San Francisco Examiner: January 1, 1937
Ratty New Year
Bart Feldstein - The Chinese calendar associates animals with each year, and 1936 was the Year of the Rat. And a well-named year it has been! The rat population of San Francisco has reached troubling levels not just along the waterfront and warehouses, but in many residential and commercial districts as well. Restaurant owners despairing at the failure of more traditional approaches and forgetting municipal ordinances have resorted to shotguns for pest control. Even such grand establishments as the Palace and the St. Francis have armed their bellhops and dishwashers with Red Ryder â air guns. Whether the patrons are more reassured or more alarmed is hard to say; the rats do not seem impressed.
Chinatown is especially plagued with large numbers of the black furry vermin. The Chinese markets crowded with crates of live animals draw from tiny gardens, pigpens, poultry coops and barnyards hidden throughout the maze of narrow streets and alleyways that comprise Chinatown. The crowded conditions and dubious sanitation create a veritable rat heaven. The Six Companies have curtailed market hours, and re-instituted a rat bounty last offered during the infestation of 1929. Some of the more prominent market areas have even been ordered closed, but the Chinese are addicted to their practices and the orders have had little effect. Now the rats swarm so thickly in Chinatown that they even bother tourists walking or shopping. Reports of infants and children bitten as they sleep circulate wildly, though the clinics are oddly empty of gnawed victims. Since the Dept. of Public Health have had so little success in their war on the rats, we should not be too critical of the efforts of our Oriental neighbors.
At the turn of the century, the Black Death visited the streets of San Franciso, borne by the fleas carried by countless rats. Health officials now warn that we could see a return of this medieval menace if increased rat control projects are not successful. We do not need foreign ships to bring contagion to our port, for it is already here. The fleas, and the rats, maintain the lurking menace through the years. Only by limiting the number of rats, and limiting the contact of people with rats, can we protect ourselves. While Chinatown may be the most visibly affected neighborhood, increased counts of rats and increased reports of rat damage are coming from throughout the City. The Public Utilties Commission has hired a full-time rat extermination specialist and called on chemist Dr. Richard Pettigrew for consultation services.
Be sure to read and observe the guidelines listed in the "Sanitation Alert" elsewhere on this page. Officials need our help to roll back the tide of rats threatening the beauty and health of our city.
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