y, never have I been so
appalled and shocked by the world's cruelty as have I been appalled and
shocked in the midst of happy, laughing, and applauding audiences when
trained-animal turns were being performed on the stage.

One with a strong stomach and a hard head may be able to tolerate much of
the unconscious and undeliberate cruelty and torture of the world that is
perpetrated in hot blood and stupidity. I have such a stomach and head.
But what turns my head and makes my gorge rise, is the cold-blooded,
conscious, deliberate cruelty and torment that is manifest behind ninety-
nine of every hundred trained-animal turns. Cruelty, as a fine art, has
attained its perfect flower in the trained-animal world.

Possessed myself of a strong stomach and a hard head, inured to hardship,
cruelty, and brutality, nevertheless I found, as I came to manhood, that
I unconsciously protected myself from the hurt of the trained-animal turn
by getting up and leaving the theatre whenever such turns came on the
stage. I say "unconsciously." By this I mean it never entered my mind
that this was a programme by which the possible death-blow might be given
to trained-animal turns. I was merely protecting myself from the pain of
witnessing what it would hurt me to witness.

But of recent years my understanding of human nature has become such that
I realize that no normal healthy human would tolerate such performances
did he or she know the terrible cruelty that lies behind them and makes
them possible. So I am emboldened to suggest, here and now, three
things:

First, let all humans inform themselves of the inevitable and eternal
cruelty by the means of which only can animals be compelled to perform
before revenue-paying audiences. Second, I suggest that all men and
women, and boys and girls, who have so acquainted themselves with the
essentials of the fine art of animal-training, should become members of,
and ally themselves with, the local and national organizations of humane
societies and societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals.

And the third suggestion I cannot state until I have made a preamble.
Like hundreds of thousands of others, I have worked in other fields,
striving to organize the mass of mankind into movements for the purpose
of ameliorating its own wretchedness and misery. Difficult as this is to
accomplish, it is still more difficult to persuade the human into any
organised effort to alleviate the ill con