Published monthly by The Agassiz Association, ArcAdiA: Sound Beach, Connecticut 



Subscription, $1.00 a year Single copy, 10 cents 



Entered as Second-Class Matter June 12, 1909, at Sound Beach Post Office, under Act of March 3, 1897. 



Vol 



ume 



VII 



JANUARY. 



Number 8 



Senator George P. McLean. 



The one big outstanding figure for 

 bird-protection in the Congress of the 

 United States is George Payne Mc- 

 Lean, Senator from Connecticut. 

 There are, of course, many men in 

 Congress who may be depended on to 



by cutting off all financial support for 

 its enforcement. This action was 

 taken after the House had passed the 

 Agricultural Bill, in which an appro- 

 priation of $50,000 had been provided 

 for the enforcement of this measure. 

 The committee was determined that 



always stand for the conservation of no money should be made available for 



this purpose. Many of us had made 

 appeals, but all in vain. Senator Mc- 

 Lean went before the committee, 

 stated the case forcibly, and askeu 

 them to reconsider and vote an appro- 

 priation of $10,000. He felt sure that 

 if they would do this he could get the 

 original amount put back when the 

 committee made its final report and 

 the matter came up on the floor of the 

 Senate. Mr. McLean, remember, is a 

 pronounced Republican, and the con- 

 trol of the committee was in the hands 

 of dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. 

 What happened? Just what those who 

 know Sena-tor McLean and his influ- 

 ence expected would happen. The 

 committee gave him the $10,000, ana 

 later the Senate made the appropria- 

 tion $50,000. 



The Audubon Association and other 

 organizations may labor with all their 

 might for federal legislation, and do 

 much good in stirring up the country 

 to demand protection for the birds ; but 

 Senator McLean, more than all others 

 combined, must be given the credit for 

 actually steering our two most import- 



wiid-life, but Senator McLean is the 

 one ever on the alert, who rounds up 

 the friends of the birds when times of 

 stress arise. If they are slow in mobil- 

 izing, he is the redoubtable Belgian 

 who throws himself into the path of 

 the invaders of the rights of the birds, 

 and holds them in check until the 

 forces of the country can come to his 

 assistance. He has done this sort of 

 thing over and over again. This is 

 the gentleman who is the father of the 

 Federal Migratory-Bird Law, which is 

 so often referred to affectionately as 

 the "McLean Law." It was his speech, 

 delivered on the floor of the Senate 

 last year, in favor of the Plumage 

 Law, that carried the day, and won for 

 America the distinction of being the 

 leading nation on earth in the matter 

 of bird-protective legislation. He is 

 known as "the bird man" of Congress. 



Here is an instance that will serve 

 to show his influence with his col- 

 leagues : 



Last spring, the Finance Committee 

 of the Senate decided to starve the 

 Federal Migratory-Bird Law to death 



Copyright 1914 hy The Agassiz Association, ArcAdiA: Sound Beach, Conn, 



