Introduction
Published in 1913 as part of his Our Vanishing Wildlife: Its Extermination and Preservation book, “All That Remained of Them Were Several Acres of Bones” is William T. Hornaday’s condemnatory response to Max Schlemmer’s actions on the island of Laysan (one of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands). Known as “the King of Laysan”, Schlemmer worked as the superintendent for The Pacific Guano & Fertilizer Company, gaining the right to mine guano through the United States Guano Islands Act of 1856, Once the island’s guano supply had depleted, Schlemmer turns to bird feathers for a resource to sell. With the hired help of Japanese workers, Schlemmer killed over 300,000 Laysan birds for the purpose of selling their wings. Adding to the damage, Schlemmer introduced domestic rabbits and pigs into the island‘s ecosystem, both species reproducing more rapidly than expected. Schlemmer’s actions caused irrevocable damage to the island’s vegetation and led to the extinction of two bird species. Schlemmer’s exploitative practices and their consequences were the immediate events that motivated Hornaday to write this passage as he hoped that Laysan could be a warning example of the environmental damage resulting from US imperialism.
Thought to be one of the founding members of the conservation movement in the United States, Hornaday first worked as the United States National Museum’s Chief Taxidermist before becoming the first director of the New York Zoological Society (known as the Bronx Zoo). In these positions, Hornaday worked to educate the American masses about the concept of wildlife conservation pushing that people had a moral obligation to protect the animals and plants sharing a home with them. Hornaday spent decades lobbying for the passage of conservation laws and for the establishment of federal preservations. Considering his advocacy for environmental protection, Hornaday is understandably angered by Schlemmer’s actions in Laysan calling him many variations of “bird-butcher” (Hornaday). Hornaday attacks Schlemmer and other “money-grubbing” men that destroy environmental wonders like the Laysan birds for selfish economic gains (Hornaday). Understanding that supply does not exist without demand, Hornaday also criticizes the “vain women who still insist upon wearing the wings and feathers of wild birds” (Hornaday). Hornaday aims to remind his readers that even if they are not the ones actively hunting the animals, they still contribute to these environmental travesties through their consumer choices.
Citations
Hornaday, William. Our Vanishing Wildlife: Its Extermination and Preservation. 1913. In American Empire at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: A Brief History With Documents, edited by Kristen Hoganson, 149-150. Boston. Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2016.
“William Temple Hornaday: Saving the American Bison.” Smithsonian Institution Archives, September 14, 2012. https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/stories/william-temple-hornaday-saving-american-bison.