of their “trainer,” and the brutal bull-whip in readiness for a blow, all speak of the peculiar quality of “kindness” with which these beasts were trained.

Clippings from many other newspapers have come to us containing similar notices. There is certainly a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees.

New railroad rules even demand that all domestic and trained animals weighing not to exceed 250 pounds each, used in producing a theatrical performance or other public entertainment, indoors or outdoors, may be checked and transported in regular baggage service or in special baggage cars at the convenience of the carrier, under the following conditions: They must be accompanied by owners or caretakers, who present valid transportation, and who will provide proper facilities for loading and unloading, feeding and watering whenever necessary.

This means better care at least in the transportation of these poor exploited animals.

A Right Sort of Teacher

A young lad writes use from Providence: “My teacher read us from ‘Michael Brother of Jerry’ and since then I have heard so much about him I want to join the Club.” Here is a suggestion for teachers.

The Leaping Greyhounds

Here’s a case that came before the Women’s Pennsylvania S.P.C.A. An officer discovered some greyhounds which were being trained for the stage by giving them a small amount of food, so that in the excessive hunger they would be more likely to do their tricks of high jumps in an effort to procure food always placed at a more inaccessible height. The dogs were in danger of death by starvation. The owner was fined and the dogs taken over by the S.P.C.A.

Why the Pig Sang

In the case of the S.P.C.A. of San Francisco against Fred Weiss, this man Weiss had a singing pig. A whip was pressed behind the animal’s ear on the “singing command”. On seizing the weapon the butt was found to contain a spike.

From Minnesota

I wish to join the Club. I am telling thousands of children in our Public Schools about it. – Mrs. Walter Turle, Duluth

The Diving Elks

Remember the training of these diving elks convicted by the Massachusetts S.P.C.A. and sentenced by the Judge to three months in prison. The cruelties were so apparent the defense did not have a leg to stand on.

Hand This to the Theater Manager

We shall be glad to supply to our members at cost, 10 cents per dozen, postpaid, cards of which the following is a copy:

TOGETHER WITH THOUSANDS OF OTHER MEMBERS OF
THE JACK LONDON CLUB

I offer my PROTEST AGAINST THE CRUELTY THAT HAS BEEN PRACTISED to make possible nearly every trained animal performance, and I have left the audience of this theater to show my disapproval of such exhibitions.