THE CABINET: Over-Stocked

Do you want a buffalo in your home? If so, you can obtain one by applying to Secretary Work at the Department of the Interior. You must agree to pay the cost of capturing your buffalo on the range in Yellowstone Park. You must agree to pay the cost of shipping it from the Park to your home. Then it’s your very own, except that you must also agree to care for the buffalo and not to kill it except in self-defense.

The reason that the Department is making this offer—absolutely free and with only a few obligations on your part—is that Yellowstone Park is becoming overstocked with buffalos and the cost of feeding them is growing greater every year. Originally, only a few animals could be obtained to stock the Park, and the Department feared that the species would soon become extinct. Not so. The herd grew steadily, until now there are 730 fine specimens of this healthy breed. Last Spring alone, there were 114 calves. The Interior is unwilling to kill these animals, and so offers them, a limited number, to those lucky citizens who apply in time—ABSOLUTELY FREE.

There is no cause for you to be alarmed by the rapid rate of increase of the buffalo, for, although you are bound to care for and not to kill the specimen you get from the Park, you are not bound to preserve the life of any offspring to which your animal may give birth.