600 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



men in the past have had no knowl- 

 edge of the regions in which they were 

 appointed and were unable to take care 

 of themselves when traveling in the 

 mountain countries. Other appointees 

 drew the salary attached to their posi- 

 tions, winked at the violations of the 

 law by their friends, and attempted to 

 make arrests or secure convictions for 



absolute, and, of course, this served to 

 discourage those who honestly endeav- 

 ored to enforce the laws. When the 

 Federal Government, through the 

 rangers of the Forest Service, began 

 to cooperate with the States in the en- 

 forcement of the game laws on the 

 National Forests, it was an up hill busi- 

 ness. Forest officers who, during the 



Elk Coming Out of The Dip. 



when these animals arrive at the denver stockyards they are at once run through the dip, 



which is filled with a strong disinfectant. 



game violations only against strangers 

 or against those to whom they were un- 

 friendly. 



Of course the xiolation of the game 

 law enforced l)y such agents was bound 

 to be considered a trivial matter, and to 

 be arrested by such officers of the law 

 resulted in much bitterness. As the 

 farcical enforcement of the game laws 

 grew up, it became almost impossible 

 to secure convictions before local peace 

 officers, even where the evidence was 



early years of federal administration, 

 were in a more or less difficult posi- 

 tion trying to enforce the Forest regu- 

 lations, did not relish the disagreeable 

 task of assisting the State in this work. 

 There were so many glaring examples 

 of difficulties to be overcome that they 

 realized it would be years before the 

 work could be brought to such a stand- 

 ard that the people of the communities 

 would respect and assist in the enforce- 

 ment of the law. Where this coopera- 



