To secure permanent results any general campaign for the elimination of
rats must aim at _building the animals out of shelter and food_.
Building reforms depend on municipal ordinances and legislative
enactments. The recent plague eradication work of the United States
Public Health Service in San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, and at
various places in Hawaii and Porto Rico required such ordinances and
laws as well as financial aid in prosecuting the work. The campaign of
Danish and Swedish organizations for the destruction of rats had the
help of governmental appropriations. The legislatures of California,
Texas, Indiana, and Hawaii have in recent years passed laws or made
appropriations to aid in rat riddance. It is probable that
well-organized efforts of communities would soon win legislative support
everywhere. Communities should not postpone efforts, however, while
waiting for legislative cooperation, but should at once organize and
begin repressive operations. Wherever health is threatened the Public
Health Service of the United States can cooperate, and where crops and
other products are endangered the Bureau of Biological Survey of the
Department of Agriculture is ready to assist by advice and in
demonstration of methods.